by Daphne Slade
Never mind what his original goal was.
Chapter Forty-Three
Grace
“So, any news about Matt?” Jenny asks as soon as she arrives and falls into the seat next to me in class.
“Yeah, you were right about the patella dislocation. He’ll be out for at least six weeks, and even when he returns…” I shrug to finish off the rest of that sentence.
A deep crease forms in her brow and she frowns. “That’s terrible. You mentioned he wanted to go pro?”
“Yeah,” I say noncommittally.
“I mean, I only know him from some of the science classes we had together, and that weekend up at Evan’s. Still…” she frowns as she digs around in her bag. “Shit, do you have a pen I could borrow? I can’t believe I forgot one.”
“Sure,” I say, leaning down toward my tote bag and pulling one out for her.
“Thanks. Promise to return it.”
“No big deal. It’s a pen. If not, I’ll get it tonight. We are still on, right?”
“Of course. I was right about learning better by teaching. Everything is so much more understandable.”
“Looking to turn that A into an A+?” I tease.
She gives me a sheepish smile but before she can reply, Professor Kardos comes in to start the class.
When the class is over, we have another short paper due. I remember now how much he likes these weekly assignments, all of which drive me crazy. Hopefully, I can get Jenny to help me at least plot it out tonight. There’s still plenty of time to pull my grade up.
“Your pen as promised,” she says, handing it back to me. “Sorry, I just work better when I write out the notes rather than use a computer.”
“Sure, see you tonight.”
I head out, deciding to stop by the commons to pick up something for lunch while I read for my next class.
My Fan Fiction seminar class is all that I could have ever hoped for. Now there’s a subject that I’m passionate about. At the beginning of the course, we were tasked with picking fanfic based on whatever original source we’d like, no limits. From there, we’ll spend the semester discussing issues such as canon, ethics, societal mores, sexuality, privacy, copyright, and more.
I’ve combined my two loves horror and romance, by picking American Horror Story, which has so many options to choose from, enough to keep me entertained even beyond the semester. Who knew there were so many characters to ‘ship? Some of them are so bizarre I read them just to have a good laugh.
I’m only a few steps out the door of Seeley Hall when I realize that my ID card isn’t in my pocket. After a brief, panicked search I decide to retrace my steps and head back to Professor Kardos’s class. Maybe it fell out when I was reaching down to get my pen for Jenny.
I’m just through the door when I see Jenny’s back turned to me as she leans against a desk at the far end of the class and talks on her phone.
“I don’t think coming to see you is a good idea.”
I wince, and silently back walk, realizing she’s having a private conversation based on the intimate tone of her voice. Except I see my card right there on the floor next to my seat. I tiptoe toward it, hoping I can escape without being noticed, or hearing something too personal.
“No, it has nothing to do with you getting injured.”
For some reason that stops me, just as I’ve grabbed my ID. I wait as she listens to whoever is on the other end.
“Because we ended this last year, Matt. That was the understanding, in case you forgot. It was something that shouldn’t have happened.”
Matt?
Last year?
Now, I’m perfectly frozen, my mind too consumed with what I just heard to put it to any other use.
“That doesn’t count either. It was a dumb back-to-school fling that also shouldn’t have happened, even if you two were on break.”
There’s a pause as my ex-boyfriend presumably makes his case.
“Matt—”
Another pause.
“Matt, stop it! I just called to see if you were okay. That’s all. We aren’t getting back together because we were never together in the first place. It was a handful of times that we both knew meant nothing.”
She pauses.
“Well…you shouldn’t have. That’s on you. I made my feelings clear.”
Another pause.
“Don’t say that. I like Grace and if you’re going to keep talking shit about her, I’m hanging up.”
I feel my fist tighten around my ID.
“Oh for Pete’s sake, just leave Noah out of this! Honestly, that’s part of the problem, Matt. This obsession you have, it isn’t very attractive. Is it any wonder she’s with him now?” I sense something in her voice as she utters the last sentence but I’m too blinded by rage and betrayal and outright shock to process it.
“I’m hanging up, Matt. Get well soon.”
Jenny pulls the phone away and taps it to hang up. She stays there for a while, obviously thinking about the conversation.
I stand near my seat just as still, waiting for her to turn around.
When she does, the look of surprise on her face only causes my temperature to go up a few degrees.
“Grace…I…” She’s understandably speechless.
“When did it start?” I ask, surprised at how calm my voice is.
She opens and closes her mouth a few times before sagging against the desk.
“It was at Evan’s lake house. We were both drunk and—”
“Don’t,” I say softly, closing my eyes to silence her. I had thought maybe it was after Matt had pulled this “let’s take a break” business, in which case I could at least forgive her if not enjoy the idea of it.
But this means Matt cheated on me.
And Jenny allowed it.
“You’re right,” she concedes, her eyes dropping to the desk.
“So…why? And no, being drunk isn’t an excuse.”
Her eyes fly back up and she tilts her head to the side. “Honestly, when Noah asked me to join him, I was thrilled. Yes, I knew it was a casual thing, and I was fine with that, but…I at least expected that would mean he’d pay attention to me, and only me.”
