Betrayed (8 page)

“No?” Dana asked. She leaned forward, resting her cleavage in plain view again. “Then why are we in the middle of nowhere?”

He leaned forward, too. His eyes remained locked on hers.

“Maybe I just wanted to see if you’d make the drive,” he said.

“You don’t have to play hard to get, anymore,” she grinned. She reached up and stroked his cheek with the back of her fingers.

Ethan slapped her hand away and recoiled.

“Don’t touch me,” he said. He composed himself quickly and smiled awkwardly at a nearby table. “I’m here because of Kayla,” he said.

Dana’s grin slipped for a second. “What about her?” she asked.

“I want her back,” he said. He sighed and shook his head. “And I know I need your help.”

Dana leaned back and studied him for a second. Then, she laughed.

“You’ve got to be joking, right?” she said. “What makes you think I’ll help you get her back? I was the one that broke you up in the first place.”

Ethan shook his head. “No,
I
broke us up. I should have been straight forward with her in the first place.”

Dana rolled her eyes. “Stop trying to act so chivalrous,” she said. “The fact of the matter is that you two won’t be together.”

“But we can be,” Ethan pleaded. “It’s obvious you two are close. She’ll listen to you.”

“Why would I even want to help you out?” she asked. “Why would I want to set Kayla up with a monster like you?”

“A monster?” Ethan said, disgusted. “Is that what you think of me?”

“You crushed me, Ethan. You took my heart and stomped on it over and over.”

His brow creased in confusion. He remembered, again, why he had wanted to separate himself from her. She was delusional; crazy.

“I didn’t,” he said. “We went on three dates. That was it.”

“I
loved
you, Ethan,” she said, in a sharp, quiet tone.

He leaned forward again, his voice growing even quieter. “You only loved me after I said we shouldn’t see each other,” he said.

“You can’t have her,” Dana said. “I won’t allow it.”

Ethan leaned back and finally put all of the pieces of the puzzle together.

“You’re upset because you didn’t get what you wanted,” he said. Dana’s face twisted. “The spoiled little rich girl is upset because her candy got taken away.”

A long silence passed between them. Their eyes were locked in a heated battle.
 

“She’ll never speak to you again,” Dana said. “She’s spending the winter with me, and by the end of it, I’ll make sure that you’re the person she hates the most.”

“You’re one cold hearted, little bi…”

“Ethan,” a voice said, loudly. Trevor was standing at the table next to them, and clapped his brother on the back. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”

Ethan looked up at his brother, startled, then back at Dana. He saw nothing but red. He needed to get out of there before he said something he’d really regret.

“No,” he said. “We’re leaving.”

Ethan shoved away from the table and stood up. Dana was moving just as quickly.

“I’m Dana,” she said. Her face softened instantly, and she leaned forward just a bit as she raised her hand to Trevor. Her eyes were big, and she grinned at him in a way that made an impression.

“Trevor,” he said, awkwardly. He took her hand and shook it, dumbly.

Ethan didn’t hang around. “We’re going,” he said again. He marched straight out of the small coffeehouse and straight toward his car.

He couldn’t believe the nerve of her. He couldn’t believe that she was so spiteful - that she would ruin her friend’s chance at happiness just because she was upset with him.

He shook his head, trying to clear the rage building there. The fact of the matter was that it didn’t matter what Dana said. It was his fault for keeping his previous relationship from Kayla. But he knew he could earn her trust again, he just needed to be given the chance to do so. He knew their relationship could overcome the setback. He just needed the chance.

But Dana wasn’t going to give it to him. She wasn’t going to let him have that chance.

Ethan sat in the car for a few minutes, fuming, before he realized that Trevor hadn’t followed him out. Another couple of minutes passed before he finally emerged from the coffeehouse and made it to the car.

“What?” Trevor asked innocently when he was in the car. “She gave me her number.”

Ethan eyed him hard.

“Don’t,” he said.

Trevor wore a shit-eating grin all the way back to the house.

* * * * *

Finals week passed without excitement. Somehow, I managed to keep my head down and focused on studying for the two finals I had to take. Ethan had called several times a day - every day. But I stuck to my guns and avoided his calls. I couldn’t bring myself to listen to his voicemails, either, and just deleted them before they played.

