Waiting on Forever (21 page)

Although I’d love to jump up and down right now with relief, I remain composed and nod my head instead.

“We’ve been informed by residents in the household that this isn’t the only issue that they’ve had with Miss Labrizzi and we were given the knowledge that you are dating a gentlemen that resides there. As a result, Miss Labrizzi is no longer allowed on the property. I’m hoping that we will not have to worry about this happening in the future?”

“Yes sir,” I agree, even though there’s no chance in hell that I’ll ever be returning to that house.

“Good.” He smiles as they turn and walk towards the door. “Here’s my card. If there’s anything else that you’d like to add to this story or any problems that you may run into, feel free to call me.”

“Thank you, I will,” I respond with a smile before closing the door and taking a huge breath of relief.

“Ahhh, I can’t believe they bought it!” Kayla excitedly shouts from behind me.

“Shh…they probably aren’t even two doors down yet,” I say in a serious tone, but have a huge ecstatic grin on my face.

She shrugs her shoulders with a ditzy smile on her face. “Oops.”

“Okay, so now I need details,” she continues, rubbing her hands together with eager anticipation.

I can’t help but chuckle and roll my eyes. She can change from serious Kayla, back to carefree, flamboyant, ditsy Kayla within a matter of minutes.

Before enlightening her on the
true
story, I do something that I very rarely do, but is greatly deserved in this case. With a genuine smile I walk over to Kayla, wrap my arms tightly around her boney body, and thank her from the bottom of my heart.

“Oh stop. Did you actually think I’d let you get in trouble for kickin’ that whore’s ass? You just did the whole student body a favor! I so wish I was there. Ugh, please tell me you f’ed up her face?” she rambles.

We sit cross legged facing each other on her bed while I fill her in on everything. When I get to the end my stomach twists and I realize that I haven’t heard
anything
from Matt. Not that I have anything to say to him, but I at least expected that he’d try to get in contact with me so he could try and explain. Did I mean that little to him?

“Oh no, what’s wrong?” Kayla worries, obviously picking up on my mood change.

As much as I try to hold it back, I can’t. The tears start to trickle down my face again.

Damn him for making me weak!

“He hasn’t even called,” I say between sniffles.

Her eyes dart open, almost bulging out of her head before she leaps off the bed to grab something under my pillow.

“Shit! I forgot,” she says, handing me my phone. “It started vibrating like crazy when the police got here, so I casually turned it off without you guys noticing.”

I exhale in relief which pisses me off because I don’t want to talk to him. I don’t want to miss him. Visions of Matt screwing not only Brynn, but Brynn
and
Kate keeps creeping inside of my head making me not only incredibly pissed, but utterly disgusted. He makes such a production about sleeping with me, but goes and has a repulsive threesome with the two fakest bitches in our school. How can I even care about someone like that? But I do, and I can’t fuckin’ stand it.

“You know what?” I say while my thumb hovers over the power button. “I don’t want to hear what he has to say.”

“You go, girl!” Kayla says with a proud grin. “He’s just like the rest of them–only thinks with one head and it’s not the one attached to his neck.”

Even though my heart and every muscle in my body aches for Matt and what he has done, I half smile with appreciation at Kayla’s attempt to make me feel better. I don’t care how much the girl drives me crazy or how easy she spreads her legs for every Tom, Dick, and Harry.

She’s a sweet and loyal friend, and I frickin love her.

Chapter 26

It’s now well into the afternoon on Sunday and I’m still in bed. Last Sunday I rolled over to a beautiful face and was pinned down by a gorgeous body. I’m not sure if this is what college life is all about, every week a complete change from the last, but I don’t like it. I frickin hate it if I’m being honest. Maybe this is why I never cared about being in a relationship or hooking up with random people. It’s a cluster-fuck of crazy that I just don’t want any part of.

“So, Trevor and I are going to go get somethin’ to eat. You wanna come?” Kayla softly asks.

“Trevor? It’s daytime still, right?” I ask confused.

Kayla doesn’t
hang out
with guys—especially during the day. Guys only serve one purpose for Kayla, and it’s not to be best buddies with.

“I actually like this one,” she says with a sense of warmth in her voice.

Shooting up to a sitting position, I stare at her shocked.

Has hell frozen over again?

This has been the most messed up weekend. I feel like I’m living in the twilight zone. Remember when you were little and you’d have opposite days? Yeah, I feel like that is happening to me right now.

Nothing is as it should be. Everything is backwards.

“Really?”

“Don’t look at me like that. It is possible, ya know!” she snips with her hands on her hips.

I give her a smirk.

“Wow…” I say, shaking my head in disbelief. “Good for you.”

She shrugs her shoulders. “Thanks. So, do you wanna come?”

Sitting across from them and watching them be disgustingly cute is not something my stomach, or heart, can handle at the moment. “No, thanks. I’m not feelin’ so hot,” I say, holding my hand over my stomach.

“Don’t let him ruin you, Leah. No guy is worth it,” Kayla says matter of factly.

Ruin me? How exactly can someone ruin me?

“I’m fine, really,” I answer with a half grin. “I just don’t feel good.”

She exhales, knowing all too well that I’m lying through my teeth. I feel like shit and it has nothing to do will being ill.

