He squints his eyes at me and then bursts out laughing. I know this is humorous but he should at least have been respectful of my wounded pride.
"Are you done? " I am irritated by the way he is laughing at me. What is he even laughing at?
"This is priceless." He says and keeps on laughing.
"I'm glad you find this funny but I don't."
"It's you." he says with amusement.
"Of course it's me. Do I know you?" I ask with confusion.
"Surely you can not have forgotten how you called me hot and godly yesterday." He says and smirks. Images from yesterday come rushing back. I wish I could evaporate this instant.
"I was tipsy." my cheeks are on fire. Oh, god. Could it get worse than this?
He looks at me incredulously, "anyways, you know you're on campus, right?" he asks.
Campus? My gaze flicks around. Scratch that, it could definitely get worse. I spot the familiar neon pink water fountain that sticks out in the stark gray hallways of the LCF. "What time is it?" I ask with panic. There are no people at the moment but imagine if they start pouring in? I'd bid goodbye to my public image and girl pride.
Raising his hand reveals a black Audemars Piguet watch; one of the few luxury watches I know. "Pattern drafting class down the hall ends in about two minutes." He says mischievously. I want to scream, why is this happening to me? I don't want to be known around campus as the girl in star wars pajamas.
"Instead of smirking like that, can you help me out here?" I am seconds away from full on panic.
"No, I'm enjoying this too much." He is too busy being amused to budge. "Yesterday I thought you had a crush on me but it appears you are also crazy."
Why does he keep on talking about the party? I do not get time to dwell on that, as I hear chair scraping in pattern drafting class signaling the end of the session and the approach of hordes of people.
"Give me your jacket." I demand.
"What?" He looks at me with confusion.
"Please." I say a little more politely.
He sees how desperate I am and smirks, "Why should I cooperate with you?"
"Because you are a good person?" I hazard a guess.
He complies but in the process mumbles something which sounds like, "I'm anything but."
The moment I put on the jacket is the exact moment the room opens. I run out of there without sparing the party guy a second glance.
I burst into the house, with perspiration coating my body. I almost run into Jade as she navigates the corridor. "Where have you been?" she asks with worry marring her features. "I woke up and you were gone."
"I am sorry. I went for a jog." I lie.
She looks at my attire with disbelief. She leaves it at that and turns to leave. I almost heave a sigh of relief at being let off the hook so easily, but then she turns towards me again.
The knowing smile she gives me should have been the first red flag, "Liza, you naughty girl." She exclaims with glee. Her 180 degree change in mood nearly gives me whiplash. It's my turn to be confused. "You were with Kystan, weren't you?" She asks with a knowing smile on her face.
"Who?"
"Kystan. I should have known. After yesterday, you were bound to-" Her excitement mounts as she rants.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I wasn't with whoever that is." Talking sense into her doesn't work either, it only encourages her.
"The jacket disagrees." She motions at the jacket I am wearing and winks. Am I missing something here?
"Oh, this jacket." I poke the jacket like it will produce the answers to whatever strange situation I've gotten myself into, which of course it doesn't. "What about it?"
She looks at me with exasperation, "Why are you so dense?" She walks away from me mumbling something akin to 'Liza and Kystan sitting on a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G'.
I choose to ignore her. My room is in shambles when I enter it. The contents of my closet have been poured out, all my school books lie in disarray on the floor and my bed covers are lying in a heap on the floor. I almost step on my phone as I walk around picking up everything.
I find a voicemail from my dad. "Come home young lady, we must talk." Hearing the anger in my father's voice jars me. What happened to make him talk to me this way? Did something happen at home?
I call home immediately. Mom is the one who answers. I know instantly that she has been crying.
"Liza Murray, what is wrong with you?" She says in a pained voice.
"Mom, have you been crying? What happened?" I hate it when my mom is hurt.
The moment I ask her, her tone changes to a cross one, "Tell me honestly, why on earth would you divorce Glen when he has been this good to you? Are you that ungrateful?" I am taken aback by her statement.
"Who told you about that?"
"Glen called." she says, "did he ever do anything bad to you?" Her tone is so accusatory, it's painful. She keeps on scolding me but I can't keep listening to her because I may end up saying things I'll regret later
"Mother, I'm going to hang up now. We will talk when your 'disappointment' has cooled off. '' I do air quotations even though she can't see me. True to my word, I give her no time to respond, I just hang up.
