I had no clue what to do.

Do I break up with Kyla? No, I can't do that. I can't break up with Kyla and then start dating Max. I also just shouldn't run back to Max that easily. I don't want to get hurt again.

I was feeling sick over this situation. I laid in bed on Monday night, fully dressed to go out to dinner with Kyla.

She had come back from Ocean City, and wanted to take me out to dinner.

A year ago, I would have been so ecstatic to go out to dinner with Kyla. We would have gone out, had some drinks, and then gone back to her place and most likely have sex- and then she would drive me back to campus in the morning.

But things were now different.

Max was in the picture.

Kyla asked me if I could meet her at the restaurant, a really nice Japanese restaurant, after she was done with work.

I told her sure, and that I was excited to see her.

I put on a cute black dress and a pair of sandals with a heel, and drove over to the restaurant.

Kyla said she was already there, and had reserved a table for us.

I spotted her right when I walked into the restaurant, and she smiled and waved at me. She was in a blue blazer with a white shirt underneath, and her hair was down and straight. She also had a nice tan going, from the beach.

I walked over and sat down across from her.

"Hey, you look nice." I said to her, "Very tan."

"I fell asleep at the beach." she chuckled, "But one plus is that it got me this nice tan."

She seemed oddly on edge. I could tell by how she was drumming her fingers on the table.

"Are you okay?" I asked her, "You seem...nervous."

"It was just a stressful day." Kyla said, "But I'm all good. What should we order?"

Kyla and I looked at the menu together, and she seemed a little more relaxed. She told me more about her trip, and asked how my night out with Jamal was.

I told her it was good- leaving out that I saw Max.

I'm the worst.

We were served our sushi, and we started digging in with the chopsticks.

Kyla then said, "So, I want to talk to you about something that happened this weekend."

I felt my stomach drop. Something about Kyla's tone was off. "Okay." I said, "What happened?"

"So, one of my friends who I went with on the trip, Hannah, we used to hook up back in law school. I told you that, right?"

"No. You haven't. But continue." I said.

"I swore I did. Anyway, we went out on Saturday night, all of us. And we got super drunk. I don't really remember much of anything, but I woke up in Hannah's bed. In my underwear. She says we fooled around, I don't know if that's true or not." Kyla said.

She said it with such ease, like it was any other story she was telling me about the weekend.

"Wait, what?" I said, not believing what I was hearing.

"It's not a big deal, I promise. Plus, I don't even remember if something happened." Kyla said.

"But Hannah told you something did happen."

"Yeah. I mean, who knows if we did something. But it doesn't matter, I promise." Kyla said, speaking fast.

"You cheated on me." I said, my chest tightening up.

"I wouldn't go that far, Bella. If anything, it was just a drunken mistake that meant nothing. Hannah is just a friend."

"Are you really trying to tell me that you didn't cheat on me- when you clearly cheated on me?" I said to Kyla. I was trying to keep my voice low.

"This doesn't have to be a big deal. I just thought I would tell you, to be honest. I want to be honest with you." Kyla said, leaning in and speaking quieter.

"You think you're doing me a service by being honest with me about cheating on me?" I said back.

My blood was boiling. I was hurt. I was humiliated.

"Stop saying that." Kyla said. She sat back, crossing her arms. "I'm going to get the check and the rest of this to go. How about you just chill out for the night, and then we can talk more about this tomorrow. It's really not a big deal."

"Oh my god. Are you delusional?" I said, getting up from the table. "You cheated on me. You straight up cheated on me, and you're denying it."

"Let's talk tomorrow."

That was all Kyla said back, but I was out. I was practically running for the entrance of that restaurant.

It wasn't until I got to my car that I broke down.

Yes, I had been confused about Max, and questioning things.

But this still hurt. It fucking hurt.

A little over a year of dating, wasted.

There was no going back from this- no matter how many ways Kyla tried to talk herself out of it, or make me think that this wasn't cheating.

I looked down at my phone, expecting to see a text from Kyla, even just an apology. But there was nothing. I looked around the parking lot, and I didn't even see her Audi there anymore. She had just left.

I found myself going to my contacts, and clicking on the name "Max".

I tried to pull myself together before she answered.

"Hi, Bella." Max said. She sounded exhausted.

"H-hey." I said, my voice shaking.

"Are you crying? What's wrong?" Max asked me.

"K-Kyla cheated on me." I said, and the tears started coming.

