Chapter Three 3 страница. “If you would have listened to your messages, you would have known I was coming to get you

“If you would have listened to your messages, you would have known I was coming to get you. Mike is going home for the weekend. I figured you could come stay with me for a few days. We need to get our shit figured out before we go home next weekend for Lori’s engagement party,” he explains.

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m obviously busy here.” She holds her hands out to the laptop in front of her.

“What are you doing?” He glances at me briefly, but then looks back at her.

“A lab.”

“Do it when you get back.”

“It’s due tomorrow.” She’s lying. It’s not due until the beginning of the next lab on Wednesday. This guy is starting to piss me off. She doesn’t want anything to do with him and he isn’t getting the hint.

“I’ll wait,” he informs her slumping his side against the doorway.

“What the hell, Jeff? I’m not going anywhere with you tonight and I’m certainly not going to your sister’s engagement party. I think I made it pretty clear a few weeks ago that we’re done. Go the hell back to school,” she shouts. That’s why I don’t recognize him. He doesn’t even go here. She’s getting even more upset and I want nothing more than to pull her in my arms and comfort her. If this guy doesn’t get the hell out of here, someone might end up calling the cops on me tonight.

“I just drove an hour to get you. Come stay with me and we can talk this out, privately,” he snaps back.

“It’s your fault you drove here without hearing back from me. There is nothing to talk about.”

“Why not? Are you fucking this guy?” He moves to get in her face and I’m ready to stand up, but Alyssa beats me to it. She stands up so fast the wooden chair flies out from under her, hitting Leah’s desk across the small room.

“Living room. NOW!” she yells pointing in the direction she wants him to go. He glares at me once more, but then walks out. She follows him without looking back. She pulls the door closed behind her, but it stays open a crack. “How dare you come in here like this? You have no right!”

“Tell me right now. Are you fucking him?”

“Not that I ever have to explain anything to you ever again, but no. I’m not fucking anyone. That’s your thing, remember?” It all makes sense now. This stupid asshole had her and cheated on her. This must be why she’s been so upset.

“God damn it, Alyssa! I apologized a hundred times. If you would have listened to my voicemails or read my fucking texts you would know. I was drunk. She meant absolutely nothing to me. I’ve never done anything like that before and I won’t ever do it again.”

“You knew I was coming that night. You knew I was going to be walking into your room any minute. You wanted me to see you with her.” The pain in her voice breaks my heart and makes me want to punch something.

“Baby, just let me…”

She cuts him off before he can finish. “Don’t you ‘Baby’ me you selfish son of a bitch!” I feel terrible that I am in here practically eavesdropping, but I cannot leave. If he does anything to hurt her, someone needs to be here.

“What the fuck, Jeff?” Julia screams. “You told me outside you were here to pick her up. You told me that you guys were working it out. You fucking lied to me to let you in? Get out of here, right now. I’m calling Tommy. I’ll call Public Safety if I have to.”

“Julia, I got this,” I hear Alyssa saying.

“Lyss, I’m sorry. I had no idea,” Julia says to her, but I hear her door slam.

“Just listen to me for one second, please,” Jeff begs. “I was in the middle of telling her how I’m proposing to you at my sister’s engagement party one minute and the next she was coming on to me. Damn it. I was wasted. I’m so sorry. You have to forgive me.”

“Seriously? You were planning on proposing to me?” Please don’t tell me she is falling for this crap. “You were planning on proposing to me and you slept with some tramp? Get the fuck out of here, right now! I don’t ever want to see you again. Ever.”

“You’re just upset. You don’t mean that. We aren’t over, Babe. You are going to come home with me next weekend and we’ll go to the party. I’ll give you the ring and this will all go away. Please, Lyss. Please don’t do this.”

“Good-bye, Jeff,” she says. I can hear the pain in her voice that’s been visible on her face for the last week. She’s suffering right now and nothing can keep me in this room anymore. I walk out, pushing the door against the wall behind it. Standing there staring at him with my arms crossed, it’s obvious he feels defeated. I almost feel bad for him that he lost her. Almost.

“Fine. I’ll go now. But we are not over. I’ll give you time to cool down and we’ll talk again, okay?”

