“What the hell’s going on, guys?” I stifle a yawn as they turn to face me. Well, at least they’ve stopped shouting now. “Do you realize what time it is?”
Ryan begins to pace the floor by the main door, and Neil heads straight to his room, without so much as a hello. This must be bad because he’s never like that with me, ever.
“Alex …” Ryan sounds out of breath and looks totally stressed. “Brandon …” He can’t get his words out, and he’s holding his index finger in the air, as though he’s asking me to give him a second while he gets his breath back. He lets out another deep exhale, his faces is bright red, and I don’t think he’s ever going to compose himself enough to be able to get his words out.
“Ryan! Please just tell me …” My voice trails when I see Neil appearing from his room again, and he’s still looking happy. “Neil, what’s happened?”
Neil turns and glares at me while punching a few keys into his cell phone.
“Neil!” I shout to get his attention, but his whole demeanor is off. “What’s your problem?”
He shakes his head without looking in my direction, and places his cell by his ear before storming out of the dorm. “Matt. Matt started on …” Ryan bends so that his hands are touching his knees, and I dread to even think what’s happened if Matt’s involved. “On … Brandon …”
“What!” This wasn’t a question. “Ryan, where is he?” I head over to him and usher him towards the couch.
He shrugs and shakes his head at me. I’m still waiting for him to catch his breath, and after a couple of minutes, his breathing is almost back to normal. “Neil just went to check his place because he’s not answering his cell phone.” He looks worried. Dammit, I’m worried!
“What did Matt say to him?” My stomach is churning, and I hope to God Brandon didn’t do anything stupid. He pretty much said himself that he couldn’t react in case of, well, in case he went back inside. Dammit!
He lets out a sigh and then looks me straight in the eyes. “We were in a bar across town. Matt started taunting Brandon about his past, and it was fine. He was fine. He didn’t retaliate,” he gives me a sympathetic look, “until Matt mentioned you.”
I knew this would happen. I freaking knew it! “Ryan, call Brandon’s cell again,” I tell him and I watch as he grabs his cell phone from his shirt pocket. “What happened next?”
“They exchanged words, and then Brandon went to kick the shit outta him. Neil and I had to hold him back while Corey and a couple of the security guards threw Matt outside,” Ryan tells me, and I can see in his eyes that he’s pissed. “When we turned back around after watching Matt being dragged out, Brandon was gone.”
Please don’t say he went after Matt. I let out a deep breath and try to think where he might be, but I come up with nothing.
“No answer?” I ask when he places his cell phone beside him. “Can I have his number?” All of this happened because of me. I think I need to talk to Brandon about it.
“I really don’t think it’s a good idea, Alex,” he grimaces as he answers, and I feel my face falling into a frown.
I bend onto my knees so I can show him how worried I am, “Ryan, please? I want to talk to him,” I wait for him to answer, and when he nods, I run to grab my cell from my nightstand.
When I return, Ryan reels off Brandon’s cell number and then I type in a message. My hands are shaking so hard that it takes me a couple of attempts.
Where R U? I’m worried. Call me? Alex
I hit the send key and then wait. And wait. And wait.
Twenty minutes have passed since I sent the message, and I’m beginning to annoy myself with the sound of my nails tapping on my cell’s screen. Maybe I should call him.
Ryan went out looking for Brandon after Neil called to say he wasn’t in his dorm. I stand and begin to pace the length of the room. Why would he risk going back inside just because a loser like Matt said a few things about me?
It’s almost a quarter past two, and I still haven’t heard anything from him. There’s no way I can go to sleep until I know he hasn’t done anything reckless. I dial his number, and when it doesn’t go straight to the voicemail, I realize he must have gotten my message. It rings off, and so I try again. After the fourth time of calling, he finally answers.
“Alexis,” his voice is raspy, but I’m just grateful he’s answered.
