by Minot, Diana
“Yes! I have some crazy stuff to tell you both!” Whitney exclaimed. It was unusual for her to be the one so excited about going out and spending money on lunch, but she wanted to tell Elise and Jamie about her latest confrontation with Kate. She was still in a bit of disbelief over the incident.
“I can’t,” Jamie said. “I promised Lincoln I would go to lunch with him. The poor guy is the biggest bundle of nerves I have ever seen. I don’t even want to think about what he’s going to be like during finals. What about dinner instead?”
Elise shook her head. “I can’t do dinner. I’m supposed to be helping with some stupid networking event. Whitney, is this about Ben? You can’t tell any stories until I’m there!”
“Well, then she can’t tell any stories unless I’m there, either!” Jamie said.
Elise snapped her fingers. “What about brunch tomorrow morning? Are you two free? We haven’t brunched in forever!”
Jamie cringed when Elise said the word “brunched,” but she nodded. “I’m free tomorrow.”
“Whitney?” Elise asked. “Don’t you dare try to get out of it by telling me you already made plans with Ben! You’ve been abandoning us all week!”
Whitney wanted to leave the whole weekend open for Ben, but Elise was right. The girls had been her study partners since the beginning of the semester, and she had somewhat abandoned them this week. Okay, she had completely abandoned them this week. It was nice of them to be so understanding. And it was probably good to not be too available for Ben anyways. That was a thing, right? Make it clear to your boyfriend that you have a thriving social life outside of just him? If he even was her boyfriend. Whitney sighed. “Okay, okay! I’ll be there. You’re right, I owe you guys.”
Elise clapped her hands in her signature fashion. “Excellent! I can’t wait to catch up!”
The classroom had emptied out, and Whitney realized with disappointment that she had not said goodbye to Alex before he left. She needed to remember to text him later to thank him for showing up at the library this morning.
The three girls made their way out of the classroom, and Whitney said goodbye to Elise and Jamie. Whitney started walking toward the bus stop, but then she changed her mind and turned around, heading back into the law school and up to the library. She avoided the study rooms, and instead found an open table in a back corner by the window. She desperately wanted to see Ben today. Maybe after he had a chance to take a nap and rest, he would decide he wanted to grab some dinner after all. Whitney decided it would be better to remain close by in case he did. She could not deny that it was borderline pathetic to spend the Friday afternoon after midterms in the library waiting for Ben to potentially decide he wanted dinner. She had no other plans, however, and she rationalized it by telling herself she could get a head start on next week’s mountain of reading. After all, even though midterms were over, the pace of work was not slowing down any time soon.
Whitney pulled out her laptop and casebooks and spent the entire afternoon studying. She was surprisingly pleased with her productivity, and she only allowed herself to glance at her phone once every half-hour. As the afternoon wore on and turned into early evening, Whitney still had not heard a single thing from Ben. Not even a friendly hello. She felt foolish, and slowly acknowledged to herself that Ben was probably not going to contact her for a dinner date tonight. She packed up her things and walked to the bus, feeling angry. She was jealous of all the people out on the street who were gearing up for a Friday night out on the town. She stared at her phone the entire bus ride home, but the screen remained dark.
It was almost 7:30 when she reached her apartment. She went upstairs and fixed herself a giant bowl of cereal. She threw her phone into a kitchen drawer and slammed it shut, then took her cereal to the living room. She binge watched old episodes of 30 Rock until she drifted off into a fitful sleep, dreaming she was trapped in a room fighting off huge piles of law school notes that Ben and Kate were throwing at her.
Chapter Thirteen
Whitney woke to the bright October morning sunshine streaming in through her living room window. She sat up slowly, confused about where she was for a moment. She saw her television glowing dimly with the question “Are you still watching?” from Netflix displayed across the screen. A glance at her watch, which she was still wearing, let her know it was just after 8 a.m. She had no idea what time she had fallen asleep.
