“Hey. So, um.”
This was Siobhan’s greeting when she slid onto the seat next to me in class. She glanced around, tucking some hair strands behind her ears. Then, ducking her head, she scooted closer and asked, her voice lowered, “Are you okay? I mean, with the coma and what happened in the library?”
Oh boy. That was a loaded question.
“Yeah. I’m good.”
Her eyes were searching mine. I knew she was trying to figure if she should push or not, but whatever she saw must’ve reassured her because her second question came next, and with a little bit more excitement infused with it.
“So who was that guy in the library?”
I hid a grin. “He was just a guy I know from back home. That’s all.”
“Really?”
That guy’s video had been released the day before. My phone’s alert went off last night when we were watching game three. You could hear everything. The guy asking me a question. Stone telling him no. The rest, and how pissy the fan had gotten. It wasn’t a big deal, but I got the alert because it hit on the college’s sports page. My name was out there, the other blogs knew who I was, but the college’s website hadn’t named me, saying it was to allow privacy.
Privacy, my ass.
Just walking through campus, I got thirty people looking at me weird. A guy looked like he was going to approach, say something, but I ducked into the biology building just then. I was hoping it’d all go away and so far, no one blinked an eye at even seeing me in class again. Except Siobhan.
“How are things with Trent?”
She got all red, sitting up, her eyes almost bulging out. And at that moment, Trent slid into the chair on my other side. “Ladies.” He paused, as if realizing who I was. “Oh, hey. Where’d you go?”
“Car accident.”
Siobhan frowned, her head jerking to the side.
“Really? I’m sorry.”
I dipped my head in a slight nod. “Yeah. I’m okay now.”
Or I would be. I would be. I would be. I was going to keep repeating that mantra to myself until it was true. For the most part, I was doing better. It hadn’t slipped my notice that I could handle being in the kitchen with everyone Saturday night. But that was because Stone was there.
If I was thinking far ahead, I’d be concerned. I couldn’t depend on him. This thing with us wasn’t romantic. I was guessing the friendship was there again. I mean, we slept together the last two nights, Saturday afternoon until my housemates came home, and the other full night before I bailed. So, yes. To say we weren’t friends again would be moronic, but romantic…that was different.
I was surviving. He was helping me survive. I couldn’t afford to look a gift horse in the mouth, at least not yet.
If he met someone, or if he wanted to stop what we were doing, I’d deal. That was my plan. I’d just deal, but until then, I couldn’t stop anything, not even to prevent further heartbreak in the future. It wouldn’t matter. I’d crumble now, so, yeah. That’s where I was, so I spoke the truth to Trent.
I was okay now. Now. Maybe not tomorrow, the day after, but now. Right now, I could stand. I was here.
Trent seemed satisfied with my response, but Siobhan was watching me during class. I was preparing myself for a full interrogation at the end, but the professor called me up and I was saved. My professor wanted to check-in with me, make sure I could handle being back. I told her an abbreviated version that I was fine, I was better, I was ready to learn again. She seemed satisfied, just like Trent, and talking to her caused me to leave much later than everyone else.
I was good.
Or so I thought.
Siobhan was waiting as soon as I turned the corner. “You were in a car accident?”
Trent was next to her, his eyebrows raised, but leaning against the wall with more of a bored expression on his face. He was watching the students go back and forth in the hallway since three other classrooms just emptied, too.
“Yeah,” I said in response.
“Is that why you were in the coma? Because of the accident?” She didn’t let me answer. Concern flooded her face. She reached out, touching my arm. “I would’ve been there for you. I’m so sorry. I should’ve called more. I don’t even know where you live. I’ve been a horrible friend, although we don’t really know each other that well. But hey, you have that one friend to help you out, right? I couldn’t see his face, but he looked yummy.” She leaned in close, lowering her voice. “Real protective and grrr, you know?”
I knew. I so knew.
“Hey! You’re the chick!” A guy suddenly appeared out of the crowd going past us. He was tall, lanky, a Texas C&B ballcap on his head, and he was wearing a Texas Kings shirt. He shoved his phone in my face. The video on the college’s website right there and playing…loudly.
