Hazed (Palm South University)

I swallow, trying to calm myself even though everything inside me wants to throw a brick through a window. “Take me there. Now.”

“Maybe we should call—”

“Now, Dina!”

“Yep, okay, let me get my keys,” she says, releasing my arms, and as soon as she’s got her belongings, we’re back in my car and headed across campus.

They decided to use Dina’s apartment for the scene because it has the best lighting and, let’s be honest, she’s able to keep it the cleanest, being that she’s a girl. She also had no problem decorating her place the way Kip had his when we dated, and when I shove through the front door, it’s almost like walking back in time.

There are muffled voices in the back, and though Dina tries to stop me, I shrug her off and storm back, flinging the bedroom door open.

Across the room is the entryway to the bathroom, and Jameson — the guy Kip cast to play him — is standing in the doorframe. His gaze snaps to mine immediately, but before he can ask questions, I storm across the room to stand where he is.

And that’s when I find Natalia standing in the shower, naked.

And Kip is holding her hips.

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” I scream, and then before I can think better of it, before I can take a breath and be rational, I walk straight over to Kip and slap him hard across the face.

His head snaps with the force, his hand reaching up to hold his cheek as Natalia flies back and out of his grasp.

“Jesus, Skyler, what the fuck?!”

I point at her with a menacing glare. “Don’t you fucking talk to me, you sneaky bitch.”

She throws her hands up and arches a brow. “Whoa. What did I do?”

“You know exactly what you did.”

“Alright, alright,” Kip says, grabbing my arm and yanking me toward the door. “Take five, guys, I’ll be right back.”

“The hell you will,” I say to him, and then I give Natalia another glare until I’m ripped out of the bathroom.

Kip keeps his grip on my arm, yanking me past a confused Jameson and Dina until we’re all the way outside the apartment. He shuts the door behind us, and then turns on me with wild eyes. “What the hell is wrong with you, Skyler?”

“Me?” I laugh incredulously. “What is wrong with you?”

“I’m filming,” he deadpans. “Which you’ve made abundantly clear is hard for you to cope with, but I have a lot riding on this project, okay?”

“Oh, and I assume you holding onto Natalia while she’s naked is a super important part of making the show so great, huh?”

“I was trying to demonstrate how it happened in real life so Jameson could get the emotion right,” he defends, throwing his hands up. “God, what is it with you and Natalia? She’s a professional, Skyler. We work together and that’s it. You’re being insecure and jealous, and it’s a really bad look if I’m being honest.”

My head snaps back at his words, and I lick my lower lip, tearing my eyes from him and shaking my head with a million thoughts racing through my mind.

The first one being who is this guy and what has he done with my boyfriend?

“Look, I know it’s hard to understand, but this is how it’s always going to be with me. Work is going to be a huge part of my life. I’m going to have days when I’m busy, with filming or producing or whatever.”

“Too busy to remember date nights, I guess, huh?” I ask, looking him in the eyes again. “Should I just get dressed up and be waiting for you to pick me up, and then when you don’t show, laugh it off? ‘Oh! Welp, guess Kip must be busy with his show. Oh well, I’ll just got changed back into sweats now.’”

Kip’s brows furrow together in confusion. “What are you tal—” But he doesn’t finish the question, because in the next moment, his eyes take a slow dive over the length of me, taking in my hair and makeup and dress, and then all the color drains from his face. “Shit. Our anniversary.”

“Yeah, you asshole. Our anniversary.”

He closes his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose on a breath. “Skyler, I’m sorry. I completely spaced. We ran into an issue with this scene earlier today and I wanted to—”

“Re-film it, yeah, I heard,” I finish for him, shaking my head. “Well, I hope you got the shot.”

With that, I turn and storm down the stairs, ignoring him when he calls my name and attempts to jog after me. I rip off my heels at the bottom of the stairs and take off in a sprint toward the car. As soon as I’m inside, I roar the engine to life and peel out, leaving Kip in my rearview mirror.