by Anna Albo
He looked completely dismayed now, but I didn’t care. He came over to my bed, but I got up and walked out of my bedroom and into the kitchen. He followed me. “Emma, I wasn’t saying I didn’t want to be friends. I just want you to have some other friends, too.”
“Friends don’t do and say what you did to me.”
“I know you’re upset, but we can get past this. I’ll talk to Bianca and we can work it all out.”
“I don’t want anything to do with Bianca!”
“Fine, I understand that, but you can’t throw away our friendship because I made a mistake. I know I screwed up royally. But let me find a way to fix this.”
His pleading didn’t make sense to me. Something wasn’t adding up. “If you mean it, then dump Bianca.”
“That’s not fair and you know it.”
“It’s totally fair. I would defend you to the death if someone called you a filthy mutt or wished you’d go die somewhere. But you didn’t. You went along with it. Who’s the dog?”
He sank his head in shame. “I know, but if you met a guy and fell in love with him, you’d understand where I’m coming from.”
Silence. I couldn’t get through his thick skull. “I’m going home. I’ll be leaving in the next day or two. I don’t want anything more to do with you. Jake, you broke my heart. What you did was the ultimate betrayal and I can’t forgive you.”
“You can’t go home! Everyone will flip out.”
Eureka! The moment I’d been waiting for. I nodded my head in disgust. “I knew it. That’s really what you’re worried about. What I’m going to tell Dad.”
He reached out to grasp onto my arms, but I stepped out of his reach. His hands fell to his sides and his body went slack. I knew he was attempting to calm himself. “If you tell your dad, he’ll tell Ron. You may think you’re only hurting me, but you’re hurting them too. They are going to take sides and don’t you think that will ruin their friendship?”
“Not once they hear what you did.”
“Emma, you know I’m sorry. Why would you do this to them?”
“I’m not going to lie to my dad. And as for Uncle Ron, I think he’ll see things my way.”
“You do this, and we won’t have a friendship anymore. I won’t forgive you, Emma. So promise me you’ll take a couple more days to think about this. And know that deep down in your heart I am sorry. I was stupid. And I don’t want you to go.”
Playing to my sympathies was a good strategy only because I already didn’t want to tell Dad. I didn’t want to have to explain it all and relive my humiliation. It was bad enough all the people from the cabin knew. Who knows how many people they’d tell.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do yet.”
“All right, good. Take some time to think. I promise you that the whole Bianca thing will be resolved. I’ll talk to her. She’ll never do anything like that again.”
CHAPTER FIVE
ZACH
I met the guys after hockey for some beers. We sat around drinking and replaying the events of the game. I'd scored twice and one goal was a real beauty, but we still lost 5-3. We had a decent offense and great defense, but our goaltending was killing us. How did you get your best friend to admit he was the worst goaltender in the history of our rec league?
I pulled out my phone and scrolled through texts. Two from Becca. I groaned. I still hadn't broken up with her and I'd been avoiding her since the cabin incident. She was still pissed at me for not driving back to pick her up. Why would I have done that? It didn't make any sense, especially when everyone else offered her a ride home.
I scrolled past her texts and was surprised to see one from Emma. It was a few hours old.
Emma: Hey, how are you? Decided not to go home. Thought I'd tell you. Have a good night.
I wrote back: That's good news. You did the right thing. Still gonna stay with asswipe or are you looking for a new place?
A few minutes passed before she replied. In the meantime, we’d ordered pizzas and the discussion had moved to football. My phone buzzed.
Emma: Not sure yet. Might stay here until the end of semester. Finding housing midyear is going to be next to impossible.
Should I offer my place again? She didn't seem keen the first time. But it wasn't like Genie used her room.
Me: Let me know if I can help. Did you make those éclairs yet? I'm dying to have one.
Emma: I'm going to do a test batch this weekend. If they work out, I'll text you.
I put down my phone and Brett was staring at me.
"Are you going to talk to us or text?" he asked.
Brett was one of the few guys on the planet who hated his phone. The guy never texted and his idea of an “app” was some spicy wings or a heaping plate of nachos. He hardly ever had his phone with him, and even when he did, it was almost never on. And if you had your cell out in his presence, watch out.
"I'm done now."
"And who is more important than us?"
"I was texting Emma to make sure she was okay."
"Who's Emma?"
"From the cabin four days ago? Remember? Jake's friend?"
Recollection washed over him. "How could I forget?" He turned to the rest of the guys and recounted the events of that day. "She was a fucking loon!" he told them. "She starts reading off these texts that make her look like a cracker jack! Poor Jake. I felt sorry for that bastard."
"Wait a second," I said, holding up my hands. "You felt sorry for Jake? The guy humiliated her."
Brett laughed. "Man, are you serious?" He turned back to the guys. "This is a chick who spent the whole day either in her room or sitting around reading a book. She didn't say a word to anyone. She's a loon all right."
My back was up. "Actually, she spent most of the time she was there cooking and cleaning up for you and your lazy date."
Brett's cheery asshole demeanor disappeared. "Excuse me?"
"If you or your flavor of the week had bothered to get to know her, you may have noticed that she was normal and interesting."
