Seven Days: The Complete Story (33 page)

“Hello,” she
says.

“Emily.” My
voice catches in my throat. Despite the fact that she’s, like,
super pissed off — still — I can’t help but smile weakly at her. I
mean, Emily was my best friend; she still is in my eyes. I take a
step closer. I want to make up and forget this silly fight. I want
my bestie back. I raise my arms to hug her.

She holds up a
hand to stop me. “Please don’t.”

“Why?”

How can we be
apart? We are two girls against the world, isn’t that what she
always said? How can she just stop loving me? I still love her.

Emily is
still. Then she moves toward me and I think the maybe she’s going
to relent and hug me but when she speaks her voice is filled with a
type of sorrow I’ve never heard before. Not from her. She does miss
me, she does, but something is stopping her from accepting my
apology.

“You’re here
with
them,”
she says, nodding toward the boys. “How can you
be here with
them
?”

“I haven’t
done anything wrong.”

“Apart from
sleeping with Nicholas to get a better grade. How can you parade
them around like this? It’s disgusting.”

Geez, when is
she going to move on from that?

“I’m not
parading, Emily. I’m here with my boyfriends, just like you
are.”

She rolls her
eyes at me. “Yes but I only have one.”

I ignore the
scathing comment. “I never slept with Nicholas to get a good grade,
either. I’m sorry I lied about Joel being gay but I did. There’s
nothing I can do to change the fact I wanted him for myself and I
lied to you to get what I wanted. Please forgive me Emily. Please.
I miss you.”

“I can’t,” she
says as she looks furtively about the room.

What’s
happened to the Emily I love, the one who was so out there and
insistent about me trying new things? Yes, she had morals but the
old Emily would never have been so judgemental. There’s something
else happening here and I don’t think it’s because I lied to her.
Not anymore.

“But why?” I
ask. “Why can’t we move on? I’d never intentionally hurt you; you
know I wouldn’t. You’re my best friend. We’re the two girls against
the world. Remember?”

This seems to
strike a chord. Emily’s face softens but only slightly. “Look. I
know that. And I realise I acted hastily with the whole moving out
thing but you hurt me.” She looks sad now. She wants to forgive me.
She’s going to forgive me. “I forgive you for that.”

Thank God!

“Can we be
friends again? I don’t want to move back in but I miss you Em.”

“I don’t think
so.” She looks about again. She’s so jumpy. “You should know Mason
is talking to the dean.”

“So?”

“About
you—”

Is it possible
that I can be so dim I have no clue what Emily’s talking about?

“—He’s telling
everything about how you, Nicholas and Joel knew each other before
the internship, how you slept together and they gave you a good
grade in return. I can’t be involved in your shit, Sadie. I don’t
want my name mixed up in this. Alex means the world to me. If he
found out I knew about it and did nothing he’d dump me for sure. I
don’t want to lose him. I love him so much.”

He’d dump her
over something so pathetic? Maybe there’s more to Alex than Emily
is telling me.

“But it’s
nothing to do with you, Em. It’s about me and Nicholas and
Joel.”

“Yes, but I
knew about it. I said nothing. Look, I have to go. Alex is
waiting.” She gestures to the other side of the room where a very
grim Alex is eyeing us.

“Can I text
you? Can we at least meet for coffee?”

“I don’t think
so. Not yet. Alex is pretty straight down the line, Sadie. He’s
formed and opinion and he doesn’t want me to hang with you. He says
you’re bad news.”

As Emily turns
and weaves her way through the crowd, I think about what she’s
said. She’s changed. The girl who so desperately wanted a husband
has dampened her spirit to suit the way she believes Alex wants her
to behave. I watch her go wondering what’s going to happen, where
this is all going to end. Then I notice Mason — whose nose looks
like a balloon, by the way — and his parents. As Emily predicted,
they’re deep in conversation with the dean of my faculty. There’s
finger pointing and hand waving. They’re looking in my direction
but the looks are not ‘we’re-so-proud-of-you’ looks. They’re more
like ‘I’m-gonna-take-you-down-bitch’ looks.

Oh. No.

This is the
end of life, as we know it.

