It was an uncharacteristic moment of honesty from him. “What about you? Who will you end up with?”
He smiled. “I like the bachelor life just fine.” He looked out the window. “But I can't really see myself ever getting married to someone who didn't remind me of you.”
I saw his sadness, but I said nothing. He looked out the window for the rest of the trip to the airport. When we got to the terminal, he hugged me and gave me a kiss on the forehead. “I'll see you next Christmas, Allie. Call or email me if you ever find yourself in trouble.”
I let him hug me, feeling his warm embrace for the last time. “Thanks, but I don't think I'll need your help.”
He sighed again, then released me from the hug. I got out of the limo and walked right into the terminal without looking back.
Chapter 17
And that was that. I got on the plane, flew back, and took a taxi back to my campus. I managed to make it back just in time to change my clothes and go to my last class. The last thing I needed was to get additional absences for this time off.
When I got back to my dorm room, I just laid on my bed, looking up at the ceiling. My hands automatically rested on my belly, and I couldn't help but think about James' seed, probably already claiming my egg, claiming my body. I wanted it, yet it was possibly the most terrifying thing I could think of. It would bond James and me together forever.
Nicole came back and asked why I was so mopey. I couldn't tell her. I couldn't tell anyone. I couldn't even text Tessa and tell her all about it. Everything had changed, and nothing had changed.
The rest of Wednesday passed in a blur. I was still sore on Thursday, but I managed to get myself out of bed and to my classes. I had my phone on silent, but when I got out of class, I noticed that James had emailed me a couple of times. He had some nerve. Here I was, trying to forget he even existed, when he kept reminding me about him. I deleted them without even reading them.
That evening, I went to do laundry. I dug around in my jeans pocket to get everything out of them, when out popped the flyer listing the coffee house band schedule. I thought of Anne, maybe looking for me to be in the audience. I really wished I could have been there, but I'd probably never set foot in Boston again.
Still, as I did my laundry down at the laundromat, I found myself wondering what kind of music played. I remembered the small music studio in James' place, and I wondered what kind of music he played as well.
Stop it, I thought. James is dead to you.
On Friday, I caught up on my homework. My phone kept chirping emails at me, and every time I saw it was James, I tossed it in the trash without even thinking about it. I was almost starting to feel good again. Nicole must have noticed. “Glad you're over whatever boy dumped you,” she said, oblivious to my actual feelings as usual. “Want to go clubbing?”
I laughed. “Are you single now?”
“Uh, yeah, I'm always single,” she said, her valley girl persona shining through for a moment.
“What about the guy you hooked up with on Tuesday night?” I asked.
She scoffed for a moment. “He was into some weird stuff, I wasn't interested. He didn't get that some girls just want to have fun.”
I giggled a little. That was Nicole, always into fun. I didn't always agree with her brand of fun, but I needed to get out of here a little bit. “Yeah, let's go clubbing.”
“Yay! Let's go check out that new place on 5th street!” She was practically jumping up and down with excitement. “I can be ready to go in two hours.”
Typical, I thought. I'd take thirty minutes to get ready and have to wait on her for ninety minutes. “Great!” I said, forcing cheerfulness out with the word. “You take first shower.”
“Way ahead of you,” she said, pulling her shirt over her head and heading into the bathroom. It was really nice having a bathroom in our dorm room, even if we shared it with the room next door.
Nicole took her typical thirty minute shower and came out wrapped in a towel. She quickly blow dried her hair and I rinsed off. When I came out of the shower, she was sitting in bed, typing at her computer with curlers in her hair. When she would take them down, she would have the most beautiful hair I had ever seen. Mine never looked half as good as hers did. I was definitely envious of those curls.
I knew that it took a long time to curl her hair, but I started to get dressed anyway. I put on my favorite top, a gold shiny shirt that tied around my neck and lower back and left my entire back exposed. A simple black skirt would look fantastic with it tonight. Hopefully, I'd find a guy to help me forget James.
As soon as I was dressed, there was a knock at the door. Nicole didn't even look up from her computer, leaving me to do it. I laughed to myself as I went to the door to open it up.
When I opened the door, I felt my heart began to race.
“James, what are you doing here?”
He didn't answer. He simply advanced on me, coming into my room with the same lust in his eyes that I had seen the other day...
Chapter 18
I never expected to find myself in this situation.