He sighs, “Aw, come on. Don’t be like that. It’s our last semester. Doesn’t that mean we should forget the past? Forgive? Maybe give second chances?” Nico crouches down and inserts himself into my eyeline. I can’t help but take in the emotion on his face. It looks similar to the emotion he showed the girl he cheated on me with two years ago.
“No, it doesn’t mean that. In fact, the last semester should mean new beginnings, not old toxic endings.”
Nico tries to hit me with that irresistible smirk that all the ladies love. That I loved once.
When Nico and I met, I was a freshman with rose-colored glasses and a real zest for independence. Nico was on the soccer team so he was super fit and we had a lot of the same classes since we were both biology majors on a pre-med track. I thought he was everything I could’ve ever asked for in a partner—attentive, considerate, thoughtful. That is until a year into the relationship when he cheated on me and proved that he was actually the exact opposite of who he said he was.
He swore up and down that there was nothing going on with him and his chemistry lab partner.Kelly.A shudder still escapes me when I think of how I found them one nightbalancing each other’s equations, if you catch my drift.
I broke up with him immediately, blocked his number and refused to talk to him. It took a few months for the message to sink into his masochistic head but eventually he left me alone. Until now, apparently.
“Dani, I’m trying here. Can’t you see that?” He rests his hand on my knee. “I haven’t stopped thinking about you. Not even after all this time.”
“While I’m sure that’s true, I’ve definitely stopped thinking about you.” Shoving his palm off my knee, I abandon my barely-drunk coffee and gather my books into my backpack. Slinging it over my shoulder, I brush past Nico as he stands beside me.
“Just hear me out,” he says to my back as I walk out the door. “Baby, please…” He’s still calling to me as we walk onto the quad and I spot Arden standing outside the cafe, his eyes locked on mine. I stop briefly, confused by the sight of him there.Why doesn’t he just go home?
He looks past me at Nico, who has made it to my side again. I’ve never seen a man’s eyes darken the way Arden’s does when he takes in Nico’s position, his hand on the small of my back, the words he just said.All of this is too much right now.
Looking down at my watch, I realize it’s time to head to class anyway. Even if it wasn’t, I’d be going. Any chance I could to get away from this chaos.
I don’t look back to see if Nico is following me or what happened to Arden. I just keep walking toward my future and away from all the drama of my past.
Sydney’s blonde curls bounce as she makes her way toward me on the quad. “Lunch?”
“Absolutely, I’m starving.” We start walking toward the cafeteria. “Something about human anatomy that really gets the appetite going.”
Sydney fake gags next to me, and I hit her shoulder with mine as I chuckle. My phone vibrates in my pocket and I take it out to reveal my mother’s name as the caller ID. With a sigh, I shove the phone back in my pocket. Sydney clocks the entire exchange, of course.
“Are you going to avoid her forever?”
“She’s probably only calling to complain about my dad.” I shrug. Sydney opens the door to the cafeteria and I walk in behind her. “She didn’t even wish me a happy birthday. Neither of them did.”
“Well, maybe that’s what she’s calling about.”
My phone vibrates again as a text rolls in.
MOTHER: Look at the bag your daddy got me!
With a sigh, I show Sydney the phone before pushing it deep into the bottom of my backpack. This is always how it’s been with Lara and Kevin. Kevin goes gambling, drinks too much, loses all his money. He comes home, beats his wife, apologizes, buys her something pretty. She forgives him, he gets paid from the factory, goes gambling. And on and on and on. The only reason I even go home for the holidays is to make sure that my mom is still alive. She’ll never leave him, and I only hope it doesn’t some day lead to her end.
Kevin has never put his hands on me. Oh he’s tried, but he never gets close enough. I’m too quick. That doesn’t mean I don’t have residual emotional damage from the mess those two made of their lives.
I feel the backpack vibrate again, but I ignore it this time. Sydney and I grab a sandwich and a water bottle and plant ourselves at our usual table. Just as I’m opening the packaging on my ham and cheese, Margot sits down next to me.
“When is Arden leaving?” I ask immediately. No hello. I didn’t even realize it was coming out of my mouth until I said it. I guess his presence was on my mind more than I thought after our run in this morning.
After a pause and a glance toward Sydney, Margot responds. “What do you mean? He left this morning.”
“Nu-uh,” I say, my mouth full of mayo and soggy white bread. “I saw him at the cafe this morning.”
“On campus?” I nod. “I have no idea, Dani. We said our goodbyes until Christmas this morning before we came to campus. You missed it because you were picking out your outfit.”
Rolling my eyes, I take another massive bite, not caring that I’m talking with food in my mouth. They understand me either way. “Well, he was there. And he was cozied up like he was staying for a while.”
Margot takes out her phone and looks at the text conversation she has with her brother. “Nothing.” She shrugs. “He probably just wanted to get a coffee before the drive back. Why do you care so much?”
“I don’t,” I replied far too quickly, food spewing across the table and landing on Sydney’s Intro to Psychology textbook.