UGLY MEN ARE LESS LIKELY TO CHEAT

a

lavender detergent and stale tea. I didn't leave the apartment once. Most of my day was spent staring at a strip of off-wh

shot. Every time I tried to force a bite down, my stomach tightened into

s. Kiki pulled on her boots to go down the street to the corner bodega for milk, eggs, and paper towels. She was on

behind her, the heavy wooden

g my dry eyes with the back

unter with a sharp plastic thud. Her face was flushed, her

to the entryway mat. Sarah was an older girl who lived in my old apar

ling the hood of the

the wooden dining chairs from the small kitchen table, dragged it over to th

but my face didn't move. I kept my hands buried insid

pen," Kiki said flatly, her voice tight with anger. "Sarah said he was carrying large cardboard boxes

nt, processing the image in my

ing out by the front gate in her pink silk bathrobe, holding the iron door open for him while he carried

ng. The sharp, overwhelming panic from Tuesday night was gone,

e could afford to register his fake consulting company. He didn't care that I gave up my spot at the ballet academy for him. He simply needed a place to slee

my phone,

eyes narrowing. "Maya, don't call

. My voice was steady, almost mo

t over. I held down the power button, waited for the screen to light up, and ope

ed on the

ounded calm, completely relaxed, as if she were taking a routine call

ment," I said. I leaned my head ba

t afford your lease on his own after you threw a fit and walked out on him. I'm just helping h

ting human being,

You left him. You packed your bags and ran off to sit on Kiki's couch like a child. What he does now is none of your

ery single thing you own straight into the street," I told her, every word deliberat

listen

r number, did the exact same thing to Trevor's contact, and set

ly from her wooden cha

ine,"

ago, I actually meant it. The heavy, suffocating sadness in my

asite," Kiki mutter

symmetrical face and blue eyes, so people always gave him what he wanted without him having to work for it. He thinks

, pulling her legs up onto the chair. "They think they'

my head to look at her. "I am never

ow at me. "What is t

lves at them on the street, in restaurants, or at work. An ugly man knows he isn't pretty, so he actually has to br

lightly open, before letting out a short, quiet

ff my diner tips and slept with my mother. From now on, I'm using my head. I'm

see if I was joking. When she realized I wasn't, sh