Chapter 41
Chapter Forty-One
Cam
I walked down the stairs of the Meridian for the last time.
It should have felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.
No more forced interactions with strangers who looked down on me.
No more faked smiles. No more sleeping in a room that wasn’t mine in a city miles away from the nearest beach.
No more Alonzo.
As I reached the sidewalk, a sleek silver car honked, its hazard lights blinking.
The driver’s side door opened and Alonzo stepped out, keeping an eye out for passing vehicles.
As he turned and looked at me, I froze in place.
It seemed like every inch of my being was attuned to him, and my inner voice shouted, That’s your person. Don’t let him go.
He smiled, and all of me broke into chaos and settled into place at once. Distantly aware of how foolish I looked staring at him, I forced myself to continue walking. When we met in front of the passenger side door, I said, “What happened to your car?”
Now that I was close enough, I noticed the tension in his eyes. “I’ll tell you inside,” he replied.
He opened the door for me, and a bulging canvas bag took up the seat.
“What’s this?”
“Snacks for the trip,” Alonzo answered, holding my backpack and the canvas bag so I could sit.
“So you weren’t going to try to convince me not to go?”
He huffed out a breath. “I am. But I brought this just in case.”
He handed the canvas bag to me, then closed my door and placed my backpack in the backseat.
When he was inside and we’d pulled away from the curb, I spoke up. “So, what happened?”
He glanced at me. “First, hi, Maya. I missed you.”
“You saw me a few hours ago.”
“That’s a few hours too many.”
I shook my head, not ready to admit that I’d missed him too. “Tell me.”
“I asked my mom if I could borrow the car, but my dad ended up using it instead. Good thing Tala didn’t need her car tonight.”
“Ahh. It’s a nice car.”
“Yeah.” His jaw ticked. “I’m pissed at my dad for changing the plan without bothering to tell me.
He just said that I should communicate with him next time.
Why would I when all he wants to talk about are my grades and how he doesn’t trust me?
Like I haven’t been responsible my whole life, except for that one time I disappeared on them. ”
I chose my words carefully. “Have you told him how you feel?”
“Partially. Whenever I try, it turns into an argument, and I don’t want to stress Mama out or put her in the middle.”
“I don’t have experience with parents, but…” I bit my lip. “Won’t she be stressed anyway if you and your dad aren’t getting along?” I asked.
“Yeah. I need to talk to her about it and figure things out.“ He exhaled. “I’m sorry for ruining the mood.”
I shook my head. “Don’t apologize for telling me how you feel. I just wish I could help. Give you advice or something.”
Glancing at me, he smiled. “You’re already helping by being here and listening.”
The words sent a pang through my chest. I didn’t know how to respond to that, because soon enough, I wouldn’t be here.
So I didn’t say anything at all.
“Anyway, I don’t want to spend the time we have talking about my dad. How was your day?”
“I survived boot camp.”
“I knew you would. Congrats.” His eyes flicked to me. “Did you see my note?”
See it? I’d memorized it. “Yep. And it’s a maybe.”
“Maybe, huh?”
His low chuckle had me wishing I could tell him to turn the car back around.
“I can work with that,” he murmured. “It means there’ll be a next time.”
I wanted to give him the answer he wanted to hear, but I couldn’t lead him on and I wouldn’t give a promise I couldn’t keep. So I settled for saying, “We’ll see.” I hoped he’d leave it at that.
Alonzo
Maya turned silent, and I found her staring out the window, cradling the canvas bag in her lap.
Wearing one of her trademark tank tops, denim shorts, and flip flops, she had none of her city camouflage left.
She looked just as she had the first time I saw her, that stranger with the bird tatt in a small beach town.
Only, she wasn’t a stranger anymore.
“There’s a grilled cheese sandwich in the bag,” I told her.
She looked at me, and it hit me again how beautiful she was. “Thank you, but I ate while waiting for you.”
“Later, then.” Hopefully, later meant when we were driving away together from the bus station. I had to get on with my convincing before our window for discussion closed. “I got you a shake too. I should have told you earlier.”
She opened the bag and drew out the tumbler I’d packed. “Must have been a fancy takeout place.”
“I brought the tumbler for them to put the shake in so it wouldn’t melt right away.”
“I’ll try to finish this now so you can bring the tumbler home.”
