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“Erica. Hey.”
“Wha—what are you doing here?”
“I—I come by here all the time. The campus is a great place to walk my friend’s dog.”
“You walk your friend’s dog?” I raise both eyebrows in surprise. What a good friend Sam is, then again I’m sure his fluffy friend doesn’t hurt when it comes to meeting women, like he would have just done with me had we not already met last night. Letting my eyes rake over his body once more it’s clear he doesn’t need his pooch puppy’s help though. The man has a body to die for.
“Yeah, when I get a chance. Usually a few times a week.” He pauses. “You? You feeling okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good. Thanks.” My spirits have been considerably uplifted running into him like this.
“You—left without saying goodbye. I’m glad I bumped into you…to know you’re okay.”
“I’m okay. And yes, it was nice bumping into you again. How random.” I shrug my shoulders, conversation not really my strong suit and especially not in my current inebriated and attracted to Mr. Adonis state. I bite my lower lip and hope he’s going to do what I want him to do.
“I should get your number so we can go out sometime.”
Jackpot! Doves take flight inside me and I feel like I’m flying myself. “Yeah, sure,” I say with a little too much excitement than I should.
He jabs his hand in his pocket and then shrugs his shoulders. “Don’t have my phone with me, but if you tell me I’ll remember.”
“Okay.” I rattle off my number and he simply says, “Got it.”
Leaning in he gives me a very slight hug, more of a pat on the back actually and I want him to be more aggressive about it, but he stays gentlemanly and doesn’t get me sweaty, even though his musky scent smells so heavenly. I’ve technically already slept with him, although of course not in that way. I’m glad he doesn’t make that joke, considering it would be a predictable one for boys my age.
But he’s not my age and clearly not a boy. He’s a grown man with the class and body to show for it.
“I’ll call you.”
“Please do,” I say and he takes off.
With a spring in my step I approach my dorm room, shocked at the coincidence of bumping into him here. He comes by here a lot but I haven’t seen him and no other girls have talked about him?
Then again I skipped two classes so it makes sense I wouldn’t bump into him.
Entering my room with a big smile on my face I scan it to see the familiar motivational posters on the wall, the empty hot pocket wrappers lying everywhere, and a couple of used condoms in my roomie’s trash can.
Lovely.
It’s just a reminder of what she’s getting and I’m not. But what happens if this sudden…thing…between Sam and I keeps growing? Maybe I won’t graduate a virgin.
Just as I’m about to pull the blinds and hop into bed a letter under the door catches my attention. I must have stepped right over it. Moving to pick it up I see it’s addressed to my roommate, not me. Looks like nothing more than a tuition reminder, which is no big deal for someone like her.
I grab my phone and prepare to take a quick pic of it to send to her, then think twice. It’s better she doesn’t know I’m home. I can get in a few hours of sleep without any distractions.
Changing my mind I kick off my shoes, toss the letter on her bed, and go to put my phone down on the desk next to the bed, but just as I do something in my feed catches my eye.
It’s the name of the bar from last night, along with a picture of a man. The man who was aggressively trying to take me home.
And he’s dead.
Murdered.
My windpipe closes, then feels like there’s a saw running up and down it as I struggle to breathe. Scanning the article quickly it places the time of death somewhere not long after he stepped outside to smoke. Then again I was pretty buzzed so my timing is a bit off. Maybe it was a lot later than when I left.
Maybe it wasn’t.
The guy was pushy and I can see how someone might not like him, but reading what little is being released about the situation they do hint at the murder being gruesome. That makes me think of revenge or something along those lines. It doesn’t seem random, unless someone is really that messed up in the head that they like torturing people.
