aubrey
iwas confused. No, I was more than confused. I wasdisoriented.
Maxx’s kiss had thrown me. I should have predicted it. What had I expected would happen? That we’d sit around and knit a freaking sweater?
He had seemed so upset after getting the news that his hours were being cut at the stable, and I hurt for him. He’d pulled me in with his sad desperation, just as he always had. So much for my so-called hardened heart. Now here I was, several days later, still bothered by his sadness.
I showed up early to my Boundaries and Ethics class so I could have my weekly slip signed off for Dr. Lowell. I suppressed my abject humiliation at being treated like a naughty grade-schooler who has to have her work approved.
“Hey, Aubrey.”
I looked up to see April taking her now-usual seat beside me. I had spent the last few classes trying to ignore her to keep my distance from Evan intact, but I was too tired to maintain my active silence. “Hey, April. How are you?”
April gave me a startled look. “Uh, fine, thanks. How are you?” she asked, the conversation stilted. April didn’t seem to know what to say, and I wondered when was the last time she had been asked that question.
“Not bad. Did you do the reading last night?”
“Yeah, but I’m not sure I understood any of it. This stuff is over my head. I audited this class thinking it would be an interesting filler. I quit my job, which I wasn’t happy about. But I realized I had some time to kill, so I thought why not. But it’s way more work than I thought it would be,” April said on a sigh.
“Sorry about the job. That sucks,” I said sympathetically with a grimace.
“Yeah. It does. But I should have probably quit a long time ago. It’s for the best,” she said, as though repeating something she had been told many times before.
My curiosity was piqued. “Why is it for the best? Where were you working?”
“I was a cashier at the independent bookstore on Maple Drive,” April said.
“I love that place! That sounds like a great job! Why in the world would you want to quit working there?” I asked.
April chewed on her bottom lip, sucking the small silver ring into her mouth. “Evan didn’t like my boss. It created... problems,” she answered hesitantly.
I could imagine what sort of problems Evan created. I got the feeling that April didn’t want to talk about it, and I wasn’t going to press her for personal details.
“Yeah, so this class is no cakewalk, that’s for sure,” I continued, as though she hadn’t mentioned Evan or her job.
“Yeah, I’ve heard,” April said, giving me the hint of a smile.
“I barely scraped by with a B the last time I took it,” I told her without thinking.
April frowned, cocking her head to the side.
“You’ve taken this class already and passed? Then why in the world are you taking it again?” she asked incredulously, and I realized my mistake.
“You’re just a masochist like the rest of us, huh?” She giggled, and I couldn’t help but wonder if we might have been friends under different circumstances. I could see a glimmer of the person she could be if she wasn’t with Evan, and I wondered why she stayed with someone who sucked away all elements of her personality.
My mind immediately went to my best friend and the girl she had become when she had been dating Devon.
“Damn, my cover’s been blown,” I joked, smiling back. April laughed, and it was an infectious sort of sound that made me hate her boyfriend more than I already did for taking that joy away from her. The professor began his lecture, and I was pulled from my surprisingly enjoyable conversation.
At the end of class, I packed up my stuff and noticed that April was waiting for me. I gave her a questioning glance. She picked at her textbook and started sucking on her lip ring again. “So, we have that test next week,” she began.
“Yeah, it’s going to be a killer, too. So I recommend studying your ass off,” I replied offhandedly, throwing my bag over my shoulder and heading out of the room.
April scurried behind me to keep up with my longer strides. “Do you think we can study together? Because I’m lost. I don’t understand any of this,” she suggested, a note of pleading in hervoice.
I stopped before leaving the building. I could see Evan standing impatiently just outside the door, a cigarette hanging from his mouth and a glower already pinned to his face.
“Yeah, I don’t think that would be such a great idea,” I said pointedly, nodding my head toward her boyfriend on the other side of the glass.