“…don’t direct questions at her.”
“Just fans, man. Don’t need to be a dickhead…”
I reacted. I didn’t think. I just reacted, hitting his phone away from me. It fell to the floor, breaking, and the guy started to yell, “What the fuck?! You bitch.”
“Hey!”
Two guys muscled their way in, blocking me from the phone guy. I had another split-second warning, glimpsing their backs. They were tall and strong, and imposing as fuck. One growled, “Back the fuck off her! You shoved that phone in her face. We saw the whole thing.”
The guy started to cower, then his face crunched and he shot back, “She broke my pho—”
The second guy was growling, too. “Let me shove my fist in your face, see what you do. It was a reflex, you little fuck.”
The first guy, “Get lost!”
The second guy helped. “Or we’ll fuck you up. I know your name, little prick. You play JV baseball. I have buddies on the varsity team. They’ll give me all the details on where you live, who your friends are, everything. Get in her face again, and this won’t be an empty threat. Got it?”
Nacho.
It took me a second. My heart was pounding so loud in my eardrums. The hallway, the crowd that had stopped to watch, they were starting to swim around me in circles. Faster and faster.
A hand grasped my arm and I heard a female voice, “Are you okay?”
I looked up. That wasn’t Siobhan. I was looking up, not down. It was Mia.
I had died. Only explanation for all this.
Mia was in my hell, and she was concerned. Then she shifted, looking at the guys. The second guy was Wyatt. No, wait. Maybe I wasn’t in hell. Maybe this was real, and then Lisa was there, too. She wasn’t turned toward me, but looking at the guy, instead, and she snarled. “I know Katja. She told me all about your dick. Stay away from our girl or I’ll put out a fucking announcement about how much you suck in bed.”
Lisa was defending me now?
No. I was wrong again. Hell had frozen over. We were all still alive, so that meant hell came up to us.
“Whatever. I just wanted to get Reeves’ autograph. That’s all.”
“By almost assaulting his woman? Great fucking idea. I’m sure he’d be happy about that.”
But the guy was leaving, along with his buddies.
Everyone turned to regard me then, and Lisa was first, still snarling. “Tell me that shit hasn’t been happening all morning?” She gestured down the hall. “I saw the guy recognize you and zero in. What a loser.”
Wyatt. Nacho. Mia. Lisa. They all came to my defense, and now they were all taking me in, then looking past my shoulder to Siobhan and Trent.
Wyatt put his hand out. “Hey. Wyatt. You’re friends with Dusty?”
A more tentative hand came from behind me, shaking Wyatt’s hand, and Trent’s voice matched, sounding shaky. “Uh. Yeah. We have class together.”
Lisa was nodding to Siobhan. “Dusty’s our housemate. We’ve gotten a little protective of her. Nice to meet you.”
Now that the coast was clear, Mia let go of my arm. She was back under Wyatt’s arm, his free hand hanging over her shoulder. And she wasn’t looking at me. Her nose and mouth were pinched, as if all of this was beneath her.
Lisa was the opposite. Her hands on her hips. Her eyes still flaring. “I’m fucking pissed! That phone was in your face. It almost hit you. I would’ve taken his balls if it were me. Is that how it was for you on Saturday? I can’t imagine Stone keeping his cool if it were.”
There were still people walking by. There were still people standing around, watching. The more they talked, the more I wanted to skip my last two classes and hide in Stone’s bed.
“I—” My voice cracked. “It wasn’t like that, but yeah. The guys got pissed Stone didn’t want to talk.”
“I can’t imagine. I’d be in jail by now if it were me.” Lisa grinned at Nacho, who put his arm around her shoulders. “Aggravated assault and battery. That’d be me.”
“Yeah.” He tapped her arm. “You don’t handle people being in your face that well.”
She waved her hand in the direction of where the guy went, a quick and almost savage motion. “I’d hospitalize the guy.”
Nacho said to me, “But you’re okay?”
Wyatt added, “Want us to call Stone?”
Jesus. They had his number. I wasn’t surprised. But I shook my head. “No, no. I’m good.”
