2 Whispering (16 page)

I was in the midst of my own haughty glory and self-righteousness as I strode through the main floor of the dorms talking to myself. I probably looked crazy.

“I cannot believe the two of them, I really can’t,” I muttered as I waited for the elevator. “They think they can boss me around and I’m just going to do what they say. They sit there and smile at me and flash those dimples and I turn into mush. My brain turns into actual mush.”

Two girls moved in behind me to wait for the elevator. They were both watching me warily.

I swung on them. “I’m not joking. I am so sick of men, I can’t even tell you. I’m sick of their dimples and their rock hard abs and their ridiculously hot bodies. They make it so I can’t think – even though I know what the right thing to do is. I want to rip their hair right off their heads.”

The door to the elevator dinged and swung open. I strode in and turned to the girls that were still standing there waiting.

“We’ll get the next one,” one of them said quickly.

Yup, I was coming across as deranged.

I tried to calm myself as I ascended to the fifth floor. It was over with. There was nothing I could do at this exact moment. If I dwelled on it, I would drive myself crazy.

“I’m sick of them!” I exploded as the door slid open again on my floor.

I pulled up short, though, when I noticed Laura sitting on the carpeted floor in the little vestibule. She had her back to the concrete wall and her legs were tucked up into her. She glanced up when she heard the metallic door slide open. I could see tears running down her face.

“What happened?”

I glanced up and down the hallway to see if anyone else was around, but Laura was alone in the hallway.

“I did something terrible,” Laura admitted.

“You kissed Mike, I saw when I was leaving.”

“Why didn’t you stop me?” Laura wailed.

“I was grossed out. I just wanted to pretend it wasn’t happening.”

“You should have stopped me.”

“I’m not your mother, Laura,” I said. “You should have stopped yourself.”

“I wasn’t thinking,” Laura sniffed and wiped her hand under her dripping nose. Gross. “I just . . . I just . . . he was just paying attention to me and it felt so good and the next thing I knew . . .”

“His tongue was in your mouth,” I shook my head to dislodge the memory. “Let’s not revisit it.”

“There’s more,” Laura said, her voice barely a whisper.

“No there’s not,” I shook my head again.

“Yes, there is,” Laura insisted.

I grabbed Laura’s shoulders, forcing her to focus on me. “No, there isn’t.”

“Yes there is,” Laura broke down again, her shoulders shaking. “I slept with him. I slept with Mike.”

Crap. Could this night get any worse?

“What?”

Why do I even ask these questions? I turned slowly, hoping beyond hope that I had misheard the voice. Nope, there she was. Paris was standing in the hallway, hands on hips, staring at the two of us with something akin to disgust on her face.

Laura looked around me and met Paris’ furious gaze.

“I didn’t mean to.”

“You didn’t mean to?” Paris exploded. “He accidentally fell on you and you were suddenly having sex with my ex-boyfriend?”

This was the second time tonight I wished I could travel through time.

“I had a few drinks and we were just talking and then . . . I don’t know what happened.” Laura’s lower lip was quivering again.

“I know what happened,” Paris hissed. “You were jealous of my relationship with Mark and you decided to get back at me.”

“That’s not true,” Laura protested.

“What else could it be?”

“I don’t know,” Laura said miserably, dropping her head into her hands in an attempt to block out the memory. “I still don’t know.”

“Oh, just drop it,” Paris seethed. “You’re not fooling anybody. You’re just like your mother. You’re evil.”

Laura’s mouth dropped open in surprise.

“Paris,” I started. I didn’t want her to say anything she might regret later. Plus, quite frankly, I was getting increasingly uncomfortable with the tone of the conversation. Paris had a right to be angry, but it’s not like Laura killed anyone.

“And you,” Paris rounded on me. “Where were you when all of this was going on?”

“I left with a friend,” I said quietly.

“What friend?”

“Rafael.”

“And what was so important that Rafael had to show you on a Friday night? Something in his pants, perhaps?”

Okay, now she was getting personal. “No, it was something else.”

“What?”

