Breaking the Plan
Mill Street Series #1
Jessica Calla
Copyright © 2019 by Jessica Calla
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Edited by Erin Rhew Editing and Design
Cover by Booked by Design
ISBN-13: 978-1-7337116-0-9 (Ebook)
ISBN-10: 1-7337116-0-0 (Ebook)
ISBN-13: 978-1-7337116-1-6 (Print)
ISBN-10: 1-7337116-1-9 (Print)
Created with Vellum
For Heather Van Fleet
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Epilogue
Sneak Peek of MAKING THE MOVE (Mill Street Series #2)
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Jessica Calla
Chapter One
Oliver
They say that breaking up doesn’t really work on the first go around. A couple in love, like Vi and me, would need a few attempts before a break up “takes.” Didn’t the number of takes rise exponentially with the number of years we’d been together? I thought that I’d have a few more takes after five years. I guess my recent behavior had offset the formula.
The heat of the sun beat through my bedroom window and from the angle of the light it casted, I could tell it was close to noon. The first thing I remembered when I opened my eyes, was that the night before I’d been drinking. A lot. My pounding headache wouldn’t let me forget.
The second thing I remembered was the disappointed look on Violet’s face as she laid out everything I’d done wrong, including how I’d embarrassed her when I drunk-punched her summer camp boss at happy hour. In my defense, I’d had no choice. The guy was eyeing her like a piece of meat. Still, her brown eyes had searched mine, begging me to say something to make it right. But I couldn’t. There wasn’t an easy fix, and we both knew it. This time, my fuck up was critical.
I sat up a bit too fast, and almost fell back again from dizziness. Maybe Violet was right—I was a mess. I certainly didn’t deserve her forgiveness. Still, Violet was my forever. We had plans.
Throwing on a pair of jeans and a New Jersey University T-shirt, I hobbled into the bathroom I shared with my roommate and best friend, Josh, and splashed water on my face. The ibuprofen was already prominently displayed next to the sink. Josh must have known I’d need it. I cupped water into my hand and swallowed four. A quick brush of the teeth made me feel halfway human, and a swipe of deodorant didn’t hurt either.
With a deep breath and a silent pep talk to myself, I bolted past my roommate, who grunted “hey” at me. Josh, a football player the size of a house, thought I was too thin to drink. I was not only a lightweight but a shitty, sloppy, messy drunk, whom he’d had to bail out of numerous situations since freshman year.
I grabbed my backpack and ran from the apartment before he could lecture me, and out of the building. I was on a mission. Instead of driving and dealing with campus traffic, I jogged toward North Campus and Mill Street, where Vi and her roommate had rented an apartment for senior year. I’d asked her to move in with me, but she’d declined. Maybe she’d been thinking of breaking up for a while.
On the way, I checked my phone. Ignoring the ten messages from my mother, and the one from my father probably telling me to call my mother, I tapped on Violet’s voicemail again.
I appreciate your messages, but you’re wrong. We need a break, Ollie. I need a break. It’s senior year and I want…space.
I didn’t remember the messages I’d left her the night before, but I knew that they weren’t “wrong,” as Violet had claimed.
Her words echoed through my mind as I ran through campus, dodging students, my cell phone to my ear as I tried to call her back. My heart, and my head, pounded with each stride, making me feel like five hundred pounds of miserableness. It didn’t help my gait that I was weighed down by my backpack and my broken heart.
I jumped out of the way of a bicyclist.
“Watch out, asshole,” the guy yelled at me.
“Me?” I yelled back. “It’s a freaking walking path, not bike path, you moron.” Just because NJU had a rural campus vibe and a lot of green space didn’t mean that bikers should be reckless. There were still rules to be followed.
He gave me the finger over his shoulder as he pedaled away.
If he stopped his bike and came at me, I’d turn into a hundred-and-fifty-pound fighting machine. I needed a target for my emotions so I could be calm and collected when I got to Vi. This biker asshole would be the perfect person to take my anger out on.
I slowed to a walk as I approached North Campus and Mill Street and called Vi again. Even though I’d already left five messages, I left a sixth. “Violet, please. Don’t do this. I’m sorry. I love you. I’ll do anything you want, just talk to me.”
A girl in a sorority T-shirt gave me a sympathetic pout as she walked by. Only made me feel worse.
Once Vi and I knew we’d be together forever, I’d planned out our lives. It had taken three versions, but everything was finally in motion. Plan 3.0 was that I’d work my ass off in college to prep for Harvard Law School. Currently, my chances of being accepted looked pretty good.