“K, but you better not still be in bed when I get back,” she orders.

I force a smile before laying back down and facing the wall, so she can’t see the stray tear trickling down my face.

Yeah, don’t count on it.

Don’t count on anything requiring me to function like a normal human being. My life and every part of me has been sucked dry and served to Matt on a silver fucking platter to be eaten up and destroyed. Nothing about me is as it was before.

Everything is the opposite.

An hour later I roll over to see the Facebook notification blinking on my computer. My skin crawls with nervous goosebumps. I never turned my cellphone back on, but I’d forgotten about my Facebook. Sitting up and swallowing the knot that’s pushing up my throat, I swing my legs over the side of my bed and reach over to wiggle my mouse to brighten the screen. I have a message but it’s not from Matt. It’s from Landyn. Sighing in relief, I stand up and take the two steps to my computer and open the message.

Landyn:

Hey, wanna finish our project today?

Crap, I forgot all about that that. We took some pictures the other day, but not enough and we need a better variety. I exhale, trying to decide the route to take. If I say yes, that means I have to actually get ready and be somewhat human. If I say no, I’ll be screwing Landyn over by throwing this all on him and setting myself up for a potential bad grade which is just unheard of.

Ugh.

Leah:

Yeah, sounds good. When and where?

I’m assuming word of what happened last night has probably gotten around, so he better not say to meet at his house or I just might bust in his face, too.

Landyn:

Quad in an hour?

Good boy.

Leah:

That works.

Landyn:

K

Deciding that it’s probably a good idea, I grab my bathrobe and shower caddy and make my way over to the bathroom. I’m temporarily blinded by the bright fluorescent lights lit up like a hospital in the hallway, but adjust after a few seconds.

Thankfully there is no one in the bathroom who I have to force a smile or strike a fake conversation with, because I really don’t feel like it or think that I could.

Aren’t I a peach today?

When I get back to the room it’s dark, empty, and inviting. I contemplate crawling back into my bed and forgetting about any responsibilities that await me, but I push back my dark and twisted personality. I quickly get dressed and do my hair before I change my mind.

My cellphone is sitting lifeless on my desk and I know I’m going to have to turn it on today. It’s Sunday and my parents will be checking in. Even though they just saw me yesterday, they never miss a Sunday call. With a deep breath I prevent the inevitable and press down the power button. Within seconds of turning it on the thing brightens and chimes so many times with missed texts, calls, and voicemails that you’d think it’s a damn singing, blinking Christmas tree. Not wanting to listen or read any of them, I cancel out of each screen without glancing at one. I stuff my phone in my back pocket, pick up my jacket, and go out the door.

“Look at you. Not even a scratch,” Landyn greets me, impressed.

It takes a minute to register what the heck he’s talking about, but then pride sweeps across my face when I realize he’s talking about my little brawl with Brynn.

“And this surprises you?” I joke.

He laughs at my confidence. “Nope. Not all, tough guy.”

I give him my best “that’s right” kind of look with my first genuine smile in what feels like days.

“Let me just tell you, you did some impressive work on that chick.”

Last night is such a blur and I ran off so fast that I can’t remember or picture what exactly I did or what Brynn looked like after, but with Landyn’s statement and the grin on his face, it must have been a job well done on my part.

“That bad, huh?” I ask, scrunching my nose up with a half smile.

“Oh yeah…she’s gonna be lookin’ rough for a while.”

I’m getting the impression that I’m not the only non Brynn fan.

Even though this conversation is quite entertaining and fills me with the happiness that I’ve been lacking, the topic flirts too much with another situation that I’d like to stay as far away from as possible–the reason why my little moment of weakness even happened.

“So pictures…” I say, changing the subject.

“Yes, there’s a nice breeze today and I got a wicked cool idea when I was walking over here,” he tells me, completely forgetting about what we were talking about already.

Well that was easy.

Excited about his idea, he starts walking towards one of the academic buildings and motions for me to follow him. With his long legs and my short ones I have to almost jog to keep up with him.

Wow, he’s really excited about this!

We finally get to the little L-cove of the science building that connects the old wing to the new one, and in front of me is a little tornado-like swirl of brushed up leaves that the wind is making in the corner.

Very cool!

I immediately start snapping pictures before the wind disappears.

“Good find,” I congratulate him after taking a dozen or so pictures.

“Thanks,” he replies with a big goofy grin.

I give him a warm smile back. He reminds me of my older brother–a big friendly teddy bear. I discreetly chuckle to myself because he even has the full cheeks and shaggy brown hair, just like my brother Chris. Landyn’s one of those guys that would be a loyal friend and go out of their way to make you smile, even if it’s acting like a complete dumbass which he hasn’t done... yet.

“I think we’re good,” I say after snapping a few more pictures of random things that might be a nice contrast to some of the others.

“Do ya have time to go over to the art building and develop them?” he questions.

Since I’m back to Loner Leah with no life and no boyfriend, I have all the time in the world.

“Yeah, sure.”

Just like Meredith promised, the art building and our classroom is unlocked. We quickly collect all of our supplies before heading into the dark room. For a while we work in silence, helping each other out and praising the pictures that come out good. But soon Landyn asks the question that I was hoping he wouldn’t go near.