Page 11 of Dare to Fall

I grabbed one of the paper menus from the center of the table. Not that my order would likely change from what it had been the past three years, but I needed something to distract myself. I glanced down the list of drinks and food items. Only a couple of new things had been added since the last time we were here.

A waitress in a dangerously short jean skirt sauntered up to our table, and Brent immediately turned his attention toward her. I watched as his gaze raked over her body from head to toe. Caroline just sat next to him, completely oblivious to what her boyfriend was up to. Over the years, I’d noticed that Brent had become more sly in his flirtations. When we were younger, he and Caroline would get into drag-out fights over it right in front of us. It made thingsveryawkward for a while because it seemed to happen almost every time we were all together and another beautiful girl happened to be around. But Brent had learned over time that if he wanted to have his cake and eat it too, he would have to do it quietly.

Despite Caroline’s ignorance, I noticed that Paulina was locked in on what was transpiring between Brent and the waitress. I kicked her foot under the table, and she jumped.

“See,” I mouthed to her as I discreetly nodded toward Brent.

She rolled her eyes. I swear there was nothing that man could do that would make Paulina obsess over him any less.

Brent and Connor put their orders in, then the waitress looked to me next. “I’ll take a croissant, blueberry bagel with cream cheese, and an iced coffee with cream.”

“Holy calories, Eva,” Caroline said, her mouth slightly ajar.

“And your point is?” My eyes narrowed on her, knowing if I gave in even the slightest bit, she would eat me alive.

She scoffed and leaned into Brent. “I’m just saying. We aren’t going to look like this forever. You should probably start watching what you’re eating now so it doesn’t catch up to you later.”

“I do watch what I eat. Just like I’m going to watch that flaky, buttery croissant make its way from my fingers all the way to my mouth.” I smirked.

“It’s going to make you fat,” she blurted out, her eyes wide.

Paulina let out a gasp.

My blood boiled under my skin. For as long as I had known her, Caroline always had an issue with what I ate despite me being skinnier than her our entire lives. But it wasn’t just me. She was an outright bully to every woman she encountered, doing whatever she could to make them feel like shit. At first I would stay quiet and do my best to stay out of her line of fire.

Not anymore.

I leaned forward, locking my eyes on hers and said, “Caroline, I know you’re really insecure because your boyfriend can’t help but look at every girl that walks by, but that is no excuse for you to act like a fucking bitch. If I want to eat a damn croissant and bagel because I run five miles every single day and they taste good, then I will. So back the fuck off, and don’t make another comment about what I or anyone else decides to eat.”

I leaned back against my chair, watching her, waiting to see if she was stupid enough to say something. Her mouth opened and closed several times, like a fish out of water. Much to her benefit, she shut her mouth and anxiously started scrolling through her phone. I glanced toward Paulina who had the biggest smile I’d ever seen plastered across her face. Brent and Connor simply stared at me, blinking.

Maybe it was the years of bullshit that constantly spewed from Caroline’s mouth and I just couldn’t take it anymore. Or maybe it was my own foul mood because my boyfriend was acting like an ass. But she’d always been the bully of our group, constantly making people feel bad about themselves. I knew it was because she was struggling. Brent didn’t care enough to actually change his ways, and she’d vented enough about her parents for me to know her home life wasn’t exactly peachy. Still, there was no excuse for her behavior. I was sick of it. And with everything going on between Connor and me, I had no capacity to deal with her nonsense.

Hopefully I wouldn’t have to pay the consequences later.

“So…Connor. How is that research position going?” Brent looked nervously around the table as if he might spontaneously combust from saying the wrong thing. He’d never been one for conflict, which I always found strange since his actions always tended to create it.

“The summer was amazing. I learned so much from Dr. Davis.” He glanced at me, and I realized his knee was bobbing up and down, a nervous tick he’d had for as long as I could remember.Strange.

“She actually asked me to stay on for this semester too. She wants to help me get published before I apply for medical school.”

“Wow! That’s really great, babe,” I said as I reached over and gave his hand a squeeze.

“Yeah. It’s pretty uncommon for an undergraduate student to get published. But she said one of the projects she’s working on is ready to go for data analysis.”

“That’s awesome, man. Must be a lot of work, right?” Brent asked.

“It’s about fifteen hours a week. But on my full course load, it is a lot.” Connor shot another nervous look my way.

What the hell is going on?He was acting so strange around me. First, he barely said two words to me when we saw each other for the first time in months, and now he kept looking at me like I was going to bite his head off.

Maybe he was worried I’d be mad that he was taking more time away from our relationship with the extended research position. I’d never been the outburst type, but having been around Paulina and Caroline forever, he might have automatically put me into that category. It still didn’t make sense, though. All the evasion. Not responding to my text messages for an entire week.

My heart thudded against my chest as I ran through every possible scenario that would lead to his strange behavior. A wave of nausea rolled over me when I suddenly realized that this was exactly how guys acted before they decided to break up with someone. There were all the classic moves. Total avoidance until it became awkward. No longer saying loving things. Only quick displays of affection.

My mind reeled with all the things that happened, and didn’t happen, just within a week and a half.

Fucking fuck.

---