Chapter Twenty-One
Reagan wasn't surprisedthat she didn’t hear back from Hudson that night or the next day, but that didn't mean she wasn't affected by his silence. She didn't have his class on Tuesday, which meant she couldn't even see for herself that he was okay. As much as she wanted to, she wasn't going to continue to try to get ahold of him. If he wanted to talk, he’d call or text. She refused to feel guilty for what happened; there were two people involved, and he was the one that forgot to lock the door. She was pretty sure he wouldn't be accused of inappropriateness with a student, but she didn't know how much trouble he would be in for having a woman in his office at all. Tuesday shaped up to be a better day overall, despite not hearing from him. At the end of the day, she picked up dinner in the cafeteria and made her way back to her dorm, where Gabby was already there eating soup.
“Hi, Gabby,” she said as she came in.
Gabby looked up from where she was eating and reading a magazine at her desk. “Hi, Reagan.”
Reagan sat at her own desk and picked at her food. Instead of worrying over Hudson, she decided to ask Luna how her first day back at the middle school had been. Time flew much faster as Reagan exchanged texts with her friend.
Wednesday dawned under a cover of clouds and steady rain. Determined not to be in a bad mood, Reagan was cheerful with Gabby and left in plenty of time to get to lit comp. She was eager to see Hudson and ask him how things were going. The last thing she expected was to walk into class and find someone else standing at the whiteboard. With her stomach full of butterflies, Reagan hurried to her seat and pulled out her phone. Her message to Hudson was blunt and in all caps.
Reagan failed at her attempt to focus on the new guy and not on the screen of the silent phone on the desk in front of her. She needed him to answer her, to tell her why he was absent. If he was in trouble because of her, she had to try to find a way to make it right. If it was more like he was hiding in shame, she really had to make him see that it wasn’t necessary. She tried to form a plan, but she had her first day of work later on and didn’t have many options.
Reagan approached the new professor at the end of class, squeezing her bag nervously in her hands. “Excuse me.”
He looked up from the table where he had papers spread around. “Yes?”
“Where is Professor Clark?”
He gave her a tiny smile. “I’m not at liberty to discuss that with students.”
She frowned. “Can you at least tell me how long you’re going to be filling in for him?”
“At least for the remainder of the month, maybe more.” He turned his attention back to what he was working on.
Reagan’s jaw dropped. There was really nothing else she could say.
The remainder of the day passed agonizingly slow. Every minute of her next class was torture. She was called on by the professor, and her guess made it obvious she was daydreaming. She had to walk to her car in the pouring rain and she’d forgotten her raincoat in the dorm. The line in the cafeteria was long and she had to eat and run in order to make it to her afternoon class. The only bright spot was starting her new job. She was lucky to be able to wear comfortable clothes and throw her hair into a ponytail, especially since she wasn't in the mood for anything else. She was shown around the center after filling out her employment packet. She would be an assistant to the woman in charge of the after-school kids, and the age group was perfect for her to gain experience for the future.
Reagan was finished at six-thirty and completely exhausted. She didn't realize how much work it would be, but she should have known after her conversations with Luna. She barely had the energy to walk through the cafeteria line again, but she chose to sit at one of the tables and eat instead of going back to her room. It was boring and claustrophobic in there more often than not. Despite having a decent roommate, finally, Reagan wasn't feeling any more endeared to dorm life. It was noisy in the cafeteria and Reagan found that she couldn't focus on her growing apprehension there, either. She refused to acknowledge that she was hoping to see Hudson come walking through the doors.
It was a whole other story when she went home. Having to be in the tiny, quiet room was more than she could handle. She paced what little space was afforded to her until Gabby came in, then she sat on her bed and turned her cell phone over and over in her hands.
“I know we don’t really know each other, but do you want to talk about it?”
Reagan stilled her hands and looked up at Gabby’s sweet, patient face. “It’s just guy problems.”
“Oh, I had a feeling.” Gabby sat on her bed so she was facing Reagan. “I dated a guy last year that I thought was going to be my one. We planned to come here together and we were going to continue dating. Well, the closer the time came to accepting an offer to attend college, the less and less I heard from him. He eventually ghosted me.”
Reagan’s brows went up. “You didn't even see him at school anymore?”
“Nope, he avoided all the classes we had together and stopped answering my calls.” She shrugged. “It was so hard at the time, but then I realized that he wasn't worth my time and my tears.”
“I wish I could say the same, but I’m positive that something happened to keep him from calling me. I don’t have time this week to go see him, but I’ll go this weekend to make sure he’s okay.”
Gabby shifted on her bed. “If you’re sure.”
Reagan considered Gabby’s advice. “I appreciate it.”
“No problem. Just don’t let him trample all over you.”
“That’s sound advice.” It really was, and she gave it honest consideration. She didn't want him to act cold toward her like she had done something wrong, but she wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt if he was freaking out.
Reagan did her best to work on her homework assignments before fatigue won out. Thursday was marginally better simply because it wasn't raining, but Friday was the longest day of her life. She got stuck at work until seven, and her battery was dead when she tried to leave. She had to get a jump from the only other employee that was still there, and then she called Grant for help paying for a new battery. Saturday was meant to be the day she went to Hudson’s, but she had to rely on Luna giving her a ride to buy a new battery, courtesy of Grant’s emergency credit card. Once that was taken care of she let Luna buy her lunch, promising to reciprocate after her first paycheck.
“Have you heard what happened after you were caught?” Luna asked in a quiet voice.
Reagan shook her head as she added ketchup to her plate. “Nope. He won’t respond to my texts, the last of which I sent on Wednesday when the other guy showed up.”
