class reunion

My girlfriend posted something cryptic on her Finsta: "Does a princess always have to marry a prince? Maybe a knight is her true destiny." Ugh. Look, I don't have a problem with her princess fantasy, but which princess sneaks around texting her knight behind the prince's back?

She was on a "business trip" to Chicago and sent me a text, then instantly deleted it. I waited a few minutes before asking what it said, playing it cool. She claimed she’d hit the wrong button. Yeah, right. I saw it. "I don't know if coming here with him was the right thing to do," it read, "but maybe it's time to face my past." My stomach dropped. I immediately tried to video call her, but she declined. Said she was at dinner with colleagues. I asked her to show me the food. She sent a few pictures of the dishes, and I spotted the restaurant's name on the silverware. A quick Google search revealed it was a trendy spot. I sat there, phone clutched in my hand, a knot in my gut. Then I opened a food delivery app and placed an order, setting the location to the restaurant. I messaged the driver, explaining I needed to find someone inside and offered him $50 for a discreet photo or video. He agreed. I gave him a brief description of my girlfriend and then waited, torn between wanting him to find her and dreading it. A few agonizing minutes later, he sent a picture. "Is this her?" he asked. Even though I was braced for it, seeing the photo sent a chill down my spine. She was having dinner alone with a guy. No female colleagues in sight. He sent a few more shaky photos, and I recognized the guy. Her high school sweetheart.

Two months earlier, she'd posted a group photo from her high school reunion, and this guy was in it. I remembered it because her best friend commented, "Isn't that [guy's name], the school quarterback? Still so hot!" My girlfriend replied with a blushing emoji. Her friend then added, "Well, you're even more gorgeous now. He must be regretting things, huh?" I'd asked her about it at the time. She said he'd had a crush on her back in school, but she wasn't interested. Then she added that he was getting married soon, so I shouldn't overthink it. Looking at the photos from the delivery driver, their body language screamed something more than a casual reunion. My mind raced. I sat there, chain-smoking half a pack. I called her again that night, but it went straight to voicemail. Close to 10 PM, she video called me, but from the hotel lobby, not her room. She said she’d been at a show and hadn't heard her phone. She said she was exhausted and needed to sleep, ending the call abruptly as she pretended to step into an elevator. I couldn’t sleep. I scrolled through her social media, searching for clues. Finally, I found it. She'd liked a photo of a cocktail. The timestamp matched the night of her reunion, June 15th. The account that posted it was pretty generic, but one girl kept popping up in the comments. I clicked on her profile and instantly knew it was my girlfr...