I don’t have to increase my speed too much as she’s meandering more than she’s walking with a purpose.
I quicken my pace so that I will reach her before she gets too close to the building where her first class is. I finally reach her.
“Hello beautiful,” I say and watch as she whirls around. Her eyes are wide with shock, almost as if I frightened her by my presence.
“Where did you come from?” she asks. Oh Sarah, I’ve been walking behind you for a while now.
“I was on my way to see you and I noticed you walking toward school, so I started following you. You weren’t going to ditch me, were you?” I smile to let her know I’m not upset, though inside I’m quietly seething with rage. How dare she blow me off. Who does she think she is?
“No!” she quickly assures me. “I was actually going to head to class and text you to see if we could meet later this morning. I’m really falling behind.”
I lick my lips, then clench my teeth to keep myself from saying what I’m thinking. I try to tamp down my anger so I don’t ruin everything I’ve been working towards.
I know she loves me, let’s find out how much.
“Fine,” I say and turn to leave.
“Wait!” she puts her hand on my arm to stop me from leaving.
I look at her, but keep my mouth closed, interested to hear what she has to say for herself. As if there could be an excuse for blowing me off.
“I really need to keep up my grades,” she says as a way of explaining. Explaining is not an apology and I expect a groveling one. This will not do. “I was talking to Julianna this morning …”
“Julianna?” I say. I hate that bitch. She’s too confident in her own beauty and sexuality. That could be appealing for a short while, but no man wants to have someone like that for a wife.
“Yes. She reminded me that if my grades fall, I could lose my scholarship and there’s no way I can afford this school without the full scholarship I’m receiving.”
“Julianna needs to mind her own business,” I say, perhaps a bit too quickly.
“She’s just trying to be a good friend.”
“She’s jealous of you. She’s jealous of what we have.” I’m going to put an end to this so-called friendship of yours.
She shakes her head in denial at me. “No. That’s not true.”
“It is true. Look, I didn’t want to tell you this,” I say as my mind quickly comes up with the perfect wedge. “I wanted to spare you the pain, but Julianna has tried to get me to go out with her several times over the last few weeks. About a week after we started dating she started showing up around my classes and suggested I should go out with her.”
I can tell my words are having an impact. She’s starting to doubt herself and her friend.
Perfect.
“She wouldn’t do that.”
“Are you saying I’m lying?” Don’t question me.
“No,” she tries to assure me that she would never question my honesty. Of course, she wouldn’t. “I just think there must have been some misunderstanding.” She’s making excuses for her friend. She doesn’t want to believe Julianna would do such a thing. She would. All women would because they’re made that way.
“Sarah,” I reach out and touch her beautiful, trusting face. “You’re so innocent. I think your friends take advantage of you. Julianna has a reputation. Everyone in school knows about her and how wild and promiscuous she is. It’s all some of the guys talk about. She’s up for pretty much anything and it seems she’s even up for going after her so-called friends’ boyfriends.”
Sarah looks pained and confused. Have I gone too far? I know she mentioned one time that Kaitlyn was drooling over me that first day of class. Julianna, not so much.
Kaitlyn. That’s another friend she can do without, but at least she’s not a meddling bitch like Julianna.
I can see her mind working as she digests the lie.
“She did go out with someone Kaitlyn had a crush on last fall,” she says aloud, affirming what I just told her.
Jackpot.
“Of course, she did,” I say. “Julianna is not a real friend. How long have you known her anyway? What do you really know about her?” Question her loyalty to you. You will come to find that I am the only person you can trust.
“I …” she pauses, unsure of what to say before finishing her sentence.
I reach over and give her a chaste kiss on her forehead like a parent would to a child they are leaving. The kiss is quick, short, and definitely not romantic.
“Call me later if you have time for me,” I say before walking away.
“Daniel!” I hear her call after me, but I ignore her. I will ignore her for a while now to teach her a lesson. She will not be allowed to blow me off.
It’s time I take care of Julianna.
Julianna
Someone’s been stalking me for the last few days, though I keep brushing it off as paranoia. Maybe I’ve smoked too much weed over the last few weeks since returning to college. Who knows?
Anyway, as I leave my last class, which ends at nine thirty, I distinctly feel someone is watching me. I stop and turn around, but don’t see anyone.
I start walking faster and turn the corner when I instantly bump into him.
Daniel.
“I’m sorry!” he says, grabbing my shoulders to steady me before bending down to pick up the books. He almost falls over in the process. “I’ve been distracted all day ever since … well … you know.”
“Know what?” I ask.
“Sarah didn’t tell you?”
His eyes look red and swollen and he reeks of alcohol. His normally impeccable appearance is gone, replaced by a disheveled mess.
“I’ve been in class and at the library every day. I haven’t seen or heard from Sarah.”
“She broke up with me this morning.”
“Sarah broke up with you? Really?”
“I thought we had something special, but apparently she wants to quit seeing each other so she can focus on her studies and she figured with me leaving in a couple of months, we should end it.”
He looks defeated. Broken.
“I’m sorry,” I say, then remember the conversation I had with her a few days ago in the kitchen. “I hate to say this, but it may be partly my fault.”
“Your fault? How could Sarah breaking up with me be your fault?”
I feel a little guilty looking at him.
“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 Daniel, that’s just not going to last.”
He stares at me as though I’ve just stabbed him in the back.
“Come on,” I continue. “You’re going to be headed to Texas and probably end up with some gorgeous ex-beauty queen. Meanwhile, Sarah is still going to be here, battling the snow and trying to keep her grades up to stay in good standing with her scholarship. This was never going to be a long-term relationship. You know it. I know it. And I told her that.” Wow, I sound like a bitch right now, but it had to be said. Truthfully, I’m more than a little relieved she’s called it quits with him. There’s just something about him that creeps me out. I feel like I know something bad about him, I just can’t put my finger on it.
For a moment, only a fraction of a second, I think I can see a flash of rage, in his eyes. But it quickly vanishes and is replaced by the hurt I saw when we first bumped into one another.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he sits down on the ground. The smell of liquor is so strong I feel I could get buzzed from the fumes alone. He must have been drinking for a while.