Page 15 of Darkest Obsession

“Did you see anything about the guy who did it?”

I shrug. “He was tall. He was heavy. He ended up running off so I don’t see what I can do. Honestly.”

“We can get Kola and find him. Somehow.”

“I don’t think we will. I just want to go home, but don’t let me spoil your fun.”

Sylvia scoffs. “Fun? Thomas just chased off the guy I was flirting with, so I might as well leave.”

She doesn’t tell me who she was flirting with, so I guess I don’t know him.

It’s weird that she’s friends with Thomas though, isn’t it? Thomas’s energy doesn’t match Sylvia’s at all. She’s all bubbly and exciting. She wears yellow all the time and flowers in her hair. Thomas is like a walking rain cloud with too many tattoos on his ridiculously overgrown biceps and what’s with the hair? It’s like he’s trying to act like he doesn’t give a fuck but he obviously puts a lot of effort into that dumb brown wavy ass mop. I just don’t like him. I don’t know why.

“I don’t know why you’re friends with him.”

Sylvia shrugs. “We’re not that close. We just… I don’t know. We have a vibe.”

Sylvia could have a vibe with a serial killer, she’s that outgoing and bubbly. I can’t relate. Spending my whole life in the public eye, I got to see socializing and networking for what it really is: exhausting as hell. Sylvia would have been a better daughter to my mom than I was.

“Let’s find Kola,” Sylvia says. “We’ll get you out of here.”

“I could drive her home if you want to stay,” Roger offers.

“I’m staying,” Molly says dreamily, although I’m not sure who else she knows here. “Hope you feel better, Clover. I’ll see you later.”

Molly wraps me in a hug and leaves. There’s an uncomfortable few seconds of silence after she walks away. Roger’s face cracks into a smile. “I’m sorry, was anyone talking to her?”

Ouch. His comment strikes me as a bit rude, but at least he was offering to drive me home.

“Thanks, Roger. Sylvia, Kola and I can handle our ride home.”

“Are you certain?”

I get that he’s trying to be a gentleman, and he was cool on the dance team, but I’m not ready to spend more time with guys tonight. I’ve just about had enough of men for the time being. Thankfully, Sylvia’s the best at diplomatic rejections.

“Yes,” Sylvia says. “Have fun. We’ll see you at dance rehearsal tomorrow?”

“Cheers.”

After Roger leaves, Sylvia shoots off her emergency text to Kola, who comes bustling towards us with a look on her face like she has some very important gossip to share.

“You wouldn’t believe what I did tonight,” she gushes. “I talked to Jamal. I think he was into it. I don’t know. I’m going to get his number in class tomorrow.”

“Girl, we have an emergency,” Sylvia says. “We’ll talk about Jamal on the way home.”

Sylvia’s brother-in-law bought her a new car as a gift for her attending school here. It’s nice. I’m still saving up my allowance from my parents’ channel to get a car of my own, but I don’t think I could afford one as nice as Sylvia’s brand new red Porsche Carerra. She looks fly as hell behind the wheel. Her brother-in-law must have great taste in cars.

Kola and I scramble into the backseat, Sylvia takes the front and we blast Halo by Beyoncé all the way back to the dorms. Since it’s a party night, all our roommates will probably return home much later or spend the night at the mansion Kit rented out to throw the party.

I’m just glad I didn’t run into him tonight. Ugh. Hooking up with him was so awkward and I definitely regretted it when he confessed he was a virgin after. It wasn’t like he was bad in bed or anything but… I didn’t know why I was sleeping with him.

Thomas’ comments about my reputation make my cheeks flush and the uncomfortable encounter with my attacker only makes it worse. For a split second, I wonder if the person pressing me to the bed could have been Thomas but… I don’t think it was. Thomas sounds so distinctly posh and I couldn’t place that guy’s gravelly voice.

After our encounter in the hallway, Thomas wandered off in a different direction and honestly, Thomas can’t stand alone in a room without a crowd of girls surrounding him. I doubt he would have had time to disappear upstairs and freak me the hell out before racing back to Sylvia and looking completely cool as if nothing ever happened.

No… it couldn’t have been Thomas. Maybe Jude. Definitely not Kit. He’s too much of an idiot to try something like that. He acts like an asshole but deep down, he’s not that bad. Annoying, but relatively harmless. Back at the dorms, we all decide to bed down in my bedroom since Molly won’t be back for another couple hours. My friends and I all have white roommates and love discussing the differences we find between us.

Kola’s roommate nearly lost her mind when she saw Kola use a silk scarf for the first time and she wanted to buy one online to protect her hair. Sylvia made all the girls in our dorm try hot sauce from her family restaurant back in New Orleans. I don’t mind Molly and she tries to keep her ignorant questions to a minimum, but she definitely seems suspicious of my dreadlocks and I’ve caught her trying to touch them when she thinks I’m not looking a couple times.