If Mason tells
his version of this story, I’ll be ruined. I’ll never get a job.
There’s a possibility I could even be stripped of my degree for
misconduct. Nicholas and Joel will be ruined as well. Nobody will
deal with men who would take advantage of a woman like they
supposedly have me, because I know what picture Mason will paint of
them and it won’t be a positive one. Surely, he wouldn’t be so
spiteful because I got a placement at Hardwick & Lawson and he
didn’t? Surely.

The dean
glances in my direction. A frown forms on his face. I’m going to
spew. I know I am. Or I might faint — a viable alternative to get
me out of here. I search the room, my eyes darting like balls in a
pinball machine. I have to get out of here now. Where is Nicholas?
Where is Joel? Why aren’t they saving me?

My head begins
to swim. I grip hold of a table beside me, trying to suck in air
that refuses to come. My blood drains to my feet. And I’m hot, so
hot. Or clammy. Yes I’m clammy. My stomach is clenching as if the
contents are about to be released.

Shit. Oh shit,
shit, shit.

I shove my way
through the crowd and into the toilets.

The ensuing
retching seems to last forever until finally, when I feel I can
vomit no more, I lean back against the open toilet door, my head
pounding. I sit there for a while attempting to put my thoughts
into some sort of order but I can’t process. I can’t keep one idea
in my head, let alone formulate a plan of action to tackle
this.

So I cry.
Well, weep.

Long, silent
tears slide down my face and drip onto my graduation gown. Ragged
sobs build in my throat and I want to stifle them but I can’t. My
entire body aches from the shuddering sobs. Girls come and go. They
leave with frowns on their faces but not one of them offers to
help. They probably know the shit is about to hit the fan and are
giving me a wide berth. I bang my palm onto the concrete floor and
cry some more. How could Mason do this? Why would he do this to
me?

“Sadie?”

It’s Nicholas.
Concern is filling his face. He doesn’t seem to register that he’s
in the ladies toilet and there are at least a dozen girls in here.
They’re not staring in bemusement now though, they’re ogling.

“Come on.” He
bends down and in one scoop has me safely in his arms.

“I… I…”

“Shhh.” He
kisses my hair and cuddles me to him. His big strong body is my
protective shield. “Let’s get you home.”

“The
dean…”

“We’ll sort it
out on Monday. They can’t do anything without getting your side of
the story first and as far as I can see, it’s the three of us
against one here. I spoke to Emily. She’s doesn’t want to get
involved. She’s keeping out of it.”

Because of
Alex. She’s on his side now.

I’m exhausted,
so I close my eyes and let Nicholas carry me to the car. I hear him
speaking quietly to people as we leave. They seem concerned but he
tells them I’m overcome from the excitement of the day and that I
hadn’t been feeling well before the ceremony. Must be some
twenty-four hour thing. He makes me sound so helpless and needy and
I don’t even care. I just want to be at home. Alone with the two
men who love me.

I can’t eat. I
can’t sleep. I can’t think. For the remainder of the weekend, I
pace the floor of the living room until I swear I’ve worn a track
around the kitchen and behind the table. I must be making the boys
dizzy with my constant pacing but it seems the only thing that
soothes me other than standing for hours staring out the window.
And that makes my legs ache after a while. I curl up in a ball a
lot too, but I don’t cry. I’m too worried to cry. I’m petrified of
what this means for me. For us.

The boys try
to placate me as best they can, but kind words and shoulder rubs
can only go so far. Sex is definitely out of the question, no
matter what bow Joel tries to wrap it up in, it’s not a good way to
relieve tension. I mean, as if I could think of sex at a time like
this? It was sex that got me into this predicament in the first
place.

By Monday
morning when the phone call comes, I’m a nervous wreck both
physically and emotionally. There are shadows under my eyes that
haven’t been there since Mum passed and my appetite would make a
bird’s look enormous. I know I’ve lost weight in the last three
days. My jeans are hanging from my hips.

Staring at the
phone as it rings I don’t recognise the number but I know it’s the
university. Who else would be ringing me on a Monday morning?
Certainly not anyone to offer me a job. The fact that I’m a trollop
who’s slept her way to the top would be all over town by now.

