“In your dreams you’d have an ass like Blythe’s.” Chris winks at me.
Another group “Ohhhhhh!”
Sabin sets me down on the ground. “Okay, okay. I hear you. You think I’m fat and disgusting.” He fakes a sob. “That calls for hot chocolate. Blythe, come with me. I’m so out of shape that I may need assistance walking the distance from here to the counter.”
“Consider me a human cane,” I say.
As I walk by Chris, I mess up his hair and he smacks me on the ass.
“See, Sabe? HARD AS A ROCK!” he yells as we walk away.
I just shake my head and keep walking.
“You two aren’t… you know… again, are you?” Sabe nudges me with his elbow. “I kinda thought that Chris…”
“What?”
“Nothin’,” he says and looks ahead.
“No, we’re just friends. It’s good, really,” I promise him.
The line at the café takes forever. It seems half the campus is holed up here during the storm. We’re just collecting the drinks we’ve ordered for the table when Zach catches up with us at the counter.
“Hey!” Zach leans a hand against the wall. “I’m really hungry. Do you guys want something? I was thinking we could take a couple pizzas back to my room?”
“My fat belly and I always want pizza. Totally good idea,” Sabin says.
“Sure, let me just warm up before I go out again.” I am still shivering when I take two steaming cups from the counter.
“Aw, let’s just get them now and head over. I’m, like, really, really hungry.” Zach bounces in front of us while we start back to the tables.
“Dude, what the hell? We’ll eat pizza in a little bit. The lady is still currently an iceberg. Calm down.” Sabin frowns at him.
Then Zach stops walking. He’s less bouncy now. “Sabe…” He tips his head back just the slightest bit. “It’s just that…” Zach looks at me.
“Oh fuck,” Sabin says under his breath.
I follow Sabin’s gaze. Immediately I know that this is the moment I will remember as the first time I felt very real and very painful heartbreak.
Everyone is still sitting in their seats at the table, but there is now someone else there, too. She is standing behind Chris, her hands rubbing his shoulders. For a second, I try to tell myself that I’m seeing something other than what I am. But when she tilts his head back and kisses him on the mouth briefly, there is no point. He does do a quick scan for me, but he doesn’t spot me through the crowd. I can tell he’s uncomfortable, but I don’t give a shit.
“Blythe.” Zach touches my arm.
“Who is she?” I ask softly.
Neither of them says anything. I turn my back on the view. I cannot look at this.
Sabin turns and throws the cups from his hands into the trash can. He takes the two I am holding and does the same. “Zach, get her coat. Let’s go.”
I look at Sabin. “Who is she, Sabin? Who is she?”
“Don’t cry,” he says. “Please don’t cry.”
“I’m not going to cry, I just want to know who thefuckshe is.”
Sabin starts walking me to the door, and his hand on my back is the only reason I am able to find the exit. “Just hold on, baby girl.”
He tries to get me to wait in the entryway, under the blasting heaters, but I push into the snowstorm. Better to freeze out here than share the air in there with her. “Jesus, Blythe! Stop!”