"Are you fucking serious?" Max sounded furious on the other end.

"Yes." I said, "We were out to dinner, and she told me."

"Kyla mentioned that she was meeting you for dinner." Max mumbled. Then she asked me, "Where are you?"

"I'm in the parking lot of the sushi place we met at." I said.

"Um, do you want to come over? I'll send you my address. I just want to make you feel better. That's all." Max said to me.

"Yes." I said, "I'd like that a lot."

My girlfriend cheated on me, and there was no one I wanted to see more than my ex-girlfriend.

What a mess.

Max texted me her address a moment later, and I put it in my GPS.

The 25 minute drive to her apartment building felt like a blur.

I parked in front of a brick building. There were four doors, two on the second level, and two on the ground level. Max told me hers was on the top right- number 255.

I texted her that I had arrived, and as I got out of my car, I saw her opening her apartment door.

I walked up the steps, and right when I got to her door, she enveloped me in a hug.

I hadn't realized how much I had missed being in Max's arms. The last time I saw her before we broke up, she had been cold, when all I wanted was a hug from her.

All I wanted was this.

We stood there for a moment, just holding each other.

Until Max finally said, "Come in."

I walked into her apartment, and she shut the door behind us.

I faced a living room, with a gray couch that had a light pink blanket on it, TV, and another armchair. Behind that was a small kitchen, and then there was a hallway off to the side of the living room.

"Your apartment is nice." I said to Max.

"Thanks. I haven't decorated much, to be honest. How about we go to my room?"

She started walking down the hall, and I followed her.

She opened the second door on the right- leading me into her bedroom.

"Charlotte is in her room, across the hall." Max said.

Max's bedroom in her apartment looked a lot different than in her bedroom at her moms house.

It was much more simplistic. Her bed, that had a red comforter, was in the middle of the room. She had a dresser across from her bed, which was next to a closet.

She had one picture hanging on her wall, it was an abstract piece with shades of blue. I did notice in the corner of her room there was her large, plastic container- with all of her knitting and crocheting supplies.

"Much cleaner than my old bedroom, huh?" Max looked at me.

"Honestly...yes." I chuckled, "No offense."

"None taken. I've started to value organization more." Max said, "Let's go sit on my bed."

Max sat down on her bed, in the middle of it, and patted the spot next to her. I took off my shoes, and joined her.

"I'm sorry about Kyla." she said, "Regardless of everything going on- I am sorry. I also kind of hate her now."

"Thank you." I said to Max, "So do I."

"So...what did she say happened?" Max asked me.

I told her about how casually Kyla told me about the incident- and then how she tried to tell me it wasn't cheating.

"Am I crazy for thinking it actually was cheating?" I asked Max.

"Um, no. Because she obviously cheated on you! No matter how she wants to spin in." Max said, "She's completely in the wrong here."

"I think she thinks I'm going to stay with her." I said to Max.

Max looked at me. "Are you?"

"No." I shook my head, "I am definitely not staying with her."

"You didn't deserve this, Bella. I'm sorry." Max said, and she put her arm around me.

I leaned against her shoulder, and felt a lump forming in my throat.

I really missed Max.

Tears started, and Max must've felt them on her sleeve because she said, "I know this is really tough. I'm here for you."

"It's not even that." I lifted my head up, chuckling sadly, "I've really missed you. So much, Max."

Max looked at me, and then she gently put a lock of my hair that was hanging in front of my face behind my ear. "I can't even begin to describe how much I've missed you." she said.

I was feeling the tension between us, it was palpable. All I wanted to do was reach over and kiss her.

Max was looking down as she spoke.

"I really want to kiss you." she said, "I want to kiss you so fucking bad. But I'm not going to. I can't...until you're single."

"I know." I said, "If anything is going to happen between us, I want to make sure it's when I am completely single."

"I know what we are doing now isn't exactly innocent." Max said, "But I just want you to know that I thought about you literally every single day since we broke up."

"Did you date anyone else?" I asked her, "I'm sorry...I just have to know."

"I tried." Max said, "A long time after we broke up though. I tried to go on dates, but my heart just wasn't in it. Nothing lasted more than a month or two. I honestly just thought I would be forever alone." Max chuckled and then looked at me, "I guess that's not the case now?"

I smiled at Max. "I'm here now. And you're not going to be forever alone."

Max smiled back and put her hand on mine.

Once again, we sat there together, in comfortable silence.