Hunger pangs hit her, and she headed to the kitchen to eat another bowl of cereal. She needed to go grocery shopping, but she hated trying to lug groceries home on the bus. It was much easier in Texas, where she had a car and could drive everywhere. She did not want to eat too much right now, anyways, since she was meeting Elise and Jamie for brunch at 10. She put a bowl on the counter and filled it with cereal and milk. Then she took a heaping spoonful before opening the drawer where she had thrown her cell phone the night before.
She had four new texts. One was from Elise, sending the address for the restaurant where they were brunching this morning. The other three were from Alex. There was nothing from Ben. Whitney felt her heart deflating. Was he tired of her already? They had spent so much time together over the last week, and had come close to sleeping together. Was that the problem—she had not slept with him? No, that did not make sense. Usually a guy would wait until after he slept with you to disappear. And it was not like she had been holding out on him for an absurd amount of time. She would have slept with him right there in the middle of the law school library if he had brought a condom. Maybe she was reading too much into his silence. After all, he had said he was tired. Perhaps he just needed extra time to recuperate, and he would text her later. Maybe he would suggest dinner, and they could go back to Francesca’s. Whitney’s mouth watered at the thought of Italian food. She sighed and shoved another spoonful of cereal into her mouth.
She leaned against the counter as she chewed, and started scrolling through her texts from Alex. The first one was sent at 7:45 last night. Want to grab some dinner? Breaking up catfights makes me HUNGRY!” Whitney rolled her eyes. She was sure he was going to use the Kate drama from yesterday as fodder for jokes for quite some time. His next text, sent at 8:40, was contrite. Hey, sorry, I hope I didn’t offend you with my last text. Just joking! I am hungry, though, if you want to eat? I know you’re not busy hanging out with lover boy, since he’s been sitting here playing video games for the last two hours and doesn’t seem to be interested in stopping anytime soon. Whitney tried not to be annoyed when she read this text, but the thought of Ben sitting there playing video games for hours without taking the time to send her even one small little hello text made her angry. She tried not to be high maintenance when she was in a relationship, but it was strange to her that Ben had gone from constantly seeing her and texting her during the last week to radio silence for nearly an entire day. He could not have been that tired. Something felt off. Had Kate somehow gotten to him. Whitney frowned and scrolled down to her last text from Alex, sent at 9 p.m. Okay, maybe you’re out with your girls or something. I’m gonna go ahead and grab dinner. Sorry I missed you! Whitney shook her head. Apparently Alex was more interested in hanging out with her than Ben was, even though Alex knew he was relegated to the friend zone. Whitney took one last spoonful of cereal and then texted Alex back. Hey, sorry I missed you last night. I was binge watching Netflix and forgot to check my phone. Rain check on dinner? Whitney hit send, and contemplated sending Ben a text as well. She knew it was a bad idea, though, and decided against it. She cleaned up her cereal bowl and went to get ready for brunch.
At 10, she met Elise and Jamie, and they squeezed into a small booth at a trendy pancake house. As soon as they sat down, Jamie turned to Whitney and asked, “What the hell happened with Kate yesterday?”
“You heard?” Whitney asked, surprised.
“Alex told Lincoln, and Lincoln told me at lunch yesterday.”
“Great,” Whitney said. “I’m sure the whole law school is going to hear about it before long.�
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Elise perked up. “What happened? Was Kate bothering you again?”
“She came into my library study room yesterday morning and yelled at me to stay away from Ben. She was out of control, throwing my notes and outlines all over the room and telling me that I hurt Northwestern’s reputation with my bad hair and cheap clothes.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” Elise said.
“I’m not sure how long she would have kept at it if Alex had not intervened.”
“Alex was with you?”
“Well, he wasn’t studying with me, but he was nearby in the library and heard her yelling, so he came by to investigate. She was loud.” Whitney rubbed her forehead. She was tired, and her head hurt at the memory of Kate’s verbal assault. “And, I guess, Alex told Lincoln about it?” Whitney looked at Jamie for confirmation.
Jamie nodded. “Lincoln was not surprised. He said Kate has been stalking Ben since the beginning of law school. She’s obsessed.”
Elise shook her head in disbelief. “What did Ben say about it?”
“Well…I don’t know. I haven’t told him,” Whitney said.
“You haven’t told him? How have you not told him?” Elise asked. Her eyes were opened wide and her face looked incredulous.
