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“What about my consent? I deserve to know how old the girl I’m falling for is.”
“You’re falling for me?”
He hadn’t meant to say that out loud. “I was.” Now he wasn’t sure how he felt. Betrayed, foolish, scared, alone. Like the person he thought he knew best in the world was fake. “Was this some kind of joke to see if you could get the college football player?”
“You know I don’t care about sports,” she said.
“You obviously don’t …”
There was a knock on his door. He looked at it for a minute.
“I don’t want to see you.” He wasn’t sure what he would say to her face.
“Please.” Her voice cracked.
He sighed and ran his hand over his head. He opened the door, then lowered his phone. She lowered hers. Her eyes glistened with tears.
He motioned for her to come in, shut the door, crossed his arms, and stood several feet away from her.
“I was going to tell you.”
“But you didn’t.”
She’d had plenty of chances. Maybe before he took her home? Or maybe when she was in bed with him? Or when he was removing her bra?
He felt like his chest was breaking in half as he thought about how much he cared, and she didn’t even care about him enough to tell him that she was only seventeen. “We messed around and you … let me believe …”
“I was going to … I wasn’t going to let it go any further.” She stepped toward him. “I’ll be eighteen soon.” Her bottom lip began to quiver. “I was going to say something but I …”
He looked at the ceiling, anywhere but her. “Right, because you got caught?”
“I’m still me.”
“You lied to me,” he said. “I thought you were the one.”
She blinked quickly, her eyes red. “I … why does my age change that?”
“Are you even listening to me?” He sat on the edge of his bed, and grasped his hair.
“I don’t tell the people I tutor my real age, because I wasn’t taken seriously when I started.”
“But I wasn’t just someone you tutored.” He didn’t mean to raise his voice, but what did she not get? She betrayed him, made him look like a fool. And worst of all, didn’t trust him.
She sniffed, but Kolson couldn’t look at her. He put his elbows on his knees and looked at the ground. “You need to go.”
“Kol …”
“Just leave,” he said.
It was few minutes before he heard the door click shut. When he looked up and she was gone, his anger withered and was replaced with an overwhelming urge to cry.
***
The sorority house door opened. Mackenzie looked at him in her messy bun and leggings. “What happened to you?”
Even though the hat covered the fact that he’d been tugging at his hair all evening, his eyes were bloodshot. Not from tears that he refused to cry, but from the alcohol.
“I need a friend.” He’d thought about calling Mom, but couldn’t bring himself to.
