My College Life | ✓

Chapter 16

"Now tell me," he whispered huskily, his breath fanning my face, "why are you mad at me?"

I sucked in a breath of air, trying to stop my heart from pounding so hard—from fear or something else, I have no idea.

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out of it. It was like my voice was gone. Was I really that terrified of Neal? Or was I afraid of the past?

Definitely the past. I'm a lot stronger than I was ten years ago.

"Mandy," I muttered under my breath.

He blinked, looking completely lost. "What?"

"Mandy," I said a bit louder. "You know that nickname all too well, don't you Neal?"

His eyes widened for a fraction of a second before he recovered, composing himself. "M-amanda, I can—" He shut up when I held my hand up.

He messed up. He was about to call me Mandy. That just proves it. John was right, no one can be too nice.

"Goodnight, Neal." I pushed his chest away. "If that's even your real name," I said softly, knowing he heard me.

Just as I was about to walk away, I felt his hand around my wrist, stopping me mid-movement.

"How did you know it was me?"

Twisting my neck a bit to look at him, I was surprised at the sight. He wasn't glaring at me with hatred like he did in the past; instead, his eyes were filled with tears.

Tears? Why would he be crying? He should be laughing at me for not seeing it earlier.

"You sleep talk," was the only thing I said before I ripped his hands off of mine.

Ignoring his tears and the slight pain in my chest, I headed out of the media room, wanting to get as far away from him as possible - even if that meant going back to college in the middle of the night.

***

"You're my love uh! Uh! Uh! Uh! Uh! Venus! Melt my body that is frozen. I just want to hold you. My heart—"

My ringtone stopped playing as I flipped my phone open. I placed it up against my ear lazily. "What?" I asked groggily, still tired from the lack of sleep.

"Where are you?!" Izzy's voice screamed through the phone, damaging my eardrum in the process.

My eyes shut automatically, groaning from the incoming headache she caused. "Izzy, do you know what time it is?"

Hearing some noises in the background, I assumed she was getting up to check the clock or something.

"It's six o'clock," she answered me a few seconds later.

"And what day is it?"

"Sunday."

I took a deep breath. "Then why are you freaking awake?!" Does she not know me? I am her best friend. I. Don't. Like. Getting. Up. Early. End of story.

"Because you weren't here this morning when I woke up," she said, hardly affected by the loud sound I just produced.

"So?"

"So, I was wondering where you were," she said in a 'duh' kind of tone.

"I'm back at campus."

"What?!" she cried. "Why? We were supposed to eat breakfast together and then drive back, of course after saying our goodbyes."

I sighed, knowing how she was feeling. I felt the same. I missed her a lot. "I know, but something came up." I grimaced, hating myself for lying to her. But I couldn't exactly tell her what happened between Neal and I. Even she doesn't know about my past. After I moved to Woodway, I promised myself to never speak of it again. Sadly, that didn't really work out too well.