At seven in the evening I called his phone to find out where he was. We’d said 6:30, hadn’t we? I got his voice mail. I tried again at seven fifteen and again got voicemail. This was unlike the extremely punctual Daniel I knew. At 7:30, I dug through my desk for the scrap of paper I’d written the house phone number down on last week and dialed it. The Professor answered.
“Oh – Hi, can I speak to Daniel please?”
“He’s not here. Can I take a message?”
“He was supposed to meet me a while ago. I was just trying to find him. He isn’t answering his phone. – This is Sara.” I was hesitant to say my name remembering what Daniel had said before.
“I’m sorry he didn’t take the time to call you, Miss Donnelly. Daniel went out of town this afternoon. I suspect he probably won’t be back for a few days. It was very rude of him not to let you know if you had plans together.”
“Out of town?” I couldn’t hide the surprise in my voice.
“Yes, our friend Lucy needed some assistance and he volunteered to go help her out. I think they’re both coming back here in a few days, but I’m not sure of their exact plans. She’s an old friend and once they get together, well – who knows when they’ll show up.” His voice was overly friendly, amused almost.
“Oh. Alright. Sorry to bother you,” I said weakly as I hung up.
A few days? I was stunned. I suddenly felt as if I’d been hit with a lead pipe. Seemingly out of nowhere, my knees gave out and I fell down onto my bed. Sitting there, I blankly stared at Darcy’s vacant side of the room for a long time. I didn’t want to move. I’d always known Daniel didn’t feel the way I did, but I never thought he’d do this. I never thought I wouldn’t even be a phone call he’d make on his way out of town.
Needing to hide, I curled up and pulled the covers over my head. As hard as I tried not to picture his face, Daniel relentlessly invaded my dreams that night, hour after endless hour. As painful as it was to admit, perhaps his absence was a good thing. I think I needed to get clean of him, if only for a little while.
When I checked my emails the next morning I had one from Daniel. He’d never emailed me before. We’d never been apart so long that it was necessary. It read:
To: Sara Donnelly
From: Daniel Simmons
Sara, Sorry I didn’t call when I left, but this trip came up so suddenly. Had to leave town to help a friend. Not sure when I’ll be back. Things are a little messy here. Will try to explain when I return. Sorry I missed our dinner. Talk to you soon. Love, Daniel.
I emailed him back with an acknowledgement of his message but that was all. I wasn’t sure what to say. I was still hurt that he hadn’t called me to cancel our date and tell me what was going on. I mean, how long does a quick phone call take? If he came home with some reasonable explanation I was sure I’d instantly forgive him, but something just seemed off.
The next morning Tabitha and I took our usual seats in the lecture hall. I was not looking forward to class. I had a feeling seeing the Professor was only going to serve as a reminder that I wasn’t seeing Daniel. Not only that, but I still felt mortified by our phone conversation, not to mention uncomfortable in the knowledge that Professor Walker has some kind of window into my mind.
“Back to Rodney, I see,” Tabitha whispered, when he and the Professor entered the hall.
After class, we walked out of the lecture hall into the sunshine filled atrium of the building. Tabitha paused for a moment to soak up the sun on her face as it filtered down through the skylights.
“You’re very quiet today,” she commented, eyes still closed with her head tilted up.
“Daniel’s gone out of town for a while,” I muttered.
“Oh, I see.” She paused before continuing. “Don’t get me wrong, but maybe this might not be such a bad thing. I didn’t say anything before, but – you’ve been a tad overly preoccupied with him lately. I’m thinking a little distance might not be such a bad idea, at least for a little while. A few of my friends were planning on hitting The Gryffon this evening for ladies night. Why don’t you come along?”
“Sure, why not,” I answered without thinking about it. What did it matter anyway? If I didn’t go, I’d just sit around my room and sulk all night. Might as well sulk in public for all to see.
I walked over to Bevier Hall early. I’d been hopelessly staring at the walls of my room in Capen for over an hour. When they started to close in on me, I couldn’t take it anymore and had to get out. In the crushing silence of Darcy’s absence the four walls of our room were beginning to feel as if they were shrinking, sucking the oxygen out of my lungs and I had to escape into the fresh air. Of course, Daniel’s ghost haunted me constantly as I walked along. In the short time we’d known each other we’d roamed every inch of campus together. There was no corner where I couldn’t hear the sexy sound of his voice, vividly recall his masculine scent or the tingling sensation his touch elicited in me. Looking for a fix, I’d broken down about lunch time and tried to call him again, but just as before it went straight to voice mail.
As I approached the door of Tabitha’s suite I could hear high pitched female voices laughing inside. Perhaps this was a good idea. I knocked. A moment later a bubbly blonde I recognized as one of Tabitha’s suitemates answered the door. Still laughing she ushered me in.
“Sara!” I heard Tabitha’s excited voice exclaim over the laughing girls. There was about six or seven of them in the room all lounging about laughing at something that had them in stitches.
“Everybody, this is my friend Sara. Try to cheer her up tonight … She’s got man troubles.”
