Page 80 of All My Firsts

And waited.

For an hour.

He never showed.

He never texted again.

Never respondedto my texts.

That wasn’t like him.

When I’d gotten to our floor, the first place I checked was the study lounge, thinking he’d gotten caught tutoring. Learning the tutoring he did was community service due to his arrest hurt my heart for him. It took up so much of his time, and he never complained about it. Unfortunately, the lounge was empty.

I then went to his room and knocked, but again, empty. Walking a few more steps to my room, I was happy to find Becca there. She was cozied up on her bed, watching something onher laptop.

“Hey, have you seen Xander?” I asked as I stepped over a mountain of her shoes that had invaded my side of the room. Becca was not the neatest of roommates. “He was supposed to meet me for lunch, but he bailed and I can’t reach him.” I wasn’t necessarily panicked, but I was starting to get concerned. This was so out of character for him. Especially with everything going on with Max. Xander checked in onmenonstop to make sureIwas OK.

“Oh no, is there trouble in paradise?” Becca joked as she closed her screen. “No, I haven’t seen him. Did you guys have a fight or something? Maybe he went to the gym to sweat it out.” She wasn’t concerned at all about my situation, which did make mefeel better.

“No fight, but maybe he just forgot. Maybe he is working out.” I plopped on my bed, deciding to wait it out here for a while. I pulled out my e-reader and opened the latest book Iwas reading.

She got up from her bed and started gathering some things at her desk. “Well, the four of us are supposed to go to the movies tonight, so I’m sure we’ll see him soon for that. Cheer up, buttercup.” She threw her backpack on her shoulder and turned toward me. “I have class. I’ll see you later.” She wavedand was off.

Time passed slowly the next few hours alone in the room as I continually checked my phone to no avail – nothing from Xander. Even my book couldn’t hold my attention. I considered skipping my afternoon class so I wouldn’t miss him when he returned to his room but thought better of it.

I’d gotten nothing from him since ten thirty that morning reminding me to meet him for lunch.

Six hours later, his room wasstill empty.

I may have checkedon the hour.

Becca finally came back in her typical fashion, like a hurricane, barreling into the room.

“Hey, Lanie, let’s head down and meet the guys for dinner so we can get going to the movie on time. I’m excited they agreed to see the chick flick for us!” She took one look at my face and stopped dead in her tracks. “What’s wrong?Is it Max?”

“No, Becca, it’s Xander. Still nothing from him. He’s not here, and I still can’t reach him. I’m getting really concerned, like, scared. Should I call the police?” I started pacing the room. I hadn’t really thought that this could involve Max until Becca mentioned his name. The nervous energy coursing through my veins had me on high alert. “What if this is Max? What if he has something to do with this? Maybe I should call Bryce. He might be able to help.”

Becca put her things on that ever-growing pile on her side of the room before joining me on my bed. I had resorted to curling up into a ball, trying to ignore the pit inmy stomach.

“Are you ever going to put those clothes away?” I asked her as my eyes lingered on the mountain of clean and dirty mixed together.

“That’s not important right now. Do you want me to try to reach Xander? Do you think he wouldtalk to me?”

I looked at her incredulously. “Why would he text youand not me?”

“I don’t know, but shouldn’t we try that before we jump to conclusions that something bad happened to him? I mean, it’s worth a try, don’tyou think?”

I was angry at her, thinking he would answer her and not me, but then realized I was reallyjust scared.

“Ugh, I don’t know what to think. That’s the problem. We haven’t even had a fight yet. But sure, text him. See if he answers you.”

I watched her type out her message, and we both waited. As the minutes ticked by, I actually found myself becoming happy he didn’t respond to her, which was stupid. We still didn’t know where he was.

“OK, so I guess he’s not answering you either, which isn’t good. More of a reason to think something’s happened.” Just as I finished saying that, Becca’s phone pinged, and my heart sank. She looked down, then back up, her sad eyes finding mine. Her hands shook as she held her phone.

“Do you want to read it, or should I read it out loud?” she asked. Her voice was soft, quiet. So unlike the Becca I knew. It made me nervous because I knew what was in that textwasn’t good.

“Um, I don’t know. Let me see the phone, um ... no, never mind. You read it.”

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