Alyssa doesn’t answer him. She just turns away and stares out of the window. He turns and walks out of the door. Within seconds, Julia is out of her room holding her. “Lyss, I am so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault that he is a lying bastard.” She chokes back tears.

“Oh my God! Leah is going to kill me when she hears that I let him in here.” It’s nice to know someone’s got her back. “I called Tommy. He’s on his way.”

“I’m here,” I say. “I wasn’t going to let him do anything to her.” Just then someone bangs on the door causing Alyssa to jump. Julia runs over to open it.

“He’s gone. He left a few seconds ago. I didn’t realize Rocco was here.”

“You okay, Lyss?” He nods at me quickly and looks back to her, waiting for her to answer. She only tilts her head to acknowledge him. “Rocco, you want to come with me? I just want to make sure he left the building.”

“I just saw him go down the steps outside the window. He was heading towards the parking lot. I’m sure he’s leaving,” Alyssa tells Tommy.

“Let’s go make sure,” Tommy says. I follow him out.

“Guys, please. I don’t want you two to get involved. He’s not worth it. He would never physically hurt me. Just let him go.”

“We are just going to make sure he left. That’s all. I promise,” I say to her. I touch her forearm lightly, but what I really want to do is scoop her up and hold her for the rest of the night. She doesn’t even flinch when my hand lingers on her arm for a few seconds. As the door starts closing behind me, I add, “Don’t open this door without looking through the peephole first. We’ll be right back.”

Tommy and I round the corner and sneak out the side door. “What’s this guy’s deal?” I ask him.

“He’s not all that bad,” Tommy explains. “We used to all hang out. He just fucked up. It happens. Alyssa doesn’t deserve to be treated like that, though. She walked in as he was bagging some bitch. There,” he says pointing in Jeff’s direction and he starts jogging. “Hey, Jeff. Hold on a sec.”

Jeff looks up as he paces around his older pick-up truck. We finally catch up to him. “Hey, man.” Jeff says recognizing Tommy right away.

“You alright?” Tommy asks him.

“I can’t believe I fucked up so bad. I really thought if I just gave her some time, she’d come around.” This dude is visibly upset.

“Yeah you did. I have to ask, why did you do it?” Jeff looks passed him to me. Tommy tells him, “He’s a friend. It’s cool.” It’s not cool. Right now I want to bash this guy’s fucking head in.

“I don’t know how it happened. This girl was just there and FUCK!” He punches the side of his truck bed. He takes a few minutes to calm himself down. “What’s she been up to? How has she been?”

“She hasn’t been great, Jeff. You messed her up pretty bad. The girls have been really worried about her. She didn’t deserve what you did. I’m sorry, but I’m not going to lie about it.” He actually winces and I’m happy this news bothers him.

“No, I appreciate you telling me.”

“Look, man. I really think it’s best if you just stay away from her. She’s done.”

“I don’t know how to live without her,” he confesses.

“You’re just going to have to figure it out. Come on. If your sister’s fiancé bagged some whore, what would you do?”

He sighs. Tommy is being pretty harsh, but he’s got a point.

“I’ll give her time, but I’m not letting her go without a fight.”

“All I’m going to say is Jules and I haven’t been together nearly as long as you and Lyss were. I’d still never do it. I’ve been pretty wrecked and Jules has always been the only one on my mind.”

“Just keep an eye on her, please. Don’t let anything happen to her.” He holds out his hand and Tommy shakes it.

“Always do. We all look out for each other. That’s why I’m standing here talking to you.” Jeff nods at him. “Jeff, I’ve never had a problem with you, but I have to say this.” He’s trying to figure out how to say what he’s thinking. “Don’t do anything stupid. Push comes to shove, I’ll pick Alyssa every time, if you know what I mean.” I now have a new respect for Tommy.

“I do. Thanks, man.” He turns and gets in his truck.

“Take care, Jeff.” He doesn’t say anything else. We watch him as he pulls away until he is out of the parking lot.

“Think he’ll stay away from her?” I ask Tommy as we head back to the apartment building.

“I’m not sure what he’ll do. I don’t know him that well. But if I were him, I’d put up one hell of a fight for that girl.”

“You have something for your girl’s friend, Tommy?” I wonder.