A smugness came over Brett. "Oh, I see now. You want to tap her. No accounting for taste."
"The girl was freaking out and I was the only one who offered her a ride home. She's a nice girl, so cut it out."
"Whatever."
The conversation returned to football. Our pizzas arrived, I wolfed down a few slices and made my escape. I texted Becca that I'd be stopping by. It was nearing ten on a Wednesday night, but dealing with her wouldn't take long. She was in her dorm room, leafing through a fashion magazine when her roommate let me in. Becca vaulted off her bed and kissed me.
"I'll be back in twenty," her roommate said. For the life of me I couldn't remember her name.
She left and Becca snaked her arms around my waist. "We've got some time," she said, her voice deepening.
"I can't stay long. I thought we should talk."
She took a step back, her blue eyes inspecting me. "Talk about what?"
"Us."
"Why?"
No need to beat around the bush. I wanted to get this over with. "Do you think this is working?"
Her face frosted over. "You're not dumping me, are you?" Her voice had lost all its seduction replaced by snark.
"Becca, I like you and you're a great girl, but I'm just not feeling a connection. Someday you'll meet a guy who's right for you, but that's not me."
"You are such a son of a bitch," she said, her nostrils flaring. "Is it someone else?"
Strangely, she didn't seem sad, just angry. Like I'd forgotten her birthday. I knew she'd forget about it, and me, in a few days.
"There's no one else."
"It's that girl in your Poly Sci class, isn't it?"
"There isn't anyone else. I want to be single for a while and focus on school. We can still hang out and be friends."
Her eyes narrowed, ready to shoot laser beams. This side of Becca was ugly. "Bianca warned me about you. She said you'd date me for a while and dump me. You think you're
some god because your dad's a senator. My dad could buy your dad any day of the week."
I let out a sigh. Her attempts to rattle me weren't going to work. "Well, I should go. I know you're pissed, but if you want to talk about it later, we can."
"Go fuck yourself."
"I guess not, then."
I left and she slammed the door behind me. That was taken care of and not nearly as difficult as I'd expected.
CHAPTER SIX
EMMA
I lied to Dad and told him everything was fine. It wasn't. My relationship with Jake was definitely something akin to being on life support. We didn't talk much, and I made a point of staying late at school to study, or would leave the apartment before he was even up in the morning. I didn't want to talk to him and the feeling seemed to be mutual.
The next few weeks I immersed myself in school and my job. I was up to date with all my assignments. At work I was baking up a storm, so much so that Billie, my boss, hinted that I was making more than we could sell. So on a quiet Friday night when all my classmates were out having fun, I stood behind the coffee counter casually reading a few pages in the mystery novel I’d tucked on the shelf with the napkins and stir sticks.
I was working with Jessica tonight, and I knew she didn't care; she often had a book out too. Jessica was nice enough, but we didn’t interact a lot. She was a graduate student who worked for extra cash and took any shift available. She'd trained me, but other than normal chitchat, I knew little about her.
I felt a little guilty reading at work, but it really was quiet, and I could only wipe down the same empty tables so many times. Besides, reading for fun was getting harder and harder to do with all my school work mounting, and since I was lacking in the friends department, I enjoyed a fictional escape when I could.
"Any éclairs?"
I jumped and smiled when I saw Zach standing at the counter. "Sorry, I'm still perfecting those."
He leaned back and perused the glass display counter. "What's good?"
"Everything, but I recommend the coffee cake. It's a secret recipe."
"Then I'll have that. Large black coffee too. And whatever you're having."
"I've already had three today, but thanks for offering."
"Do they give you a break?"
"Go ahead, take fifteen," Jessica said, overhearing us. She had her tablet out and was tapping away. That's how busy we were on a Friday night.
"Thanks."
We sat at one of the many empty tables and I watched him devour my coffee cake.
"Shit, this is good," he said, licking his lips.
"Told you. So what brings you out here on a Friday night? No frat parties?"
"No, I'm done with those. I just came back from a study session with some people from class. We have a project coming up. I was driving by and thought I'd see if you were working. How have you been?"
"I'm good."
"And how are things with Jake?"
"We're co-existing right now. I decided not to tell Dad and see how things go with Jake. I've managed to avoid everyone from the cabin. Thankfully I don't have classes with any of them."
"I think you already know this, but Jake is an asswipe."
"But he's still my friend."
Zach cringed. "He's not your friend. A friend wouldn't do what he did."
"I know you don't understand. Bianca has this strange hold over him, but eventually he'll see the kind of person she is."
"And come back to you?" he finished.
I looked away from Zach's suffocating stare. "I didn't say that."
"I know you like him and I wish I could say that he feels the same way about you. I'm not telling you this to hurt your feelings, but he isn't going to wake up one morning and realize he's loved you his entire life. This isn't a fairy tale."
"I don't feel that way about him."
He smirked. "I'm going to call bullshit on that."
"You can call it whatever you want. I don't care."
His eyes scanned me, looking for a crack, wondering if I'd crumble. Little did he know that I'd spent my entire life with the façade of apathy. My survival and sanity depended on me not being broken. I’d put up an Iron Curtain and Zach Walker wasn't getting through.