This wasn’t a conversation I was comfortable having in the hallway – especially since I could see some of the doors opening down the narrow expanse. The noise was waking people up.

“It’s nothing I’m going to talk about here,” I said pointedly.

Paris was too far-gone to catch on to what I was saying, though.

“Let me guess, he wanted to sit there and brood and pretend that he had answers when he didn’t really have answers?” Paris’ eyes were like ice.

“Not exactly,” I countered. “He actually did have an interesting . . . development to share with me.”

“What? Some vampire bullshit?”

I grabbed her arm quickly. “Paris, don’t. I know you’re upset, but this isn’t the place for this conversation.”

Paris jerked her arm back from me. She appeared to be trying to get control of herself. “You’re right,” she said finally. “I’m done with this entire conversation.” She turned to Laura hatefully. “And I’m done with you.”

“What does that mean?” Laura asked timidly from the floor.

“It means that I don’t want to see your pathetic face ever again,” Paris said coldly. “I don’t want to see you at home and I don’t want to see you here. You don’t exist for me anymore. You’re not worth the effort.”

Laura burst into tears again.

Paris then fixed her frigid eyes on me. “As for you, you have a decision to make.”

“What decision is that?” How did this become my fault?

“If you’re friends with her, you can’t be friends with me.”

“What is this, elementary school? I didn’t realize playground rules were an option at our age.”

“Don’t try to joke your way out of this,” Paris said. “You can either be friends with her or you can be friends with me. You can’t be friends with both of us.”

“You just need some time to think things over, calm down,” I said.

“Don’t tell me what I need,” Paris barked. “What I need is a little loyalty here. The same loyalty I’ve shown you since the day we met.”

I met Paris’ gaze wearily. “You can’t tell me who to be friends with.”

Paris looked surprised by my statement. “I guess you’ve made your choice then.”

With those words, Paris turned on her heel and stalked back down to our room. I could hear the door slam from my position at the end of the hall.

“What a shitty night.”

The next morning, I was praying that things would have calmed down a little bit. I was actually hopeful that the intervening hours would have given Paris some perspective – and Laura an idea about how to make things right.

Neither one of those things happened, though.

“She’s really pissed at you,” Brittany said from her desk after Paris practically growled at me to get out of her way and fled the bedroom.

“Yeah, thanks, I figured that out myself.”

“She told me what you did.”

“And what did I do?”

“You didn’t take her side,” Brittany said simply.

“I did take her side,” I countered. “I just didn’t roll over and show her my underbelly.”

“What?” Brittany looked confused.

“She gave me an ultimatum,” I tried again.

“And you thought taking Laura’s side was the way to answer it?”

“I didn’t take Laura’s side,” I said again. “I just didn’t cut her out of my life because Paris had a fit.”

“You don’t think Paris has a right to be upset?”

“I think Paris has every right to be upset,” I said. “I just don’t think that self-righteousness gives Paris the right to tell others who they can and can’t be friends with.”

Brittany shrugged. “Well, you have your beliefs and she has her beliefs. Maybe you two can just agree to disagree?”

The sound of the bathroom door slamming was Paris’ resounding answer to that possibility.

“I can’t stay here today,” I decided. “I have to get out of here.”

“That’s probably a good idea,” Brittany agreed. “Let her cool down away from you for the day.”

I rummaged through the pants I had been wearing the night before and pulled my cell phone out. I punched Aric’s number in and waited for him to pick up.

“I take it you’re not still mad at me,” Aric rumbled as he answered the phone.

“I haven’t decided yet.”

“Then why are you calling?”

“I need to get out of here today.”

“So you called me?” Aric sounded pleased with himself.

“Don’t get too excited,” I warned him. “I just don’t want to go another round in the ring with Paris right now and you’re my best way out of here.”

“I guess I’ll take what I can get,” Aric said. I could hear the hint of laughter in his voice. “I’ll pick you up in front of the building in a half an hour.”

“Great. I can’t wait.”



“So, what’s going on?” Aric asked, as he looked me up and down, when I climbed into his truck. “You look like you haven’t slept in weeks.”

“Thanks.”

“I didn’t mean. . .”