“I don’t mean it like that, Rocco. She’s honestly a great girl who’s had some shit happen to her. There’s something with her mom. The guy she dated before Jeff was even more of a prick, from what I understand. She really knows how to pick ‘em.” He’s shaking his head. “I don’t know the whole story. Julia doesn’t even know, but whatever happened, he was arrested. We only know that much because Alyssa slipped one night when she was drunk.” My stomach has twisted up in knots. “Jeff was there to pick up the pieces after that. I think they were friends for a long time before that happened, if I remember correctly. She’s been so upset because she really thought if she’d be safe with anyone, it would be Jeff. Look, don’t tell her I told you any of that. The poor girl doesn’t need any one throwing this shit in her face.”

“I would never,” I assure him. We head back up the steps to the door we came out of. Tommy leans over the railing and knocks on the girls’ window. I look at him.

“We always do this. Beats walking all the way to the front of the building.” I agree with him as Julia opens the door. “He’s gone,” he tells her. “I made sure he left the parking lot.”

She wraps her arms around his waist and he looks at her adoringly. I’m envious of what they have and it sucks that I will never be able to have that with anyone. “Thank you for coming, Babe. What happened? Alyssa is freaking out in there.”

“Come on. Let’s go in and calm her down.” I say pushing my way in front of them to get to her.

Chapter Five

Alyssa

It feels like it’s been hours since the guys ran out after Jeff, but it’s only been about fifteen minutes. My heart is racing and I’m wearing out the living room floor. Julia closed the blinds blocking my view of the parking lot and she’s refusing to let me go out after them.

“Jules, if something happens to any of them, it will be my fault.” I run my hands through my hair and then pull it up making sure I don’t do it again.

“Relax.” She’s watching the door from our couch. I can tell she’s nervous, too, but she’s trying to make me feel better. “Tommy isn’t a fighter, you know that. He just wanted to talk to him. Nothing is going to happen. What you should be worried about is what the hell Leah is going to do to me for letting the asshole in here.” I stop pacing and look at her. That’s the second time she’s said that and she needs to tell me why. She sighs then continues something she obviously wasn’t supposed to say. “We all decided we’d do whatever we had to in order to keep Jeff away from you. You were a mess. We were all so worried about you.”

“I’m not a kid, Julia. I can deal with this,” I say a little irritated.

“We know that. It’s what friends do, Alyssa. You know you’d go after Tommy, Mark, or Tyler if they did something like that to one of us.” I relax because she’s right. It would actually be worse if it were one of them because they all live here on campus. Jeff doesn’t have to face their wrath every day. “It’s our job to look out for each other.” We are quiet for a little while before there is a pounding on the window.

I jump again. “Damn it! Why does he always have to knock so loud?”

“I’ll go open it. You stay here and don’t open the door. I have my card.” She runs out before I can protest leaving me standing alone in the living room. They finally come back in just when I’m ready to run out to see what’s taking so long.

Rocco comes through the door first, handing Julia her keycard over his shoulder. He’s staring right at me and he looks upset. I instantly think something happened, but when I glance at Tommy, he’s smiling.

“What happened? Are you guys okay?” I’m watching both of them anxiously. It doesn’t seem like there was any sign of a struggle.

“We’re fine. I just talked to him, Lyss. I swear. I don’t think he’ll bother you anymore.” Tommy let go of Julia’s waist and walked around Rocco who was still standing there watching me. He put his arms around me and kissed me on the cheek. I was still tense, but hugged him back.

“Thanks, Tommy. I appreciate you coming,” I say. He lets me go and sits with Julia who has curled up on the couch behind me.

“That’s what friends are for,” he says making Julia giggle.

“Told you.”

I turn back to Rocco. I wasn’t sure what to say to him because he was probably wishing that he never offered to be my lab partner. “I’m so sorry that you had to see all of that. Actually, I’m completely mortified that you were here,” I admit with a sigh. Then I turn away from him so he cannot see my face and walk into my room. I pick up the chair I knocked over earlier. He’s standing just inside my doorway when I put the chair in place.

“You have nothing to be sorry or embarrassed about, Alyssa.” It’s the first time I’ve heard him use my name in conversation. Oddly, it has a calming effect on me. “That guy is a jerk and, truthfully, you deserve better than that.”

