Page 9 of Touch Me Not

“I’m perfectly aware of that.”

Adam had no right to call her and start trying to dictate what she could and couldn’t do. He was her best friend, but she was not his sister or his girlfriend. It was about time he figured that out. It wasn’t like he had time for her anymore either. She’d agreed to go out with Nikoli more because she was mad at Adam than anything else. He’d blown her off one too many times for Sue, and today’s latest ditching session had grated more than she’d realized.

“Then why the hell did you agree to go out with him?” Adam exploded.

“Because I wanted to.” She could hear the irritation in her own voice, but she didn’t care.

“Lily, there are things you don’t know,” Adam stressed, “rumors about the kind of stuff he’s into…”

“Adam, I am not having this conversation with you,” she interrupted.

“Well, you obviously need to have it with someone!” He paused to speak to someone in the background, and Lily heard him mumble Sue’s name. She groaned inwardly. He was talking about this with Sue there? Lily’s face flamed up, and she felt mortified.

“Look, I gotta go,” she said. “People are lining up outside, and I have to give them the speech.”

“Lily, this conversation isn’t over,” he warned. “You are way out of his league…”

“I’m not good enough for him?” she shouted into the phone. “And why exactly is that, Adam? Am I not as pretty as some ofhis girls? Am I too boring? Too lame? What? Explain it to me.” Her voice had gone softer with each word.

Complete silence greeted her. He knew exactly how pissed she was in that moment.

“I’m waiting, Adam.”

She heard him take a deep breath. “That’s not what I meant, Lily.”

“No?” she asked softly. “I hate to break this to you, Adam, but just because you don’t see me doesn’t mean other people don’t. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I don’t have time to listen to you piss and moan about something that isnone of your damn business!”

She ended the call and threw the phone on her bed. Honest to God, he confused her sometimes. Like just then, he got all jealous and territorial, but other times, it was like she wasn’t even there. It could be the big brother complex he had, but that tiny spark of hope inside her jumped up and down. Maybe he was jealous. In the end, it didn’t matter, though. He’d never seen what had always been right in front of him, and he never would.

She had to get over it. Adam and Sue were getting married, and she needed to accept that. Once she graduated, she could move to New York and forget all about her problems. If Adam wasn’t in her face twenty-four-seven, she might be able to mend her broken heart.

A loud knock on her door interrupted her silent frustration. One of her returning girls from last year stood in the doorway, twisting her hands. Something was up.

“Mandy, what’s wrong?” she asked, concerned.

“It’s Stephanie,” she said. “Something’s happened. She’s in our room crying, and I can’t get her to tell me why.”

Lily closed her door and followed Mandy down the hall to the room she shared with Stephanie. They were sophomores this year, and Lily tended to look out for them. Both were young andhad made a lot of bad judgment calls last year. She’d even had to bust them once for drinking in their rooms. God only knew what Steph had done now.

The girl in question was curled up on her bed, her old stuffed bear held tightly against her chest as she sobbed brokenly. Her blonde hair was matted to her head and her dress wrinkled.

“What’s wrong, honey?” She sat next to the girl, making sure not to sit too close. It wouldn’t do to freak out in front of them.

“Go away,” she cried. “I’m too ashamed to talk about it.”

Lily’s instincts went on alert. “Did someone do something to you, Stephanie?”

She hiccuped and nodded. “I was so stupid, Lily. I knew better, and I did it anyway, thinking it’d be different with me. That he couldn’t be as bad as everyone said he was.”

Lily’s gut clenched. She had a feeling she knew exactly what happened. “Tell me,” she said slowly.

“I was going to eat lunch, and he caught me before I went in.” She sniffled. “I couldn’t help it. I wanted to say no, I really did, but ohmygod, he’s so hot.”

“Nikoli Kincaid?” Lily asked, resigned.

Stephanie nodded. “Yeah. Afterwards, he just threw my dress at me and left. His friend told me to get out and not bother leaving my phone number. I’m so stupid, Lily. Why did I think I could make him look at me any differently? I know his reputation.”

Lily sighed. She’d heard all this before. “Every girl thinks that, Steph. They all think they’ll be the one to finally catch and hold his attention for more than a couple hours.”

---