Myers

Chapter Eight | Distraction

- Kai Wesley -

Tamara hasn't shown up all day. I'm tempted to go to her dorm to see if she's ok but that sounds majorly stalkerish. Nobody else has seemed to notice, and Jasmine hasn't said anything.

We barely know each other, I know. But she is my partner and we haven't been doing much work.

Not like that matters when I have a feeling that something is definitely wrong.

I probably shouldn't overthink it because I don't even really know her and I don't want to make her uncomfortable by showing up. Mabel seems to be in a less cheerful mood too, and we're literally doing her favourite subject. Something is definitely up. 

After the lecture I head to straight to Tamara's dorm. When I walk up to her door Lilah walks out, closing the door softly behind her.

"Hey Lilah, is she in there?" I ask, referring to Tamara.

"Hi Kai, she is inside. But she's not really in the mood..." she trails off, uncertainly. "Let me see if she wants company." The door reopens slightly and she whispers into the crack waiting the response.

After a moment, Lilah opens the door wider with a smile, "You can go in. I'll see you later."

With a nod, I walk in and shut the door once Lilah leaves again. I find Tamara covered with her blanket with red and swollen eyes. "Hey loser." She whispers with a dry laugh.

My immediate reaction is to give her a hug, so I do. "What are you doing?" She mumbles.

"Stay still, I'm trying to hug you." I whisper trying to lighten her mood. She leans in and crumbles under my hold. I want to ask what happened, but I have a feeling I that she'll tell me whenever she's ready.

"I'm sorry, don't look at me. I'm a really ugly crier." She sniffles, sitting up straight off my shoulder.

"Nah, you're not that bad." I joke, and she cracks a small smile. Kai - 1 Tamara - 0

She sighs deeply and wipes her eyes dramatically, "thank goodness I didn't put any mascara on, all that money would've been down the drain. Anyway, how was the lecture? Did I miss anything important?"

"It's university, if you miss a two hour lecture. You're going to miss a lot, but I recorded the entire thing and wrote up my notes so I think you'll be good."

"Maybe you can be useful sometimes, but honestly, thank you." She replies. Her eyes cloud over with tears again and she grabs her sunglasses placing them over her eyes.

"Tamara, I'm going to slowly remove your sunglasses. Please don't hit me." I forewarn before slowly easing the glasses off of her face. She doesn't make eye contact and instead looks at the ceiling batting her eyelashes. "You're crying." I state the obvious.

"No I'm not." She pauses, "there's just something in my- ok yes I'm crying, but if you tell a soul I'll haunt your dreams." She confesses. She bows her head and grabs the sunglasses placing them back on her face. "I'm just in a lot of pain right now. I swear, I'm fine."

"Myers, it's quite obvious that you're not." I deadpan.

She shakes her head and moves away, "I don't even remember what he sounds like anymore." Tamara whispers and my eyes soften in a form of understanding.

I'm an idiot to not realise what could've possibly made her this upset.

"Who was it?" I ask, but I'm scared that I already know the answer.

"My dad." And that's all the confirmation I need. The tattoo on her finger, the adoration for her mom and the dislike of talking about her family. Maybe I shouldn't of pushed her that day when we were talking about her mom. Of course she's defensive, she's the only person that she has left.