“That’s nice of you to say, but you really don’t know me,” I mumble sitting back down in front of the computer. I print two copies of the lab that we were working on as he comes all the way in the room. He turns his chair around so he’s sitting on it backwards and leans his elbows over the back of it. I hand one copy to him then put the other inside the workbook before putting it away.

“I know enough about you to know that you deserve better than walking in on your boyfriend with another girl and then him barging in here like he deserves your forgiveness.” I know he is being nice because he feels bad for me. Great. More pity.

I give him a small smile. “Thanks”

“Are you really alright?” There’s something about the way he asks that makes me want to answer him honestly.

“No, but I will be.”

“I’m really sorry he was such an ass and you are going through this. I wish I could do something.” He pauses for a second and then the mischievous, sexy as hell smile I noticed yesterday is back on his perfectly handsome face. “How about beer and pizza?”

I laugh at him through the tears. “I don’t think that’s part of the super hero lab partner’s job description.”

“You’re right. It’s not. However, it is part of the friend’s job description,” he winks at me and stands up. Just then, I hear Leah coming through the front door.

“Lyss!” she’s yelling. I know she’s pissed. “Where is she?”

“Just be glad you don’t have to deal with what’s entailed in the roommate’s job description,” I whisper and stand up to meet Leah in the living room. I hear him chuckling behind me.

She throws her arms around me pulling me tightly. “Are you okay? I’m going to kill him,” she yells again.

“I’m fine.” I try to reassure her. If she was here when Jeff was, this night would have been a whole lot worse.

“Are you sure?” She pulls away without letting me go so she can look at my face. “If I need to, I’ll track him down and…”

“Really Leah. I promise.” I cut her off before a visual of how vicious my roommate can be fills my head. She squeezes me again before letting me go. I know what she’s going to say next so I talk first. “It’s not Julia’s fault.” She glares at me.

“We discussed it. She should have never let him in.”

“I’m sorry, Leah. He told me he talked to her and they made plans.” She’s sitting with her head in her hands. It’s clear she feels bad enough. “I haven’t seen either of you today, so I didn’t know if…”

“It’s fine, Jules,” I tell her. I squeeze Leah’s arm and glare back at her so she knows what I’m thinking.

“I’m sorry, Julia. I know it’s not your fault. I’m just so pissed he had the balls to show up here. Especially since Alyssa’s been so much better the last couple of days.” Leah looks over to her.

Erin, who must have come in with Leah, comes over and puts her arm around my shoulders. “You sure you’re alright?” she whispers. I nod once. “Come talk to me later if you need me.” She’s still talking low. She knows I’m pretending since there are so many people in our tiny apartment. She goes over to her room where Mark is standing just inside the doorway. Even though they’ve only been dating a few months, they look like they’ve been together forever. She leans up against him and he instinctively wraps his arm around her waist.

Someone in the kitchen catches my attention. I forgot Leah’s boyfriend was coming back here tonight. “Alright. Alright. No more of this bullshit. It’s dinnertime and I’m starving. What are we getting to eat?” Tyler is always hungry so we all laugh. Leah goes over and smacks his arm. “Sorry, Babe, but a boy’s gotta eat!”

“Pizza,” Rocco answers from my room. They must not have realized he was here because they all turn to him surprised. Leah and Erin send me a quick look. “I’m ordering. You guys in?”

“Yeah.”

“Definitely.”

Everyone agrees.

“You sure you want to hang around here? I cannot guarantee the rest of the night will be drama free,” I whisper to him ensuring no one else can hear.

His sexy grin is back again. “I should probably get popcorn, too, then.” I cannot help but laugh. “I’ll be back. I just have to run by my apartment real quick.”

He asks what everyone likes on their pizza. They all yell out their order and put money in. Rocco waves them away and heads out.

“Spill it,” Erin says as soon as the door closes behind him.

“Leave her alone, Erin. The girl has had enough shit for one night,” Mark hollers from behind her.

“Don’t any of you start,” Tommy warns looking directly at Leah.

“I was just going to suggest we look to see if the hockey game is on TV.” Leah is holding up her hands mocking innocence. No one believes that is what she was going to say.

Escaping to my room is too tempting once my friends are distracted with something other than me to talk about. I am not going to make it much longer without crying over tonight’s events and an audience isn’t necessary for that. Before climbing into bed, I pull out the extra blanket from my drawer since it’s not quite cold enough to sleep with yet. I wrap it around me, not even trying to stop the tears that are filling my eyes.