"Well, when you finally realize what an ass he is, I can help you find a place to live. But the longer you stay in that apartment, the harder it will be to leave."
"I appreciate the offer."
He stood to leave. "Let me know when you get those éclairs in."
"I will."
He waved and left. I resumed my position behind the counter with Jessica staring at me. Did I spill something? I checked my black Julian's apron and saw nothing out of the ordinary.
"What's wrong? Is there something on my face? Did I get something on me?" I asked.
"No." She paused as if to ponder something. "How do you know Zach Walker?"
"Long story. Why?"
"He's the senator's son. You know that, right?"
"Yes, so?"
"Are you dating him?"
"No!" I said it like it was the most disgusting idea in the world. "He's a friend."
"He's a good friend to have."
I smiled. "Yeah, he's pretty nice."
"If you like him, be careful. He leaves a trail of tears."
"How do you know that?"
"Everyone knows that. He dates girls for a few months then gets bored. You're better off keeping him a friend than getting mixed up with him."
"I'll keep that in mind."
She tapped her nearly empty cup on the counter. "Walker sure has changed."
"Changed?"
"He has a lost year. Come to think of it, he's probably pissed away two years. I don't know him, but I've been to parties he's thrown, a few at the frat he belonged to. The guy partied hard. I mean really, really hard. He was a party boy legend, you know, the kind people talk about for years, but then something happened. My guess is that his parents put the fear of God into him because he stopped everything. He pretty much disappeared last spring. No epic parties, nothing. I heard he left his frat house, finally took a full course load and actually attends classes. Phi Alpha Delta has never been the same."
I laughed. "No way. Not Zach."
Jessica snorted. "Oh, it's true. Ask him. He had some really good times if he remembers any of them."
I was having a hard time envisioning this. And smoking a joint once in a while didn't make you legendary. He didn't scream party animal. He didn't even mention parties. "Are you sure? Could you have him mixed up?"
"Emma, everyone knows who Zach Walker is. I don't have him mixed up with anyone else. Look, he's turned his life around. That's commendable. But here's the thing: you're a nice girl from a small town. Don't let a guy like him take advantage."
"He wouldn't do that," I said. An edge found its way into my voice.
"The party Walker would, and who knows if he's really changed? You're sweet, a little innocent too. I hope that doesn't offend you, but it's the truth. If you ever decide to date the guy, just be careful. Guys with his reputation don't deserve to have a chance with girls like you."
"Thanks ... I think."
Little did she know that Zach wasn't even on my radar.
SATURDAY MORNING JAKE was waiting for me in the kitchen. He had a newspaper and a mug of coffee sitting in front of him. He set the paper aside when I entered the room.
"Hey," he said.
"Hi."
In the past two weeks we hadn't exchanged more than a dozen words. It was hard not talking to him and I desperately missed our conversations. Some nights I would sit in my bedroom as quietly as possible and listen to him go about the apartment. So many times I wanted to go out and chat with him, like old times, but then I'd remember. How could I ever forget?
"Do you have a few minutes?"
My heart skipped a beat. At one time I knew Jake so well, I always knew what he was going to say or do, but Bianca changed everything.
"Sure."
/> I sat across from him and we stared at each other.
"I know we haven't talked much, since that day. How are you doing?"
"I'm fine."
"You've been keeping busy?" He was asking but it sounded more like a statement.
"Yes. Working and school."
"Good."
Time to get to the point. "What do you want to talk about?" I could only dream that he was going to tell me he'd seen the light and dumped Bianca's skinny ass.
"I had a really long heart to heart with Bianca and she agreed to be nicer to you. I'm hoping that I can invite her over once in a while and that the two of you can get to know each other. I think if you spend time together, you might like her and vice versa."
He was serious. I did everything humanly possible from keeping my jaw from dropping. The same person who called me a dog with fleas and wished for my death. I sucked back a mouthful of air and took my time crafting an answer. How did I approach this? I wanted nothing to do with Bianca. Ever.
"Let's wait and see. I'm not sure I'm ready to spend any time with her."
"That's fair, but I'd like to be able to have her around. Maybe stay the night."
"She can stay here when I'm not here." My words were diplomatic, but my tone wasn't. If he couldn't hear the sarcasm, then something was wrong with him.
Jake huffed. I could see the irritation setting in. "I don't expect the two of you to patch things up instantly, but it has to happen eventually."
"And if it doesn't, then what? Have you forgotten what she said about me?"
"No, but she promised me she would stop this. I'm asking you to do the same."
"I didn't do anything. I'm telling you that I'm not ready to see her, let alone have her hanging around here."
He tapped his fingers on the table. "Then one of us has to think about moving out."
I raised my eyebrows. These were Bianca's words. She'd planted the idea in his head because this wasn't something Jake would come up with. Only a few weeks ago he'd begged me to stay. "You know, I've put up with a lot. I'm the injured party and you can't wait to get rid of me. So I will take your suggestion under advisement and I'll look for another place to live because I think that's what you're implying."