I cringe slightly, sighing deeply at who the voice belongs to. Vanessa stumbles on the balcony, slightly tipsy, and Chase looks downright confused while Bianca freezes. Vanessa then wraps her arms around me and I recoil. She babbles and I shake my head. Chase walks over to Bianca, whose eyes widen. Something pinches in my chest, but before I can even say anything, Bianca winces, accidentally leaning more on her twisted ankle.
“What happened?” he asks her, and my blood instantly boils, not even bothering with what Vanessa is telling me as I approach Chase and Bianca. He hits my chest, confusion coloring me. “She twisted her ankle, dude. Why didn’t you help her?”
I grumble, annoyed, as Vanessa gasps at Bianca’s ankle turning redder by the minute.
“I was gonna,” I say.
Bianca nods, backing me up. “Yeah, he was.” She gives me a small smile.
“Come on, Harrison, I have some first aid stuff in my room.” She limps as Chase helps her, and I’m stuck, even more frozen. The words are going around in circles in my head.
I just saw. . .Bianca Harrison. . .
My ex-best friend Bianca Harrison.
Vanessa snakes her arms around me again and I flinch. I turn around and she smiles, but I back away instantly, huffing in annoyance.
“What are you doing here?” I ask as she twirls her finger around a strand of her hair, and I do my best not to shudder at her attempts at being seductive.
“It’s a Sigma Mella party. You know I never miss one of these.” I sigh, knowing she doesn’t. “I always hope we can have a repeat of what happened during our freshman year.”
I look at her in disgust, and I’m on myself for how I could ever think about sleeping with her.
“Vanessa, we’ve talked about this. Please leave,” I say sternly, grabbing her arms and pushing her away slightly. She looks up at me, her eyes glossier than before.
“Why?”
I scoff at that, pinching my nose in frustration, wanting to be done with the conversation as I think about Bianca being with Chase. Vanessa won’t leave me alone and I truly don’t know what to do.
“Vanessa, you’re drunk, and I told you already, we’re done. We weren’t anything to begin with. It wasone freaking time. How are you still hung up on that?” Lust clouds her eyes, and even more disgust fills me. “I’ve told you multiple times. I don’t want a repeat, and I’ve tried to be nice, but I’mthis closeto filing a restraining order against you. Come to these parties if you want, or don’t, I couldn’t care less. Just stop looking for me.”
She whimpers slightly at my choice of words and I roll my eyes. Leaving the balcony and her behind, my heart beats rapidly as I headback to Chase’s room, to the little corner of silence and solitude, and punch in the code. Opening the door, I look around frantically, not seeing a now-familiar blonde. Chase is lying on his bed, one of the readings we have to do for class in his hands, and shock comes over me.
I shake my head. “Where is she?” He looks up at me, a smile on his face, and I raise a questioning eyebrow.
“She left.”
Scoffing at him, I walk back out, searching for her, ignoring when he calls for me. Glancing at about a hundred faces, my heart drops slightly when I don’t see hers. Defeat washes over me and I leave the hustle and bustle of the party, going back to the bedroom. I shut the door, preparing myself for Chase to bombard me with questions.
“I knew I recognized her from somewhere.” He points to the small framed photo, one of the only things in his room that belongs to me. “Glad to see you’re using the room.”
Ignoring him as always, I lie down in the extra bed as my brain cycles through everything that’s happened. My best friend, whom I haven’t seen in eight years, showed up at my university. Coincidentally at a frat party I happened to be at, even though I’d been hiding in this room the whole time until I needed some fresh air. I’ve had years to think about what I would say if I saw her again, and yet, I had nothing. I was going to ask what happened between us; was Ithatbad of a friend that she stopped talking to me because of it?
In the midst of the war in my head, my phone rings, and I answer without even looking at the caller ID.
“Hello?”
“Hey, amorcito,” Mom says, and I instantly feel suspicious. She only calls me her “little love” when something is up. I glare at Chase, and he raises his hands in surrender before leaving, thankfully.
“Hi, Mom. Are you alright?”
“Me? I’m good. Amazing.Reallygood. Great, even,” she spills out, and I roll my eyes and smile.
“Mom, I know you. Something’s up.”
She tries to hold out a little longer, but then she sighs. “It’s nothing really.”
I clutch the phone harder to my ear. “We talked yesterday. So, either something really good or something really bad happened. What’s up?”