After the proposal this coming Christmas, we’d finish up senior year, graduate in May, and move to Cambridge. We’d come back to New York City after law school, and I’d be an associate for the big firm where my parents were partners. Vi would be a music teacher, continue her violin practice, and audition to perform in symphonies. We’d be married in the spring, honeymoon in Hawaii, and be happy as fuck. After I made partner, we’d move to a townhouse on the Upper East Side and have two freakishly adorable kids with dark curly hair like ours. We were still in negotiations about the dog, but I knew she’d come around sooner or later.
Now suddenly she needed space? Space? What the fuck did that mean after five years together? It certainly didn’t fit into our plan.
Between the heat, the humidity, and the headache, I gasped for breath as I stood at the traffic light to cross Mill Street. Sweat trickled from my forehead as I clutched my phone, hoping Violet would call me back. When the light changed, I jogged across Mill Street—past the coffee house, the art supply store, and the Chinese restaurant—to the little alleyway next to the family-owned general store that Violet and her roommate, Taryn, lived over.
I hauled ass to the metal staircase in the alley, taking the steps two at a time, then banged on the apartment door.
“Vi?” I yelled.
Shifting on the small grated landing, I put my ear against the door. A classical
piece was playing softly. I smiled, imagining Vi listening to the next arrangement she would learn. “Come on, Vi. I know you’re in there.” I banged again and listened.
The music turned off. I took a step back and pushed my annoyingly curly hair out of my eyes, standing to my full six feet to make myself look somewhat presentable.
The door clicked open as I rambled. “What’s this message about—”
But it wasn’t Violet.
Taryn leaned against the edge of the door in a tight NJU half-shirt and spandex workout-type shorts. I guesstimated that ninety-percent of her body surface was uncovered. Her blond hair was in some sort of ball on top of her head, and her giant, green, cat eyes lasered into mine. “She’s not here.”
“Come on, Tar. I heard her music.” I looked past her into the apartment. “Vi?” I yelled.
“She knew you were coming and left. I was listening to the music.”
I laughed. As an accomplished violinist, classical music was Vi’s life, but it wasn’t Taryn’s style. In fact, Taryn was pretty much the opposite of my Vi in every way. Vi was adorable; Taryn was hot. Vi had only been with me; Taryn had been with half the senior class. Vi worked hard; Taryn hardly worked. But for some reason, they’d hit it off after being randomly assigned as roommates freshman year, and I’d been stuck with her ever since.
Taryn and I had a hate-hate relationship from day one. She resented that her new college bestie was tied down by a nerd, and it made me crazy that Taryn partied, was popular, and hooked up with guys way better looking than me. I thought she’d be a bad influence on Vi, and Taryn thought I was a dud.
But Vi loved us both, and after I got used to Taryn’s ways and she got used to me being around, we had come to an understanding, sort of. She stayed out of our relationship, and I stayed out of their friendship.
Still, there was that time she’d slept with Josh. I could have sworn she’d done it to annoy me. A tit-for-tat, so to speak. I’d taken her roommate, so she’d taken mine. Luckily, their tryst had only lasted a night. Then there were the times when she’d refused to tell Vi that I’d called or stopped by. She’d been jealous of me from the start, and our truce had done nothing to cure her of that.
At that moment though, my patience was running thin. I wasn’t in the mood for Taryn or her tricks. “Stop messing around.” I yelled into the apartment again. “Vi? Come on, babe. Let’s talk about this.”
Taryn rolled her eyes and moved to the side, waving me in. “Feel free to search. She’s not here, Ollie.”
I walked through their living room, to the hallway that led to their bedrooms. Violet’s room was dark. I flipped on the light and froze when I saw the open suitcase on her bed.
“Tar? What’s going on?” I shouted behind me, dropping my backpack on the floor.
No answer. Nothing else looked out of place. I picked up the framed picture of Vi and me from senior prom, remembering the first night we’d had sex and promised each other we’d be together forever. Our outfits and our smiles matched. The picture was evidence that we were perfect for each other.
Space…
The stupid word plastered itself in my brain. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and texted her.
Me: You’ll have to talk to me sooner or later. I need to know how to fix this.
She responded immediately.
Vi: Can’t talk now.
Wanting answers, I tried again.
Me: Why is there a suitcase on your bed?
My stomach sank as I plopped myself onto the bed next to the suitcase and dropped my head into my hands. What the actual fuck?
Then, my damn eyes started to tear and I felt like I was sinking into the mattress. Something big was going on with Violet and I wasn’t a part of it. I’d been a part of her life for half a decade, and now she was packing a bag and breaking up with me. I didn’t think I could be without her. Everything I’d done had been for our future. If she left me, I’d be futureless.
Space…
From me? The guy she claimed to love? The man who spent night after night in that very bed with her, whose name she cried out when we rolled around naked?
