I could see why, too. Her mom seemed too stern, too serious. Nice enough, but still, no thanks. Her dad was the opposite, almost too easy-going, going along with whatever his wife said. A pushover to the extreme.
Her mom and dad were down at the car, taking the second to last load. Her bedding was gone; I stood there staring at an empty mattress. It really wasn’t going to be the same around here without her—thank God Levi further investigated that apartment. We moved in January first.
When Mel’s parents came back, her dad gathered the last of the stuff while her mother headed straight for me. I could see where Mel got her looks from; she came from a skinny family, although I still thought she was a little on the anorexic side. Mel’s mom had the same blonde hair, though hers was longer. She was a well-put-together person, not a hair out of place. Her dad was where she got her dark eyes.
It was strange, seeing pieces of Mel in two people that were strangers to me.
“Kelsey,” Mel’s mom spoke, giving me a tiny, almost imperceptible smile, “I wanted to thank you.”
I blinked, clueless. “For what?”
“For bringing the seriousness of the situation to the police and involving us. Mel refused to talk about what happened last year, but now that we know that Dean had been harassing her, I…” She trailed off. “It’s a shame, what college did to that boy. He was a good kid when they were in high school, but now…now he’s just a vile boy, throwing hatred into the world because he couldn’t get what he wanted.”
“I’m taking the last load down the car,” Mel’s dad called out, his arms full as he exited the propped-open door to the dorm room and disappeared down the hall.
“You’ve already done so much for us, but I’m hoping I can ask you to do something else,” her mom went on. She grabbed my hands, squeezing hard. “I want to take this bastard to court. I want to nail him for everything he did to my girl. Will you be a witness? You saw confrontations between them, you know—”
She didn’t have to go on. “Of course I will,” I said. “Anytime you need me, I’m there.”
Mel’s mom finally released my hands, and I resisted my urge to wipe them on my jeans. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
When her dad came up, it was time to say our goodbyes. I waved to them, moving to close the door after they left. Alone in my room, I felt…sad. Almost like this was the end of an era. It’d just been a semester, but still. It felt like so much longer than that. It felt like I’d done so much growing up these last few months, time itself had dragged and made it feel like years.
Mel. I would never forget her. I’d never stop visiting her, and if she woke up, I’d make trips to her parents’ house as often as I could, just to bug her. Just to make sure she was alright. Never again would I take any friend for granted.
My feet drew me to my bed, and I sat on it, studying the empty half of the room. All of her stuff was gone, except for the small items they didn’t want to take, like her shower caddy, her half-used soap and shampoo. That sort of stuff. Stuff I’d just need to bag up and take to the dumpsters.
I waited a while to make sure her parents were long gone, and then I got up and started doing just that.
It took me two trips—and freezing my ass off, because it had snowed a bit last night, so the air outside was brisk and annoyingly cold—but I managed. When I went up to my room after that, there was nothing left of Mel’s, nothing but her memory.
Her memory would be the strongest part. I would never forget her. I wouldn’t. This I swore to myself.
I was about to go shower, because I was feeling tired and wanted to call it a night—maybe do some studying in bed because I was really trying to do well on those final exams—but my phone started to ring. It sat on the corner of my desk, and I went to grab it, immediately seeing Levi’s name flashing across the screen.
Not going to lie, my heart skipped a beat anytime I saw his name appear on my phone, whether it was a call, or a text, or anything. If it involved that man in any way, I grew a little weak at the knees.
I know. So unlike me. What was this sexy fucker doing to me?
“Hey,” I answered, leaning on my bed frame. “What’s up?” I was hoping he’d tell me he was on his way over or something, but what he said next was even better. I hung up once he was done, reaching for my hoodie. It wouldn’t be nearly warm enough during the long walk to the Sigma Chi house, but it would do.
Oh, my sense of revenge would keep me warm.
At least, that’s what I thought, until I stepped out into the cold and was blasted with freezing air again.
I took off, my feet picking up on the plowed sidewalks in campus, the snow pushed off to the sides. This winter wonderland could kiss my ass, and then kiss it some more.
Chapter Twenty-Two – Levi
When
