Crashing Into You (24 page)

“I’ll see you later, Sydney,”
Robert said, and waved at me. “I have to run a couple errands before my date
with Lukas.” He smiled at Michelle. “Oh, and nice to meet you.”

“You too,” she said.

I took a step toward him. “What’s
with your Monday night dates with Lukas?” I asked. “Do you guys go out
every
Monday?”

Robert grinned. “Yep! It's
our stupid little tradition. And I love it. Bye!” And with that, he marched
toward the parking lot, leaving me all alone with Melanie’s little sister.

“He’s so stinkin' cute,”
Michelle said. She stopped to the right of me, her notebook pushed up against
her chest, her sunglasses covering most of her face. “Lukas is your roommate,
right?”

“Yes, that's right.”

“Cool. Gay couples are
so
adorable.” She nudged her shoulder
against mine, and said, “So what about you, missy? Do
you
have a boyfriend?”

As a matter of fact, I did.
And she wasn’t going to be happy when she found out who it was. She was going
to learn about Evan sooner or later, but I hoped I had at least until the end
of the day. I knew it was possible she would react apathetically to the
news—hell, maybe she would even be happy for the two of us— but I
assumed it more probable she would throw some kind of tantrum.

So I ignored her question,
and asked, “Did you know the girls on campus outnumber the boys four to one?”

She laughed. “Really?”

“Yes. Snatch one up, they’re
going fast!”

She looked down, put her arms
behind her head. “Thanks, but... I’m not really looking to date anyone right
now.” She pointed at the Lair, perked up, and said, “You want to get dinner? I
haven't eaten anything all day.”

If I hadn’t been starving, I
probably would have passed. I didn't want to become besties with Michelle; her strong
resemblance to Melanie still made it difficult for me to even look at her. But
the Lair was the only eatery on this side of campus, and I really needed to eat
something. A quick dinner with her wouldn't kill me.

“Uhh, yeah. Why not?”

As we walked past Foley
Fountain, I marveled at Michelle’s bubbly demeanor. If one of my two older
sisters ever died unexpectedly, I would be crushed—and I barely knew my
sisters. Melanie had died in the saddest, most gruesome, most inexplicable kind
of way, and four months later her younger sister was bouncing around campus
like nothing bad had ever happened.

“I have to ask you,
Michelle…”

“Yeah, what?”

“Why in the world would you
want to come
here
?”

“What do you mean?”

We stopped in front of the
Lair. “I don’t know. If I were you, I would’ve gone to the east coast, maybe
even left the country. At least for a little while. I wouldn’t have gone to a
school in Los Angeles, and I
certainly
wouldn’t have gone to the same school my sister…”

I didn’t have to finish my
sentence. She put her hand out to stop me, as her joyful demeanor quickly
dissipated. “No, I know,” she said. “I’m sure a lot of people might ask me
that. You want to know the real, kind of boring answer?”

I nodded. “Sure.”

“This was the only school I
applied to. I wanted to go to the school my older sister had been raving about
for two years. And by the time she died, it was too late to re-apply anywhere
else.”

“Really? Even with this
special of a circumstance?”

Her eyes lowered a bit.
“Special?” she asked, perplexed.

“That’s not… you know what I
mean. Such a
dire
circumstance.
There. That’s the word.”
 

She sighed, and pushed her
hands against her back. “In the end I just decided not to let what happened to
Melanie screw up the rest of my life. This was the school I wanted to go to,
and still is. And I think, as weird as it sounds, I feel like I’m keeping her
legacy alive a little, me going here. I can finish what she started.”

She was right. It
was
weird. But I politely nodded and
opened the door for her. The place was obnoxiously crowded, with a line for the
register stretching all the way to the sandwich bar. I pushed through at least
a dozen people to get to the food stations.

“So what’s good here?”
Michelle asked.

“Not a lot,” I said. “The
Lair isn't exactly known for quality, but I’ll show you what I usually get for
dinner. You can’t go wrong with their pastrami sandwiches. Those are really
good, but the best stuff here is the kung pao chicken—”

“Melanie?” a voice said from
behind us. “Oh my God, is that you?”

Two girls stepped out of line,
walked right up to Michelle—and didn’t even acknowledge me. It was two of
Melanie’s sorority sisters, Kendra and Daisy. They were both tan and brunette, both
five foot two, with Kendra at 105 pounds, and Daisy a touch fatter at 110
pounds.

“It can't be,” Kendra
continued. “It's not possible.”
 

Michelle cleared her throat,
sported that happy-go-luck smile of hers, and said, “No, no. I’m Michelle,
Melanie’s sister.”

“Her sister?” Daisy asked,
looking her over. “Melanie had a sister?”

“Yeah, I’m a freshman. Here,
look.” She dug her hand through her bag and handed Daisy her student ID. Daisy
showed it to Kendra.

“She’s right,” Kendra said.
“Well, I’ll be damned. You look so much like Melanie, it’s downright
scary
.”

Michelle shrugged. “Don't I
know it.”

“It’s so sad what happened,”
Daisy said, and she directed an exaggerated frown toward me. “She was so full
of life, and such a great friend. I wish one of us could have kept a better eye
on her that night. Maybe taken that tequila bottle out of her hand.”

Kendra said, “I know, it
makes me feel terrible. If we had known she was such a lightweight, none of us
would have been chanting for her to drink so much. Sad. But I guess life goes
on, right? Michelle, have you put any thought into joining a sorority? We're
going to be looking for new members in a couple of—”

I pulled Michelle behind me
and pushed Kendra in the shoulder. “Will you both just
shut up
?” I said, finally chiming in. “What’s the matter with you?”

Kendra blocked me with her
arms. “Whoa, whoa, watch the hands!”

