Paige
The cold sting of fear races through me as I watch Nancy and Kevin walk away. James is still holding me, but he’s frozen in place, still staring after them.
Fuck… I’m so stupid.
Why did I kiss him, and in the lecture hall? I know better, yet I just did the worst thing ever and blew our secret.
My fault.
“James,” I breathe, and he looks at me. His skin is pale, and his eyes hold a sheen of sadness.
He told me he loves me. When I said the words, they came straight from my heart. My heart took on its own bravado and told him the words it longed to say. Hearing him say them back was everything. Then the moment was stolen from us when the shit hit the fan. All because of a kiss.
“I’m so sorry,” I apologize.
“It’s… it’s… okay. Come, let me take you home,” he says, but he’s not quite looking at me.
I ruined it. I ruined us.
“James, I’m truly sorry. I…just forgot where we were.”
I get some comfort when he brushes my cheek and a hint of a smile appears on his face. The smile is gone, though, as soon as it appears.
“Please don’t worry. I’ll take you home, baby.”
I nod and follow him.
He’s silent for the whole journey, and when we get to the dorms, he gives me a brief kiss, then it’s goodbye.
I watch him drive away in his Ferrari, and the weight of everything holds me in place.
It’s only when a bunch of sorority girls walk by talking about the frat party they’re heading to that I snap out of my daze.
I go up to the apartment and thank my lucky stars when I see Megan. For once, she’s home, and I’m so glad to see her. She’s eating popcorn on the sofa and watching a documentary on Netflix.
The second I walk in, she notices something’s wrong with me.
“Jesus, what happened? Is your mom okay?” she asks, pushing the bowl of popcorn to the side.
“Mom’s fine. It’s not her.” I bring my hands to my cheeks. “Megan… I just messed everything up between me and James. The head of faculty and his PA saw us kissing.”
“Oh fuck! No, not those two. Are you sure they saw you guys?”
“Yes, they saw big time. Megan… James is going to get fired. I kissed him. I just…”
I’m so stupid.
She gets up and comes over to rest her hands on my shoulders. “Breathe. Breathe, Paige. Calm down. You look like you’re going to faint.”
“Megan. This is shit. I wasn’t thinking. I completely forgot where we were when I kissed him. You should have seen his face.”
“I’m so sorry. Please try not to worry.”
I know that’s the best advice she can give me, but it isn’t helping.
“They’ll fire him. He’s never said anything to me, but I know the head doesn’t like him. It was clear from the way he looked at us that he was happy he caught us together.”
She pulls in a breath. “I hate to say this, but… maybe something like this had to happen.”