Page 21 of Fueled Fury

12

Lainey

Stomping into the classroom, I hurry and take a seat, jerking my belongings out to get ready for the professor to begin. I’m almost relaxed from the ridiculous confrontation back in the café a few minutes ago. Almost. Until the paperback copy of Frankenstein is dropped on my lap.

“You forgot this,” Austin says nonchalantly as he has a seat next to me. Stretching his legs out, he looks around the classroom like he hadn’t just made a scene in the café.

“Class is about to start.”

“Yeah. Glad I made it on time since I’m in it.”

“You can’t be serious?” My hands drop to my lap as I look at the moron smirking at me. “Yes. Yes, you are. Of course. This is your sick sense of humor. Adamant on tormenting me.” I continue rummaging through my bag, doing my best to ignore my new and very unwanted classmate as I toss his stupid book back to him. “You’ll need this for class.”

“Keep it. I have every word memorized.” He holds it back out to me. “Maybe it could give you a new perspective, and not just from the person who’s already told you the story, but the one who doesn’t know how to tell his without screwing up.”

Hesitantly, I grab the book. I’d seen him with this book in his hands often. The quiet, sullen kid who preferred to read than run around with Eli and me. Now knowing why he picked this one makes me feel differently about all the memories I have watching as he sat in the corner, scribbling away between the pages.

I shove the book into my bag before dropping the whole thing to the floor. “If the creature doesn’t feel he deserves love, no one can change that.”

“Maybe he’s doing the best he can.” Austin shifts in his chair, drapes his arm over the barrier between us, and allows his hand to hang over, his fingertips tenderly stroking my arm. “Please don’t give up on him.”

It’s a struggle to focus on anything but the warm sensation his touch leaves on my skin, even as the professor begins her lecture. She prompts a discussion amongst the students, about what I’m unsure, because the conversation from the café keeps replaying in my head. The fact that Austin referred to me as Eli’s toy, an object and nothing more … is it all just a game to him?

Jerking my arm away from Austin’s touch, I refocus my attention. I don’t want to participate in the discussion, but I do my best to follow along. A wave of relief washes over me when class finally ends, and I grab my bag, hurrying out of the room and to my car since I’m done for the day.

Austin says my name, and the prospect of another conversation urges me into a full sprint to my car, never slowing until I reach Lucy, drop into the driver’s seat, and speed off campus.

* * *

“Did you need anything else?” the waitress asks, to which I shake my head.

Looking at the cheeseburger and fries, my mouth waters. I’d already sat here for an hour studying before I finally worked up an appetite. It usually doesn’t take any time since Big Tobe’s is my favorite place to eat. The down-home atmosphere combined with the yummy cooking makes it a popular hangout for the college crowd, myself included.

“Hey, Lainey,” Hannah says as she takes a seat across from me. “Eli said you would be here.”

“He acts like he knows me or something,” I joke, but it pulls at my heart. My best friend does know my favorite spot to disappear to in Sunland along with everything else there is to know. Until recently, I had one secret I’d kept from him, but Austin took care of dropping that bombshell. “Is he heading over?”

“No,” Hannah replies, pausing as the waitress walks up to take her drink and food order—a matching cheeseburger and fries. Once it’s just us again, Hannah gives me a sympathetic smile. “Eli told me.”

“Really?” It’s not surprising since she is his girlfriend, but it makes me uncomfortable. Not because he told Hannah but because he trusted her enough to confide in her about something I lied to him about.

“Yeah. He asked me to check on you.”

“Why?” Why wouldn’t he?

“He’s worried about you. He said Austin can be an extremely manipulative person. He’s worried you’re going to get hurt again.” Hannah appears as uncomfortable as I feel. It’s not that we haven’t been good friends. We’d actually gotten really close since she and Eli started dating not long after we started at Haine. Our first semester feels like forever ago, but in reality, we’ve barely started spring semester of our second year.

“He doesn’t need to worry.” Another lie. But Eli and Hannah shouldn’t be worried because I can’t control myself when it comes to Austin.

“He blames himself.” Her voice carries less sympathy and more irritation as she continues, “He said he’s warned you practically your entire life, and you still went for Austin.”

Now, I’m getting frustrated. “Yes, he has. But it was my decision.”

“He was crying. I’ve never seen Eli cry.”

I have. It’s not been very many times, yet every occasion somehow involved Austin. “I’ll talk to him when I get home. He doesn’t have to worry about me.”

She gives me a nod as we sit in awkward silence until her food arrives. We chat about a few random things but struggle to keep the conversation going. That’s never happened between us. Austin really does drive a wedge between me and everything good in my life. And I’m the moron who goes back for more.