“No, that’s just what every girl wants to hear.”

“Are you still upset about last night?”

“Yes . . . no . . . I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

I launched into a recitation of what had happened since I left him the previous night. When I was done, I couldn’t help but notice that he didn’t look nearly as upset as I felt. In fact, his shoulders were shaking with silent laughter.

“It’s not funny.”

“Girls, I swear.”

“What?”

“This is only a problem with girls.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It’s just that you guys like drama.”

“I don’t think it’s funny,” I said. “Paris isn’t speaking to me. Laura is a mess. Brittany is sitting there and judging me in her little matching sweater sets. It’s a nightmare.”

“It will blow over,” Aric said dismissively.

“What if it doesn’t?”

“Paris seems like a reasonable person. She just needs some time to calm down. Besides, she can’t expect you to just stop being friends with Laura because she had sex with her ex-boyfriend.”

“Would you be fine with one of your friends having sex with your ex?” I asked pointedly.

“I guess it depends on the ex,” Aric said.

I narrowed my eyes in his direction. “Which ex would you have a problem with?”

Aric smirked. “I can’t think of one off the top of my head. If I do, though, I’ll get back to you.”

I rolled my eyes. “You think you’re so cute.”

“And you disagree?”

“Right now I do.”

Aric flashed his dimples at me. “Why don’t I believe you?”

He was so condescending sometimes.

“So,” Aric changed the subject. “How about you show me that burial clearing you went to last night?”

I opened my mouth to tell him no and then considered it. The idea of revisiting the creepy circle didn’t seem half as scary in the light of day. “Okay,” I agreed. “I wouldn’t mind seeing it during the day, when I’m not ready to pee my pants from fright myself.”

I directed Aric to the clearing as best as I could remember. It was easy to get us to the spot where Rafael had parked. It was harder when we actually got into the woods.

“You know where you’re going, right?” Aric looked at me dubiously.

“It was dark.”

“And you’re directionally challenged.”

“You’re such a man.”

After a few wrong turns, which I quickly corrected, we found ourselves on the outskirts of the clearing. Under the light of day, if possible, it was even creepier. I realized that the burial mounds – at least that’s what we thought they were – were made out of a combination of stacked stones and leaves and twigs.

“Why not just bury the bodies?”

“Burying a body is a lot harder than it looks in the movies,” Aric said.

“You know this from personal experience?’

“No,” Aric said, but his attention wasn’t fully focused on me. Instead, he was circling around one of the more recent mounds.

“Are there bodies in there?”

“Yeah, I can smell it.”

“That’s gross, by the way.”

“Yeah, I agree.”

“What do you think the circle is for?” I asked, glancing around at the setup of the clearing.

Aric pondered my question for a second, glancing around the clearing again with what looked like a new perspective. “I didn’t realize it was a circle.”

“What do you think it means?”

“It’s probably for some sort of ritual,” Aric said.

“What kind of ritual?”

“I have no idea. I’m not exactly up on those types of things.”

“I thought that you knew everything,” I teased him.

Aric stopped and shot me a smoldering look. “You want to find out?”

I glanced around the circle doubtfully. “Not right now.”

Aric smirked. “No, I don’t blame you there.”

After a few more minutes of looking around, Aric knelt down next to one of the newer mounds. I could hear him sniffing like a dog from twenty feet away.

“That’s not a turn on,” I explained to him.

I expected some witty comeback, but when I turned back to him I saw that his attention was completely fixated on the mound next to him. I curiously moved over to his side. “What are you looking at?”

Aric grabbed my arm to stop me.

“What?” I looked down at the mound curiously.  My breath caught in my throat. “Is that what I think it is?”

“Yeah.” Aric’s voice was dry and hollow.

“Now can we call the police?”

“Yeah,” Aric sighed. “Anonymously. We’ll call from one of the payphones in the lobby of your dorm.”

I grabbed his hand and started to drag him away from the mound. I knew I was officially going to have nightmares now. Nightmares of a pale and dirty hand with bright red nail polish reaching out of the cold earth for help.

This was turning into a bad weekend all around.