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As the days wore on, I stayed away from her during her campus-bound hours, keeping a respectable distance between us at all times… until Thursday rolled around, and as she was walking from her final class, across campus, to where she parked her car, she ran into someone.
Or, in actuality, someone had run into her.
Her fucking ex.
I was too far away to hear what was being said, but I could see his easy smile as he apologized for bumping into her. Her back was to me, so I couldn’t see her face, but I hoped to God she glared at him with hatred in her eyes. Based on how she’d looked at him at the party, however, I could assume it wasn’t hatred she gave him.
He’d broken her heart, and for that she’d always be upset with him, but she’d said he was her first love, so a part of her would always love him.
Whether or not he was her stalker didn’t matter. I wouldn’t let him worm his way back into her life—and not because I wanted to fuck her like I’d fucked her in that dream. Definitely not because I wanted to make her mine. No, I wouldn’t let him because he didn’t deserve her, because she deserved someone better than us both.
I ducked my head down, stuck my hands in my hoodie pocket, and drew nearer. Thankfully, the sidewalks were full of students coming and going, so I was able to blend in pretty well. By the time I got closer, though, Charlie and Zak had walked off together. Not hand in hand, but the opposite direction of where she should be going.
What in the hell…
I tailed them, walking ten or so feet behind them. Now that I was closer, I could hear what he was saying: “I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve run into you on campus.”
Charlie didn’t say anything, but she walked side by side with him, and I couldn’t help but wonder what the hell she was doing. Why go with him? Where were they even going? This didn’t sit right with me—and it wasn’t just because of that damned dream.
I fumed. I prickled. I got more and more pissed off as the seconds turned into minutes. I couldn’t think of any reason why she’d be going with him anywhere. After a while, I got my answer: they went to the main building on campus, where the shop was, along with the food court and a bunch of eateries.
Wait. Was she having a late lunch with him? Like a lunch date? This was bullshit.
I hung back, watching as Zak got a pizza. Together, he and Charlie chose a seat at one of the vacant tables, and I pulled out a chair at an adjacent table, close enough to listen. My back was to them both.
“I’m glad you’re doing all right,” Zak was busy saying. “I have to say, I was a little worried when I saw you at the party. And then when that guy came over… he seemed too pushy for you.”
Pushy? Me? Please. As if. Even though pushy was the last word I’d use to describe myself, it still bothered me to hear him say that—and to hear Charlie not defend me when she said, “He did come off a little strong.”
Yeah, yeah, I wasn’t her real boyfriend, but… come on.
“Strong is one way to put it,” Zak said. “I know this is none of my business, but you’re really happy with him?” The more Zak talked, the more it sounded like he was trying to fish for information, and that made me think he had some secrets of his own.
Stalking secrets.
Charlie took a little bit too long to answer, “I am. He’s not like that all the time.”
“Good. But if he is, you know I’d always help you out, Charlie. I know we didn’t end on the best terms, but… you used to be my best friend, and I still care about you. I want you to be safe and happy.”
I rolled my eyes, barely able to hold back a gag. Come the fuck on. Real guys didn’t say that shit. Zak was so full of it. He was obviously trying to get back in her good graces, maybe even rekindle their relationship. Maybe he’d started out as a stalker as a way to get close to her again, and now that she was seeing someone else, he felt like he had to make a move.
“I am,” Charlie told him. Her voice was so soft it was difficult to hear over the cacophony of noise in the cafeteria. “How, uh, are you?”
“I’m good.” He was tight-lipped on details about his own life.
“Talk to Amelia lately?”
Zak let out a hard sigh. “I haven’t talked to her since that night. She tried, but… I couldn’t. I know I should’ve pushed her off me. I know it. I hesitated too long. Hell, I never should’ve followed her around the house. She said you were in the back, and going around would be a shortcut, but then she pushed me against the house and… well, you know.”
“Would you have told me if I would’ve come out a few seconds later?” Charlie asked. “Or would you have kept it a secret? Tell me the truth, Zak. I used to trust you.”
“Yes, I would’ve told you. Maybe not at the party, but—it came out of the blue. She must’ve liked me or something, or, I don’t know, wanted to try to take me from you. She made it clear after we broke up that she wanted to hook up, but I never… I never met up with her. I couldn’t. The only thing I wanted to do was get you back.”
Charlie sounded sad after that, “So that’s why she never tried to talk to me again. She was too busy trying to get you. I was collateral.”
“I wish I could go back and change everything about that night.” Zak got quiet for a while, but then he asked, “Do you ever wonder what things would be like now if we were still together?”
God, that little asshole was lucky I didn’t have a knife on me, because I really, really wanted to stab him after that. Such a pussy question. Such a pointless pussy question.