How can she take Glen's side? What did he tell them? It's not above him to paint me as the evil one, but to my parents? That's crossing the line.
I take a quick bath and get dressed for a class I have in twenty minutes. History of fashion hasn't been more boring, I spend the whole session wondering what Glen told my parents for them to blame me. He must be really creative, my parents love me too much to do that. I am still angry at them though, and I won't answer their call for now.
The professor finally dismisses us and I get up swiftly seeking to reach home quickly and drink my worries away.
I walk as fast as I can towards the main exit.
Someone blocks my path unexpectedly; I am forced to stop. The outraged expression I had on my face doesn't vanish instantly, I hope it wasn't that noticeable. I put on a smile and look the person straight in the eyes.
It's Kystan.
"Are you alright?" He asks with an expression resembling concern.
"Yeah, of course." I smile to reassure him. "I must go." I turn and leave him behind. I dare not to turn in case he is still there. Why is he caring about me anyway? I stash that thought at the back of my mind for later.
I take a detour halfway and end up at a bar drinking again. God, I am pathetic. If I keep this up, I'll be a drunkard in no time. Time passes so quickly, before I know it it's already night. I pay my check and collect my property.
Frankly, wobbling drunkenly in the streets of Mayfair is not a pretty sight, you just become an easy target for disgusting perverts.
A chill goes through my back. I feel a presence close behind me, too close for comfort. "Hey, you look good in that outfit. I bet you'd look better out of it." A raspy man's voice whispers in my ear. All the drowsiness dissipates like a cloud of smoke. I am so scared, I can't even get myself to respond.
I hurry my pace and try to outrun the creep. He follows me further until he gets tired of it and stops, "You're ugly anyway, bitch." He yells at me when I continue to evade him.
Tears roll down my face the rest of the way. What can't a woman be safe on the street? Can't I breathe without some asshole force feeding me distasteful compliments?
When I get home, I make a beeline for Jade's room for comfort. I stop short in my tracks.
Coming from her room are banging sounds and noises I'd rather not describe. I retreat from there immediately and run to the safety of my own room. Before long, I pass out.
The next morning, I wake up with a headache. I head to the kitchen to get some water to take with aspirin. The moment I enter the kitchen, I come face to face with Jade in all her glory.
"God, you look horrible. What happened to you last night?" She says with disapproval and concern at the same time. I catch my reflection in the window; besides my mortifying bed head, I forgot to take off my makeup last night, now I look like the wicked witch of the west.
"Thanks for the compliment. I got wasted last night." I say as I pour myself a glass of water and down the pills. She shakes her head and sighs. Her attention returns to her phone. "I might be crazy, but, did you have a guy over last night?" I look at her closely to gauge her reaction.
Her face heats up as she avoids my gaze. I get my answer right away, "Yes." She says in a very small voice. Curiosity gets the best of me and I sit in front of her, "Details."
She scrunches her nose up, "First get a shower. You smell as bad as you look." She leans back on the sofa and eyes me with fake disgust. Twenty minutes later, I come out looking fresh and ready for tea.
She delves into the story. She had been at a bar last night, like me, and she met one of the guys in her class. They started talking- something they had barely done before- and drinking. Then one thing led to another. They ended up in bed together.
"OK. So according to me, I expect you to be happy not sad like you are right now, why is that?" After all we are not in the bygone days where getting some was a sin, unless she's into celibacy...
"I never wanted this to happen. His words afterwards, " She takes in a breath her eyes flaming, "They cut deep. Can you believe he apologized and said it was all a mistake?" Her face falls. I can sense the hurt rolling off of her like waves.
"Do you like him?"
She tenses up, I have hit home! "Sort of. But nothing will ever come from it. He was recently in a long term relationship."
I heard it was right there. "What happened?"
"The girl left him, I don't know why and honestly don't care, but since that day he has been flirting with anything with boobs. I don't want to get tangled up in that mess." I suspect there is an underlying message in the way she says that but I prefer not to push her.
"Do you want to go out? We could get some ice-cream sundaes." I suggest as a way to cheer her up.
"You drive a hard deal for sure." She says with amusement returning in her eyes. "Sorry to disappoint you but I have a class."
If I stay all alone, I will most likely think of my miserable life; I need to find something to do. "Okay, another time then." I suggest. She nods and gets up. I resort to watching a movie until I fall asleep.