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“Hello?” I answer.
“What happened? Are you okay? You never miss class.” Kate’s voice is panicked.
She’s a great friend, but I can’t get into this right now. It’s too fresh. My throat grows tight as I think about it all.
She doesn’t like how long it’s taking for me to reply. “Where are you? Have you left? I’ll come with you.” Panic has turned to helplessness.
One thing about Kate… She can read me like a book and always knows when something is up.
“I’m fine. I’ve got this.” My voice cuts out as my heart aches.
“It’s Jake, isn’t it?”
How does she know?
“Yes. I’ll tell you later.” I can’t answer her questions right now. “I’ll see you after your classes.”
Before she can tell me to wait, I hang up.
Stepping into my dorm, I’m met with the smell of home. Kate’s floral perfume paired with my eucalyptus diffuser. I snatch my wallet from my nightstand drawer, making sure to lock the door on my way out.
That’s when I see it. I forgot to leave him his key. Fuck.
* * *
Back in my room,I’m buried under layers of soft blankets binge watchingThe Vampire Diarieswhen Kate walks in.
Her blonde hair bounces around her head as her crystal blue eyes stare down at me. She’s only five feet tall, but the girl can be intimidating.
“You,” she says, pointing a finger at me. “You’ve had me worried sick all day. I need to know what happened, and I need to know now.” She looks down at my twin-sized bed that has been turned into a snack buffet.
“Oh, this isn’t good,” she says to herself.
“Care for a piece?” I ask as I hold out a package of sour straws.
“Ooo, yes please.”
She takes one before going to her side of the room, eating bites as she puts her things away.
Kate and I hit it off from the moment I walked through our door, and we’ve been a duo ever since. But I can’t leave out Jay. Kate’s boyfriend is her shadow. So we’re really more like triplets.
I shake my head. I don't need their perfect coupledom to remind me of the dumpster fire that my relationship became.
“So spill.” Her mouth is full, so it comes out jumbled.
“I caught Jake fucking another girl today.” My voice sounds empty, cold.
She drops her backpack on the ground, and the thud shakes the floor.
“What?” Her eyes are wide, and she moves to sit at the foot of my bed. She looks at me with an intense stare. Taking in the sight of me surrounded in treats, face red and eyes swollen. “Say more, please.”
“I forgot something in his dorm, and there was a sock on the handle.”
“Classy.” There is a venom in her voice that I haven’t heard often from my sweet friend.
“Yep, so I called his roommate in case it was old, and when he wasn’t there but I could still hear…what I heard. I let myself in, and that is where I saw him going at it with the girl bent over his bed.”
I’ve cried so much today between the bites of sugar. As I’m telling her everything, I find myself more numb than heartbroken.