I listen to
the woman on the other end of the line. She’s efficient sounding
and it only takes a minute for her to tee up the appointment later
in the day. The dean wants this sorted ASAP. He’s meant to be going
on holiday to Hawaii tomorrow, lucky bastard. I wish I were in
Hawaii right now. Jumping into a volcano without a parachute would
be preferable to this.

*****

My appointment
is at two. By the time I reach the dean’s office I know Nicholas
and Joel have already completed their grilling. They’re waiting for
me at the bottom of the stairs. They look confident, yet despite
that fact, I’m crapping myself.

“Don’t worry,
Sadie. Everything’s gonna be fine,” Nicholas reassures me. He wraps
an arm about my shoulder and looks down into my eyes. I feel the
tension abate a little. I hope he’s right. If he’s not we’re up the
creek filled with poo.

“What did you
tell him?”

“The truth —
we knew each other six months before the internship and even though
I was attracted to you the entire time, we never slept together
during your prac. I stressed that you were at the firm to learn, no
matter what Mason might have said.”

Okay, so it’s
the Nicholas version of truth. I’m relieved he didn’t mention the
sex on the desk thing or the sleeping with Joel at the same time
thing.

“Jill vouched
for our professionalism on all sides,” Nicholas adds. “She spoke to
the dean on the phone this morning. She said this was a load of
ridiculous rumours started by a spoilt boy who was bitter because
he didn’t get what he wanted. You should have heard her. She told
the dean he only had to look at you and me to see how professional
and moral we are.”

That might
have been taking it a little too far but I’m glad Jill feels that
way.

“I told the
dean a thing or two about that fucker Mason, too,” Joel says. “That
little weasel has to be accountable for the trouble he’s stirred
up.”

Somehow, I
feel better knowing this. “Right.” I take the biggest breath
possible. “Wish me luck.”

I start up the
stairs.

*****

The dean is
stern — I couldn’t expect him not to take the allegations seriously
— but he appears to accept what I say as true. My academic record
and behaviour over the last four years are taken into account as
well. I don’t know how he knows anything about me personally, but
he does, and I’m not about to argue when he tells me he sees no
grounds to change my grades, that I’ve always been an exemplary
student and of the highest moral standard. I even suppress a small
titter at this. If he could have seen the three of us the other
night, there’s not a hope in hell he’d be saying I’ve good morals.
They disappeared into the surf the day I met Nicholas and Joel.

At the end of
the interview the dean asks if the ‘thing’ between Nicholas and I
is serious. I tell him it is. Then, he smiles and wishes us luck,
saying he’s always liked Nicholas and admired his talent as an
architect.

Um, preaching
to the converted on that front.

It’s an hour
later when I emerge from his office and though I feel drained and
exhausted, I’m buoyant too. The affair is out in the open, well
half of it is. I’m free to go where I want with Nicholas and nobody
can say a thing. And if they do… well, I don’t actually give a
toss. The only problem is — and this is a big blonde haired one —
nobody knows about Joel. And Joel might give off the air of casual
nonchalance but I don’t think he’s going to be happy about this
turn of events, because deep down Joel is a little boy lost and
he’s expecting me to save him.

“Now that
everything’s sorted, Joel and I want to give you your graduation
present. The weekend wasn’t the right time,” Nicholas says.

You can say
that again.

We’re sitting
on the sofa that evening. We’ve just shared a wonderful dinner
cooked by Joel with some help from me. Yes, in this new life of
mine I’m mastering the kitchen as well as the bedroom. If you can
call mixing mayonnaise to make a dressing ‘mastering’. I’m not
going to be a contender on that kitchen show any time soon. If
ever.

“What is it?”
I’m super excited now.

Nicolas hands
me a red plastic wallet. “Open it.”

I stare at the
plastic. The anticipation is building because I know what’s inside.
Well, I’m pretty sure I do. “It’s a plane ticket, isn’t it?”

I’m jiggling
on the couch now. My feet are pounding the floor because the
nervous energy zooming through my body needs release somewhere; my
heart is pounding with adrenalin.