“Keep it,” I answered. “I have another one.” This was my favorite because it maintained the drink’s temperature longer.
If Maya couldn’t stay here with me, I wanted her to have something of mine.
It reassured me that she’d remember me and that I was taking care of her even in just a silly, little way.
“I was assaulted in my second year of college.”
My foot jerked on the pedal, and I nearly rear-ended the car in front of us. “Fuck.” My heart raced, and I prayed I’d heard her incorrectly. “I’m sorry, what?”
“It was one of my friends…a guy I trusted.”
I tightened my grip on the steering wheel, a dozen curses clamoring to leave my mouth. But I pressed it shut, not wanting to interrupt her.
“I’d had the biggest crush on him since we met, but I never thought anything would come of it because he was always dating some other girl.
A month before Christmas, he broke up with his girlfriend.
We went to the fair with our friends, had a couple of drinks.
He said he wanted to talk to me, and I thought that was it—he was going to ask me out.
He led me to a secluded area of the field, behind a tree.
I still remember the exact spot. He started kissing me.
I tried to push him away, but he just laughed, like he thought I was playing hard to get. Then he put his hand up my shirt.”
My mouth gaped and I struggled to keep my eyes on the road. “Shit. What the fuck?” I risked a glance at her. “Did he?—?”
Seeming lost in her memories, she stared straight ahead.
“I kneed him in the balls and accidentally head-butted him. Then I ran back to our friends. The girls freaked out when they saw me, but when he got there, he said that I started it and got cold feet. They all knew I had a crush on him so they didn’t need much convincing to believe him. ”
“What the fuck? The girls didn’t stand by you?”
“They did at first. My best friend brought me back to the dorm. I was mostly in a daze. The next day, they were looking at me differently. I heard people calling me a tease. It got to the point where I didn’t know who I could trust because I heard different versions of the story, and I started wondering if I’d overreacted or maybe even remembered it wrong.
” She chuckled bitterly. “Can you believe that?”
“Fuck. I’m sorry that happened to you, Maya.”
She continued talking as though she couldn’t stop now that she’d started. “I told myself I was stupid for going along with him. That it was my fault for dressing the way I did and trusting a guy.” Her voice turned quiet. “But he was my friend. You know? If you can’t trust your friends…”
Then they weren’t your friends in the first place , I wanted to tell her.
“Soon, they also started mocking me for not having parents. They made fun of where I come from, how I looked. Everything was fair game, and other people joined in on it.” She took a shaky breath.
“It destroyed me. I’d trusted my friends with the truth, and they used it against me.
All because of something that hadn’t even been my fault. ”
Names—I needed them, because those assholes had to be taught a lesson.
“I spent every minute I could studying so I could prove that I deserved to be there. It was the first time I qualified for the dean’s list. I only had to lose my friends to do it.
” She scoffed. “I convinced myself I could stick it out for two more years. That they’d eventually get tired of fucking with me.
But then someone sent me a screenshot of a Reddit thread about me.
They were spreading rumors that I’d cheated, and that was the last straw.
I filed for an honorable dismissal and left Manila the day I got the certificate. ”
The details finally fell into place. Why she dropped out. Why she mistrusted people and preferred to keep a small circle of friends. Why she hated Manila. “Shit. Maya. I had no idea?—”
“How could you? No one walks around with a sign declaring their trauma. We just do our best to cope with it the way we know how.”
“For you, it was the sea?”
She hummed in agreement. “And my independence. For the longest time, I thought I would be better off completely on my own. I refused to let anyone in. If Nikki hadn’t given me that job, I don’t know where I would have ended up. But she taught me the meaning of true friendship. They all did.”
“I’m glad you found them.” In fact, I needed to send gifts to Maya’s friends. They had been her lifeline when she had none. Soon, we’d be in separate states and I wouldn’t be able to look after her. But they’d be there.
“Yep. I always feel like for as many bad things I’ve had happen to me, having them more than made up for it.”
My fists ached from gripping the steering wheel. “What’s his name?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Liar.”
“I don’t want to remember,” she revised. “It’s in the past, anyway. I’ve moved on.”
“That’s great, but that asshole shouldn’t be able to move at all after what he did to you.”
“You’re a law student. You shouldn’t be threatening violence. Did you ever do that to your ex’s guy?”