I catch Ella trying to hide her smirk as she rolls her eyes. “Ever the child. Can’t you take anything seriously?”
“Who do you think it’s from?” Alyx asks, ignoring her jab.
“I have no idea. They’re not always addressed the same way, and only the first one was signed with a J. Though, I’m not convinced it was a J, it was kind of written all loopy and swirly.”
Alyx sits back, and I can tell he’s thinking through this like it’s a riddle he wants to solve.
“Where even are you right now? You look like you’re in a black hole. Is that a filter?” Ella asks, as her head tiltscloser to the screen.
“Somewhere I will never see you grace the doors of.” Alyx’s jaw clenches as if the thought of my sister at Pulse makes him angry.
“Well that’s not cryptic as hell,” she says.
Since I recognize his background, I keep my mouth shut, looking off screen to distract myself.
“Em, you’re doing that thing with your eyes when you know something, but you don’t want to tell me. What do you know?”
“I don’t know anything,” I lie, then quickly change the topic. “And I have no idea who could be sending these, but it’s starting to make me really flippin’ uncomfortable.”
Ella grunts, realizing we’re not going to humor her.
“Do you know anyone with a J name?” Alyx asks.
“There’s this guy Jeremy in the theatre department, but I really doubt it could be him.”
“What’s Professor A-hole’s name?” Ella asks.
“Um, I dunno… Wait, I might still have a syllabus from his class,” I say, shuffling through a notebook until I find it. “John.”
“Oh my God! What if it’s your asshole professor?”
I burst out in laughter. “That’s a good one.”
She blinks back at me on the screen.
“Wait, you were serious?”
“I mean, why couldn’t it be?” she asks.
“Has he given you any indication that he’s into you?” Alyx asks.
“Absolutely not. That man cannot stand me. And I haven’t seen him since last spring. Besides, he has a stick so far up his hiney, even if he did like me like that, I could never see him revealing it like this. And before you ask, I don’t think it’s Daddy Dom either. He’s still ghosting me since he ended things, and he lives in the city. There’s no way he’d come out here to leave me letters if he won’t even return my text.”
Alyx cocks an eyebrow. “What if he had someone on campus doing it for him?”
“Or what if it’s multiple people?” Ella adds.
“Okay, well, you’re both no help.”
“What about that guy from high school? Doesn’t he go to Faith Union with you?” My sister’s question causes a lead weight to sink in my gut. “Didn’t you say he cornered you on campus last year?”
“The fuck?” Alyx snaps. “Why didn’t I know about this?”
“Because sister bestie trumps fuckboy bestie.”
“Can you not word it that way and make it sound like I’m her fuckboy?”
“Gross,” I add.