How could Jeff show up here and act like everything could possibly go back to the way it was? What hurts the most is that he had been planning on proposing. He slept with some slut knowing that he was going to ask me to marry him? Jeff had been my savior from the asshole who tried to break me and from the moment we started dating, I assumed marriage would be in our future. We talked about it too many times to remember. The only thing I’m left with is the harsh reality that because of the two of them, I’ll probably never be able to let anyone get close to me again.

There’s a small knock at my door. I’m hoping if I ignore it, whoever it is will go away. The click of the door opening and then closing again reminds me how shitty my luck really is. My head stays firmly planted on the pillow where it fell. Whoever it is will just have to deal with it. That’s what they get for coming in when they weren’t invited. I feel the mattress compress next to me as someone sits down.

“I brought you something,” Rocco says. That wasn’t expected. The sound of his voice makes me stop crying. I look at him through the tears still building despite me trying to resist them. I still cannot get over how attractive this guy is and wonder why seeing him next to me makes me feel better. He’s holding out a bottle of beer to me.

“Thanks,” I say pulling myself up and grabbing a tissue from my dresser next to me. I wipe my face as best as I can.

“Figured you could use one. Besides, you cannot eat pizza without beer. It’s illegal,” he offers an encouraging smile.

I reach out to take it from him, but he pulls it back to open it before handing it over. I take a sip even though I’m not crazy about beer.

“I usually have a Coke with pizza.”

He’s quiet for a moment while he’s contemplating what to say next. “I’m going to help you get over this. I’m going to help you learn how to let it go,” he says.

“Look, Rocco. It’s really nice that you want to help, but I’ll be fine. Really. I’m actually doing better than I was a couple weeks ago. Jeff showing up here tonight just caught me off guard. I’m so grateful that you went with Tommy tonight, that I now have the best lab partner ever, that you ordered pizza, that you are here, but…”

“There’s no way in hell I’m going to let a pretty girl be miserable over some jerk because he was stupid enough to lose her. Not for one more day,” he interrupts shaking his head. He stands up, holding out his hand. When I don’t take it, he raises his eyebrows and motions for me to take his hand again. I’m still processing him referring to me as pretty, but I shake my head once and reach out to grab his hand. “First thing to learn about letting go is never refuse the help of a friend. Now let’s go get some pizza before they eat it all.”

“I just need to wash my face. I’ll be right there.”

“Nice try. I’ll come with you. If I let you go alone, you’ll lock yourself in there and I’ll be forced to knock the door down. You don’t want to have to pay for that, do you?”

“You can be awfully irritating when you want to be, you know that?” I look up at him and wonder why he’s still holding my hand. We walk over to the bathroom door when he lets go to reach for my beer.

“I’ve been called a lot worse,” he smiles. “Now give me that and hurry up. I’m going to be pissed if Tyler eats my piece.”

I flip on the light and grab a washcloth from one of the shelves next to the shower stall. I wet it with cold water and wipe my face easily, careful not to screw up my mascara any more than I already have. It’s the best it’s going to get, so I leave the bathroom grabbing my beer from my babysitter and head out to the living room to join my group of friends. Shane, Troy, and Logan have joined the crowd already in our small apartment.

“They saw me grab the case of beer and heard me order pizza.” He shrugged his shoulder. “They cannot help themselves.” I just shake my head.

“Hey, Alyssa. Better get over here and get some of this while it’s still hot,” Shane says giving Rocco an odd look.

For the next couple of hours, we eat, drink, and laugh as though we’ve all been friends forever. Never once did I worry about what happened earlier tonight, what will happen tomorrow, or what will happen later in the future. Tonight, it was just about letting go, if only temporarily, with friends that would be there when I needed them. Friends that were right here. Right now.

Chapter Six

Alyssa

In the morning, I wake up to the sound of Leah getting ready for her class. She’s rummaging through her closet trying to find something to wear. There’s really no reason for her to stress so much. It’s Friday morning. No one really cares what you look like on a Friday morning. Not to mention, she has spent plenty of nights with Tyler wearing old t-shirts and boxers. His opinion is the only one she should be worrying about. She doesn’t know I’m awake until I reach over and grab my cell phone to check the time. She has plenty of time before class.

