Chapter Twelve
Sadie
I made the trip back to Carruthers in the rain.
Though I didn’t enjoy driving in it, it matched my mood.
There were so many thoughts running through my mind, it was hard to focus on just one.
I bit my lip. I’d put off thinking about Harrison for as long as I could.
Now that I was headed back to Carruthers, I had to face the fact that he’d virtually ignored me all summer.
It had bothered me a lot at first, but I’d wanted to enjoy my summer.
I made the conscious effort to focus on other things besides my boyfriend.
It wasn’t that hard. I was busy enough that it was only at night when I laid in my bed that I worried about what he was doing.
I worked two jobs to pay for sorority dues and any formal dresses I might need for parties.
Then, more often than not, Melinda, Blair, Drake, Carrie, and I would end up at Melinda’s parents’ house for swimming and a cookout.
They had a pool and liked to entertain, so we naturally flocked over there.
All of our parents would also come over.
Everybody would bring their favorite dish, and we’d laugh and talk long into the night.
Even with the uncertainty about Harrison hanging over me, I managed to have a good summer.
The way we’d left things hadn’t been good.
He’d shown up with Aubrey, called me unimportant, mentioned wishing we’d met later so that he could’ve messed around with other women before settling down with me, then kissed me repeatedly when I’d asked if he wanted to break up.
He’d left most of my texts on read this summer, and he hadn’t returned many of my calls at all.
It was awkward when Harrison’s parents came over to the summer parties.
They’d ask how Harrison was doing, and I’d have to tell them the truth…
that I had no idea. They’d get worried looks on their faces, and they’d finally stopped asking me.
And as for how I felt about my boyfriend?
I was well on my way to thinking our future, once so bright, was on very shaky ground.
I texted and called him daily for the first week or so that I was home.
When all but one text and all phone calls were ignored, I’d sent fewer the next week.
I’d sent even less the next week, until I’d almost stopped contacting him altogether by the end of the summer.
We hadn’t texted in a couple of weeks, and I hadn’t physically spoken to him since the first couple of weeks of summer. I’d tried; he hadn’t. The Harrison I’d thought I’d known would’ve never done that. It had left me feeling confused, upset, and like I didn’t matter to him.
And I couldn’t help but worry knowing he’d been in town with Aubrey all summer.
Yes, I trusted him. But from the rumors I’d heard about Aubrey, I knew she usually got whatever she wanted when it came to men.
That, combined with the lack of communication from Harrison, had me feeling very insecure.
Not to mention the fact that they were friends, and I knew she wanted to be more than that.
So, as I took the turn to pull on campus, I had butterflies in my stomach. Yes, I was excited about the year ahead of me, but I was also nervous about my future with Harrison. I hoped I was wrong, and that everything would be okay. That I’d discover I’d been silly for worrying about him.
But I couldn’t quell the feelings of unease I was having about the whole situation.
The sun peeked through the clouds around the same time I pulled into my parking spot at the sorority house.
I hurriedly unpacked. Drake, Melinda, Carrie, Blair, and I were going to meet up at the diner for dinner.
I hadn’t called Harrison yet because I didn’t know what to say to him.
He’d texted me asking if I was back in town yet, and I purposely hadn’t answered him.
I had wanted a few days to get settled back in before I had to talk to him about why he’d been so distant all summer.
I’d felt guilty, though, so while we were in line I’d finally texted him. I’d let him know that we were all at the diner. I was almost positive he wouldn’t come, but at least I’d let him know I was back in town.
It had taken us a while to get a table at the diner.
Students were slowly getting back to campus for the fall, and the restaurants that had barely been busy at all through the summer months were buzzing with activity once again.
We finally got a table and had ordered when there was a big commotion around the hostess stand.
I turned and sucked in a breath. Harrison had walked in with another football player. He was still so handsome, and I felt a familiar zing of awareness when I looked at him.
“How many?” the hostess asked, looking harried and pulling out some menus.
“Two,” Harrison said. He was looking around the restaurant, and I wondered if he was looking for us. Maybe he wanted to join our table. I didn’t call out to him. It didn’t escape my notice that none of my friends did, either. Not even Drake.
