Chapter Nineteen #2
She was clearly having the time of her life at UGA.
There were pictures of her cheering on the sidelines, and multiple pictures of her with one of the wide receivers on the football team.
There were pictures of them out at restaurants, dressed up for what I thought was a sorority formal, at the beach, and more.
Had they gone on vacation together? How serious was she about this guy?
Were they just friends? Or were they dating?
Then I committed the cardinal sin. I messaged her asking if we could talk.
Within twenty minutes I’d been blocked from all her accounts.
I rolled over and faced the wall that was probably hiding a thick layer of black mold behind it. I was devastated, lonely, and miserable.
It had not been a good day.
***
When the weekend rolled around, I was ready to party.
I didn’t take pain medicine for my leg for a couple of days on purpose so I could get drunk.
I felt like I deserved it after the awful return to campus I’d had.
The fraternity always had great parties, and I felt sure tonight would be a night that would help me get over the hideous week I’d had.
I was just laying around getting some homework done, when there was a loud knock on my door.
Excited since no one had visited me yet, I hurried to the door.
I frowned when I saw a couple of freshman pledges.
I was a junior, so I didn’t really hang with them.
Hell, even when I was a freshman I had hung with the upper classmen.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“Prez says you have to get one of the kegs.”
I blinked. I’d never had to do anything like that before. I’d always just showed up after pregaming in my awesome room. The mold-free one upstairs. “Uh… I don’t know how to do that.”
“Come with us. We’re all going in Hinkley’s truck.” He pointed to a tall, skinny guy I assumed was Hinkley.
“Okay, thanks.”
“Whatever.”
“Why’s your room so fucking cold, man? Don’t you want to shut those windows?”
I didn’t really want to go into the whole mold situation. “I just really like fresh air.”
“Weirdo,” one guy said under his breath.
I frowned. These were freshman. Weren’t they supposed to show me some respect? Right before I said something to knock them down a few pegs, Hinkley told me to ride in the bed of the truck while everyone else rode inside.
“Why?”
“We’re going to need someone to watch over the kegs,” he said. He watched while I got situated in the back and huddled under my jacket, trying to stay warm. Then he smirked. “Hey, asshole,” he said. “Team Sadie.”
My mouth dropped open. “You’re a freshman! You couldn’t possibly have known her.”
He opened the driver’s side door still staring at me.
“Yeah, but my big sister did. She said Sadie was one of her favorite girls in her sorority. She said she was the nicest, friendliest girl she’d ever met.
She’d thought since she was so pretty, she wouldn’t be nice.
But that wasn’t the case at all. You’re a massive dumbass, man, to cheat on any girl. But especially one like that.”
“Why’d we have to bring him?” one of the other guys asked.
“His ID. None of the rest of us is twenty-one.”
I didn’t say anything else. He wasn’t wrong; I was a huge dumbass for cheating on Sadie.
I kept thinking about what he’d said as I helped load the kegs into his truck.
There was barely room for me to sit back there once they’d all been put in.
I might not be on the football team any longer, but I was still a big guy.
It was a cold, uncomfortable ride back to the fraternity house.
I took a nice hot shower once I got back.
I took extra time getting ready since I wanted to look my best before the party.
I really wanted to get laid. It had been a long time now, and, since Sadie was never planning on getting back with me, I’d moved on with other girls after she’d left Carruthers.
The thought of hooking up put me in a good mood.
I would always miss Sadie, but I wondered what girls I’d have to pick from at the party.
My dick was getting hard just thinking about it.
The party was… a letdown. Before, I’d walk into the commons room and girls would surround me. If I’d wanted any of them, all I would’ve had to do was crook a finger and they’d come running. I’d have been set for the night.
This wasn’t the same.
I entered the room expecting the usual gasps of excitement upon seeing me and looks of lust thrown my way. I expected girls to offer their bodies for me to do Jello shots off of.
Yeah. None of that happened.
Most of the girls there gave me a wide berth, and I heard several say ‘team Sadie’ under their breath.