I didn’t have time to deal with him. I didn’t trust myself to make it through a conversation. I wanted so desperately for things to be fixed between us. I wanted so desperately to have never found out about him and Dana. But nothing was going to change that. The only thing left to me was to keep my head down, and keep moving forward. First finals, then my business school application.

All the while finals were going on, I also had to make sure my residents were ready to move out of the dorms.
I
had to be ready to move out of the dorms. It was only for a few weeks, but there was no coming back once I was gone.

I packed a few suitcases of clothes, keeping most of it simple. It’s not like I was going to be living it up during vacation - I was going to be working. By the time Friday rolled around, and my last resident left for home, I was ready to bolt as far from the dorm as possible. I was ready for something new. I needed to isolate myself and get down to work.

I threw my stuff in the back of my car and drove over to Dana’s apartment. It wasn’t far from campus, but it felt like a wholly different world. She wasn’t there when I arrived, but she’d already given me a key to let myself in. The apartment was palatial compared to my dorm room. I wondered what it would be like to not care for money. I wasn’t jealous, and Dana tried her hardest to not flaunt things in front of me, but we came from two different worlds.

Her parents had made a lot of money in business. Her father was a graduate of Arizona’s business program - like I hoped to be in a few years - and he’d gone on to do great things. After earning an MBA degree from Harvard, he had gone on to start a telecommunications company in Los Angeles. Eventually, that company was bought out by Cox, Inc in San Diego, and her parents were the majority shareholders. Maybe one day I would know what it was like to be on the receiving end of that windfall, too.

The guest bedroom in Dana’s apartment was easily twice the size of my dorm room. The bed had a canopy cover and fresh, soft, white sheets. There was an entertainment center across from the bed with a flat screen television, and a white dresser that matched the bed frame.

I set my suitcases next to the bed and slid open the huge doors to the closet. It wasn’t a walk-in closet, like was in the master bedroom, but it was large enough to store my entire wardrobe. Maybe I shouldn’t have skimped out on the packing.

In the corner of the room was a tiny desk. I looked at it for a long moment and envisioned myself sitting there for hours on end. It was the perfect spot for me to spend the winter vacation - and I knew I was going to be able to get a lot done.

As I started getting my things unpacked, I heard a jingle at the front door. Dana was home. I went out into the living room to greet her.

“Hey, roomie,” I said, with a smile.

“Hey, there,” she said. She walked in and set herself on the counter overlooking the living room. “Got all your stuff moved in?” she asked.

“I just started,” I said. “But it’s already nice to be away from campus. It’s quiet and peaceful.”

“It isn’t called a break for nothing,” she grinned.

“Hardly a break for me,” I said. “I’ll probably be busier than I am during the regular semester.”

She waved her hand. “Don’t sweat it. You’re going to get in, no problem.”

“It’s the business plan that I’m worried about,” I said. “I have no idea where to start.”

She shrugged. “You’ll figure something out.”

I bit my lip as a nervous ball of energy grew in my stomach. I wished I could share Dana’s confidence, but since she was a legacy to the business school, she’d never had to worry about getting accepted. I didn’t dare to mention that, again. For all the comforts that her parents afforded her, the notion of riding on their coattails was a sensitive subject for her.

“I hope,” I said.

Dana looked at me long and hard. There was something she wanted to say, but, for some reason, she was holding back.

“What is it?” I asked.

She shook her head. “It’s nothing.” She smiled, softly.

“Come on, out with it.”

Her eyes met mine again, this time the hesitation was gone.

“How are you doing?” she asked.

The question caught me off guard. I knew instantly what she was referring to - it had nothing to do with school. The subject of Ethan hadn’t come up since she had told me about their affair. I hadn’t gone to her after I ended things with him; I was worried it would only make things more painful. I tried my hardest to imagine that the Dana he had been with was some other girl - not my best friend. It was too painful to think about, otherwise.

“I’m fine,” I said. I thought about it for another moment. “I’ll be fine.”

