yanked him in a planted a series of ferocious kisses on him. “Call me later and let me know when you’re coming back, okay?” With that, she sped off, walking as fast as a socialite in five-inch heels could possibly move. Starla and Ben stared at each other, neither knowing what to say. Looking like she was about to burst into tears at any moment, it was Starla who said, “I’d like to go home now.” With both of them marinating in uncomfortable silence they headed back towards the car, the mood of the day ruined by the inevitability of surprise. Neither party spoke on the car ride back into New Jersey, not even when the car got stuck in ridiculously backed-up traffic. Starla watched the inhabitants of other cars inching past her. In the back of a red Chevy Camaro sat a small blonde girl. She held a ratty doll in her hands, pressing the figure against the window and pulling it away. The gesture was so simplistic but it made Starla want to cry. That little girl and her doll reminded Starla of herself – looking out into a wonderful world of opportunities but unable to move. They shuffled along little by little. The traffic between New York and New Jersey was ridiculous. It was amazing the amount of people who were always coming and going, always running somewhere, despite the time of day or night. It was Ben who eventually broke the silence with two simple words. “I’m sorry.” “About what?” Starla wasn’t going to let him go that easily. The events that had transpired that afternoon just about broke her heart all over again. She was going to hold Ben accountable for his actions and teach him that he couldn’t play with the emotions of others as willy-nilly as he was. “Don’t be like that,” Ben said. “You know what I’m sorry about.” “I want you to say it.” Ben cleared his throat. “I wasn’t going to break up with her in the middle of Times Square, Starla. Don’t be silly. I told you that I’m going to end things with her and I will. You just have to give me time.” Starla shook her head. She felt tears lighting at the corners of her eyes, threatening to spill over. But she didn’t want to cry. This was not the time to be weak. So instead she balled her fists in her lap, squeezing her fingers down until they ached. “I’ve waited for you my entire life,” she told him. “You’re the one that left.” It sucked, having the blame constantly placed on him. Although he acknowledged that he was the one who went off to find a better life, he didn’t think that he had ruined everything by doing so. After all, he was the one with a successful career. He was the one with a gorgeous apartment above Central Park and he was the one who had a normal, functioning, healthy relationship with someone else. Ben said cruelly, “I may be the one that left but you’re the one who chose to stay behind and do nothing with your life. You keep telling me that I left you behind but what you fail to realize, over and over again, is that I asked you to come with me. I begged you to come with me in high school. You said no. So maybe it’s time to sit back and think that you’re the one who fucked up, Starla, not me.” A sob escaped her mouth. Starla grabbed the volume dial on the radio and cranked it up so that Ben would be unable to hear her crying. She pressed her face to the window and let her tears snake down the glass. Everything that Ben had told her about loving her was most likely a lie. Her morality and her loyalty had been compromised. It broke her heart to think that she was such a terrible human being, the kind who cheated and not only ruined her own relationship but someone else’s as well. And she did it because she trusted someone that she should have never trusted in the first place. It was an all around disastrous situation. The radio station was playing country music, songs with a sad twinge that