“Were you two dropped on your
heads as kids? I want to know.”

Daisy looked away from me,
like she didn’t have the means to disagree. Kendra stomped her foot and said,
icily, “I beg your pardon?”

I kept a tight grip on
Michelle's hand and yanked her away from the two girls, over to the sandwich
station. Pastrami sandwiches it would be. “They should know better,” I said.

“It’s fine, Sydney, really.
I've met girls like them before, it's nothing new.”

We were three steps away, when
I stopped. The girls had been talking so fast I had trouble catching every
insensitive remark—but one immediately stood out.

I turned back around. “Wait a
minute,” I said. “Hey! Kendra!”

“What?” she asked. She and
Daisy were already back in line.

“Did you say you were
chanting
?”

“Uhh, yeah. So?”

I stomped up to her. “I've
talked to people who were there that night. Everyone told me Melanie
wanted
to get drunk, that no one forced
her into it…”

“That's exactly right. No one
forced her to do anything,” Kendra said. “She showed up at Reece’s party that
night wanting to have a good time. She wasn’t doing anything she didn't want to
do.”

There was a trace of
dishonesty in her eyes, I could tell. I eyed her, suspiciously. “But you were
chanting. You were egging her on.”

“It was a
party, Sydney. We were just having fun—”

“How can you two sleep at
night?” I said. “Seriously.”

I walked away from them a
second time, and re-joined Michelle at the sandwich station.

“Are you all right?” she
asked.

I tried to relax. My heart
was racing. “Am
I
all right? What
about you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Michelle, those girls were
there that night. They could have banded together and stopped Melanie from drinking
herself to death, and instead they did the opposite, and
chanted
for her to drink even more! Doesn’t that make you angry? My
God, it just makes me want to kill somebody.” I smashed my fists together—then
pursed my lips, and attempted a lame smile. “Sorry. Again... not the right
choice of words.”

“It’s okay,” Michelle said. “Honestly,
I take two things from this. One, she’s dead, she’s gone, and there’s nothing
any of us can do about it. And two, she was
happy
that night, she was having a really good time. She wasn’t drinking to fit in. She
was drinking to have fun, and nothing more.”

“Oh, were you there?” It
hadn't occurred to me to ask.

“Well... no.”

I brought my hands to my
hips. “Then how can you know for sure?”

She stared at me, with those
same big green eyes Melanie had. I noticed for the first time the tears forming
in them. “I can’t. I know I can’t. It's just how I choose to think. I want to
believe Melanie was happy on her last night, and that she wasn't forced into
anything she didn't want to do. Can’t you understand that?”

When she started crying, I
pulled her close, and put my arm around her. “Shh. I’m sorry. You’re right,
you’re absolutely right. How about we get some food, huh?”

She wiped a tear from her cheek,
and nodded. “Yes, please. That sounds—”

“Are you two gonna order
something?” the server interrupted from behind the sandwich bar. I noticed for
the first time that people were in line behind us.

“Oh! Uhh, yes,” I said. “Two
pastrami sandwiches, please.”

We paid for the food and headed
to a small, hidden table in the back. I took Michelle to the secluded part of
the Lair because I didn’t want to have to talk to Kendra and Daisy again. But
another part of me didn’t want
anyone
seeing us. Kendra and Daisy wouldn't have been the only ones; any student on
campus who knew me, who knew Melanie, would have likely assumed I was dining
with my back-from-the-grave former roommate. I wasn't in the mood to handle
another awkward encounter.

I took one bite of my
sandwich, glanced to my right.

And almost choked.

Evan was sitting by himself a
mere ten yards away, up on a stool that overlooked the quad. He took a final
bite of his macaroni and cheese, grabbed his backpack, and jumped down to his
feet. I thought it was possible he wouldn't look at us, wouldn't see us, would
just start walking in the other direction.

Instead, of course, he focused
his eyes right on me.

“Syd? Is that you?”

There was no use in hiding. “Oh.
Hey Evan.”

He raced up to me, and kissed
me on the cheek. “Why didn’t you tell me you were eating here? I would've
waited for you.”

“It was… sort of last minute.
Evan, you won’t believe who—”

I stopped. Looked up at him.
I didn’t have to say a word. His eyes may have been reserved for me for a few
seconds—but not any longer.

“Oh, wow.” He looked at her
in a chilling, knowing way. “Hi Michelle.”

She narrowed her eyes, and
gave me a bewildered look, before she smiled at my handsome boyfriend.

“Hello Evan,” she said. “How
are you?”

Chapter 28

How did I come to be at the
center of a really bad soap opera?

Here we were, months later,
and I was still vying for Evan’s attention over Melanie Swanson. Except her
name was apparently Michelle, and her birthdate was apparently two years after
Melanie’s. Just when I thought I had Evan all to myself, here was a new element
to the equation I had never expected.

Evan kept his arm around my back,
kept his shoulder nudged up next to mine. But his behavior didn’t match his
interests. If I hadn’t known any better, he would have preferred to be nestled
up to
her
.

“So you two are dating, huh?”
she asked. I couldn’t tell if her amused demeanor was forced or genuine.

“Yeah,” Evan said. “I mean, not
for very long.”

I opened my mouth, but
hesitated. I had to tread lightly. “We spent a lot of time together over the
summer, Michelle. You know... grieving over Melanie, sharing stories about her.
This thing with me and Evan just sort of happened. Neither of us expected it.”

I waited for the screams, the
tears, the flipping over of the table. But Michelle didn't even change her
expression. She, oddly enough, didn't seem to care. “You know, it kind of makes
sense, actually,” she said, and brought her elbows up to the table. “You two
were obviously friends before, and now you’re together. You know what? I think
Melanie would have been okay with this.”