Addiction - Chapter 34 #2
"Yeah, I know." She paused in her mascara application "There are a lot of rumors going around. Whenever I hear someone say anything, I always defend you. I've started to hate girls in general."
I laughed. "Me too. But it's more than that. It's my professors too. They...well they're...it's just really hard." I didn't need anyone else beating up Professor McCarty.
"I'm sorry, Penny. I did kind of warn you that would happen though."
"I know." Melissa loved being right. But she wasn't going to like what I told her next. "But it's just too much. I think I'm going to take the rest of the semester off."
"What? But the semester's halfway over already. Last time we talked you said you were going to finish. You even said you'd finish Comm, which I thought was crazy. Lucky for you, you just get an automatic A for shagging the professor."
I laughed. "I didn't get an A. I had to withdraw from Comm."
"I thought everyone was getting an A in James' classes?"
"Everyone except for me. It was my fault too."
"Sorry, Penny. That really sucks. But you can take it again next semester. There's no reason to drop all your classes. That's insane. Why would you want to just retake all the same things next semester?"
"I'm actually not sure I want to take classes here next semester either."
Melissa put down her eyeliner. "What are you talking about?"
"I can't handle all of this..."
"Penny, you can't just drop out of college. You don't want to be a college drop out! You don't want to be one of those girls who finds her dream guy and just forgets how to have her own life. You're being ridiculous. This isn't the sixties."
"I'm not going to drop out of college. I'm just going to transfer to a different one."
Melissa looked even more upset. "You can't leave."
"I'm thinking about going to NYCU. It's only two and a half hours away. We can still visit each other all the time."
"You're moving to New York? Penny, I'm sorry, I can't just say nothing about this. You barely even know James. You can't just up and move because he wants to."
"It was my idea."
"But why? Just because a few people are saying stupid stuff? Who cares. Just ignore them. You shouldn't run away and hide from your problems."
"It's not just a few people. It's everyone. The whole campus hates me."
"That's not true. I'm sure the people who weren't doing well in James' classes love you."
"I can't go to class anymore. I just can't do it."
"Why? I don't understand. Austin made you feel like shit for months and you handled that. These people don't even know you. I know you're stronger than that. If James is pressuring you to move then..."
"It's not James, okay?! My intro to marketing professor hit on me."
"What?"
"He basically said he'd give me an A if I had sex with him. He grabbed my ass."
"So we'll get him fired. He's the one that shouldn't be allowed to come to campus anymore, not you. Have you told the dean?"
"No. My professor said if I told the dean he'd say I was the one that came onto him. Melissa, I don't want to have to deal with stuff like this for two more years. James and I need a fresh start. We need to go somewhere where people don't see us a student and a professor."
"It'll blow over. I'll report your professor myself. We can figure this out."
"I need this, Melissa. It's what I want to do."
"But I don't want you to move." She ran over to my bed and hugged me. "What am I supposed to do without you?"
"I told you, we can still hang out all the time. Every weekend if you want. And you have Josh."
"But he's graduating next semester. I don't want to be here all alone for two years.
You're the only friend I've really made.
You're right, everyone else here sucks." Melissa laughed.
Her phone started buzzing and she released me from her hug.
"You made me smudge my makeup." She lightly pushed my shoulder and grabbed her phone off the dresser. "It's James." She looked back at me.
"My James?" I looked down at my phone. I didn't have any missed calls or texts from him.
"What other James do I know? Does he know you were telling me that he's stealing you away? Is he calling to convince me that I shouldn't be mad at him?"
"I have no idea why he's calling you."
"Should I answer it?"
"Umm...yes." Why is he calling Melissa? Is something wrong?
Melissa put her cell phone to her ear. "I heard you were kidnapping my best friend and taking her to New York."
Silence.
"No, that's not how she worded it." Melissa smiled at me.
Silence.
"Yeah, she's right next to me."
Silence.
"Yeah, I guess. Hold on one sec." Melissa pulled the phone away from her ear and put her hand over the speaker. "He says he needs to talk to me in private."
"Why?" I asked.
"I don't know. He said it was important. I'm going to go out in the hall."
"Wait, what's going on?"
"I don't know." Melissa left the room, closing the door behind her.
I tapped my knee impatiently. What were they possibly talking about? It was a long time before Melissa came back into the room. She didn't say anything. She just walked to the mirror and began to finish doing her makeup.
"What was he calling about?"
"We talked about a lot of things."
"Why are you torturing me? We both know that you're going to tell me. Just spit it out."
"We actually had a very nice talk. He's starting to wear me down."
"So he just called you to chat?"
"Kind of. He told me he punched your professor in the face. Several times."
"I'm not thrilled that he did that."
"It's kind of sweet though. He was defending you. He's like your knight in shining armor. With a violent side."
"He just wanted to talk to you about my creepy professor?"