I guess that’s what she’d been used to her whole life. I know where this is going, but the last thing it does is fill me with pleasure.
“But…every time I saw him, he was just staring at you and Matt. It didn’t take a genius to figure out it was you he was after. Then, late one night I headed outside after we…” She pauses and swallows, her face taking on a bitter note. “Even during that I knew where his head was! Yes, my ego was a bit bruised. And Matt was already on the porch swing with a bottle of beer. He offered me one and at first I just enjoyed the attention. I’ll admit it helped that it came from your boyfriend at the time. But I never intended it to go as far as it did, Grace, I swear!”
And yet, it did.
“We both realized it was a mistake. At least I did. Then he told me you two had broken up. So I allowed it a few more times. Then once this year, after you were asking about Noah and then he made it clear that he still wasn’t interested in me.” Her mouth turns down with displeasure.
I stand there, paying attention to my breathing if only to have something to focus on instead of the rage and hurt coursing through me.
“So, I guess tonight’s study session is off,” I say feeling suddenly numb, and not quite sure why that was my first response.
But really, what else is there to say?
Matt is an even bigger scumbag than I thought? Check.
Jenny isn’t the friend I thought she was? Check.
Frankly, I should be happy. It makes me appreciate Noah even more, especially by comparison.
And Jenny got the shit end of this deal. Once again, karma’s a bitch.
“I mean…we don’t have to stop the study sessions.” She says, giving me an apologetic look. “I’m still happy to help you out, Grace. I at least owe you that much. Though, I understand if
it would be awkward.”
“I think…I’m going to…drop Immunology.”
Her eyes go wide, but I don’t stick around to hear what she has to say.
As I walk out, my heart is beating rapidly.
What?
Drop Immunology?
But the more I mull it over, the more right it feels. Still, the panic comes quickly. Suddenly I need air. I rush down the stairs and out of the building and take a moment to embrace the outdoor sunshine, steadying my breathing as I do.
That’s when it hit’s me. Maybe all of this was for a reason.
I’m not going to medical school.
“What?” Erin says in surprise.
I’ve called her in a panic, realizing that she’s the only one who can help me figure this out. I love Noah, but he doesn’t need this stress right now. At least until I’m over my anxiety about all of this.
“I’ve decided not to go to medical school after all,” I repeat, still pacing back and forth in our apartment.
“Hold up!” she says, raising one palm in the air to face me as she shakes her head to better understand everything. “I’m still caught up in this Matt and Jenny business. You don’t just spring a thing like that on a girl and expect me to ignore it as you casually move on.”
“That’s not the important part here!” I argue.
She opens her mouth to protest, then realizes that, in the scheme of everything I’ve laid on her, it isn’t the most important part. Even if it is the most salacious.
“Okay, okay, you’re right. On to this medical school thing. Well..” She gives me a sideways look. “Frankly, I’m glad you finally came to this decision, even if it is at the eleventh hour. Anyone could tell you were only doing it to please your parents.”
Just hearing the word has my heart beating double. “Oh god, what are they going to say?”
“Who cares?”
“What?” I say, stopping to face her with a feeling of shock.
“Who. Cares?” she repeats with a grin.
“I mean…I do!”
“Why?”
“Because…” I throw up my hands as though it should be obvious. Even if I can’t seem to put it into words. “They’re my parents!”
Erin just continues to look at me with a smirk.
“You have no idea what they’re like.”
She breathes out a laugh. “I think I have a pretty good idea.”
“Yeah well…I still need time to…absorb this. At least before I do something rash like officially drop the class.” Even as I say it, I feel that weight lifted off my chest. That tells me it’s the right move. Still, the thought of telling my parents is terrifying.
I walk over and fall next to her on the couch. “And what am I going to do instead?”
“Do what you should have been doing these past three years, figure it out.”
I cough out a laugh. “That’ll go over well at Thanksgiving dinner. ‘Hey Mom and Dad, I’ve decided not to go to medical school and I have no idea what I want to do instead. And oh, by the way, I’m dating a guy who plans on becoming a professional hockey player.’”
I bring my hand up to my forehead on the heels of that. “Poor Noah, to be dropped in the middle of that nuclear bomb.”
Erin hugs me into her side. “That, sweetheart, is the sign of a good man. I have a feeling he’ll handle it just fine.”
“Yeah,” I say, feeling it too. All the times he was the calm to my storm. I’ve never seen much get under his skin and I doubt this will be an exception.
Frankly, it’s a relief to finally have a man I can lean on instead of one I have to constantly prop up.
Chapter Forty-Four
Noah
Grace is at my place, having just told me everything, from overhearing Jenny’s phone call and confession to her decision to not go to medical school.
“How are you feeling?” It’s the first thing that comes out of my mouth.
“How do I feel? How do you feel? I mean, this affects you too.”
I flash a brief smile. “Me? This is good news for me. It makes Matt’s case about me dating you all the more flimsy.”