A girl I’d thought was coming over to hook up with me, went off on me.
She went on this diatribe about how I was toxic, and that guys who cheat should have their pictures put on a wall somewhere like the most wanted criminals.
I’d hurried away from her as soon as I could.
I ended up talking to two shy, kind of nerdy freshmen for most of the night.
I wasn’t interested in trying to hook up with either of them.
I knew they had to be at least eighteen, but they looked like twelve-year-olds playing dress up.
All I did with them was make sure they had a ride home after the party was over.
I didn’t want anyone taking advantage of them.
I laid awake that night, staring at the ceiling with my hands behind my head on the pillow.
I contemplated my life. I was alone. My football buddies were nice to me when I saw them, but they were constantly busy.
My friends from home had either left in support of Sadie or hated me.
Or both. The fraternity was basically pushing me out.
In the last three years, I’d been a guy with a gorgeous, sweet girlfriend, a group of loyal friends, and a promising football career.
Once I proved myself on the field, I’d become a guy the entire campus adored, girls lined up to try to fuck, and I’d still had the gorgeous girlfriend.
After the debacle with Aubrey, I was still the shit.
I’d hooked up with so many girls after Sadie rejected me and left campus, was headed towards an almost guaranteed professional football career, and was beloved campus wide.
I’d been a man who could do no wrong. But now?
I was at rock bottom. There would be no football career.
I was hated across campus for cheating on the only girl I’d ever loved.
My new girlfriend had ditched me as soon as the promise of pro athlete money went away.
Everyone I’d ever loved either hated me or barely tolerated me—even my parents.
They were even telling me I’d better not plan on settling in Indigo Falls if I wanted to be successful after college.
I’d be joining and expanding my dad’s car dealership business, but they said I needed to live the next town over in Halliwell where no one really knew me.
I had mistakenly thought people on campus had loved me for being me. The truth was that they’d only loved me as long as I was successful and could make them look good by being associated with me. I was well and truly humbled.
And all that was before Aubrey was cast on a reality TV show where cast members are trying to find love by hooking up with everyone on the island.
It had been described as Survivor with sex and was basically porn.
She’d become the show’s villain, openly admitting to enjoying breaking people up and referencing the whole #SorrySadie campaign she’d made go viral on social media.
She was voted off after tricking the audience’s favorite couple into thinking they’d each cheated.
Then the male member of the couple really had cheated with Aubrey.
She was voted off the week afterwards. Soon a new campaign went viral.
It was one I knew well from around campus.
#TeamSadie blew up way bigger than #SorrySadie had ever been.
T-shirts started popping up around campus.
According to my mom, the whole town of Indigo Falls was wearing them, too.
People hated Aubrey. I hated her, too. Sadie had been completely right about her, and I was the biggest doofus in the world for not listening to her. I had a feeling I would regret it the rest of my life.
Still, I was happy in a way for Sadie. Aubrey had seemed to come out of the sex video scandal looking like a winner while Sadie had been portrayed as pathetic. But karma really is a bitch. Both Aubrey and I were being dragged through the mud and getting constant hate for what we did.
And Sadie? She stayed out of the limelight. She declined appearances on famous morning shows and celebrity gossip shows. She preferred to just finish out her college degree in peace before settling back down in Indigo Falls.
There were, of course, pictures comparing Sadie and Aubrey all over the internet. I was always mentioned in the post as being the stupidest man to walk the face of the earth. I knew they were right, and my over-inflated ego shrunk back down to size.
The months rolled by. Life hadn’t gotten much better at the fraternity house, and I knew I would end my association with them at the end of the school year.
I would have left Carruthers altogether if it weren’t for the expert physical therapy I still received from the athletic department because my injury happened on the field.
And, of course, my full ride scholarship.
My parents were well off. They could pay for me to transfer schools and finish out college somewhere else.
Still, there was no way I was going to have them pay thousands of dollars for something I could get for free.
And there was a part of me—a large part—that felt like I deserved the hate I was getting on campus.