The Boy Next Door

by Heather D'Agostino

  Katie gave her one last hug before moving on to Hannah, and finally Austin as the group left the room. She watched the truck pull away from the curb, and then turned to start unpacking. She was such a mix of emotions right now. Patrick had finally confessed his feelings to her, and they spent a magical summer together, but now he was in Boston, and she was in NYC. It wasn’t that far away, but she couldn’t help but feel like she’d left part of herself back home. Hannah wasn’t far away either, but it wouldn’t be the same as having her right there all the time.

  She turned to the box that had her bedding in it and began making the small bed. When she had put the sheets and comforter on, she picked up the pillow and inhaled deeply. It smelled just like him. She closed her eyes, and she could almost see him. She shook her head to clear it and began putting away books, clothes, and hanging posters to the wall.

  After everything was in its place, she sat down to power up her laptop. As soon as she opened her e-mail, she noticed that Patrick had already sent her two. When she opened the first one it read…I miss you already. I’m counting the days until we’re together again. I love you!!! She smiled as she moved it to a saved email folder and opened the next one. Life stinks without you in it. I don’t like my roommate already. You wanna come here and switch? I’d rather share this super small space with you. I love you!!!

  She giggled and wrote him back…I didn’t get into Harvard. I’d love to share the space with you, but I can’t. You could always come here. LOL I haven’t met my roommate yet. I’ll let you know. I miss you too and I love you too. Call me when you have time.

  She closed the laptop and rose to leave. Right when she grabbed her jacket, the door flew open. A girl was standing there about to drop a box.

  “A little help please!” she shouted.

  Katie rushed over and grabbed on to the side of the box. The girl followed her over to the bed.

  “Thanks, I’m Eden,” the girl held out her hand.

  “Katie,” Katie shook her hand and then moved back to stand by her side of the room.

  She looked back at Eden. She was not what anyone would picture a student at Columbia would look like. She was wearing black fishnet stockings with combat boots, a lime green miniskirt, and a black leather jacket covering a ripped t-shirt. Her hair had a bright pink streak down one side of it, and she looked like she’d bought out the black eyeliner in the store. Katie had a hard time not staring.

  Eden turned around and noticed the stare. “What?”

  “Nothing, sorry,” Katie mumbled.

  “My parents are really strict with my brother, I rebelled,” she shrugged. “Wanna see my tattoo?”

  Katie gulped, “Tattoo?”

  “I’m kidding, although I do want one,” she wiggled her brow.

  “So, where are you from?” Eden flipped her hand in the air.

  “Boston,” Katie replied, “but I lived in NYC up until four years ago.”

  “Cool, you know all the cool places to hang out at then,” Eden bounced on her feet.

  “Yeah, I guess,” Katie shrugged.

  Eden walked over to Katie’s bed and plopped down. She pointed at the picture Katie had of her and Patrick on her desk.

  “Wow, who’s that?” Eden cocked her head to the side.

  “My boyfriend,” Katie smiled wistfully. “He’s back home.”

  Katie looked back at Eden’s side of the room, “You wanna go exploring, or unpack first? I haven’t really wandered around campus yet.”

  “I wanna go find out where all the cute guys are. My boyfriend broke up with me before I left. He said he didn’t do the long distance thing. I wanna have fun, and kiss some cute boys,” Eden bounced up off the bed and made her way to the door.

  “I don’t know if kissing is my idea of meeting people,” Katie blushed and rolled her eyes, wondering what she’d gotten herself into.

  “You gotta kiss a few frogs to find a prince,” Eden giggled. “Besides, I didn’t say I wanted to bring them back here.”

  ***

  The two girls left the room together and jogged down the stairs.

  When they reached the bottom, Katie looked over at her. “So, where are you from?”

  “Colorado. Denver, to be exact,” Eden shrugged. “I wanted to get away and see what city life could be like. I mean…Denver is a city, but nothing like the Big Apple. I wanted to get out of ‘Cow Town’. What are you majoring in?” she looked over at Katie.

  “I’m pre-med,” Katie smiled proudly. “My mom’s a doctor so it was kinda decided for me when I was just a little girl. It’s what I want though.”

  “Wow, doctor, huh,” Eden’s eyes widened. “What kinda doctor?”

  “I haven’t really decided yet, but I’m leaning toward pediatrics,” Katie smiled. “What about you? What’s your major?”

  “Art,” Eden stated matter-of-factly. “I’m not sure which field. I went to a special school for kids who were gifted in the arts. I didn’t really narrow it down past that.”

  “You said you’re from Denver?” Katie’s eyes grew wide.

  “Yeah, why?” Eden stopped walking and turned toward Katie.

  “Did you go to The Denver School of Design?” Katie questioned.

  “Yeah, how did you know?” Eden narrowed her glare.