“It’s going to be a while,” the hostess said. Everyone in the diner had stopped talking as soon as Harrison walked in, and you could hear their entire conversation.
“Not for me, sweetheart,” Harrison said, his voice unbelievably arrogant.
I cringed inwardly. It seemed as if his sense of entitlement had gotten worse in the weeks I’d been home.
The hostess laughed nervously. “What do you mean?”
“I’m Harrison. The quarterback for the football team.”
“He doesn’t have to wait anywhere on campus,” Aubrey Seeks strode in and spoke up. She tried to put her arm through his, but he pulled away from her. I narrowed my eyes, trying to assess what was going on between the two of them. At least it looked like he wasn’t happy to see her.
“Well, he does here,” the hostess said, obviously thinking Harrison was being a douche. Which he was.
A manager came over, whispered something in the hostesses’ ear, and moved a couple onto the patio to accommodate Harrison, the other football player, and Aubrey.
Harrison winked at the hostess and strolled across the restaurant as if he owned the place. He waved, gave high fives and fist bumps to the guys, and flirted with several pretty girls. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
If he hadn’t looked just like my boyfriend, I would never have thought that could be him. Fame had gone to his head in the worst kinds of ways.
“My God.” I turned to Drake. “What the hell happened?”
Drake shrugged. “I’m not sure, but it’s not good. He’s had a personality transplant over the last year, it seems.”
That’s when I made eye contact with him, and he stopped dead in his tracks. “Sunshine? Why didn’t you say something? I could have just sat with y’all.”
I gave him a half-hearted smile and a little wave. “Hey.”
He hurried over, leaving Aubrey and the other guy behind at their table. “Hey!” He grinned down at me and pulled me out of my chair and into his arms to swing me around. “I missed you so much!” he put me down. “Why didn’t you call me when you got to town? And it took you forever to text me.”
“I just got in today,” I hedged. I didn’t want to have the conversation we needed to have in front of others.
“Still, you could’ve called.” He looked hurt. Was he serious? He’d left so many of my texts and phone calls unanswered all summer. Now he was the one with hurt feelings?
“Can I sit with y’all?” he asked.
“Sure,” Drake moved closer to Melinda so Harrison could fit at the table. He took up a lot of space. If anything, his muscles had gotten bigger over the summer, though he looked thinner.
He settled in after he’d ordered, and soon things felt more normal than they had in a while.
It was as if we’d all slipped back into old habits, and soon we were laughing and talking like no time had passed since the previous fall.
It was the most fun we’d all had with him in a while, and I was starting to think I’d been hasty to think there was something wrong in our relationship.
Maybe he had a good excuse for ghosting me this summer.
The guy he’d come in with came over to the table and talked to him for a while. He was apparently a freshman on the football team, and Harrison had been assigned as his ‘buddy’ for the first couple of weeks of school.
He jerked his thumb back in the direction of Aubrey’s table. “She wants you to come back, man.”
Harrison got a dark look on his face. “Yeah, I didn’t come with her. I’m not worried about what she wants,” he said. A look passed between Harrison and Aubrey, and I saw her face change from flirty to angry very quickly.
I wasn’t sure what had happened between them, but I was glad he seemed to be done with whatever friendship she’d tried to strike up with him.
“Can I get an introduction, man?” the freshman football player asked, looking at me.
Harrison frowned. “Are you talking about Sadie?” he gestured to me.
“Yeah,” the guy said, smiling and showing off a nice set of dimples. He was very handsome.
“You’re kidding, right? She’s my fucking girlfriend.”
The guy’s eyes widened. “This is your girlfriend?” He craned his head to look back at Aubrey who still had her eyes trained on our table. “What about her?” He pointed to Aubrey.
Harrison’s face turned red. “What about her?” he growled.
“Sorry, dude. I just thought that video had made things pretty clear.” He held up his hands, gave me one last smile, and walked away.
“The nerve of that guy.” Harrison’s face was like a storm cloud. “Asking me to introduce you like you’re not my girl.”
“What video was he talking about?” I asked.
“I have no idea,” Harrison said, unconcerned, spearing a piece of grilled chicken in his salad.