“As for Jenny,” I shrug. “She had a point about it being casual. We both agreed to that. I do feel bad about supposedly ignoring her, especially if it led to her cheating with Matt. But forget about Matt, and Jenny for that matter. I suspect the medical school thing is a bigger deal for you.”
She reaches up to cup my face. I love this, how often she likes to put her hands on me. “Noah, Noah, Noah, now who’s too good to be true? Don’t you worry about me. I have plenty of time to steel myself before I go home for Thanksgiving. In the meantime….”
I save her the trouble of leaning in to kiss me by doing it first. We stay like that, enjoying the taste of one another, but she pulls away before I can take it too far.
“But it’s still too soon for me to come to your next game, especially while Matt’s out injured.”
I pull away and feel my jaw tighten with anger. “Yeah, it’s not like I can start telling the team about what he’s done. It doesn’t look good, me spreading this news about him while he’s out injured. Even I think it feels too much like kicking him while he’s down.”
“That’s fine, we can give it some time. Eventually, it will all work out,” she says.
“Yeah but, seriously, how far does he have to fall to finally be outed as a horrible person?”
“I think karma has already proven it’s up to the job. Let’s just give it a week or so.”
She’s right, of course. A few weeks won’t matter.
“At that point, I look forward to seeing your pretty face right there behind the bench, screaming your head off for me.”
“Screaming my head off?”
“Oh yeah, you’re like a banshee when you get going.”
“What?” She slaps me on the arm. “I may get…a little riled up, but I’m not that bad.”
“Oh, yes, you are. But I love it,” I say with a laugh.
“Keep comparing me to a banshee and let’s see how far you get next time you’re feeling horny.”
“Horny? Mmm, keep talking dirty like that Grace, and you won’t be able to stop me,” I say leaning in closer.
“Oh yeah?” she says with a smile, allowing it.
“Yeah,” I reply, then grab her and lift her up. “In fact, I’m feeling rather horny right now.”
She yelps in laugher as I carry her to the bedroom, apparently not all that upset after all.
I wake up Tuesday morning, enjoying the feel of Grace next to me. I try disentangling myself from her, but she manages to wake up anyway. Or at least stir out of sleep.
“I’m beginning to rethink spending the night here,” she mumbles. “These early morning wakeup calls are going to be the death of me.”
I smile as I slide off the bed. “I can’t help if you can’t fall asleep without tangling every limb of yours into mine.”
“Then stop being so damn sexy, Noah,” she says with amusement in her sleepy voice.
I chuckle softly as I get dressed. By the time I’m done, I hear the soft sounds of her regular breathing as she falls back to sleep.
Evan leaves at the same time as I do today. “Jesus, Noah. At this rate even the benchwarmers are going to start showing you up,” he says with a smirk.
“Priorities,” I say with a grin.
He laughs and shakes his head. “So I guess things with you and Grace are still going well? Sucks about the circumstances though.”
“Yeah,” I say with a scowl. “And it gets even better, as I found out last night.”
I tell him everything Grace told me about Jenny and Matt.
“Holy shit,” he mutters. “I almost don’t even feel bad about what happened to his leg.”
“That leg is exactly why I can’t tell anyone else on the team, other than maybe Cole and Reid. I don’t want this team to come even more unraveled than it already is. Even if it means he departs looking like a damn
hero.”
“You sure?” Evan asks. “I can quietly spread the news. You forget I grew up in Hollywood. I know how to ‘distribute’ like an expert. There isn’t a sex tape in La-la-land that wasn’t intentionally leaked.”
I breathe out a laugh. “Let's at least give him a few weeks of wallowing before we smear the dirt on his image. Who knows? By then, maybe no one will give a shit.”
“You’re a better man than I, Noah,” he says shaking his head.
“Time is on my side, Evan,” I say, hooking an arm around his neck as we continue toward practice.
Practice is appropriately somber, beginning with Coach Egler giving us an update about Matt who will be getting out of the hospital today.
He’s officially out of play the rest of the semester at least. It’s almost enough to make me feel sorry for the guy. Almost.
Later that day, I have my Modern Art class.
I get there extra early hoping to get in before any of the other students. I’m surprised to see Josh is already there, despite that.
“I know, here way too early. In my defense, I have a class next door right before this one.”
I just nod. It works for my purposes. We’re late enough into the semester that people have settled into an unofficial-official seating arrangement. I don’t want to cause too much disruption by just grabbing some random seat. Besides, I suspect Josh wouldn’t have a problem switching.
“Do you mind if we change seats for the rest of the semester?”
He blinks up at me, his eyes narrowing with suspicion as though wondering what the catch is. I get it. It’s probably the academic equivalent of being invited to the Playboy mansion.
“It’s just a bit distracting for me, where I’m sitting now.”
He breathes out a sharp laugh as though I’ve made the understatement of the century.
“You’d be doing me a huge favor, for what it’s worth.”
“It’s not you that I’m worried about. I can think of at least two people who wouldn’t appreciate this round of musical chairs.”
