The Girl Who Stole My Face Chapter 2

My heart dropped. The Reddit post flashed in my mind.

I deleted the screenshots I was about to send. Then I remembered Ryan swearing up and down that I was his first real love, his first everything that mattered. I’d even jokingly confirmed it with his friends. The doubt subsided, just a little.

[Me]: “Why? You know how excited I was for Savannah. I even bought a new dress for it.”

I sent him the picture my roommate had taken of me at the shop earlier. I have a curvy figure, and the sundress fit me perfectly. Ryan had always been vocal about how much he loved my body.

The three dots appeared, then disappeared. He was hesitating. For a long moment, there was nothing. Finally, a new text came in.

[Ryan]: “You know I’m from Texas, babe. I want to show you where I grew up. Besides… my parents really want to meet you.”

I frowned at my phone. Ryan and I had met online, in a group chat for incoming freshmen. I was into his abs and his deep voice; he was into my face and my figure. We both thought it would just be a casual hookup. But then we ended up in the same English class, and during freshman orientation week, he was so sweet and protective. He stood up for me when a drill sergeant-wannabe orientation leader was giving me a hard time, and he was always showing up with cold water and a portable fan. I fell for him, hard.

The only downside? Hailey. His clingy childhood best friend. But even with her buzzing around, we’d only been dating a few months. We were nineteen. It was way too soon to meet the parents.

[Me]: “Meeting your parents is a big step. Why don’t you just tell them I’ll visit some other time? We’re going to Savannah.”

In the few months we’d been together, Ryan had been pretty agreeable to whatever I wanted, so I didn’t even consider he’d say no. I put my phone down and started packing. When I picked it up again, my blood ran cold.

[Ryan]: “About that… babe, I already canceled the tickets. I bought us two bus tickets to Texas instead. If you don’t want to go, I guess we’ll just have to stay on campus.”