“I’m sorry for waking you up,” my roommate whispers. “Go back to sleep. I’ll try to be quieter.”

“No biggie. I want to get up anyway.” I sit up and get out of bed. “I’m going to get ready and head home for the weekend.”

She turns to me. “Why?”

“What do you mean why?” I was on my way to the bathroom but stop and look over at her confused at why she would ask that.

“Are you really going home?”

“Where else would I go?”

“What day is it today, Lyss?”

“Friday?” I answer but it comes out like a question.

She is smiling now. “Really?”

“Leah, can you please stop speaking in riddles. It’s too friggin early for me to think and I have a headache from drinking beer last night. That shit is disgusting, by the way. Why does everyone like it so much? Remind me to stick with vodka next time.”

“For the last month, you’ve been waking up telling yourself how many days it’s been since, well, you know. Now you are telling me that today is Friday.”

Now that it’s clear what she is talking about, I understand why she is questioning my sudden announcement of heading home. She was afraid that I was going to go see Jeff. “No, I’m really going home. My dad was asking me yesterday to come home for a couple days and I need to get some warmer clothes, anyway. You guys deserve a weekend free from worrying about me. Don’t you agree?” I shrug my shoulders. “Besides, you’ve barely spent any time with Tyler.”

“I see Tyler all the time. You know he doesn’t mind spending time with you, Lyss. He loves you just as much as I do.” She throws her shirt on and stands in front of the mirror on the wall checking how it looks from the front and back. “Don’t you ever think for a second that you are some kind of burden on us. Do you understand me?”

“Honestly, I just want to go home and clean out my bedroom. There are lots of pictures and other crappy mementos that need to be tossed. I’ve been purposely putting it off. I miss my dad and Jill, too. They’ve been worried.”

“Are you really okay?” This question has been asked too many times.

I sigh. “I’m better than thirty some days ago. I’m still upset about it, especially after Jeff showed up here last night. I also know there is no way I could be with him again. It doesn’t matter that he was once my best friend before he was the love of my life. Or at least that’s how it seemed. It’s going to take a while to heal, if it’s even possible. Some people might think I’m overreacting, but I was so sure the rest of my life would be spent with him.”

“You are dealing with it the best way you can. No one thinks you’re overreacting. Shit, I’m surprised you’re doing this well. I have no idea how I’d handle walking in on something like that. Not to mention you’re also still dealing with losing your aunt and uncle.”

“I’m just going to deal with things day to day.”

“Hey, do you want me to come home with you? We could leave right after my class and I can help you clean out your room. Then we can go to that restaurant your dad always takes us to.”

“Thanks, Leah. This is something I need to do on my own, though. It will do me good.” I smile at her.

“If you’re sure?” I nod at her. “I’m going to call Ty to see if he wants to go home, too, then. Just let me know if you are going to come back before Sunday and I’ll meet you here.”

Since it’s so early and there’s no rush to get home, I crawl back into bed while Leah gets dressed. The amount of energy she puts into getting ready every day is exhausting. When she’s finally satisfied she looks perfect, it’s almost time for her to go to class.

“Damn it! There’s no time for me to eat breakfast now.”

“You had plenty of time to eat. You just spent it in front of the mirror.”

“Oh shut up!” Leah throws her brush at me. “Not all of us can pull off throwing their hair up the way you can. I really hate you for it!”

“Yes, if looking like a slob implies pulling it off,” I say back sarcastically.

“A slob? Really?” She’s shoving her notebook into her bag. “Girlfriend, do you think you would have landed such a handsome lab partner if you looked like a slob?”

Not this again. It’s time to get out of bed and pack my stuff to go home. “Do we need to discuss this again?”

Leah is laughing now. “Did you not see the way he was looking at you last night? There’s no way it’s only about feeling bad you had to do some assignment alone. No guy is that nice.”

“Whatever. This conversation is getting old.”

“Seriously, Lyss. Everyone noticed but you. Even his friends were talking about him acting different when he was too distracted with you to hear what they were saying. Maybe Julia was wrong about him the other day. I’ve seen him around campus ruthlessly flirting with other girls, but last night was different.”

Дата добавления: 2015-10-30