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“How did it happen?” Charlie asks while resting a hand on Lauren’s shoulder. She was always the better friend, but then again, she knew Lauren better than me.
Lauren groans. “We talked about that night and he totally gaslighted me. I, of course, was an idiot and stayed with him, but it was over by the time summer came. I couldn’t handle any more of the abuse.”
“Did he… do anything?” I ask, grimacing, not knowing if I’m overstepping.
Lauren shakes his head. “No. I was careful after that. I just felt like I could never trust him and eventually I didn’t want to be around him anymore. He was pretty mad. I broke up with him in a public place just in case. I even changed apartments. He called me for a while, but I blocked his number. Haven’t heard from him since.”
“I wonder if he’s still on campus,” Charlie mumbles while glancing at me.
“I don’t care what he’s doing,” Lauren says loudly. “I just want him to stay away from me.”
“Well, I’m glad to see you doing better,” I say while stepping around her and toward the class.
“Wait.”
I stop when I feel a hand on my shoulder and slowly turn around, finding Lauren staring back at me, looking worried. Tears glisten in her eyes. Her hand drops away from my shoulder and her gaze dips to the floor. She wrings her hands, looking nervous and worried.
“I-I wanted to apologize,” she says softly. “I was such a bitch to you. You were just trying to warn me, to protect me, and I treated you so cruelly. Do you think you could ever forgive me?”
“Yeah, I forgive you.”
Her head perks up and she smiles brightly back at me. “Really? You really do?”
I nod slowly. “Yeah, I do.”
“Then, maybe we can get some coffee together sometime or—”
“Lauren,” I say with a shake of my head, watching her smile slip and the joy leave her as quickly as it came. “I said I forgive you, but we can’t go back to how things were before the whole Josh incident. You really hurt me and I don’t know if I can trust you not to do that to me again.”
“But—”
“No, Lauren. I don’t know if we can go back to normal.”
Lauren sniffs and wipes the tears from her eyes. “I understand,” she whispers while quickly stepping around me, rushing inside the classroom.
I sigh and glance at Charlie, finding her texting on her phone. “Did you just hear that?” I ask, frowning when she doesn’t answer me. “Charlie?”
“One minute,” Charlie mutters, smiling at her phone as if it’s her lover. Maybe she’s texting the guy who gave her that love bite. I swear I will discover who it is eventually. I peek over her shoulder, wondering if I can get at least a first name, but she wrenches her phone away from me, giving me a very dark scowl.
“What are you doing?” she says angrily. I don’t think I have ever heard her sound so angry, at least not toward me.
“You’re not going to tell me who you’ve been texting?”
Charlie juts out her chin and stalks inside. Her heels make a loud clacking noise as she moves and she dumps her purse onto a desk in the back before sliding into her chair. I grab the seat in front of her, turning around before she can take out her phone and begin texting again.
“So who is it?”
Charlie purses her lips, her long nails clicking on the table. “You really won’t let this go, now, will you?”
“Well, if you keep acting so secretive, I won’t.”
Charlie rolls her eyes. “It’s no one special.”
“Oh, really? Then why are you so dolled up?”
“I’m not all dolled up. I look like this all the time.”
I scoff. “No, you don’t.”
