“Who the fuck is that, Pasha?” Aleksandr demanded. I heard scraping in the earpiece, then Aleksandr’s voice again, clear as ice. “Hold on, Angel.”

“It’s Angie,” I whispered, pulling the phone away from my ear and staring at the screen.

Symbolically, a large red box with the word End lit up on the phone screen, waiting for my touch to seal the deal. When I pressed it, the phone slipped out of my hand and crashed to the floor.

“Shit.” I bent down to grab it. “Sorry, KK.”

“I have an anti-destructo case. We’re good. What happened?” Kristen asked.

I covered my eyes with my hands and shook my head, my shoulders shaking.

“Oh, Aud.” Kristen scooted closer and wrapped her arms around me. I was still shaking when she brought my head into her lap and stroked my hair. She dropped her voice to a soothing tone. “It’s okay, sweetie. It’s okay.”

“It’s not,” I said between sniffles and gulps of air. “It’s over.”

“Don’t say that.”

“He was with another girl. I heard her.”

Just then there was a knock on the door, and I suddenly remembered asking my brother to hang out tonight.

“That’s Jay.” I wiped at my eyes again.

“I got it,” Kristen said, unraveling herself from me.

“I brought popcorn and one of those sappy movies you girls seem to like.” Jason greeted us, holding out a huge bucket of popcorn straight from the movie theater. The gigantic grin on his face dissolved when he saw me. “What happened?”

“Chick flick is out. Did you bring the one about the jackass ex?” Kristen asked, moving aside so Jason could slide by.

“Where they realize it was a misunderstanding, get back together, and live happily ever after?” Jason asked, a hopeful smile on his lips, taking Kristen’s seat next to me on the couch.

I shook my head and rubbed my forehead, hoping to ease my mind and stop the tears. I didn’t want Jason to see me as a sobbing mess of a person.

“Who answered?” Kristen went straight back to our conversation as she walked to the kitchen.

“Gribov.” I took the bucket from Jason’s hands and inhaled the buttery fragrance. “He said horrible things. True things.”

“That ass-hat? He’s been trying to break you and Aleksandr up since before you were together. You remember what he said at the arena, right?” Kristen came back with a bowl and scooped up some of the popcorn. Then she took a seat on the floor at my feet.

“I know.” I nodded. “I know Gribov is a fucking jerk, but he’s right. I’m the one who wrote that stupid poem. I’m the selfish one. I’m the one who messed everything up.”

“What poem?” Jason asked, digging the bowl Kristen had brought him into the popcorn bucket.

Jason wasn’t caught up on everything that had happened with Aleksandr. I’d asked him over for some brother and sister bonding time, since I hadn’t seen him in a while, except for a few lunches at the diner.

“After I found out I was his translator, I wrote a poem as an outlet for the feelings I was having being attracted to him, but knowing nothing could come out of it because he was my client. He found it, and I had to admit I’d written it about him. He didn’t believe me.”

“That sucks,” Jason said. “He’s got to understand it was old. You explained it to him, right?”

I shook my head. “Haven’t had a chance. He won’t answer my calls. I just called him from Kristen’s phone. It didn’t go well.”

“Because Pavel Gribov is acting as his personal answering machine,” Kristen said.

“Gribov is a prick. He’s so jealous of Aleksandr it’s ridiculous.” Jason shoved a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

“How so?” I asked. Pavel Gribov had been one of the better players on the Pilots and had taken those skills into the NHL. He’d already had three goals and an assist. Aleksandr had yet to score, but had gotten two assists so far.

“Beating Aleksandr is a personal challenge for him. Aleksandr was the better player when they were in Russia. When they were drafted, Aleksandr went in the second round, Gribov didn’t go until the fifth. Aleksandr was the Pilots leading scorer and assistant captain. And Aleksandr always got more”—Jason stopped midsentence—“attention.”

“Female attention?” I asked. Jason’s pause hadn’t fooled me. I knew Aleksandr had plenty of that before we met.

“Enough with the stupid jealous crap, Aud,” Kristen chastised. “You with the bunnies and him with the band. Both of you are so scared of being with someone, you both sabotaged it.”

“Right, but he was with someone else, and I’ll never go back to him. He knows how I feel about cheating.”

“I haven’t known him long, but he and Landon are really good friends, and I know that he is seriously in love with you. I can’t believe he would cheat on you.”

“Technically, he wasn’t even cheating since you guys broke up,” Kristen said.

I held up a hand and swallowed a sob. “I love you, KK, but I’m not in the mood for technicalities right now. If it’s that easy to be with someone a week after we broke up, I’m better off without him.”

Kristen nodded, but wouldn’t relent. “You’re right. I mean, you don’t want a relationship with a guy who leaves the bar to drive you home, and then climbs in your window to make sure you’re alive. Someone who happily accepted a punishment from your mean-ass grandfather for hurting your feelings. Someone who loves you enough not to replace the necklace you wear that belonged to your mom, but to add to it so you wouldn’t have to take off something that means so much to you. And you, for sure, don’t want to be with a guy who gets pissed because you originally thought of him as just a fuck and not relationship material. I would definitely throw away a guy like that. Especially over a stupid poem.”

“It was stupid. Really badly written.” I nodded. Ignoring all the excellent points she’d made. Why was I the type of person who dwelled on the negative? Four out of five dentists recommend Trident gum. Why did I believe the one who didn’t?

“Auden.” Kristen lowered her head, scrunched her eyebrows so they pointed down in the middle, and looked up so only the bottom of her irises showed. I call it her evil face because it’s so creepy. Killer Klowns from Outer Space creepy.

“I don’t know how to fix things, KK. I just know how to run away.”

“This might be the time to learn.” She pretended she was getting up. “Want me to go get my Barbie tool kit?”

“ ‘Barbie tool kit’?” Jason asked.

I laughed, thinking about the pink toolbox she’d busted out on the first day we met in our freshman dorm.

“Her toolbox and all the tools in it are pink. No joke.”

“I believe that.” Jason nodded, taking in Kristen’s outfit: a hot pink Under Armor jacket and black yoga pants with matching pink stripes down the sides.

“Aleksandr won’t answer my calls. Gribov has him convinced I’m a selfish tramp who’s sleeping with all my bandmates. So what do I do?”

“What do they say? If you love something, set it free. If it comes back it’s meant to be?” Jason asked.

“Guess the poetry gene runs in the family,” Kristen said.

“I didn’t mean for it to rhyme. It just came out that way.” Jason threw a handful of popcorn at her.

“Hey!” I wrapped my arms around the bucket and held it away from Jason. “Don’t waste. This is the good stuff.”

I never thought I’d be laughing after realizing I’d just lost the love of my life. Then again, I never thought I’d be sitting in my apartment eating popcorn and talking about relationships with a brother.

“Should I put this movie in now?” Jason held up the chick flick he’d brought with him.

“No offense, but we need a man-hater movie. Let me check my stash.” Kristen jumped up and ran to her room.

“Hey, Auden,” Jason said quickly.

“Yeah?”

“I just, thank you.” He chuckled. “It means a lot to me to hang out with you.” He paused and lifted his eyes to meet mine. “It’s funny how life works out sometimes. I never had a desire to know my biological family, now I couldn’t imagine life without you.”