I don’t know how long I sat there, but eventually Taryn tapped on the door and pushed it open. “You okay, Nerdilicious?”
Ignoring her nickname for me, I looked up. Her face was a blur through my tears. “Tell me what’s going on, Tar. Please?”
I thought she’d make fun of me for crying and begging, but surprisingly, she pressed her lips into a pout and sat next to me on the edge of the bed. “I’m sure Violet will explain everything when she’s ready—”
“Where’s she going?”
She sighed. “I don’t think I should be the one—”
“Is it another guy?”
“No. I can tell you that much.” She stretched her long legs out in front of us and our thighs lined up, her bare one against my jeans. “All these years I’ve been trying to get her to cheat on you, but she never has.” She rammed her shoulder into mine.
I knew she was joking. I tried to smile to show my appreciation but felt on the verge of a breakdown. I hid my face in my hands again.
Taryn tugged my forearm to pull my hand off my eyes. “Why don’t you go home, or the library, or wherever you smart people hang out? When she gets home, I’ll have her call you, okay?”
Sitting and waiting wasn’t really my thing, but I didn’t know what else to do. I nodded, still not able to talk. I croaked out a “’kay” before standing and walking out.
* * *
Taryn
I loved Violet Nicholson, I really did. The best thing about having her as a roommate was that she was dramaless. She’d always been with Oliver, and besides the two of us, she didn’t have many other college friends. Therefore, she had little drama. But since she’d broken up with Oliver over voicemail—a bad move, executed poorly and against my advice—she’d had nothing but.
She paced our little living room. Even though the voicemail from hell only happened two nights ago, she looked frailer than usual. Her pale skin made her dark hair and eyes seem even darker as she turned to look at me. “So then, when I told him I was going to take the Fall Abroad slot that opened, he just kind of stared at me.”
Violet had been honored with the chance to spend eight weeks in Vienna at an orchestral academy, getting a firsthand view of some famous symphony’s holiday preparations. She practically orgasmed when the school told her she’d been pulled from the wait list and offered the spot.
I thought it would be great for her to get away. Of course, once she told Ollie he was in shock. The man couldn’t do anything without her. I was sure they hadn’t spent eight weeks apart since they’d met in preschool.
“He just stared?” I asked.
“Like a robot. Or maybe he just didn’t listen to a word I said.”
I remembered Ollie crying on Vi’s bed the day before. I’d never seen him emote like that, sober at least. “He didn’t seem robotic when I saw him. He was clearly upset.”
She shuddered. “He’s so extreme. Like what happened with my boss at the camp happy hour. What do you think I should do?” She looked up at me with wide, brown, puppy dog eyes, like I was some sort of relationship guru.
I tsked. “You know how he is when he’s drunk. He was jealous of the camp boss.”
“Maybe it’s a wake-up call. The way he’s been acting the past couple of days isn’t helping matters. The calls, the messages. It’s like he can’t back off.”
Violet and Ollie had their entire future planned out, and backing off didn’t seem like his style. He’d been in her face for years, so I wasn’t sure why she was just seeing this now. But she looked at me with desperation in her eyes. I didn’t know Oliver better than she did, but I attempted to tell her what she wanted to hear. “He’s probably trying to show that he loves you enough to fight for you and all that crap guys pull. Did you tell him that you loved him but you needed to experience college life, like we’d practiced?”
; She nodded. “I said that while I was in college, I wanted to make sure I had a chance to experience new things. He accused me of—”
“Wanting to be with other guys?” I knew this routine. Violet was finally choosing herself over him, and he couldn’t comprehend.
“Exactly.”
“Well, isn’t that part of it? Experiencing other guys? Honestly, it’s better to break up with him than to cheat on him, right? And now you’re free to hang out with yours truly.” I held my hand to my chest.
I’d been waiting for three years for Violet to come over to the Dark Side and finally join me in all things single college life. Her relationship with Ollie had always come first, but I needed her friendship—not just in our living spaces but out in the world. He’d accused me of being jealous whenever I whined that Violet wanted to do something boring with him instead of hang with me. Damn right I was jealous.
“You know that’s not what this is about. I mean, I do want to experience other…”
Men. She couldn’t say it. Made me sad that she was embarrassed that she wanted to see what else was out there before settling down with Oliver.
She sighed. “But it’s more than that. I think I just… fell out of love.” Violet’s eyes teared. “Please don’t tell him I said that. Promise?”
I crossed my heart. “Never. We are a vault, right?”
“I don’t know how I’d get through this without you.” She nodded and pulled me into a hug.
I hugged her back. “You don’t have to worry about that. I don’t know how I’d get through life without you.”
Breaking the Plan: Mill Street Series #1 Page 1