“Brandon, where are you? Everyone is worried sick and the guys are out looking for you.” I tell him, and I can hear the despair in my own voice, so I’m certain he can too.
“I needed some space,” he sounds disheartened. “Tell them I’ll call them tomorrow.”
I’m about to ask him where he is but stop when I hear a voice in the background.
“Are you ready for bed, babe?” You have got to be kidding me. I feel nauseous. He’s with a woman. He has everybody worried and he’s with some girl? I wish I knew where he was so I could go and kick that asshole in the balls.
“I gotta go,” I hear him whisper into the earpiece. The knot in my stomach, that hasn’t shifted since I met with him by the lake earlier, is starting to make me feel uncomfortable.
“So I heard,” I hardly recognize my own voice because it’s so flat, and there’s definitely anger evident within it. My blood is boiling, quite literally.
“Alexis, I’m sorry.”
Of course he is. What? So he’s sorry as in, ‘I’m sorry I fell into bed with yet another woman, and by the way, I’m not interested in you right now’? Asshole!
“I’m over it, Brandon. Go to hell!” I snap at him before ending the call, and I swear that if I had insurance on my cell phone, it would be shattered into tiny pieces across the room right about now.
While sending a couple of messages to update both Neil and Ryan, I promise myself I will never be attracted to an asshole again, before heading back to bed.
***
I fell for it, again. Since when did I become so naïve?
The broken sleep from the night before has made me extremely irritable. If the students behind me don’t stop with their giggling and whispering soon, I think I’m going to have a mini meltdown, or punch them in the face. Either one works for me at this present moment in time.
“Alex, I had no idea you and—” James leans over and speaks quietly as Professor Hardy drones on about, hell, I really have no clue. I haven’t been paying attention to any of my classes so far today.
I raise my hand up to stop James from saying anything else. From the corner of my eye, I see him lean back in his seat, and hear him exhale a breath. I sigh and continue doodling on my notebook. Luckily, I haven’t seen Brandon or Matt today, although I hadn’t really expected to see Brandon. He’s probably still recovering from spending the night with yet another woman.
Ugh! I hate that I’m still brooding over this. He’s an asshole, and he’s so not worth my time.
I didn’t see Neil or Ryan before I came to class, and I’m assuming Alyssa stayed over at Seth’s place. She probably isn’t even aware of any of the events from last night yet, and I bet she’s going to be pretty pissed when she finds out she missed it. Alyssa has always been one to enjoy a little drama.
“… dismissed!” I realize that’s the only word I’ve managed to process in the last two hours, as Professor Hardy dismisses us for lunch break.
Grabbing my notebook and bag, I jump straight up and head towards the exit doors before any of the other students even have a chance to get out of their seats. Deciding that it’s best to stay away from the cafeteria, and away from all the gossip, glares, and people I’ve managed to piss off over the last twenty-four hours, I make my way towards the main exit of the arts building. Thankfully, the weather has improved some since yesterday, and although it’s overcast, there’s no sign of rain as I make my way through the campus grounds and in the direction of the iron gates. Starbucks is calling me.
The way Neil didn’t even acknowledge me in the early hours is playing on my mind, but I really haven’t
the energy to try to make things right with him yet. I think it’s best to let him have some time to calm down too. I’ve only seen Neil angry once before, and although I have no idea what caused his anger, it must have been something pretty bad because he’s normally such a chilled out guy.
“There she is ladies and gentlemen!” I hear the slyness in Matt’s voice, and still my steps for a moment, before deciding to just ignore him. He’s not worth my time either. “Alex, wait!” I hear him calling over my right shoulder, and can sense the amusement in his voice.
No, this is not something I want to be doing right now. I carry on walking until I’m almost at the gates, but pause again when I hear laughter from behind me.
“Where are you going, Alex? Are you going to go and visit your mom’s grave?” He snarls the words, and I feel like he’s about to push me over the edge. “Ask her if she’s still proud of you even though you got involved with a criminal? Ha! You could tell her that you got used and abused by him too!”
