by Daphne Slade
I grab the back of my neck. “Trust me, they’ll get over it.”
He sighs. “If they ask, I get to say you requested it.”
“Fair enough.”
He grabs his things and shifts around the table to settle into the seat I’ve been taking since that first day of class.
Heidi arrives before Jenny, which is a first. I assume the latter is waiting until the very start of class to arrive, if only to avoid any awkwardness. She has to know that Grace has told me everything by now.
When Heidi sees Josh sitting in my seat an instant frown of confusion comes to her face. Her eyes slide to where he usually sits and a crease in her forehead joins that frown when they see me. I flash a perfectly neutral smile then focus on my laptop screen.
In my periphery, I see her head to her seat a bit less buoyantly than usual.
“Hey, Josh,” she says, with the obvious question in her voice. I roll my eyes up to see a surprisingly bright smile on her face. Maybe that’s the only kind she knows how to give. Either way, it’s certainly working a number on Josh, who looks positively red in the face.
“Uh, hey Heidi,” his eyes slide to me, looking as though he already regrets taking my seat. I just flash an encouraging grin back.
When he leaves it at that, Heidi frowns again, looking back and forth between the two of us. I make sure to give her another perfectly friendly smile so she knows there are no hard feelings between us.
It disappears when I see Jenny walk through the door. Her eyes are wide, already focused on where I used to sit. She blinks in confusion when she sees Josh there instead. Then, she quickly flashes her gaze to me.
I return a hard stare, that has her instantly lowering her eyes as she scurries to her seat.
Both Josh and Heidi have seen the interaction and they stare at me with wide questioning gazes. When I simply stare back as though nothing at all is wrong, they look at each other and shrug.
Who knows, maybe this new seating arrangement will work out better for them. At least something good has to come out of the shit Jenny caused.
Chapter Forty-Five
Grace
That Friday the Devils have an away game. This means the Den of Iniquity is once again full. Tonight it’s just Ashley, Erin, Clark, and me, with the occasional stop to chat from Heidi. The table is piled with fries and devil sauce, hot wings, and nachos along with our drinks. Part of it is to help pad Heidi’s tip since she’ll no doubt give us another free round as usual. The other part is to feed Clark’s voracious appetite. Seriously, for a guy who’s so rail-thin, he can eat like an entire squad of men.
I’m not yet close enough to either Ashley or Heidi to have told them all my dirty laundry about why Jenny couldn’t come. I just gave them a vague comment about her being too busy.
“So, you dropped Professor Kardos’ class?” Ashley asks with a worried look. “I hope it wasn’t because of that whole missing paper thing. I honestly don’t know what happened.”
“It had nothing to do with you. In fact, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, so don’t worry about it. But the last thing I want to do tonight is think about Professor Kardos or Immunology or anything related to medical school,” I say with a laugh.
She continues to nibble her lower lip with doubt.
Thankfully, Heidi comes in to change the subject. “So, are we hopeful tonight?” She asks with her eyes wide and optimistic. “I mean, Matt’s substitute is pretty good, but still, we’re playing against—”
She’s interrupted by the commotion near the entrance to the bar. It rises until a few claps and whoops fill the air. Heidi heads off to see what the fuss is. We all turn and crane our necks as people rise around us to join in the applause.
I know who it’s for.
And I refuse to rise.
Erin and Clark—I’m sure she’s told him everything, which I have no problem with—join me in staying seated. Ashley just gives us quizzically uncertain looks before deciding to cave to what the rest of the bar is doing. I give her a reassuring smile that there are no bad feelings about it on my part. It’s less messy than explaining the truth.
Matt eventually makes his way past our table, heading to the bar. He’s on crutches, his right leg in a brace. He basks in the glory of applause like the narcissist he is. An aw-shucks grin appears on his face and his deceptively serene eyes scan the room with false humility.
That expression transforms when those eyes land on our table. A vicious scowl takes over his mouth and his gaze hardens into petulance as he glares at me.
I give nothing away, my face perfectly impassive as I stare back at him. I don’t know what Jenny has told him and I don’t care.
Whatever it was he was expecting, that’s not it. Perhaps he hoped to see hatred or embarrassment. Knowing him, maybe even regret that I had given him up. I see a flicker of doubt touch his eyes before his attention is drawn away by someone from the baseball team calling out for him to join them.
“That boy has a lot of damn nerve,” Erin says, pursing her lips.
“Nonsense, he’s still a Devington student. He can come here if he wants,” I say reaching out nonchalantly to pluck up a French fry and dip it into devil sauce. “All the better to watch his team win a game without him.”
“I guess the breakup was pretty bad,” Ashley says as she sits down, looking thoroughly upset.
“Bad enough,” I say with a cynical smile after swallowing my bite of fry. “Either way, let’s just enjoy the game and pretend he’s not here.”
“Sorry for standing. I just—”
“Nonsense,” I say with a laugh. “I’m certainly not going to oust you from the table just because of that. I get it, peer pressure is a hell of a thing. So long as I don’t have to see him the rest of—
“Uh oh, trouble at six o’clock,” Erin says, looking past my shoulder.
What now?