  “I once knew someone that moved to go to school there,” Katie shook the thought from her head as soon as it entered.

  What were the chances that she’d end up with a roommate that went to school with Zach? The universe was not playing fair right now.

  Eden looked over at Katie’s pale face, “You okay?”

  “Yeah, fine. Let’s go down to the bookstore and get what we need for class Monday,” Katie grabbed on to Eden’s elbow and led her across campus.

  Just then her phone chimed. She jumped and looked down at the caller id. It was Patrick.

  “I need to take this. I’ll meet you inside,” she pointed to her phone.

  “Alright,” Eden shrugged. “You sure you’re okay? You don’t look so good.”

  “I’m fine,” she turned and clicked on the phone. “Hello?”

  “Hey baby, how’s it going? I miss you,” Patrick’s voice came over the speaker.

  “It’s going ok. I met my roommate. She’s okay, I think. I miss you, too.”

  Katie could hear wind blowing in the background and Patrick seemed out of breath.

  “What are you doing?” Katie giggled. “You sound like your panting.”

  “I’m warming up. I’m going to go running in a minute with a few of the guys. I’ve got a weight training session tonight and I wanted to talk to you before it got too late. I promised I’d call, you know,” his voice was cheery.

  “I’m glad you called. I’m sorry that practices started already for you. I’ve still got three more days before I have class,” she sighed. “I wish Thanksgiving Break would hurry up.”

  “I know, me too baby, me too,” he huffed. “Well, I need to go. I’m not going to be able to talk and run. I love you. I’ll call you again this weekend, okay?”

  “Alright, this weekend. I love you too, and I’ll talk to you then. Have fun with your workout,” she giggled, then the call disconnected.

  Katie placed the phone back into her pocket and headed into the bookstore. She was going to make this distance thing work with him. No matter how much it hurt to be apart, she would make it work. She would not end up like Eden, breaking things off because of distance. Who would even want a boy who would drop you at the first sign of trouble, anyway? She shook her head and began searching the store for her much needed school supplies.

  Chapter 8

  September 2016

  School had been in full swing for a month. Katie had been going through the motions, but her heart just wasn’t in it. Eden had convinced her a few weeks ago to go out for college night at the local clubs. They had found a place that seemed to be pretty popular with the students. Club 2010 had been packed every night. Patrick had called several tim
es a week, and written her e-mails every day, but she still longed to touch him. Thanksgiving still seemed so far away.

  “You need to come out with me tonight,” Eden begged.

  “I don’t feel like it,” Katie whined. “I wanna stay here, Patrick’s supposed to call me.”

  “So take your phone with you. You can’t mope around anymore. I’m tired of watching it,” Eden threw her hands in the air. “Here, wear this,” she came out of the closet that they shared and tossed some clothes on the bed.

  “Eden, I can’t do this,” Katie huffed.

  Eden looked over at her and picked up one of the hockey jerseys hanging over Katie’s desk chair. “Yes you can. He wouldn’t want you sitting around like this missing out on college life. Now get dressed!”

  Katie picked up the clothes that Eden had thrown on the bed and pulled them on, all the while grumbling that her roommate just didn‘t understand. After dressing in a pair of dark skinny jeans and a black tank top sprinkled with silver sparkles, she finished the look with a pair of black ballet flats.

  “Much better,” Eden smiled, ignoring Katie‘s sour mood. “Now run a brush through that beautiful hair of yours so we can get out of here.”

  Katie rolled her eyes, “What am I going to do with you?”

  “You know you love me,” Eden giggled. “Now let’s get out of here and get our drink on.”

  oooooooo

  The girls walked down to the subway station and hopped on a train to take them into the heart of the city. Eden was so happy that Katie had lived in NY before. She knew her way around like the back of her hand. They never had to worry about taking the wrong train. Hannah had met up with them several times, but tonight she had to back out, claiming she needed to study.

  When they got to the club it was packed as usual. There was a long line that wrapped around the side of the building with people huddled together. Katie had pulled out her cell numerous times to check for missed calls or texts.

  “Would you put that thing away?” Eden huffed as they made their way to the back of the line.

  “No, he’s supposed to call me,” she pouted. “Look at this, we’re never going to get in,” Katie threw her arms up and slung her head back. “This sucks,” she shouted at no one in particular.

  “Oh no, you’re not getting out of this that easy,” Eden grabbed her by the elbow as the line slowly crept forward.

  After waiting for about twenty minutes, they finally made it to the front of the line. Just as the bouncer was getting ready to let them in, Katie’s phone chimed and a smile slowly graced her face.

  “I gotta take this, it’s Patrick,” Katie grinned at Eden.

  “Take it inside, we’re not getting out of line after waiting this long,” Eden glared at her.

  “I’m not going to be able to hear him in there,” Katie whined as she pointed at the door.

