“I’ll leave right after I get my drink,” Missy said with a smirk.
“Monica leaned over the machine, lowering her voice. “If you don’t leave here in two seconds I will pour this drink on your bitch face, understood?”
“Ugh!” Missy recoiled back. “Whatever. Your shit is nasty anyway. I’ll just drive to Starbucks.” With that she swayed away like she was some sort of princess and we were just her minions.
My breath felt like it was caught in my throat and I had to grip onto the counter.
“Are you all right?” Monica whispered.
I wasn’t going to cry. I wanted to so bad, but I couldn’t. “Yeah. I’m fine. Take the next orders.”
After work I could have gone home. I probably should have gone straight home, but instead I let my emotions guide me and stomped all the way to the Alpha Mu house. I didn’t even know if John was home or what I would have done if he wasn’t.
I pounded on the front door. There was a giant brass knocker that had a lion head on it, but I wasn’t sure if that actually worked and I couldn’t find a doorbell. I may have been little, but I put everything I had into pounding on that door, hoping someone would answer.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, a tall, lanky guy who looked like he was half asleep answered. “Hey? Um there’s no party going on right now...”
I pushed past him. “I’m not here for a party. I’m here to see John Walden. Is he here?” I looked around the common room. Everything was surprisingly empty, not like how I was used to seeing it.
“Yeah. He’s up in his room.” The guy pointed toward the stairwell.
“Good. I hope he doesn’t have some random girl up there with him,” I grumbled and marched up the stairs. Luckily, no one stopped me. I kind of doubted anyone was actually there, and if they were, they weren’t awake even though it was in the afternoon on a week day.
When I got to John’s door I didn’t even knock. I just threw it open. He was sitting in his desk chair, but this time a girl wasn’t on top of him. He was at his computer and lifted his head up with a big grin when he saw me.
“Hey, Red. Long time no see. Are you here for a nooner?”
I shook my head and stepped into the room, shutting the door behind me before I crossed my arms over my chest. “You seriously have some nerve.”
He let out a deep breath. “What now, Melanie? What did I do now? It always seems like I did something to fuck up, so lay it on me.”
“How the hell can you just be so nonchalant about things all the time? I’m dealing with some serious shit right now and you’re always just ‘whatever’ about everything.”
John stood up, his full height looming over me. My eyes trailed from his broad chest to his face as he took another step toward me. “You need to relax.”
I dropped my hands. “Relax? How am I supposed to relax? It seems like everything that deals with you has some sort of drama and it’s getting old. Did you know that chick that was using you as a pole showed up at work today? And you know what else? She somehow knew I had cancer. Who the hell told her that? I know it wasn’t Monica, so it had to be you.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Did Missy really say that?”
“Yes, yes she did. She said the only reason you hang out with me is because you feel sorry for me. Is that what you’re telling people? Because if it is, I don’t need you to feel sorry for me. I can take care of myself. You don’t need to waste your time with the broken girl.”
I could feel the tears wanting to fill my eyes. Everything always seemed like it was falling apart. My body was failing me with cancer and I couldn’t keep a guy that would be faithful to me.
“Hey.” He put his fingers under my chin and closed the space between us. “You only think you’re the broken one, but I’m the only one who needs to be fixed.”
He put his other arm around my waist and pulled me closer. “When I ran after you, Missy followed and was asking why I was so concerned what you thought. If you were my girlfriend. I didn’t know how to answer so I just blurted out that you had cancer. I know you don’t want the world to know, but it just came out and I’m sorry.”
I still didn’t know what he meant about being the one who needed to be fixed. Sure he was sort of a manwhore, but everything else about him was perfect. He was good looking, smart, funny, everything I wanted in a guy. Everything that would eventually lead to this moment with me ready to cry and heartbroken.
“You don’t need to be fixed, John. You’re perfect.”
He shook his head. “I’m glad you think that of me, but you’re the first girl that has actually wanted to get to know me. You didn’t want just a quick jump in my bed.” He sighed, dropping his hands.
“I’ll admit that at first I just wanted to fuck you crazy. Take the girl that seemed stuck up and give her the night of her life.”
“Charming.” I smirked.
“I’m not finished.” He pulled me closer, pressing his warm body against me. “Then I got to know you. The girl that actually cared about the meanings of my tattoos. The girl that puts up a brave face for the world and keeps her feelings in.”
He leaned into me. “It made me realize how fucked up I was. How much I needed to change my ways. When you caught me with Missy, I felt like shit. I knew I couldn’t mess this up. I knew that I’d fucked up big time, but I just can’t lose you. I don’t want to lose you. The last thing that I ever wanted to do is hurt you. I’ve been a dick for far too long and I’m trying to fix that. Starting with patching things up with you. Go out with me and the guys on Friday. I know you don’t want to, but I want to. I need to.”
“Okay. Friday night it is.”
He smiled. “Great.” He then moved closer, his lips just inches from mine and his breath hot on my lips. “And Red? Don’t call yourself broken. There’s nothing about you that needs to be fixed.”
Chapter 14
John texted me that we were going to a bar downtown. He said he had a fake ID for me to use since I was two years shy of legal drinking age. Mostly everyone had left town for Thanksgiving break, so the campus was like a ghost town. Hopefully that would be a good thing for getting me into a bar and not just thrown into jail. My mom was coming in on Saturday and the last thing I wanted was to have to call her to bail me out before then.
I combed through my clothes to see what would be legal aged, bar attire. I didn’t know if I needed to show a bunch of skin or if that would make me look like a slutty freshman. It’s not like I went out that much anyway, so finding anything in my closet was a chore. I also didn’t feel like going shopping. Being short didn’t help my clothing choices at the mall and sometimes I even ended up buying my t-shirts in the little boy’s department so they didn’t drown me. There was no way I was wearing my Batman shirt out to a bar.
Then I found it, in the back of my closet. When me and Robby were dating I bought black lingerie that I planned on surprising him with when I went to visit him at school. That was the same night I caught him cheating. I took down the black, satin baby doll top. It had a plunging neckline that was lined with pink lace and came with matching black lace panties.
Girls wore stuff that was practically lingerie out all the time and it looked like it could pass of as a top if I wore it with jeans. I knew I had a pair of low rise, dark wash jeans that I accidently bought and thought they were my regular style. I hardly ever wore them. But tonight seemed like the night to wear them. I paired the whole outfit with a set of black pumps and blow dried my hair straight.
At about nine, as I just finished applying my mascara, John texted me to let me know he was at my apartment. When I walked outside I expected him to be sitting in his Jeep, but instead he was in the back seat of a sleek looking Mercedes. He jumped out as soon as he saw me and opened the door to the back seat.
“Hey, Red.” He smelled and looked amazing, as usual. He had on a dark gray henley that hugged every one of his bulging muscles. Instead of his usual baseball cap his brown hair was choppy and styled with some sort of wax product that smelled like green tea. At least I thought it was his hair product. With my heels I was a little bit taller, but not tall enough to actually reach his hair. The hair that I wanted to run my fingers through.