“I don’t know,” Whitney said. “We’re in a weird spot.”
Elise’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
Whitney sighed. “Well, things seemed to be going so well. I mean, you know, we spent most of the last week together studying.”
“I know,” Jamie said, and there was no mistaking the hint of annoyance in her voice.
“I’m sorry,” Whitney said. “I know I shouldn’t have abandoned you guys to spend so much time studying with him. But I was excited that he was finally showing an interest in me. He was so sweet the whole week. He would drive me home so I didn’t have to take the bus late at night. And his goodnight kisses…Damn, that boy can kiss.”
“So, I’m not understanding the problem,” Elise said.
“Well, the problem is that we haven’t spoken since midterms ended. I know that was just yesterday, but I thought we would have a chance to go out on a real date once all this studying craziness was finished. Instead, he told me that he was tired and needed to rest, and he hasn’t so much as texted me a simple hello since then.”
Elise frowned. “He’s never even taken you out?”
Whitney shook her head, but felt a little defensive. “I mean, we did go to Francesca’s that one time. He paid for that, so it was sort of a date.”
Elise crossed her arms. “No. That was not a date. It was an impromptu dinner because you both happened to be around, and hungry. And besides, that was forever ago. He owes you a real night out.”
Whitney took a long sip of her coffee to buy herself time to think. The more she discussed the situation out loud, the more panicked she was starting to feel. Something was wrong here. She took a deep breath, and then said, “I think he might be upset with me because I refused to sleep with him the other night.”
“WHAT?!?” Elise and Jamie both screeched in unison, leaning in as though they might miss the details if they sat too far back in the booth. This was a juicy piece of news.
“It was Thursday night. It was late and we started making out in the study room at the library. Things got out of hand, and we were on the verge of doing the deed, but…”
Whitney was interrupted by an outburst of laughter from Jamie. “You guys were going to bang in the middle of the library?” Whitney gave Jamie a pointed glare and Jamie quieted down and raised her hands in surrender. “I’m sorry. Please, continue.”
“Neither one of us had a condom and I refused to continue without one.”
“Good girl,” Elise said, in a tone that annoyed Whitney. Elise sometimes had a tendency to praise Whitney like she was a child in need of guidance.
“He wanted to go back to his place, but by then I was wavering. Besides, the moment was broken, so I decided to just go home. He hasn’t seemed interested in talking to me since.” Whitney had been staring down at her coffee cup, but now she looked up at Elise and Jamie, waiting to hear their verdict on the matter.
“Well, first of all, I don’t think your refusal to sleep with him one time is the problem. But, if it is, that’s not okay for him to act like this,” Jamie said, crossing her arms.
Elise was less subdued. “What an asshole. I thought Alex was the one who couldn’t keep it in his pants, not Ben!”
“I actually don’t think that’s true about Alex,” Whitney said. “But, anyways, if that’s not it, I can’t figure out why Ben’s being distant.”
“I think this whole situation is being overblown,” Jamie said. “It has only been one day, and it was an exhausting week. I know as women we get antsy if there’s too much time between talking or texting, but men are clueless about that. Ben might literally have been exhausted and needing a night off from everything, like he said. I think you should give him some credit.”
Whitney furrowed her brow. She wanted to believe Jamie’s assessment of the situation, but she still felt uneasy about the sudden lack of communication. Ben had not been too tired in the middle of the frenzied week of studying to text her good night and good morning every single day, so why was he suddenly too tired to do either of those things? Whitney shrugged, unsure of what else to say.
Elise looked pensive. “The whole Kate thing is weird, too. Do you think she knows what you and Ben were doing in the library? Maybe she said something to Ben that somehow made him back off?”
“How in the world would she know? I can’t imagine Ben would share that information with her. And I haven’t told anyone other than you two. Besides, even if she threw a fit at him like she did at me, I don’t think that would exactly be the kind of thing that would make him want to leave me for her.”
“True,” Elise said. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if she knew that you and Ben almost had sex. She was probably listening outside your study room Thursday night, since she seems to be so into stalking him.