I turn to see Jenny walking in with a look of anger coloring her face.
“Now there’s someone who does have a lot of nerve showing up here. And is she—? That girl is headed right for us!” Erin exclaims.
Yes, she is. And this time, my sentiments mirror my best friend’s. What the hell is she doing here?
“Was it you?” she demands, her nostrils flaring with anger as she reaches our table and shoots daggers at me.
“Jenny,” I say in a perfectly calm voice. I have no idea what she’s talking about and frankly I don’t care.
She must have come here tonight knowing I’d be here as usual. Honestly, it’s the only way she could have possibly found me since she doesn’t know where I live and, after the first few text messages apologizing to me, I blocked her number.
Jenny lifts the stapled papers in her hand and waves them my way. I notice there’s a big, red B- and a note scribbled across the top. “Did you go in and take my paper from Kardos’s pile? Is it because you think I stole your paper last time?”
“What?” Ashley is the one to make this exclamation. “It happened again?”
“Yeah,” Jenny spits, now casting a suspicious gaze her way. “Do you know anything about it?” She juts her chin my way. “Have you seen Grace in his office?”
“No…I—I don’t understand,” Ashley cries. “He’s going to fire me for sure now.”
“Ashley, don’t fret,” I say in a soothing voice, if only to settle her. “I’m sure there’s an explanation. Like, perhaps,” I cast my gaze Jenny’s way again, my eyes narrowed. “Jenny is lying.”
“Don’t,” she says with an incredulous look. “Don’t you dare play this game. You want to fuck up your future, fine, but don’t you—”
“Now you wait just a damn minute,” Erin interjects, giving Jenny an imperious look. “Don’t you think you’re giving yourself a little too much credit, sweetheart? I mean, why would my girl bother fucking with you when you no longer even show up on her radar?”
“You can stay the hell out of this, Erin,” Jenny spits.
“Excuse me?” Erin
says, looking like she’s ready to take off the gloves and go to town. Clark’s eyes go wide with concern.
Already people at the nearby tables are stopping to take notice.
“I don’t know what happened to your damn paper, Jenny,” I say. “Now, if that’s all—”
“No, it’s not all. In fact, it’s just a bit too obvious don’t you think? At the very least you could have done something that doesn’t immediately connect this to you. And all because you’re upset about Matt? I’m sorry! Is that what you want to fucking hear…yet again?” She gives me a smugly hateful look. “Frankly, you should be grateful. The asshole still won’t stop calling and texting me. So I saved you from dating a cheater. Happy? Now admit you took—”
“What?”
That interruption is enough to have everyone at the table shutting up and turning to Ashley. Jenny looks irritated. Erin’s brow has risen nearly to her hairline. Clark just looks confused. I simply stare at her, waiting for an explanation.
She stares up at Jenny in disbelief. “Matt is…are you dating him?”
“What?” Jenny asks, distractedly. “God no!”
“Why do you care?” I ask, my attention focused solely on Ashley.
She turns to me and instantly a mask of guilt comes to her face.
“How do you know Matt?” I ask, narrowing my eyes.
“I…I’m sort of seeing him. Though he doesn’t want to make it public yet,” she says in an embarrassed voice, taking note of the fact that the people surrounding us are noticing.
“What?” Jenny, Erin, and I exclaim at the same time.
Ashley swallows hard and sits up straighter. “In all fairness, I didn’t know he was dating anyone when we first started. I met him just before school started. When you mentioned him that day in Professor Kardos’s office, you admitted it was over between you two, so I didn’t think it was a big deal. I wanted to tell you but he said not to, at least not yet. It was a fling that just kind of turned into something…” she shifts her gaze to Jenny and a scowl comes to her face. “Or so I thought.”
“Wait a second, was it you who took my paper? Because you thought I was dating that loser?” Jenny asks.
“No, I didn’t even know about you!”
“Oh please! It all makes so much sense now. Nice act by the way.”
Now, more and more people in the bar are noticing, being that both of them have raised their voices. Phones are coming out to document it.
While the two of them go back and forth—Erin and Clark eating it up—I begin to put two and two together.
“Ashley,” I say, interrupting them. “You said a friend notified you about the Kardos assistant work-study job. Was it Matt?”
She bites her lip, which tells me everything.
“So…you were a plant.”
“I didn’t take the papers!” she exclaims with frustration.
A wrinkle forms in my brow as I consider that one. She is either the world’s greatest actress or she’s telling the truth. But the connection to Matt is just too—
“Wait a second, did you take those photos of Noah and me in the library?”
The way her face colors tells me everything. “I’m sorry about that. I really am. Matt said it was just a joke between Noah and him, that they were friends, and he was just going to tease him is all. That night, he called me and said he’d overheard Noah’s phone call and asked if I knew where you were. You had said something about going to the library to study, which I thought was kind of crazy considering how much you’d had to drink, but—“
“Forget about whatever stupid photos you took,” Jenny interrupts in anger. “Did you take my paper for Immunology?”
I no longer care about the damn paper, being that I’ve dropped the class, but at least now Noah will know how Matt was able to get those photos of us. Matt’s orchestrated everything, using Ashley as a tool.
