Chapter19
Valentine’s Daywas that weekend. Lily had a date with Lucas, so Syd and I had planned to go to a party wearing semi-slutty red dresses, and looking to hook up.
But at the last minute, she had to work, so I sat in our room and studied, even read ahead for a couple of the classes.
I could have gone out with others. Girls from our floor were always popping over and inviting us out.
Well, inviting Lily out. She was the most like all the other girls here. But Syd and I came as part of the package deal, so they invited us too.
But Syd was not “Bribury material” to many here (snobby bastards), and I kind of scared a lot of the other girls away. Probably because I called people out on their bullshit.
And there was a lot of bullshit at Bribury.
So I stayed in, and kept my fingers away from my phone.
It wasn’t like I’d actually text Stick to see what he was up to, but I did keep the phone on the other side of the room, out of easy access.
And yes, I did nearly twist my ankle jumping up to get to it when it buzzed.
But it was only Lily saying she wasn’t coming home and to not worry. Lucas was still staying with his mom and little brother to help out with the rent, so I knew she wasn’t staying there with him.
They’d probably gotten a motel room somewhere. Or Lucas had taken her to the apartment he’d shared with Stick until last fall, when he’d moved to his mother’s apartment.
I wanted to text and ask where she was, but I didn’t. I wanted to take Yvette for a drive, but it was snowing out, and I hadn’t driven her on snow yet. I started to text Stick that it might be a good time for a lesson with the new snow, but deleted it before I even finished.
It wasn’t like me to just sit in the room when I wanted to be out, doing something—anything.
But there were a whole lot of things I was doing lately that weren’t like me.
Find her. Be her…and let the rest of the bullshit go.Montrose’s words came back to me again.
The guy was like some Buddha or something. I even considered downloading his oh-so-acclaimed novel and reading it, but in the end I just lay on my bed and stared up at the ceiling.
I must have drifted off to sleep at some point. Around four a.m. I heard Syd in the bathroom. She took a long shower, and when she’d been done for about ten minutes, I got out of bed, grabbed my comforter and made my way to her room.
“Hey,” I said as I entered the room. I moved to the empty bed her former roommate Megan had used.
Megan had gone home to Nebraska after the first week because her mom had died. She’d thought she’d be back for this semester, but she didn’t show in January.
Syd might still be in touch with her, but I wasn’t.
“Hey,” Syd said, her back to me. She was fiddling with something on her desk. “Sorry I woke you.”
“You didn’t. Or I don’t think you did.”
She looked over her shoulder at me, saw me still dressed in leggings and a sweatshirt, not my pajamas. “Were you out?”
I shook my head as I sprawled out on Megan’s bed, wrapping my comforter over me.
“No, I stayed in.”
“Sorry I had to work,” she said. She left the desk and went over to her bed. She’d thrown on her pajamas after her shower and put her long black hair into a wet ponytail.
“Lily with Lucas?” she asked. I nodded. “That’s nice, that he was able to get Valentine’s off and that they can be alone together.”
“I guess.”
She sighed, stretched out on her back, flinging her arms over her face. “It’s so easy for them, hey? They both know they love each other. There’s no drama. No should-they-or-shouldn’t-they. It’s nice, right?”