When she said the last part out of the side of her mouth, they all started nodding their heads and greeting me warmly. Feeling their communal sympathy, I felt like I’d just joined some sort of all female club I’d never known existed before. I had to admit, it was kinda nice.
After a while we walked into town to The Gryffon, a college bar that I hadn’t been too before. As we stood in the line down the sidewalk to get in, I turned to Tabitha and whispered “Don’t you have to be twenty one to get in here?”
“Probably, but they never card the girls, especially on ladies night.”
Normally I’d have been a good girl and stayed away, but part of me wanted to be bad tonight. Feeling uncomfortable in my own skin, I didn’t understand exactly how I felt, and quite frankly I didn’t want to examine it very closely either.
Just as Tabitha had predicted, the bouncer never carded us. Instead, he winked at us suggestively as we walked in, leaving me to feel his lingering stare on my behind as I walked past him.
Even though it felt late to me, apparently it was still on the early side which was why it wasn’t that crowded yet or so I was told. Fortunately, we managed to find one of the last free tables off in a back corner that was large enough to accommodate all of us.
The interior of The Gryffon was dark, with blacked out windows and stale air permeated with the lingering scent of last night’s beer and cigarettes. It was an odd mixture of aromas, not pleasant, but at the same time surprisingly not unpleasant. Every surface I could see seemed worn or distressed in some form or fashion, and a general sense of uncleanliness prevailed throughout. Quite frankly I didn’t understand the appeal of such a place to the girls. That is until a few minutes later when a bar tender came over with a tray of drinks for the table.
“Complements of the gentlemen over there,” he said with a charming smile as he indicated to a table of guys at the other end of the room. They were holding their drinks up and smiling in our direction. Apparently this was normal for this group of ladies.
It wasn’t long before the guys came over and joined us, and in an attempt to be more friendly tried to make the seating boy-girl, boy-girl. The girls outnumbered them by one so I quickly cozied up to Tabitha’s side, not wanting to be separated from her. Before I could protest, a tall guy named Steve pulled up a chair and dropped down next to me. He was nice enough looking, but a bit on
the greasy side for my taste. I guess I preferred Daniel’s more polished, perfectly groomed look. He asked me about the classes I was taking and where I was from. I answered and tried to be polite by asking him these same questions in turn, but in truth I really wasn’t interested in his answers. I didn’t want to be there and I’m sure it must have showed on my face.
I glanced around the table. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. Why wasn’t I? Hearing his voice in my ear, I turned my attention back to Steve and watched his mouth move as he rambled on about how much he hated his classes, but I suddenly felt lonely.
“You haven’t tried your drink?” he asked.
“I’m not sure what it is,” I answered honestly. I could have added it didn’t look very appealing either.
“It’s a Long Island Iced Tea.”
It sounded innocent enough; I mean I’m from Long Island, so I took a big sip.
“What’s in this thing?” I asked, shocked at what must have been an extremely high alcoholic content.
“Good, huh?” he said, taking a swig from his glass.
My head started to feel a little strange, but I did my best to ignore it. Steve talked on for a while without needing much encouragement from me. I continued to pretend to be listening, but that was the best I could manage.
Again looking around the table, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. I should be too. I’m young and away at college. I should be sowing my wild oats or something, shouldn’t I?
“So, I don’t remember seeing you in here before,” Steve said. He touched my arm, distracting me from my thoughts.
“That’s because I’ve never been here.”
“You should stick around. After ten thirty they close off that side for a dance floor and the place goes crazy with the loudest music. The DJ is really good.”
“I’m not much of a dancer.”
“You don’t need to be. You just feel the music and do what you want. It’s great.”
I glanced over at Tabitha. The guy next to her was obviously hitting on her and she was beginning to look more than a little uncomfortable.
“So how often do you do this?” I said in her ear as I leaned her way.
“Two or three times a semester at most. Just enough to keep them off my back.” She indicated towards her friends. “I have to live with them if you can believe it.”
“Would you hate me if I said I was ready to go?”
“No,” she laughed. “If you can hang on another half hour, I’ll have fulfilled my quota with them and I’ll walk back with you.”
I nodded in agreement and turned back to Steve who was now talking to the bubbly blonde who’d answered the door for me before.
Picking up the drink, I tried another sip wondering if it would grow on me, but upon second inspection that didn’t seem to be the case. Deciding I’d had enough, I put it back down on the sticky table and decided to go to the bathroom to kill a few minutes.
On my way back to the table I was waved over to the bar by two guys who sat by me in psychology. They always seemed friendly so I strolled over to say hello. As soon as I joined them they poured a beer from their pitcher and handed it to me. I looked at it warily and took a sip. It was better than the other thing I’d tried, but I still wasn’t sure about it. I talked to them for a while about what they thought of our class and in turn they asked me many of the same questions Steve previously had. I sipped on the beer and did a better job of pretending to be interested in their small talk, but it was difficult considering that the music kept getting louder. Over the pounding beat coming from the huge speakers I could barely hear a word they were saying. But I guess I didn’t really care.
