Page 48 of Always Us

On the drive to campus, my mind is still on Garret. I wish his grandmother would call him back. I don’t know why she’s ignoring him. I know she’s busy with everything going on, but you’d think she could take a minute to call her grandson.

After class, I go to the library and study for a quiz I have later. During lunch I call Garret but he doesn’t answer. I forgot he has physical therapy at noon. When my afternoon class lets out, I go outside and am surprised to find that it feels like a summer day. It’s way hotter than normal. It’s the perfect weather for laying out on the beach, which is exactly what I’m going to do.

I go home and change into my bikini and grab my beach towel and suntan lotion and find a spot on the sand. Since moving here, Garret and I haven’t taken full advantage of living on the beach. I never run on it because Garret still thinks it’s too dangerous for me to run alone. And he can’t surf because of his shoulder.

As I lie on the beach, the warm sun and the sound of the waves make me sleepy and I feel myself drifting off. If I do, Garret will wake me up. He’ll be home from class soon.

“I finally found you.” I hear a man’s voice and open my eyes to see someone standing above me. I’m looking right in the sun and it’s so bright I can’t see his face.

“Who are you?” I grab my beach towel and pull it around me, tossing sand everywhere.

“Don’t you recognize me? We were friends all last semester.” He takes his sunglasses off. “I even drove you home for spring break.”

“Carson?” I look closer. Holy crap! It is him! What is he doing here?

“It’s Justin.”

“What are you talking about?” I stand up, wrapping the towel around me, keeping my eyes on him. “Your name is Carson. Unless Carson has a twin.”

He smiles. “Carson was a fake name. My real name is Justin.”

Justin. That’s the name of the guy Sara said was trying to find me. But it wasn’t Justin. It was Carson.

I stare at him. He looks different. Older. He’s wearing dress pants and a shirt and tie, and his hair is shorter, cut close to his head.

Why is he here? Why was he trying to find me? And why the hell was he using a fake name?

“What are you doing here?” I back away from him toward the house.

“Jade, you don’t have to be scared of me.”

“I don’t know why you’re here but you need to leave.”

“I just want to talk.”

“We have nothing to talk about. Just go, Carson. I mean it.”

“My name’s Justin.” He motions to the deck behind me. “Why don’t we go sit down? I don’t need to go inside.”

“Tell me why you’re here.”

“I need your help.”

“For what?”

“Let’s go sit down and I’ll explain.”

“No. Explain right here. Right now. Why aren’t you at Moorhurst anymore?”

“Because I’m done with college. I’m 24.”

“What? So you were just pretending to be a student? Why?”

“So I could get to know you and some of the other students there.”

Okay, that’s really strange. Like psycho strange. I shiver as a chill runs down my spine.

“I can’t help you, Carson. You need to leave.”

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