Page 80 of Bedhead

I found him sitting at a picnic table, rubbing his jaw absently as he stared off at something in the distance. There weren’t many people around, at least not within earshot, but I still didn’t risk greeting him with a kiss the way I wanted to.

“Don’t you look sexy as hell all lost in thought,” I said as I sat across from him. “Thinking about me?”

Hudson dropped his hand and looked at me strangely before nodding. “Yeah.”

“Care to fill me in? Is it about last night?” I shot him a wink, not even catching that he wasn’t himself.

“Drew, I need to ask you something, and please be honest with me.”

“Yes, that’s the shirt that makes your biceps look huge.”

“Did you switch our finals?”

My smile fell in an instant.

He cursed under his breath. “Oh my God. You fucking did.”

“I…uh…” I searched for the words to say, but my brain had just short-circuited. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry?”

“Yes, I just… Shit, I didn’t mean to—”

“Be honest for a fucking second, Drew. You meant to. You did it. Own up to it.”

My face felt like it was on fire, and my chest was so heavy that you would’ve thought Hudson was stepping on it.

“You’re…you’re right. I fucked up, and I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say.”

He stared at me for a long time, his clear blue eyes disbelieving. “You know, when Professor Hardwicke called me into her office to ask me if I’d really turned in an incoherent mess of an essay, I assumed she’d gotten things mixed up with someone else’s paper. It never, ever occurred to me that you—you, of all people—would do something like that. Tome.”

He shook his head, and I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but nothing would come out. I didn’t think it would make a difference anyway.

“It’s like this person I’ve loved is suddenly someone I don’t know, and I don’t know how to reconcile that in my head, Drew. It makes me wonder what else you’ve lied about, how else you’ve cheated and betrayed my trust. Have you been fucking around with someone too?”

“What? No. God no. I would never do that—”

“How do I know? You’ve just shown me the kind of person you are. You’re someone who could go behind my back and hurt me.”

I blinked away tears. He was right, and I didn’t deserve to cry about the bed I’d made. I’d made a mistake, ahugemistake, and I didn’t know how to fix it.

“I fucked up,” I said, hating the way my voice trembled. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. Please forgive me, H. I swear I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“Well, you did. I hope it was worth it. The essay got you an A. The one you gave me, on the other hand…let’s just say it’s a good thing I’ve done well enough in the class up until this point.”

I blinked, wondering if I’d heard him correctly. “Wait, you didn’t say anything to Professor Hardwicke?”

“No.”

“What? Why? You should’ve turned me in.”

He shrugged. “It was obviously important enough to you to throw away our relationship for, so you can keep it. Consider it a parting gift.”

“No, H, please, I don’t know how to make this right, but I will, I swear—”

“Don’t bother. I’m done.” He pushed up from the table and stood. “We’redone. Don’t contact me. Don’t talk to me. Don’t even look in my direction. I don’t want anything to do with you. Not now, not ever.”

“But—”

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