Jenny, however, is still on a mission. “Did Matt come to see you at all while you were working for Professor Kardos?”
“No, he was too worried about Grace seeing him there. We only met in secret—” She stops herself, her eyes downcast with embarrassment as she begins to realize what a farce this “relationship” of hers was. I’d feel bad if she hadn’t been so dishonest with me this whole time, and yes, I do count lying by omission.
“What about breaks?” Jenny presses, giving her a hard stare. “When I turned in my paper Matt just happened to bump into me outside the building.” She rolls her eyes, as though he’s been nothing but a pest. “He was also there that day Grace turned her paper in, which mysteriously went missing. Did you take a break or anything, even just to go to the bathroom around that time?”
Ashley’s brow smoothes out as the realization occurs to her. “He asked me to meet for a quick coffee.” She slides a wide-eyed look my way. “Both times! And he was always a little bit late to arrive! That son of a bitch was using me!”
Erin coughs out a sarcastic laugh. Clark just looks like he wants to disappear.
Ashley is already twisted around to look Matt’s way. Jenny follows her gaze and just now notices he’s here in the bar with us. I watch with satisfaction, looking past both of them to see a look of pure panic on his face.
Chapter Forty-Six
Noah
The Devils won tonight, but that’s nothing compared to the exciting news I’m listening to over the phone.
“Wait, Ashley punched Matt?”
Evan is on the next bed over in our hotel room, texting someone on his phone. That’s enough to pique his interest and he turns to me with his brow raised in curiosity.
Grace laughs. “Yeah, even I was surprised at that. She’s such a small thing by comparison. I honestly don’t know if it was because he put her work-study job at risk or this thing with Jenny. And hell if she didn’t let him have it. She spilled everything while she was at it, even outing Jenny, in pretty colorful language. A mouth like a sailor, that one. Jenny couldn’t get out of there quickly enough, her tail tucked between her legs.”
“Damn,” I say, raking my fingers through my hair. “I wish I’d seen what Ashley looked like. I’m pretty sure she’s the girl he was with the night I found you at his place. It could have helped you put two and two together sooner.”
To my surprise, she laughs again. “Yes, but then I would have missed the joy of watching Matt get beat up by a woman half his size in front of the entire bar.”
I grin again, as I picture that. “I wish I could have been there.”
“Please, I’m sure it already has about fifty uploads online by now. A good thing the bar is technically not on campus. The worst that’ll happen to her is Matt deciding to press charges. On the one hand, he might just be petty enough to do it. On the other hand, it will only keep everyone talking about it.”
“Yeah, there’s no keeping this one from the team.” I grin as I think about it. It’s about time they knew who Matt really was.
I sit up straighter as something occurs to me. “You know what? Now, it makes so much sense.”
“What does?”
“Matt mentioned something about you asking about me since school began. I’d wondered how he even knew about us back then. Jenny brought it up that first day in Modern Art. She must have told him later on that day because the next morning at practice, that’s when he attacked me on the ice.”
“God, the three of them deserve one another.”
I breathe out a laugh, shaking my head in disbelief. “So, at the least, this should be expulsion worthy, no? Can you prove he took the papers?”
“It probably wouldn’t hold up in a court of law, but student council is a different animal. When you put all the pieces together, it’s pretty obvious he took them. If we find at least one person who saw him go into the office, then that’s it. Shouldn’t be hard to do, he is a hockey player, so pretty recognizable as a god on campus.”
“A god, huh? Tell me more about how you think of us hockey players that way.”
Evan s
norts out a laugh from his bed.
Grace laughs. “Only one is a god to me. Speaking of which, you have time for a little worshiping?”
“Mmm,” I say, then groan. “I would except I have company.”
Evan shoots me another look, this time one of warning.
I grin and reach out to grab a pillow to throw at him.
“I hate waiting.”
“Welcome to the club. But hey, coming from the expert, I can say…it’s worth it. Tomorrow night, after the game, I’m all yours.”
We finally have a home game again.
I see my girl sitting right there in her usual spot from previous years. Only this time, Grace is rooting for me.
Erin and Clark are sitting next to her, being that their original larger group has finally dwindled to just the three of them. For away games, they still go to the Den of Iniquity where they are regulars often enough to get a free round from Heidi every time.
I, along with the rest of the team, finally saw the video of Matt’s comeuppance—there were plenty to choose from—and it was even more spectacular than I could have imagined.
Ashley was exactly the powerhouse Grace claimed she was, including that mouth of hers. While she uttered every foul word you could think of, Matt sat there like a scared rabbit, probably more from shock than anything. It took one of the girls working at the Den of Iniquity, some small but feisty redhead, to finally pull Ashley away, leaving him with a black eye.
Jenny’s name was thrown out during one of those expletive-laden tirades, and a few phones caught her staring at the fight completely slack-jawed. It’s made her infamous on campus, at least until people forget about it. But the internet is forever.
I push those thoughts to the back of my mind as I get into position on the ice, making sure to cast one quick grin Grace’s way before I put my head one-hundred percent in the game.
When the puck drops and I gain control of it, the crowd goes wild. It could be my imagination but I swear I hear one voice ring out louder than the rest.
