7. Deacon
Chapter seven
Deacon
My alarm went off at precisely nine o’clock. The moving truck I ordered would arrive with my stuff at eleven, and I wanted to get a workout in before it came.
The apartment was quiet, and I was about to learn how Nathan and Andre recovered from a night out at the bars. In my experience, there was nothing a Gatorade, a greasy sandwich, and a workout couldn’t fix. I only had a few beers last night, and the last memory I had from The Attic was of a girl having a fantastic time on the stripper pole.
After I saw Cassie at Beckett’s, I needed some time before I indulged in the party scene. In the meantime, I could live vicariously through Nathan, who had his arm slung around a girl on our living room couch.
Even though my attempt at putting together my pre-workout was barely audible, Nathan’s head lifted slowly off the pillow as he looked around the room. We made eye contact, and I pressed my lips together to avoid laughing. He stared sleepily down at the girl next to him and raised his eyebrows at me, trying to figure out if I knew who the girl was.
I shrugged my shoulders, and he slumped back into the pillow. It was the shortest non-verbal conversation I had in a long time, but it felt monumental for my friendship with Nathan. How people supported each other in the morning- after light said a lot about them, and I was in no position to judge anyone for how they chose to have a good time.
It was a chilly morning, and there was a dampness in the air. The sidewalks were wet, but the sun peeked through a few lines of clouds in the sky. If it rained last night, I had no idea that it did. I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow.
A hint of fall swept through the street, and a few water droplets from the trees hit me as I passed. It was a sign that summer was officially ending, and when I passed a house with mums and pumpkins that lined the porch, I immediately thought of Cassie.
Everything about this morning brought me back to the first time I kissed her. The weekend after I met her at Grounds for Thought, we went out with friends the following Saturday. It rained that night, so she and I dozed off on my living room couch, looking almost identical to Nathan and his lady friend this morning—only I knew who Cassie was when I woke up.
I walked her to her friend's house, and I remembered wishing she lived further away so I could keep talking to her. She was right in the middle of asking me what I was doing later before I kissed her. Rain from the night before fell from the trees overhead, and we stood on a porch decorated with yellow and red mums.
My jog slowed to a walk, and I ran my hands down my face. What the actual fuck was wrong with me? Guys who had moved on from someone else were waking up all over campus this morning. Why did I have to make everything about this so hard?
I had done everything right. Everything my parents encouraged me to do growing up, I had nailed down the moment I got to Bowling Green .
Get into a major that will provide a good living and make you successful. Check.
Have fun, but devote time to your studies. Fun from college doesn’t help you once you enter the real world. Check.
If you fall for someone, make sure they are there for more than the parties and the social scene. You need a partner who will help you build a life, not someone who expects you to provide for them. Check.
Well, I took that last check back. I thought I had that person. I thought I was going to build a life with Cassie. We were both going to work in the medical field. Cassie would be a physical therapist, and I would be a pediatric surgeon. We’d support each other through medical school and seek opportunities. We’d understand the toll our jobs would have on our relationship. I did what I was supposed to. I just didn’t plan on losing it all before senior year.
Since my run was no longer taking my mind off things, I walked the next two blocks to the apartment. I took one last look at the sky before heading into my building.
After I showered and got dressed, it was almost ten-thirty. Nathan and his friend were nowhere to be found, and Andre was running out of time before I woke his ass up. He offered to help me unload the moving truck when it arrived, and I had every intention of taking him up on it.
I called it at ten-forty-five. I knocked twice on Andre’s door and waited. When there was no answer after my third attempt, I closed my eyes and opened the door. I learned the hard way from my roommates last year to never open a door with eyes wide open. There were some things in life you just couldn’t unsee.
“Andre? ”
When no response came, I opened my eyes and scanned the empty room. I pulled out my phone to call him, and I had a text message.
Andre
I didn’t forget! Call me when you get this.
In his defense, I received this message before ten-thirty. I must’ve still been in the shower when he sent it.
“I’m at Falcon’s Pointe,” he murmured into the phone after the third ring. “Apartment 3C.”
I tossed my head back and sighed, knowing the answer to the question I was about to ask. “You need a ride?”