Cammie moves to help Lia, and as she does, she holds her hands up in surrender. “I’m sorry, Lia. I didn’t mean to leave you hanging.” Cammie takes a few bags from Lia. At least now it looks like Lia isn’t going to be squished under the weight of the bags.
“Who is she?” Lia asks, rather abruptly. I guess Lia didn’t pay too much attention to who was helping her. She eyes Peyton up and down, and as if she can feel Lia’s intense stare penetrating her, Peyton turns around from the counter and braces herself for yet another introduction.
“I’m Peyton, your new roommate.” Her words are cheerful, but superficially so. I feel bad for her, having to defend herself just because she’s the new girl. Lia’s nice and all, but she can be a bit bitchy when she wants to be. Apparently, right now, Lia The Bitch is in charge.
Lia looks Peyton up and down once more and says, “Great, then you owe forty bucks for your share in the food.” Cammie slaps Lia on the arm, but Lia barely flinches.
“Would you cut the shit, Lia? Be nice. Just because you’re pissed at me, doesn’t mean you get to take it out on her.” Cammie’s chiding voice snaps through the room.
Turning to Peyton, Cammie tries to clear the air. “You’ll have to excuse my cousin here. Lia can be a bit of a diva when she wants to be.” Lia moves in interrupt Cammie, but I chime in before she can say a word.
“Before you even try to defend yourself, close your mouth. You are most definitely a diva and you know it. Now be nice to Peyton and go take a nap or do something that will help bring back the real Lia. We know she’s in there somewhere.” That earns me an eye roll and a “whatever”, but I feel the need to stand up for Peyton, especially after what I did to her.
Lia huffs out an exasperated sigh as she stalks out of the room. “Wow, is she always like that?” Peyton asks cautiously.
“Nah, she’s usually great, actually. I’m sure once she naps and showers, she’ll be back to normal.” I try to explain Lia’s antics, but she’s such a firecracker that you never know what to expect. I look to Cammie for some kind of help in explaining what the freak just happened, but all she can do is shrug her shoulders.
Peyton begins rifling through her pocket. “Okay, then about the food. I only have a twenty, and I won’t get paid from the tutoring center for another week or so.” Before she can finish explaining, Cammie is cramming Peyton’s money back in to her hands.
“Don’t worry about it. This week is on me.” Seriously, is there anyone out there nicer than Cammie? Well, if there is, I haven’t met her yet.
After Lia calms her sorry-ass down, she comes back out to the living room where Cammie, Peyton and I are eating lunch and getting to know each other a bit more. Laughing and joking around with the girls is so easy. It helps me forget all of the confusion over Bryan – whether we’re even together or not, what I’ll tell him, if anything, about that text, about my cheating. I don’t have to be perfect when I’m with them. The easy-going nature of being back at school, well, at least just being here with my friends, helps me to forget my need for perfection. I try to forget my real life for a while, so when Cammie suggests that we go to Jack’s tonight for a welcome back party, I agree all too willingly to go. Hopefully Lia will be in better spirits and we can all actually enjoy ourselves later.
After we’ve all showered and dolled ourselves up, we’re ready to head to Jack’s at around nine. I just have to do one last thing before we leave. Bryan is supposed to be back on campus today, but of course, he hasn’t gotten in touch with me. I text him, because even though it hurts that he seems to be ignoring me, I have to check in with him.
Me: Haven’t heard from you in a few days and I just wanted to see if you made it back okay.
I’ve come not to expect an immediate response, so when my phone buzzes in my hand, it takes me by surprise.
I’m really shocked to see that he’s calling and not texting. My hands are shaking as I slide the icon at the bottom of the screen to answer the call. Now, after a month of barely saying more than a few words to me, he wants to talk.
I clear my throat before saying, “Hey, Bry.” I hate that my voice is shaking with emotion.
My words are met with a deep, yet calming sigh. “God, I missed your voice, Melanie.” Bryan’s words cause me to melt. I sink down onto my bed and begin twirling my loosely curled hair in between my fingers.
“I missed yours too. I feel like we haven’t talked in so long.” I work hard to push back the emotion I feel rising in my voice. I’m one sad, excited, anxious and uncertain ball of nerves.
I hear him huff in exasperation before saying, “I know and I’m sorry for that.” I hear him shuffle some things around and sigh yet again. He clears his throat. “We need to talk. But I don’t want to do this over the phone. Can I come over?”
All I can think of is some snippy remark along the lines, “Sure. Come on over and rip my heart out. No biggie.” But I bite back my sarcasm, because he doesn’t deserve it.
Instead, I say, “Yeah. The girls are actually heading over to Jack’s for the night.” I don’t know if being here alone with him is a good idea or not, but I guess it’s better to just get everything out in the open sooner rather than later.
“Okay, great. I’ll be there in about an hour.” Bryan’s words are suddenly chipper. Now I’m really confused. He’s excited to break up with me? I’ve already convinced myself that’s what his plan is. The bastard.
I push back those thoughts as I make my way out to the living room where Peyton, Lia and Cammie are all not-so-patiently waiting for me.
“Oh, well, look who’s ready to join us!” Lia chirps playfully as she swallows down the remainder of her pre-party drink. I just roll my eyes at her. Everyone thinks it’s just a cute personality quirk that I am always late. The truth is that I change more times than I can count before I find an outfit that I feel comfortable in. Not being comfortable in your own skin is a woman’s worst nightmare. Having to showcase that skin to a bunch of horny college guys is about as scary as that nightmare when you show up to class naked.
But, yet again, rather than divulging that part of me, I just flip her off playfully and say, “You girls should know by now that I’m never on time for anything. Like ever.” Cool and unaffected, my words tumble out of my mouth keeping the insecure version of Melanie well hidden from their sights.
Cammie stands from the couch and adjusts her black mini-skirt. Jack’s going to lose it when he sees her - in a good way, of course. “Let’s go, then!” Cammie smiles cheerfully as she walks to the door. I can tell she’s anxious to get to the party.
Glancing over at Peyton, she looks a little unsure about everything. She definitely doesn’t look like the other girls who attend these parties. By that I mean that she isn’t dressed like she works on a street corner. Her black skinny jeans don’t leave much to the imagination and neither does her curve-hugging top, but she doesn’t look like a whore. Hell, who knows, maybe now that Reid isn’t there, the number of whorish partygoers will decrease dramatically and Peyton will fit right in.
Just as they’re all grabbing their bags and heading for the door, I say, “I’m actually going to stay in tonight.” Lia shoots daggers and Peyton actually looks scared.
Leave it to Cammie to actually be concerned. “Is everything okay?”
Nodding my head to dismiss her misplaced worry, I say, “Yeah, everything is fine. Bryan just got back and he’s coming over. We haven’t seen each other all month so …” I leave that hanging out there, because honestly, I don’t know what we’re going to do tonight.