Page 23 of Level Up (Franklin U 2 #4)

Chapter Twenty-Three

Jay

My head spun in a thousand different directions.

He lied to me. He fought with his dad. He knew and didn’t tell me. He could have fought harder. He could have told me sooner.

I could have forgiven him.

And yet all I could think about was my dad. About how upset he’d be. It’s the only real reason why I overreacted.

Disappointment. Hurt. Pain.

I miss you. So, so much, Dad.

I had to stop outside our dorm and lean against the wall. Tears pricked at my eyes. My stomach made multiple flips, my head feeling light. Why was this happening? Things were going so perfectly between us. I’d never found someone I fit so well with. It was like two opposing magnets snapping together, unable to be split apart.

Until the truth came out and the magnets flung to opposite ends of the room.

I rubbed my face and looked up at the clear night sky. It was quiet on campus, enough light pollution to block out most of the stars.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out, expecting to see Ryan’s name but surprised to see Maddy instead.

“Girl, you have a sixth sense for trouble.”

“I like to call it a sixty-ninth sense because it sounds sexier.” She chuckled over the phone and got a dry laugh out of me. “What’s wrong?”

“Everything,” I said, leaning into the dramatics. My theater training was clearly paying off. “Where are you?”

“I’m at my dorm. Want to come over?”

“I’ll be there in a second.” I hung up and pushed off the wall. I half expected Ryan to run out of our building with his arms out, asking me to come back.

Half-wanted him to.

I was sure I would have turned around and likely caved if that happened. I even glanced over my shoulder a couple of times, the door opening and my heart skipping a beat, only to see two faces I didn’t recognize walking out. It was na?ve of me to expect anything else. It was more na?ve of me to expect anything from someone who I just started dating.

Relationships were rare for me, so when they happened, I normally got pretty attached right off the bat. That feeling was exponential with Ryan. Even though I had tried fighting it in the beginning, he whittled away at my walls with his charming smile, big shoulders, and funny jokes. I fell for him before we ever even made it official.

I crossed the quiet campus, passing by the few late-nighters who walked either to the library or the bars. Palm trees swayed in the gentle wind. The salty breeze from the nearby ocean rolled over me and made my stomach instantly clench. I pushed it out of my mind, trying not to think about how I simultaneously hated the ocean and also hated the people responsible for destroying it.

Maddy was waiting for me outside of her door to her dorm. She was in her teal pajama shorts and an oversized Cher T-shirt, her bright pink hair now with streaks of teal. She cocked her head as she took stock of me.

“Oh, you look like you’ve been through it. Come inside.”

Before I did, I pulled out my phone and shot a quick text.

I’m at Maddy’s.

Ok. Thank’s for giving me the heads up.

This dry texting between us wrenched my heart. I spun between being angry at him and wondering if any of this really mattered?

I typed up a response without second-guessing it.

I’ll let you know when I’m heading back

Thanks, Jay. And I’m really sorry about tonight.

It’s… it’ll be ok.

I didn’t second-guess that text either. Even though inside I steamed like a boiling pot of water, even deeper, somewhere tucked away inside my heart, I knew we’d be able to work this out.

I just needed to vent to my bestie first before I vented all over him.

Maddy held the door open. Her dorm was small, perfectly organized and decorated. She shared the dorm with her roommate, Claire, who must have been one of those late-nighters I saw when I was crossing campus since her bed was empty. Posters of various pop stars hung on the walls, along with a serene little water feature that trickled over smooth rocks on their shared nightstand.

Maddy went over to her laptop and shut it, the sounds of whatever reality TV show she was watching still playing.

“No, fuck you! I can’t believe you’d do that to me!” came from out of the closed laptop.

“Ah, shit,” Maddy said, opening it again and closing out of her show. “I really need to get that fixed. Thank God it wasn’t anything naughty.”

“I wouldn’t have judged,” I said, sitting down on the edge of her bed.

“I’m sure you wouldn’t have.” She sat down next to me, a hand on my shoulder. “Spill it. What’s got you walking around campus at night like the ghost of FU past?”

I dropped my head back and let out a long sigh. “Ryan and I are over.”

“What!”

“Well, not really, but it kind of feels like it.”

She put a hand to her chest and let out a relieved “wooh.” “Okay, take it from the beginning. And don’t give me a damn heart attack doing it.”

It wasn’t a terribly long story, but it still took me some time to fully get out.

“Damn,” Maddy said. She slumped back onto her bed and kicked out her feet. Outside, a pack of kids must have just made it back from the bar because they were laughing loud enough to wake up the dead. “That isn’t great, but it’s also not totally terrible either. Jeez, you theater kids love the drama, don’t you?”

“I can neither confirm nor deny that,” I said. “ Seriously, though, it’s way too early in our relationship to be having any kind of trust issues. He hid this from me.”

“But only for a short time,” Maddy tentatively offered. She propped herself up on an elbow, the cheap mattress dipping toward her. “And I can kind of see why he was nervous to tell you.”

“I don’t want him to be nervous about telling me anything. And why can you see that, anyway?” I arched a brow. I was feeling spicy, which wasn’t great when it was mixed with feeling hurt.

“Because of how you’re acting right now. Listen, I feel like we’re close enough that I can point things out to you. And right now, you’re being way too harsh.”

That made my eyebrows jerk halfway up my face. “I haven’t been too harsh, Madds. All I’ve done is leave him alone in our dorm while I think things through. That’s hardly harsh.”

Maddy pursed her lips. She wasn’t buying it. And frankly… neither was I.

Damn it. Leave it to a best friend to hold up a mirror directly in front of your face.

I massaged the nape of my neck. Where only a couple of hours ago, Ryan had his hand, supporting my head as I blew him. That had been literally the hottest thing to have ever happened to me. I hated how the night had a stain on it, now.

I dropped my head, feeling the weight stack on my shoulders. “Even if I were to pull a full one-eighty and say that it’s all fine, it’s still going to be an issue when people start finding out. Who’s going to go to our protest, then? We’ll probably get counterprotesters.”

“That is a bit of an issue,” Maddy admitted, giving me at least one win. “But you know what would draw people in and solve that problem?”

“A chance at an hour-long lap dance from Chris Hemsworth?” I offered.

Maddy laughed and gave a wave of her hand. “Oh, babes, I only need a couple minutes with that marvelous god. No, I was thinking more like getting the son of Redpine Global’s CEO involved in our protest. Openly. Now, that would draw attention.”

I cocked my head at that. It was like getting hit with a comet falling directly out of the clear blue sky. I hadn’t thought of that, but I also quickly saw a few issues with her idea. “I don’t want to put him in that position,” I said, already beginning to strike it off the list of possible solutions. “He was already upset he fought with his dad. If he drew massive attention because of attending a protest, then I think that relationship would be totally ruined. And I don’t think he wants that. And I wouldn’t want to be the catalyst for something like that, either.”

Maddy chewed her bottom lip. “Shit. You’re right. Should you maybe ask, at least?”

“I don’t know… I don’t know what to do, Madds. Everything was going great. So damn great. Way better than I ever thought. And now this.”

“It doesn’t have to be ruined,” Maddy said. She put a hand on my hand and squeezed. Her presence was definitely a comfort.

“Maybe you should call him.”

“I… you think so?”

“Babes, I think that if you don’t call him you’re going to feel the same kind of regret a drag queen feels when they forget to glue down their lace.”

I couldn’t fight back the laugh. I had a choice to make; that part was clear.

And I knew exactly which choice I wanted.

I pulled out my phone and called him.