The girl pulled up a chair and sat down beside me, ignoring the annoyed look from the guy who sat at the computer beside me as she squished herself into the small space. “Where the hell have you been? Group has been such a snooze without you there!” she exclaimed, and it dawned on me that she must be in the addictions support group on campus.
I looked at the girl again and tried to remember her name, but it just wasn’t coming to me. She must have sensed my lack of recognition, because her face fell a bit. “It’s Lisa. Remember? I sat beside you every week.”
“Oh, yeah, Lisa. Hey, how’ve you been?” I asked, not really caring.
“Not so good. Twyla got busted last week for having a bottle of Oxi in her room. Her parents pulled her out of school,” Lisa said, and I tried to remember who Twyla was.
“Oh, well, that sucks,” I said, turning my attention back to the computer screen as I scanned the want ads.
“Yeah, it really does, now I don’t have a roommate. So anyway, where have you been? Are you not coming to group anymore?” she asked, and I was three seconds away from telling her to take a hike.
“Nope,” I answered shortly, grabbing a pen from the cup on thedesk and writing down a few numbers of jobs that could have potential.
“I understand, it’s so boring. Kristie has a new guy in there helping out now that Aubrey is gone. And he sucks even worse than she did.”
Her flippant comment caught my attention. “Wait, Aubrey’s not helping out in the group anymore?” I asked.
Lisa’s eyes widened. “Oh, that’s right! You guys were involved! But you’re not anymore, right?” she asked, frowning slightly.
How the hell did this chick know that Aubrey and I had been together? Aubrey had gone to a lot of trouble to make sure that no one ever found out. Hell, I was hammered in the head over and over again about how bad it would be if anyone ever knew. It had never occurred to me that Aubrey had to face any repercussions as a result of our relationship. “What are you talking about?” I demanded, not confirming or denying what Lisa was saying.
“So, it’s not true? Twyla had told me that she heard you two were together and that’s why Aubrey wasn’t helping out anymore. Got kicked out or something. Whatever, she was way too straight edge. Don’t you remember how she flipped out on Kyle?”
I got to my feet so abruptly that my chair was knocked over. I didn’t bother to pick it up as I left.
chapter
fifteen
aubrey
after Boundaries and Ethics class, I ended up blowing off the rest of my day. My run-in with Maxx that morning had rattled me, and all I wanted was a bubble bath and to rearrange my closet. I needed to get my equilibrium back. I was proud that I’d been able to walk away with my head and heart intact, but I still felt unsettled.
Renee was in class until early evening, so I had the place to myself. I turned my music on, blasting old-school Nine Inch Nails and pulling all of my shoes and sweaters out of my closet. I was knee-deep in shoeboxes when the doorbell chimed. I stood up and wiped my dusty hands on my jeans, pulled my stringy hair into a low bun, and headed out to the living room. The doorbell rang again and I growled in frustration. “Hold your horses,” I muttered as I turned the lock and opened the door, not bothering to look through the peephole.
And then I froze. I should have known walking away from Maxx had been too easy.
“What are you doing here?” I asked shortly, thinking about shutting the door in his face.
He frowned, the lines between his eyebrows deepening. “We need to talk.”
“Well, I’m sort of busy—” I began, but Maxx cut me off. He stepped forward, forcing me to back up and let him into the apartment.
He shut the door behind him and stared at me with an intensity that made my stomach drop into my scuffed sneakers.
“No. We need to talknow,” he said, his words strong and brooking no argument.
I crossed my arms over my chest and leveled my hardest glare in his direction.
“Uh, excuse me? Where do you get off?” I fumed.
Maxx closed his eyes, clearly frustrated.
Well, that makes two of us, buddy.
Maxx opened his eyes again, the blue blazing with a ferocity that made me take another step back. “What happened after I went to rehab?”
Huh?