That’s it! He has no right to be even speaking to me, never mind bringing my mom into this conversation.
“Matt,” I say as I slowly walk over to him. I notice people are beginning to slow their pace down as they stare at the two of us.
The campus grounds are starting to fill up with students, and I’m pretty sure they’re unaware that they’re about to witness a showdown. “What’s your problem, huh?” I’m not afraid of him, and I think the strength in my voice even has him somewhat surprised.
He’s standing only a foot or so away from me, and I can see the coldness in his eyes. He has no reason to be like this to me. So, I didn’t sleep with him, it’s hardly the end of the world. He’s the one who was in the wrong, not me.
“Look everybody!” He snarls as he turns to look at the people gathering around us, “Sweet and innocent Alexis Harper, daughter of a cop, rejected by the biggest man whore and murderer in—”
Without even thinking, I lunge forward, and hear a loud thud as my fist connects with the left side of his face. I see him stagger backwards a few steps, and hear gasps from the people around us at what I just did.
Matt lifts his hand up to his face, and I see pure anger flash into his eyes as he steps forward some more. “You are gonna fucking—” He lifts his other hand and goes to grab my shoulder, but is stopped by someone who has come up from behind me.
Hell, my hand hurts.
I turn around and see James pushing Matt away from me, and trying to hold him back. Matt’s eyes are filled with hatred and he’s keeping them trained directly on me. “What’s so great about that guy, Alex?” What? He’s jealous? That’s what all of this is about?
The spectators are glancing between us now, and I see the sympathy in James’s eyes when he looks at me.
“I made a mistake, so sue me,” I shrug my answer. I feel the tears brimming in my eyes and hear my voice betraying me as I speak. It’s hoarse and shaky, and I realize now that this is just the reaction Matt was looking for because he’s starting to smirk at me. “You and Brandon are nothing but fucking assholes and …” I’m almost screaming now and I can’t believe I just lost my self-control over something this asshole said. I can’t believe I let him affect me like this.
“Alexis?” Of course Brandon would have to be standing right behind me. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. There are faint whispers as the crowd begins to dissipate, with some throwing backward glances at us as they walk away. “Alexis?” I feel Brandon’s hand on my shoulder and immediately shrug it away as I turn around to face him.
I see the shock on his face and pain flash into his eyes. From the way he’s looking at me, it’s obvious he heard the words I just hissed out. This guy should have studied the acting course. He would be amazingly good at it because he actually looks upset.
He steps closer to me, and I immediately step back. There is no way in hell I’m going through this again. No freaking way! His face falls, and I notice the pain in his eyes being replaced by sadness, while his lips form into a frown.
“I wish I’d never met you,” I tell him flatly, and at my words, he closes his eyes and lowers his head. “Stay the hell away from me,” I mutter angrily, before making my way out of the campus’s gates.
***
The rest of the day passed by in a blur, but I still noticed the looks that were being thrown my way during my afternoon class. A couple of the girls sitting behind me actually commented about the fact I’d punched Matt, and they told me he’d had it coming for a while. It’s good to know that not everybody was laughing at my expense.
It’s a little after seven when I hear my cell phone buzzing beside me on my bed. At the same time, there’s a knock on my door, so without checking my cell, I clamber off of my bed and go to see who it is.
“Can I come in for a second?” It’s Neil. This is the first time I’ve seen him since the early hours of the morning, and I’m relieved that both his tone and face seem a lot calmer now.
I open the door wider so he can get by me, and as I close it, I see him sitting down on the edge of my bed.
“I heard about what happened during lunch today,” he gives me a sympathetic smile as I go and sit beside him. “I also heard Matt has a pretty nasty black eye already.” His smile turns into one of amusement as he chuckles softly, before he places his arm around my shoulder.
