Page 49 of Kismet

I’ll close my eyes for a few minutes.

He’ll be here.

After what feels like two seconds, I open my eyes again and it’s daylight.Shit.I passed out. Looking at my phone, it’s just after seven in the morning.

He didn’t show.

Where is he?!

Dialing his number, I hold the phone to my ear, and my heart plummets to my gut when the voicemail kicks on immediately.

His fucking phone’s off.

I try to swallow around a lump in my throat as the backs of my eyes sting. This can’t be happening. After everything we talked about, after everything that he said… Why would he do this?

Tears pour down my face in hot, steady streams. We weren’t together, technically, but it felt like it in every single way. All the nights we spent together. The intimate moments shared. Dreams talked about together.He talked about the future with me.

I sit in the field for hours longer, calling his phone hundreds of times just to listen to his voice on the voicemail. I stopped leaving voicemails after the first dozen or so. It’s no use. He’s a fucking ghost. By late afternoon, I hang my tail between my legs and finally leave. I drive by his house, and no one is there. I peeked in the window, and it’s cleaned out.

He left.

He fucking left, and was too much of a coward to tell me.

I’m such a fucking idiot.

Who falls for their professor and thinks it’s going to end in any way other than heartache and destruction? Theirmarriedfucking professor.

A fucking moron, that’s who.

Part Two

“There are plenty of ways to die, but only love can kill you and keep you alive to feel it.”

-Leo Christopher

Theme Song:

Over Youby Daughtry

Chapter Sixteen

Cash DeMarco

Five Years Later

“So, you leave tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I hit the road in the morning, probably around six or seven.”

Holding the phone up to my ear with my shoulder, I finish shoving my last-minute items into the box on my bed. My house is almost completely packed, and come the morning, I’ll hit the open road to Texas.

This past spring, I graduated with my PhD. I’m fucking thrilled tofinallybe done with school for good. It’s been a long time coming.A few weeks ago, I received my dream job offer, a professor position at Texas Tech University, in Lubbock, Texas.

“What about your cat?” my best friend, Weston, asks through the phone.

“What do you mean? Obviously, Houston is coming with me. Why wouldn’t he?” Last year, I adopted Houston, a hairless cat. He was twelve weeks old when I brought him home and we’ve been best pals ever since. I’ve always wanted a hairless cat, but never made it happen until last year.

“I thought he might stay with Xander. He’s going to sit in the car with you forthatlong?”

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