A few minutes later Tabitha came up behind me and grabbed hold of my elbow. Without a word she took the half empty glass out of my hand, placed it on the bar and practically dragged me out the door. Confused by her behavior, I waved over my shoulder and hastily said my goodbyes as she yanked me forward towards the exit.
“What was that about?” I asked when we gained the sidewalk.
“My friend started getting a little grabby so it was time to go. I see you made some new friends. They were kind of cute,” she said as we started the walk down South Chestnut Street back towards campus.
“I know them from one of my classes. They’re nice enough.”
We continued walking for a minute and as we passed the windows in front of Bacchus, another restaurant / bar, a couple of guys inside tapped on the glass to get our attention. I stopped and looked up at them for a moment. As they waved for me to come join them, I must have looked like I was considering it because Tabitha grabbed me by the arm again and started pulling me along.
“I think we’ve had enough excitement for one night,” she said, trying not to laugh as I fell into step beside her.
When I finally got back to my room it was late for a school night and I went straight to bed. Before settling in, I downed a couple of aspirin and a bottle of water hoping to stave off the headache I could feel beginning to form behind my eyes. A few minutes after I’d turned out the lights, the phone rang.
“Did I wake you?” Daniel’s voice said softly.
“No, I just got home a few minutes ago.”
“Where were you? Kind of late isn’t it?”
“I went to a place called The Gryffon in town with some girls.”
“I’m only gone one day and you’re already hanging out at the seediest pickup joint in town?”
“Tabitha dragged me along. She was dragged by her roommates. Is that what it is, a pick up joint?”
“It’s a tawdry college bar. They pretty much all are,” he said, sounding a little irritated.
“I can’t say much for the drinks they serve either. So when are you coming home?”
“I’m not sure – soon. Things here are a little complicated to go into on the phone.”
He sounded evasive again and I was willing to let it drop until I heard a high pitched female laugh echoing in the background.
“Complicated, huh?” I said sarcastically.
“I’ll explain when I get back. Get some sleep.”
I was about to say I love you when he abruptly said “Goodnight,” and hung up.
In the morning I had class with Professor Walker and for the second time, I wasn’t looking forward to it. His tone of voice on the phone still echoed in my ears with a humiliating ring. When he walked into class he seemed like he was in a better mood than usual and I hoped he’d forgotten about our brief but all too embarrassing conversation.
“I’ve decided to shake things up a little this semester, and attempt to broaden your horizons a bit more than usual. Each of you will be completing a project with a partner.”
Immediately people started looking at their neighbors to begin pairing off.
“Before you get ahead of yourselves, you will not be partnered with a person in this class. Each of you will be paired with a student in one of my history classes. Together you will write a paper on the artist I assign. In it you will tell how that artist was influenced by the history of his time and how he himself influenced the times he lived in. It will allow the History students to view history from a more artistic point of view, and for you to view the artist in a broader historical context. Rodney will be posting the names that I have paired off on the bulletin board, so please check the board on your way out to get the name of your partner and your artist.”
When class ended there was a rush up the stairs to the bulletin board. Hoping the crowd would thin out before we got there, Tabitha and I took our time packing up our things. When we got to the top of the stairs I picked up the flyer with all the particulars of the assignment from a side table then walked over to find my name on the list. It sounded like an interesting assignment. Of course I had to imagine the success or failure of it all depended on who you got for a partner.
“You’re not going to believe this,” I said to Tabitha who was still looking for her name.
“What? Who’d you
get?” she asked.
“Ben.”
“Seriously? What are the odds? That’s great though, he’s super smart. I got some girl I’ve never heard of before. Hopefully she won’t turn out to be some kind of flake.”
I ran into Mike on the way into the dining hall later that evening.
“Where’s your better half?” I asked with a smile. I’d been making an effort all day to forget how my conversation with Daniel had ended last night and how he hadn’t called me at all today.
“Oh, she’ll be along in a while. She got held up trying to track down some girl she has to do a project with, so she sent me on ahead. So what looks good for dinner?” he asked as we started down the cafeteria line with our trays.
After we paid and took seats at our usual table, Ryan joined us. He seemed in a better mood today. I couldn’t stop myself from wondering if that had anything to do with the speed bump I’d hit with Daniel. I hoped not. Maybe I gave him too much credit, but I was under the impression Ryan was a better man than that.
After Tabitha joined us Mike turned to me.
“So I hear you hit the bars with Tabitha last night.”
“What?” Ryan’s ears perked up.
“Well, one of them,” I answered. “But I wasn’t that impressed.”
“I’d have been surprised if you were. There are only four or five bars that the college kids go to and they don’t have much incentive to fix them up. Not enough competition.”
“You should have called me. I’d have gone with you,” Ryan complained.
“It was ladies night, Ryan,” Tabitha said with her sarcastic humor.
“I like ladies,” he smiled back.
“We know, Ryan. We know,” Mike added, doing his best to stifle a laugh.
Just then Ben strode up to the table and sat down across from me.
“So, it looks like we’re partners now,” he said as he smiled my way with those heavenly chocolate brown eyes.
The Purity of Blood: Volume I Page 31
