“Can you please keep it to yourself…”
Gabe interrupts my pleading words. “Whatever you and Lori talked about is none of my business.”
I let out a relieved sigh, and then I pinch Lori’s cheek hard in retaliation.
“Ouch! What was that for?”
“You could have told me he was sitting there!” I don’t like people knowing about this, especially Rague’s brothers.
“He’s a lawyer,” Lori declares. “He knows how to keep a secret, the old lawyer's confidentiality.”
“I’m not a client,” I point out.
“No. But you are family.” Gabe’s words tug at my heartstrings.
I am part of a family. My eyes start burning, a clear sign of oncoming tears. Before I make an even bigger fool of myself, I tell the driver to stop the car.
“What the…?” Lori is staring at something outside.
“What’s wrong?” Bez questions him.
“I thought I saw it again…never mind, I must have drunk too much cocoa. It got to my head.”
I open the car door when Lori passes me a bag.
“What is it?”
“Just some clothes, lotions, creams, oils, etc…”
“You need to stop buying me stuff.” I huff, hooking my messenger bag over my shoulder and holding Ollie’s and Lori’s bags in one hand.
“Never,” Lori cheekily responds. “Now go grab your books, we’ll wait for you.”
“There’s no need. It’s going to take two more hours to get home for you guys with all the traffic. I’ll be fine. The dorm is close by.”
“You sure?” Gabe asks, but he’s already left the seat in the front to move near Lori, pushing him toward Wednesday.
“Positive.”
“All right. I’ll call you in a couple of days.” With Lori’s parting words still in my ears, I enter the library. Ten minutes later, I’m outside again.
Brad Paisley’s song “There’s No I in Beer” is playing in my EarPods, and even though the bags and the three books I borrowed weigh on my arms, I’m whistling lightheartedly as I make my way to my room. I’ve always loved music, ever since I was a kid. It helped me fall asleep and tuned out all the illegal and disgusting stuff that was going on in my father’s house. Ollie and I used to share my earphones every night. He likes pop while country music is my favorite. I like the straightforwardstorytelling about life, love, and heartbreak, the slow, emotional melodies.
It’s Monday late in the evening, and the walkways and the patches of grass are fairly quiet and empty. The sky is dark. And the wind turned the air chilly, making me shiver a little. I want to reach the dorm as quickly as possible. The song ends but I don’t grab my phone to choose a next one. I take off the EarPods and stuff them inside my jacket pocket without stopping.
A car stops near the curb a few feet in front of me, and I quicken my steps, suddenly feeling uneasy. I hear the car door opening and then closing as I keep walking. Aneepof surprise leaves my lips as someone grabs my wrist, forcing me to spin around and drop the bags on the ground.
Jacob? He’s the guy who invited me to his friend’s party more than a week ago, and when I didn’t go, he disappeared. He has a black eye, no jacket, and his clothes look all wrinkly. What happened to him?
“You okay?” is what comes out of my mouth. The grip on my wrist tightens. I need to get my phone from the back pocket of my messenger bag. I slowly move my hand toward it.
“Okay?” He sneers. “After ghosting me, you pretend to be worried?”
Ghosting him?
“Are you going to piss me off when this day has already been absolute shit?” He jerks my arm with force, pushing the strap of my messenger bag off my shoulder. It falls heavily on my forearm, yanking my hand away from the pocket where my phone is.
“I don’t know what you mean. You are hurting me. Let go.” I look around, but there’s nobody. I instinctively press the books I’m holding closer to my racing heart. My brain is screaming to run, but I can’t.