“You looked pretty pissed last night,” I say while studying his face, and I see him nodding a couple of times in response. “If you’ve come to warn me away from Brandon, then there’s really no need.”
He tilts his head back, and looks up to the ceiling as he lets out a breath, “That’s why you were asking me about him yesterday.” He looks at me with a small flash of bleakness in his eyes. “I didn’t come in here to lecture you, Alex. I came in here to thank you.”
“Thank me?” Well, I wasn’t expecting him to say that. “What are you thanking me for?” I’m confused.
“When you told me you saw Brandon acting suspiciously, I went over to speak with him so I could find out what he was doing,” he squeezes my shoulder gently before continuing to explain. “Alex. Brandon chose to study here so he can keep a safe enough distance away from Olympia, but still be close enough so that he can find out who did it.”
I turn my body around so I’m fully facing him, and can feel my eyebrows furrowing with confusion. “Who did what?”
Oh please, Neil, just cut to the chase because I don’t think I can handle being any more confused than I already am.
“Brandon admitted that if you hadn’t have told me what you saw yesterday, then he wouldn’t have gotten Ryan or I involved, but because you did tell us, we can try and help him,” he’s smiling now, but I still have no idea what he’s talking about. “Brandon is trying to find out who set him up.”
“Someone set him up?” Okay, well I wasn’t expecting him to say that.
“Alex, he’s has never taken drugs in his life, let alone dealt them. Whoever did it was close to being caught, so they used him as a scapegoat because he was there when … he was one of the people there.” I can hear the emotion in his voice and see the glazed look in his eyes as he tries to explain.
“Neil, I’m really not following…”
He holds his head in his hands, and takes a couple of deep breaths as though he’s trying to control his emotions.
“Alex, someone died from an overdose eighteen months ago. Whoever supplied the drugs, planted the heroin at Brandon’s place. It was confirmed to have been from the same batch. The cops knew Brandon was there the night it happened because he’d already given his witness statement. When they got tipped off and found the heroine, they took him in.”
Oh my God. I’m shaking and feel sick to my stomach from this revelation. No wonder he isn’t the same person they knew back in high school.
“How …? I mean, was he … was he charged with manslaughter as well as dealing?” I can’t get my words out. He was wrongly accused of dealing drugs and taking someone’s life?
“They couldn’t get him on the manslaughter. They tried, they really tried, but they didn’t have enough evidence,” the seriousness in his voice is clear. “Listen, it’s best you don’t mention this to anybody because if anyone related to this finds out that he’s trying to prove his innocence, it’ll be game over.”
“You said you and Ryan are going to help him. How are you going to do—?” Neil knows what I’m about to ask, so he starts to answer my question before I even have the chance to finish it.
“If Brandon gets seen by the wrong people in Olympia, and they suspect he’s snooping around for information, well, God only knows what will happen. Ryan and I are going to go to Olympia if we need to get anything for him, in order to try and help clear his name.”
I’m worried now. If I hadn’t told Neil about what I’d seen, then he and Ryan wouldn’t have to be involved in something unsafe. I think I want to throw up. “Is it really that dangerous?” He and I can both sense the concern in my voice, and his face turns grim.
“Alex, whoever did this let an innocent guy go down for something he didn’t do. They went to extreme levels to keep their identity under wraps,” he looks angry, and I can completely understand why. “Just do me one small favor.”
“Anything,” I answer, although I have no idea what he wants me to do.
“Maybe try and be friends with Brandon,” he has a look of remorse washing over him as he speaks the words, “but it’ll only end in heartache if you take things any further with him. I can guarantee it.”
“I know,” I say, and my voice is laced with sadness. He gives me a small smile, before pulling me off of my bed and hugging me tightly. “Thanks for explaining, Neil,” I tell him as he moves back away.
“I just want you to be happy, Alex,” he kisses me lightly on the cheek as he brushes past me. “I’m gonna head out.” He tells me, and I watch as he walks back out of my room.
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