Page 32 of Collision
“Travis, I’m so sorry about what happened, I really am.”
He places two fingers over my mouth. “Shh, let’s forget about it. I’ve been thinking about it all night. I went too far. I took out my anger on you when he is the problem,” he explains, guilt all over his face.
“I know, it won’t happen again,” I reassure him. “You are my boyfriend, you don’t like him, and I don’t like him either. Avoiding him won’t be a problem. Besides, you and I are giving each other a second chance now, and I want to focus on us.” I press my lips to his, and we kiss tenderly.
“My parents are out of town until tomorrow. You can sleep over tonight,” he says mischievously.
“Sure.” I stand on tiptoes to caress his cheek.
In the car, Travis seems cheerful, putting on a playlist with Harry Styles songs and reminding me about the concert. For a while, his unexpected good humor manages to make me forget about last night’s fight.
When we arrive on campus, however, I immediately catch sight of Matt and Tiffany chatting intently. I hope Matt has kept his mouth shut about the mess yesterday. The last thing I need right now is adressing-down from my best friend. Travis stops to laugh with them, and I use the distraction to slip away like a thief in the night. I head for my literary criticism class, but, just when I think I’m safe, Tiffany grabs me.
“Missy, you and I need to talk.”
My friend is itching for me to tell her what happened. I’m itching to murder Matt.
Since I am only allowed to do one of those things, I tell her everything in great detail as we walk down the hall.
“So. Let’s recap.” She taps her index finger on her chin. “He asked you to stay with him, and you guys talked for more than an hour under a very romantic starry sky. He gave you his bandana so that you wouldn’t get dirty. When he came this close to your lips, he backed off, and, after my brother caught you, he gave you a classic Collins-style snub?”
Collins-style? Is that a thing?
“Yeah, that’s more or less how it went. So?” I cross my arms, waiting for an explanation.
Tiffany stands in front of me and puts her hands on my shoulders, her expression both amused and resigned.
“So, what?” I urge her.
She lets out a long sigh. “You’re in deep shit, gorgeous, up to your neck.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“At first, I thought my brother was just being paranoid, but now I’m beginning to think he’s on to something.”
“What are you talking about? I don’t follow,” I say, confused.
“Wake up! You’ve piqued his interest.” She punctuates each word with such conviction that I burst into gales of laughter.
“Did you hear what I just said?” I thought my story had been pretty clear.
“Yeah, I heard,” she says resolutely.
“He literally told me to my face that he doesn’t like me! And in such a gentlemanly fashion too!”
Tiffany shrugs her shoulders. “He didn’t say it to you, he said it to your boyfriend. That’s completely different.”
“It’s not different at all, because I was right there, inches away from him. He might as well have said it to me!”
“Look, I know this hard for you to understand, because you’ve had only one boyfriend in your whole life, and, to your great misfortune, it’s been my brother, but you can’t listen to what people like Thomas say. You have to watch what they do. From what you’ve told me, he is showing you something else—”
I interrupt her because it’s clear that she has lost her mind. “He hasn’t shown me anything! He was making fun of me, bringing out his Don Juan bullshit only to blow me off the next minute. And this surprises me? Why? He’s an asshole, and that’s what assholes do,” I say, raising my voice a little too much.
When I realize this, I look around embarrassed and pull a bit of my hair forward to cover my face.
“How can you be so naive, Vanessa?”
No, sir. I have been, in the past, but now I see everything clearly. Thomas just enjoyed teasing and humiliating me. He even admitted it: “You’re easy prey.” Tiffany can’t talk to me like I’m a little kid who just found out the tooth fairy isn’t real. It’s irritating.