“We got practice, but the girls could run you home if you needed?”
“Yeah.” First time Mia spoke, now looking at me again. “How’d you get to school today?”
More questions. More information. The crowd was still around them, but once they decided to stop dealing with them, it was like poof, they disappeared. But that wasn’t how it went, and there were still eyes, phones, and ears all around us.
But this was their world. I was just now a full-fledged member because of my association with Stone.
I said to Mia, “I’m good. I’ve got another class to head to.”
“You sure?” That was Nacho.
At my response, Mia’s face pinched up again and Wyatt nodded, an easy grin on his face. “Okay. We got lunch plans. You can join if you want?”
I knew where they had lunch. Varsity football members, their girlfriends, other friends, everyone knew they had lunch in the Quad at the main table. The truth was that this was a normal day to them. Getting this amount of attention, they were used to it. It was like breathing to them. I wondered what they’d think if suddenly no one noticed them, no one thought anything of them.
Because that’s how I preferred it, and looking at Siobhan and Trent, I knew from the aghast expressions on their faces, they were like me.
Stone dropped me off this morning. He gave me a number for a driver to come get me if I needed a ride, but I think in the back of my head I’d been hoping to talk to Siobhan. I wanted to make sure things were okay with her since she saw me Saturday mid-freak out. And I’d even hoped to maybe talk her into hanging out at the library.
Georgia texted saying they’d be flying in right before the game. They offered to meet me, but wouldn’t be able to pick me up, so I hadn’t really known how to plan for the day. Game started at seven. They wanted to meet at six thirty, head in for the seats. That was another name Stone gave me. I was supposed to go to door 8 and give my name. There were supposed to be tickets for everyone. But that was hours from now, and the small wish I had just to pretend to be normal today didn’t look like it was going to happen.
Everything had changed.
Siobhan knew. Trent knew. I knew other guys like phone guy would be in my face. My housemates didn’t understand what the word ‘discreet’ meant, so I had a couple choices to make. Either stay and deal, stay and hide in the library, or leave.
I chose door number two.
Right then and there, hiding in the library seemed the best option.
I shook my head at Wyatt. “I’m good. I’m, uh, I’m going to try to catch up before classes.”
“Okay. We’ll see you later, then.”
He and Mia headed off. Nacho started after them but stopped and looked back. Lisa was still in front of me. She was biting her lip. “We’re doing a party tonight to watch Stone’s game. Are you…” her eyes swept behind me. “Do your friends want to come?”
I heard a quiet squeak from Siobhan, but was already shaking my head. “I’m actually going to the game.”
“Oh!” Lisa’s head shot up. “Right.” Her face cleared up. “Duh. Of course, you are. It’s at home and Monday Night Football. Right on.” She punched my arm. “Have fun. I’m jealous.”
“Liss!” A shout from Mia.
“Right.” She began backing up, but grinning widely. “Have fun. Don’t forget the little people.” And with that, she turned, laughing at something Nacho said. He didn’t put his arm around her shoulder, but he did place it on the small of her back as both hurried to catch up.
Then it was the three of us.
I was ignoring a few onlookers still, trying to adopt my housemates’ ways.
Siobhan and Trent were both fixed on me, both pale. Trent kept blinking, chewing the inside of his mouth, and a whole look that he’d just tasted something he couldn’t identify kept shifting on his face. His nose was twitching.
Siobhan wouldn’t look at me. Her eyes were fixed steadfastly on my shoes.
A deep breath. “I—”
Her head jerked up, blanching. “I have to go!” She began backing away, and once she started, she picked up speed.
She couldn’t get away from me fast enough.
“Wha…oh. Okay. I should go, too.” Trent started, but he wasn’t fast enough.
Siobhan had a good grip on his shirt and she tugged him behind her.
They were almost sprinting away from me, almost as fast as my stomach was sinking to the ground.
Shit.
That’d gone the worst way I could’ve imagined.
Then it was just me. Again, I was still ignoring any gawkers.
My phone beeped. I lifted it.
Stone: How’s the first day back?
Miserable.
Me: Totally fine. It’s nice to be back.
