“Where do you live?” I ask. “You should go home.”
“Over there,” he points to a building across the lawn.
“I thought Sarah said you live on Hammond?”
He shakes his head. “I told her I used to live on Hammond. I live on Park now.”
“Come on,” I tell him, reaching and lifting him up. “I’ll help you get home.”
Agonizingly, we walk at a snail’s pace across the lawn toward his apartment. I help him up the stairs and watch as he fumbles with his keys, eventually dropping them.
“Here. Let me do it.”
I pick them up, insert the key he was using into the lock and open the door.
“Can you help me in?” he asks.
“Sure,” I say and put his arm over my shoulder to help him.
Once inside, I have to admit that this is not the kind of place I expected to see Daniel living in. It looks like a frat house and smells like one too.
“You really live here?” I ask, wrinkling my nose.
“Have a drink with me,” he says as way of answering.
“I think you’ve had enough,” I say.
“Please,” he begs. “Just one. I really need someone to talk to right now and I don’t want to be alone.”
I take a deep breath and sigh.
“Okay. But just one.”
I sit down on the couch and watch him stagger his way toward a makeshift bar with several bottles lined up.
“What’s your poison?”
“Tequila,” I answer. I’ll have one shot with him and be done with it.
“One shot of tequila coming up.”
He sways so much bringing the drink back to me I wonder if he’ll pass out right there, but he doesn’t.
“To Sarah!” He raises his glass and touches it with mine.
“To Sarah!” I say and tilt the glass back, draining it.
A few minutes later, I start to feel strange and it dawns on me that Daniel may have put something in my drink.
The last thing I remember is the menacing smile on Daniel’s face as I pass out.
Daniel
I watch Julianna as she leaves her last class. I’ve been watching her for several days, making sure I know her exact routine. Tonight is the night that bitch will pay for her interference. She’ll get what she deserves, and I’ll have a bit of fun at the same time.
I take a swig of the whiskey, swish it around in my mouth and spit it out before dousing some of my clothes with it. I pour a little more into my hands and rub it into my eyes, biting my tongue to keep from hissing as the alcohol seeps through. I need to appear drunk. However, I intend to be in full control of myself tonight.
I note which direction she’s headed and quickly cut through, making sure to stay in the shadows behind her where she can’t see me. It’s dark and the bushes camouflage me well.
She must know something is up because she starts to walk faster, though I’m pretty positive she cannot see me.
Just as it looks as though she’s going to make a run for it, I purposefully bump into her, making her books spill onto the concrete. For only a second, I could feel her nipples press into me. It excites me.
“I’m sorry!” I say and grab her shoulders as if I’m trying to help. I reach down to pick up the spilled books. It’s show time. “I’ve been distracted all day ever since … well … you know.”
“Know what?” she asks. This will be too easy.
“Sarah didn’t tell you?” I look up at her, hoping my eyes look red, swollen and pathetic.
“Tell me what?”
“She broke up with me this morning.”
“Sarah broke up with you?”
Of course not. Despite your efforts, she’s in love with me and that’s the way it’s going to stay. I try to look hurt.
“I thought we had something special, but apparently she wants to quit seeing me so she can focus on her studies. She said she figured with me leaving in a couple of months, we should just call it a day.”
I look down, hoping to look like a lost puppy. Girls like to take care of men who are lost and broken. I think I read that in a book somewhere.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “I hate to say this, but it may be partly my fault.”
All of this is your fault you stupid bitch. That’s why we’re here. I’m going to make sure you never interfere in my relationship again.
“Your fault? How could Sarah breaking up with me be your fault?”
She manages to look guilty. Good. She’s going to feel a lot more than guilt by the time I’m done with her.
“I told her she needed to concentrate on her studies more and not get so caught up in a relationship that would be ending in just a few months. I felt like she was sacrificing her future for something, let’s face it, that’s just not going to last.”
Not going to last? Oh Julianna, this relationship I have with Sarah will last a lot longer than your friendship. Of that I am certain. I try and hide my anger at her words by looking down towards the ground and hunching my shoulders forward.
“Come on,” she continues in her validation. “You’re going to be headed to Texas and probably find some gorgeous ex-beauty queen and Sarah is still going to be here, battling the snow and trying to keep her grades up to keep her scholarship. This was never going to be a long-term relationship and I told her that.”
She’s right. I will probably taste some of what Texas has to offer in the beauty queen department. However, that doesn’t mean I won’t still have Sarah. She will always be mine; mind, body and soul. She will be my perfect wife. She will have my perfect children and be there for me whenever I need her. For a moment, only a split second, I allow my anger to split the surface of my façade.
I quickly get control of my emotions and replace it with the downtrodden appearance I cultivated in the mirror earlier in the evening.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do.” I sit down on the ground and bury my face in my hands. The scent of liquor is strong. I don’t know how she could miss smelling it.
“Where do you live?” she asks. “You should go home.”
“Over there,” I say and point to my friend Jonathan’s apartment building across the lawn.
“I thought Sarah said you live on Hammond?”
Shit. She knows I don’t live there. I start shaking my head as I come up with a believable lie. “I told her I used to live on Hammond. I live on Park now.”
“Come on,” she says and reaches for my hand. I purposefully wobble and fall against her as I get up. “I’ll help you get home.”
Slowly we walk across the lawn toward the building where Jonathan’s apartment is waiting. I have everything set up and ready for us. I can hardly wait as I purposefully fumble with my keys, dropping them on the ground.
“Here. Let me do it,” she says, grabbing the keys and inserting the key into the lock before she opens the door.
“Can you help me in?” I ask.
“Sure,” she says and she puts my arm over her shoulder to help me make it inside. My fingertips graze her nipples, but she doesn’t seem to notice.
It’s dark and secluded in here. It sets the perfect tone for what I have planned for this evening.
“You really live here?” she asks. Her knitted brows and inflection in her voice let me know she doesn’t approve. Too bad. There’s no way I’m taking her to my place and have her dirty my apartment.
“Have a drink with me,” I say. You must, or this evening will not work.
“I think you’ve had enough,” she says.