Her eyes softened, supportively. She rubbed my shoulder with her hand.

“If you want to talk about it, I’m here for you,” she said.

I nodded. “Thanks.”

We stood there for another minute in silence. It was nice to feel her support - to feel like I had someone I could commiserate with. After all, I hadn’t been the only one hurt by Ethan, right? It was an odd feeling, I wished I could hold her and comfort her as much as she was offering for me, but the pain of it was still too fresh. One day, our friendship would grow stronger because of the whole ordeal, but, until then, the wounds needed time to heal.

“Thanks, again, for letting me stay here,” I said. “I promise I won’t be in your hair - you won’t even notice me.”

She smiled. “What are friends for? I’ll be gone in a few days, anyways, and you know I’d do anything to help you.”

I smiled. “Let me make you dinner, tonight. I’ll get to work tomorrow, but tonight we can just kick back and relax.”

Her smile faded.

“I can’t,” she said. “I… have a date.”

I reeled away from her. “Oh?” I said. “Is it the guy from the other night?”

I had been meaning to ask her about the guy she’d been on the date with when she’d bumped into Ethan and I. But the topic had never come up - for obvious reasons.

Her brow scrunched together for a second, then she nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “His name’s Terrence.”

I smiled. “Are things getting serious?” I asked.

She grinned. “No, it’s nothing like that. We’re just going out for drinks. And then…,” her eyebrows raised with her shoulders, “Who knows?”

“I’m so happy for you,” I said. My thoughts trailed off to Ethan as I said it. Dana must have understood what I was thinking, because she instantly wrapped her arms around me and pulled me tight.

“You’re going to find the person you’re looking for,” she said. “You just have to make it through the assholes to find the good ones.”

Tears were welling in my eyes again, but I refused to shed a tear in front of her. Somehow, it just didn’t feel right.

“I thought I had found a good one,” I said, honestly.

She pulled away from me, and our eyes connected. For a second, I thought I saw a flash of annoyance in her expression.

“Ethan
isn’t
one of the good ones,” she said, deliberately. “He’s a manipulative jerk.”

I nodded. “I know,” I said. I looked away and focused on a spot on the wall. “It’s just hurts, still.”

She pulled me in tight, again, and ran her hand through the back of my hair. She held me there for a while. It was soothing. The pain began to fade, as though the simple act of touching someone was enough to lift me above it; through it.

“Thanks,” I said, the tears still threatening to pour free. “You’re a real friend.”

She squeezed me tight once more before letting me go. I dabbed at my eyes and put on an embarrassed smile.

“You have to let me cook for you one night before you go home,” I said. “I insist.”

She smiled warmly at me, and stuck out her hand. I looked down at it, and shook it.

“It’s a deal,” she said.

* * * * *

After Dana left, I laid in bed for a long time. Tears flowed freely under the security of the sheets. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Ethan since she brought him up.

I had been strong up until then. Aside from his calls, I had been able to keep my focus. And I had hoped that being somewhere new, somewhere with no memories of Ethan in it, I would be able to keep him pushed far from my thoughts.

But I was wrong.

As I lay there in the darkness, alone, I wanted nothing more than to have him by my side. I stared at my phone, sobbing and hoping that he would call. He had called so many times, and I had refused every one of them, but I knew it he called right then I wouldn’t be able to.

The pain wrenched my chest.

Why couldn’t he be honest with me? He hadn’t told me about Dana, and he hadn’t told me about his brother. How could I trust a guy that I knew nothing about? I was lucky to have a friend like Dana that was there to protect me. She had pulled me out of a dangerous situation that I hadn’t even known I was in. I was lucky she had done it before I grew even more attached to him.

I tucked the phone under the pillow, but kept my hand near it. I wanted it nearby, just in case he called. The buzzing would wake me up if it were that close. I cried for another hour before I finally fell asleep.

But the phone was nearby.

Just in case.

The Zen House was a loud, trendy college bar. It catered to the people who wanted to be seen. On any given night, you could see a man with a too-dark tan ordering drinks for a girl with a too-short skirt. People were there to hookup, they were there to forget about their boring lives, and they were there to get away.