“Eww, you might be right,” Whitney said. Her face turned red at the idea of Kate listening in on her and Ben in the middle of their hot and heavy make out session. One thing was sure—she was not going to be engaging in any more half-naked activities in a law school library study room.
Jamie shuddered. “Kate’s a creep.”
“What are you going to do?” Elise asked.
“I don’t know,” Whitney said. “Wait a little bit longer, I guess. I hope Jamie’s right and I’m just blowing this out of proportion. I’ve really fallen for him.” Whitney’s voice started quivering and she let her sentence trail off. The sudden flood of emotions she felt had taken her off guard, and she did not want to start crying in the middle of the restaurant.
“Aw, Honey,” Elise said, reaching over to squeeze Whitney’s hand. “It’s going to be okay. I’m sure Jamie’s right.”
“Yeah, don’t worry about it. Let’s change the subject for a little bit. I’ve been dying for a chance to talk about myself, anyways. Way to hog the conversation, Whit,” Jamie said, in an overly dramatic tone.
The girls laughed and moved on to lighter subjects. Elise had picked up a new book on self-motivation and was eager to share tips on time management. Elise was a big self-help junkie, and Jamie loved to tease her about it. The resulting banter usually had great entertainment value, and Whitney managed to forget about Ben for a little while. The conversation and meal were a nice distraction. It felt good to relax after a stressful week, and the girls stayed huddled in their booth for nearly two hours, giggling and overdosing on gourmet coffee. By the time Whitney hugged Elise and Jamie goodbye and headed for the bus stop, her mood had lifted.
As she waited for the bus, she could not resist peeking at her phone. There was still no message from Ben. The only text she had received was from Alex, telling her he was definitely going to cash that rain check on dinner. Whitney sighed and put her phone away, vowing not to
check it for the rest of the day. She went home and decided not to look at her casebooks or notes for the rest of the day, either. She deserved an afternoon to relax. She took a long, lavender-scented bath, and then painted both her toenails and fingernails with a dusty rose color. It had been too long since she had repainted her nails, and seeing them with a fresh coat of polish buoyed her spirits. She threw together a stir-fry for dinner using the random assortment of frozen vegetables she had left in her freezer, then settled down to search for a chick-flick on Netflix. By the time she settled into bed that evening, she felt much better. Surely, Ben was just taking a weekend to recuperate as well. She closed her eyes and smiled, drifting off to sleep while imagining his lips on hers.
Chapter Fourteen
Monday morning came, and Whitney still had not heard from Ben. She texted Rachel about the situation, and Rachel agreed with Jamie that Whitney was overreacting. Whitney was not convinced, and arrived at the law school feeling anxious. She was wearing a suit today, because there was an informational event this evening where representatives from several law firms would be visiting the school. She was not used to wearing a suit, since the dress code for her job in Texas had been pretty casual. The annoyance of the unfamiliar clothing combined with her nervousness over seeing Ben left her in a sour mood.
Whitney need not have worried about Ben, though. When she entered the room for her first class, Ben was not there. He did not show up for class at all the entire day. Alex said Ben was still asleep when he left the apartment that morning. When their last class ended and she still had not seen or heard from Ben, Whitney was genuinely worried. She decided at this point it was acceptable to send him a quick text. Hey, are you okay? Just haven’t seen or heard from you in a bit. Hope everything’s alright! She reworded the text about fifty times, and immediately regretted not changing the wording even more as soon as she hit send.
Elise was heading back to her apartment to change into a suit, and asked Whitney if she wanted to come along. Whitney agreed, glad to have a retreat available from the law school. On days like today, she wished that she lived closer to school. Most of the time the distance did not bother her, but on days with evening events, when it was impossible to run home between class and the event, the commute frustrated her. She would have loved to have worn leggings and UGGs all day like Elise had, instead of this uncomfortable suit. Not that Whitney owned a pair of UGGs. They were too expensive. She did have a pair of boots that looked just like them, though. She had bought them during an online clearance sale last spring in anticipation of her move to cold Chicago. Rachel referred to them as her “Fuggs,” short for “fake UGGs.” Whitney had not worn them yet because it had not been too unbearably cold so far.