I want to tell her that all of this has happened to me, and I don’t want her to screw herself up like I did.
But before I can say anything, she sucks in a deep breath and when I lift my eyes from my tray, I realize that her expression has fallen. “You know what? Never mind.” Grabbing her bag, she jumps up from the table. “Forget I asked. I’ll figure it out on my own.”
“Wait.” I come to my feet ready to go after her, but she continues to walk quickly, nearly knocking over Nathan as he walks toward my table.
“Shit,” I grind out, slamming back into my seat. I massage each of my index fingers over either side of my nose and shoot a look over at him, meeting his questioning blue eyes. “It’s not you, it’s just—”
“Trouble in paradise?”
I groan. “Even worse. Fight between her and one of our suitemates.”
“That bad?”
Rubbing my hands over my face, I nod. “So much that I’m actually foaming at the mouth for fall break to come in a few weeks,” I admit, hating that my words are actually true. Since returning to Richmond after Labor Day a couple weeks ago, I’ve talked to my parents a total of two times. Still, I’ll take their love-stoned, let’s-pretend-nothing-ever-happened and my father pointing out how lucky I am he picked up the tab after my music scholarship was cancelled any day over living in my hostile suite.
At least at home, there are two other floors I can exile myself to if things get out of hand.
Cringing, Nathan takes a bite of his steak wrap. “Fun times. Sadly—and I guess, luckily—I’ve seen my suitemates maybe once, and my roommate is always gone.”
I swirl one of my fries around in ketchup and then wipe my hands on a napkin. “I’d go with luckily.”
We finish lunch together in silence, before I head to my last class of the afternoon—English. I’m distracted the entire time, mostly because of Corinne, but also because voice lessons are next. Although the last week has been pretty tame, Rhys always manages to unnerve me.
I’m in my own world as I leave Stanfield Hall and cut through the student union to get to my lesson on time, so I don’t hear my name being called until strong fingers touch my shoulder. I jerk around in surprise, relaxing just a little when my eyes skim over Daniel’s face.
“Seriously. That is the quickest way to get pepper-sprayed, Hollister,” I inform him hotly, spinning back around. He catches up quickly, his long stride matching my own.
“Hollister?”
Dodging his question, I point up ahead to McGregor Hall, the music building. “I’ve got a voice lesson and my instructor is a real bitch if I’m late, so what’s up?”
“Corinne—” he starts, and I slow my pace significantly, my breath catching as I wait for him to finish. I’m guessing that with Elliot being his roommate, he’s already well aware of what’s going on. Even though I know very little about Elliot, I’m willing to bet money that the first person he went bragging to was Daniel, which pisses me off. I turn and lean in toward him, not caring that the people walking behind us have to break to move around. Glancing away from my stare, Daniel sheepishly rubs his palm over his short blond hair.
“Can you let her know she doesn’t have to avoid my texts?” he finally asks.
My lips part in surprise, but I quickly blurt out, “Sure. I mean, of course. I’ll tell her when I see her tonight.”
I start to tell him that my undecided opinion of him just went up ten notches, but then he flashes me a straight white grin, his eyes dipping to give me a swift once-over, from the brown suede toes of my flats to the hat on my head, taking in every inch of my olive skin that’s visible along the way, and I scale that back to five notches.
He starts to say something else, but then he shakes his head. “I appreciate it, Evie,” he says before taking off in the opposite direction.
But I’m smiling when I enter the practice room a few minutes later with thirty seconds to spare. After five minutes of sitting at the piano bench, waiting alone, though, that smile begins to fade.
And after fifteen minutes when there’s no sign of Rhys, and I pull out my course material to start rehearsing on my own, my fingers are shaking as I put the limited skills I’ve learned so far this year in my beginning piano course to the test.
But irritation—and I can’t help but admit, concern—doesn’t set in until I’m on my way back to my dorm and I check my campus email on my phone to find a message from Rhys.
From: rhys.delane01@founders.edu
To: evelyn.miller13@founders.edu
Date: Fri, Sept 13, 2013 at 4:49 PM
Subject: Sorry
Evelyn,
I had an emergency come up, so I had to leave campus for the weekend. Practice this weekend and we’ll touch base next week. Again, sorry for standing you up.
Rhys
Disappointment spirals through my veins as I go into my suite. Hannah’s yelling from her room when I walk in, and when I go to my own room, Corinne pops up from her computer chair. Her face is pale and drawn as she apologizes for walking out on me earlier in the D-hall.
“No skin off my nose,” I promise as I sit in the center of my bed and take off my shoes. Before I grab my computer to write Rhys back, I tell her about running into Daniel. When I’m done, and she looks just as surprised as I was earlier, I say, “Can you call him? He’s worried about you.”
She rushes off, leaving our door partially open. The second I hear Hannah loudly declaring that the “skank is probably gone for the night,” I abandon my reply to Rhys and stalk to the doorway. Blushing, she prepares to speak to me—probably to defend her assholery—but before she can, I slam the door so hard the few bottles of perfume that are sitting on my dresser tumble over.
Chapter Eleven
Nine Months Ago
I already know why James is at my door even before I step aside to let him in, before he opens his mouth to speak. Still, it doesn’t quite mute the sharp pain I feel when he sits on the edge of my bed, looks me right in the eye, and says, “You and me can’t do this anymore, Evie. I’ve tried—I’ve been trying for over a year now—but I can’t.”
Sliding my butt onto the desk directly across from where he’s sitting, I raise my beer to my lips and drink quickly. I’d dug into my private, under-the-bed stash earlier this afternoon, right after Kendra left to go home for the weekend.
“Do what?” My words are a little slurred. I set the can down on a folded sheet of paper I’ve made into a coaster. “What are you talking about?”
James’ face creases into a frown. He leans forward with his elbows on his knees. “We need to take a break.”
I clear my throat to shove down the bubble forming in my chest. This has been a long time coming, especially after he disappeared over Christmas break, and I heard a rumor from a mutual friend that he was messing around with any and every thing with breasts and a decent ass.
“So you can see other people. And not feel bad about it.” I rub my palm over my chest, wishing it were possible for me to rub away the burn flaming through my ribcage. “I get it.”
“Evie,” he groans, his voice impatient. “Don’t be like this.”
“I’m not being like anything. What? Am I not allowed to understand and accept it?” I start to take another sip of my drink, but suddenly he’s on his feet, standing in front of me and holding my wrist. “Get out of my room,” I order.