  She could hear the bass from the sound system thumping through the walls, and music blasted out into the street every time the door opened to let someone in.

  “Go in the bathroom then, we’ve been waiting too long to back out now,” Eden paid the bouncer the cover charge and dragged Katie in through the door. “Go take your call, I’ll meet you over by the bar in a few.”

  ***

  Katie shook her head and made her way to the back of the room. She clicked the phone on and shouted into it, “Hold on, I can’t hear you!” Once she made her way into the bathroom, she plugged her other ear. “Hello?”

  “Hey baby, where are you?” Patrick sounded cheerful.

  “At a club, my roommate made me come,” she groaned. “Something about me moping around the dorm too much. What’s up?”

  “I wanted to call you tonight, because I’m going out of town. I won’t be back until sometime Sunday night. I didn’t want you to worry about me if you tried to call.”

  “Where are you going?” she questioned curiously.

  “Just to see an old friend. I haven’t seen her in a while,” he responded.

  Katie could feel the blush on her cheeks as her anger began to rise. What did he mean “her”?

  “Who is she? Anyone I know?” Katie pried.

  “Just someone I want to see that’s all. I’ve really gotta go. I’m packing right now,” he explained as he tried to get her off the phone.

  “Fine, don’t let me stop you then,” she barked back and clicked the phone closed.

  She was furious. How could he be so nonchalant about this? Here I am pining for him day and night, and he’s going off to see some girl. She turned on her heel and made her way out to where Eden was sitting at the bar.

  ***

  Eden turned to see Katie come storming up to the bar, “You ok?”

  “Fine! I need a drink,” Katie slammed her phone on to the bar.

  Just then a bartender came over to get their order, “Pick your poison.”

  “Tequila,” she shouted and ran her shaking hands down her jean-clad thighs. She was so angry she could barely see straight.

  “Make it two,” Eden grinned.

  “You got it,” the bartender smirked as he poured the shots and took the money Eden was waving at him.

  “Keep ‘em coming,” Katie yelled in his general direction as she tossed the shot back. “To asshole boyfriends!” she shouted.

  “What happened?” Eden looked shocked. “I can count on one hand how many times I’ve seen you drink.”

  “I’m here to have a good time, and getting drunk is part of the college experience, right?” Katie shrugged as she downed a second shot.

  “Yeah, but what did he do?” Eden’s mouth dropped open as a red faced Katie continued to simmer with anger.

  She shook her head and slammed the shot glass back on the bar as the alcohol burned its way down. “I don’t want to talk about it right now. Let’s dance,” she looked over to Eden.

  ***

  Eden was shocked at the turn of events, but smiled, and jumped up when Katie began to walk away. The night wore on, and thanks to the fake IDs that Eden had gotten for them, the alcohol kept flowing. Katie was in a haze and had soon forgotten why she hadn’t wanted to come out in the first place. At about midnight the girls stumbled out of the club laughing and shoving each other. As they made their way back to the dorms Katie began to spill her guts to Eden.

  “I don’t know why I let myself fall for him. I knew he’d do something stupid,” Katie whined.

  “What are you talking about?” Eden looked her in the eyes.

  Katie was far drunker than Eden, who had her arm around Katie’s waist and was helping her walk.

  “He called to tell me he was going out of town to see some girl. I mean, who does that? Who calls their girlfriend to tell them that they won’t be reachable because they’re going to see another girl?” tears began to trickle down Katie’s cheeks. “To think I had been contemplating sleeping with him. I’m glad I didn’t now. This summer obviously didn’t mean the same thing to him as it did to me,” she continued to ramble at no one in particular.

  “I think you need to get some sleep and think about this in the morning,” Eden shook her head. “Getting drunk over a guy is never the answer, regardless of how hot he is.”

  “His hands…wow, you have no idea how good he is with them. The things he can do to me,” she slurred as they rode the train back to the dorm. “And his kisses, Eden they completely consume me. He told me he loved me,” Katie sobbed.

  “Honey, you need to get some sleep. I don’t think this situation is as bad as you think,” Eden rubbed her back as she slumped against her on the train. “Call him. I’m sure he has a reasonable explanation for all of this,” she soothed.

  The girls had made it back to the dorm at this point and Eden deposited Katie on her bed. She helped her undress and tucked her under the covers before turning out the lights and climbing in her bed.

  ***

  At around one am there was a knock on the door. It persisted for several minutes before Eden was roused from her
sleep. She pulled herself out of bed and shuffled over to the door. When she opened it a small crack, she saw a tall blond haired boy standing on the other side. She opened the door a little farther and gasped.

  “You’ve got some nerve showing up here,” she whisper shouted. “She’s a mess tonight thanks to you.”

  Patrick’s eyes attempted to scan the room, “What’s wrong?”