"No, not really." Melissa frowned and then turned to me. "I think you're right. Maybe a fresh start would be good. I think James really does love you. Moving seems fast and crazy, but your whole relationship has been fast and crazy."
"So you're okay with me moving?"
"I mean, I'm upset that you're abandoning me. But I want you to be happy. And after my conversation with James, I think that maybe I've been too hard on him."
"You think?"
Melissa laughed. "I've just been looking out for you. You know that. You tend to like guys that are terrible for you."
"Just Austin."
"James counts in that list too. Dating a professor wasn't exactly in your best interest. Especially when there was a super nice guy who clearly adored you. With nice abs and a great personality."
"How is Tyler doing?"
"He wanders around the frat house like a sad puppy."
I looked down at my lap.
"I'm kidding, he's fine. I've even seen him make out with that Natalie girl he hangs out with. Like I told you before, he's a big boy, he'll be okay. Besides, he definitely needs to move on now since you're fleeing to New York with James."
"But I still don't get it. Seriously, why did James call you?"
"Because we're friends. Geez, not everything is about you. Stop being conceited. I thought you wanted us to get along."
"I do." She was definitely hiding something from me. "Do you know where he was?"
"He didn't say. You said he was with Rob and Brendan though, right?" Melissa suddenly looked worried. And it worried me that she looked worried.
"Yeah. Why?"
"I don't know." She turned away from me.
"Melissa, you're scaring me. What's going on?"
"I don't know. It was kind of weird. At first we were having a really nice conversation.
But after a few minutes it didn't really seem like he had a reason for calling.
He didn't really have anything to say in particular.
And I was trying to avoid the subject because I didn't want to worry you.
But he didn't sound like himself, Penny.
It seemed like maybe he had too much to drink or something?
He seemed off. Like maybe he had just drunk dialed me or something? "
I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. He told me he wasn't going to drink too much. He told me I didn't have to worry.
"Does he do that a lot?" Melissa asked.
"What? No." I tried to clear away my nagging thoughts. "Was there lots of music? Maybe he was at a bar or something?"
"No, I just heard a few people. Maybe it was Rob and Brendan? If they're with him, I'm sure he's fine. I'm sorry, I don't know why I said anything. I'm just being silly. Just pretend I didn't say anything."
"Do you think I should call him? Maybe he needs me to pick him up or something?"
"I'm sure he's fine. I really don't know him that well. Maybe I'm just misreading the situation. And you don't want to be that girl."
"What girl?"
"You know... that girl. The one that nags her boyfriend all the time. You have to trust him."
"Yeah, you're right. I do trust him. I'm sure he's fine." But I wasn't sure. I didn't want him to do something stupid again tonight. I was surprised that Professor McCarty hadn't gone to the cops. Next time James might not be so lucky.
"Speaking of the time, I need to get going."
"I didn't mention the time."
"I know, but I really am going to be late. Are you sure this is okay?" she asked, gesturing to her dress. "It's formal enough?"
"Very formal yet very sexy. It's classy. You look absolutely beautiful."
Melissa gave me a big hug. "Seriously, don't worry about James. I'm sorry I even said anything."
"Okay."
She laughed and released me from her hug. "I'm really bummed that you're not coming tonight. But you look kind of tired. Maybe you should just call it a night and go to sleep early?"
"Okay, now you're just being mean."
She laughed. "I just meant so you don't have to worry all night. I'm sure James is fine."
"Mhm."
"Bye!" she said and blew me a kiss as she left me alone in the dorm room.
I immediately pulled out my phone and called James. I didn't care if I was that girl. If he was drunk wandering the streets I needed to go pick him up before he did something stupid.
"Hey, hot stuff."
"Umm...James?" Geez, he really was hammered.
I heard laughter on the other end of the phone.
"James?"
"No, it's Rob. Do we sound the same on the phone?"
"Yes, you do."
"Damn it! I should have convinced you to have phone sex or something. Can we rewind a couple seconds? Hey, Penny, it's Professor Hunter."
"Gross. Rob, can you please put your brother on the phone?"
"Sorry, love, can't do that."
"And why is that?"
"You're going to be mad at me."
"What are you guys doing?"
"We ran a few errands and then I finally convinced my tightly wound brother to go to a bar. But, we both know how he is..."
"Can you please just bring him home?"
"In a bit."
"Rob, I'm serious. Bring him home right now."
"Don't be such a party pooper, Penny. We're having fun! If he's too drunk to fuck you when we get home, I'll be happy to stand in. Don't you worry."
"Stop being gross. Just bring him home safely, okay?"
"You have my word, sugar tits."
"You're drunk too, aren't you?"
"Mhm."
"You're impossible."
"You're impossible!"
"And you're seriously not going to let me talk to James?"
"Professor Hunter is currently unavailable. Please leave a message at the beep." Rob made a farting noise and the line went dead.