Two tables over, one table back. America and Shepley were barely visible from my seat, and I hunched over, watching Travis stare at the empty chair I usually occupied before sitting at the end of the lunch table. I felt ridiculous for hiding, but I wasn’t prepared to sit across from him for an entire hour. When I finished my meal, I took a deep breath and walked outside to where Travis was finishing his cigarette.
I had spent most of the night trying to form a plan to get us to where we were before. If I treated our encounter the way he regarded sex in general, I would have a better chance. The plan risked losing him altogether, but I hoped his enormous male ego would force him to play it off the same way.
“Hey,” I said.
He grimaced. “Hey. I thought you’d be at lunch.”
“I had to run in and out; I have to study,” I shrugged, doing my best impression of casual.
“Need some help?”
“It’s Calculus. I think I’ve got it handled.”
“I can just hang out for moral support.” He smiled, digging his hand into his pocket. The solid muscles in his arm tensed with the movement, and the thought of them flexing as he thrust himself inside me replayed with vivid detail in my head.
“Er … what?” I asked, disoriented from the sudden erotic thought that had flashed in my mind.
“Are we supposed to pretend the other night never happened?”
“No, why?” I feigned confusion and he sighed, frustrated with my behavior.
“I don’t know … because I took your virginity?” He leaned toward me, saying the words in a hushed voice.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure it’s not the first time you’ve deflowered a virgin, Trav.”
Just as I had feared, my casual demeanor made him angry. “As a matter of fact, it was.”
“C’mon … I said I didn’t want any weirdness between us.”
Travis took one last drag of his cigarette and flicked it to the ground. “Well, if I’ve learned anything in the last few days, it’s that you don’t always get what you want.”
“Hey, Abs,” Parker said, kissing my cheek.
Travis gave Parker a murderous expression.
“I’ll pick you up around six?” Parker said.
I nodded. “Six.”
“See you in a bit,” he said, continuing to class. I watched him walk away, afraid to endure the consequences of the last ten seconds.
“You’re going out with him tonight?” Travis seethed. His jaw was clenched, and I could see it working under his skin.
“I told you he was going to ask me out after I got back to Morgan. He called me yesterday.”
“Things have changed a little bit since that conversation,
don’t you think?”
“Why?”
He walked away from me, and I swallowed, trying to keep the tears at bay. Travis stopped and came back, leaning into my face. “That’s why you said I wouldn’t miss you after today! You knew I’d find out about you and Parker, and you thought I’d just … what? Get over you? Do you not trust me, or am I just not good enough? Tell me, damn it! Tell me what the fuck I did to you to make you do this!”
I stood my ground, staring straight into his eyes. “You didn’t do anything to me. Since when is sex so life or death to you?”
“Since it was with you!”
I glanced around, seeing that we were making a scene. People were walking by slowly, staring and whispering to each other. I felt my ears burn, and it spread across my face, making my eyes water.