It All Started with a Lie

Chapter 12

It's been two weeks since I've seen her and I can't get the feeling of her out of my mind, the look on her face when she saw me, the taste of burnt sugar and rum. I found myself craving that taste, and no amount of rum could make it stop. But I know it's wrong, she is my little sister's best friend. What kind of brother would do that to his sister?

I try to shake the thought away, and have to refrain myself from frantically pushing Bea away in hopes of departing from her before Alexandria joins her. But another part of me begs that she will find my sister, here with me, just so I can see her. By this point in the week, I would have seen her a few times on campus already, either at practice, or dancing on the field, or some other time where we'd argue about something or other. But the last two weeks have been completely silent, I saw her nowhere, and I'm starting to think she's avoiding me after our fight. That or she's afraid of me, after seeing me lose my temper. I'm praying it's the former.

I'm proven right as I see her dark hair peek around the corner as she spots Beatrice and nearly speaks, but stops herself frantically as she sees me. She whips back around the corner and is gone before Bea can notice. But I notice.

Beatrice tucks her hair behind her ear as she asks me what the light on Alexandria's car means, and that it just came on as they drove to the store. I have absolutely no clue what it means but it was nothing an internet search can't solve, and I'll be damned if I ever let Bea know that I don't actually have the answer to everything. I tell her to take a picture of it and send it to me and I'll take a look at it, buying me some time to search it. As hard as I try to listen to what Bea is saying, my mind wanders. I just need to stop thinking about her. But it's hard not to when Bea is asking me to take a look at her car. When she finishes her story, and realizes that I am here with company, she tells me she needs to find Alexandria, but I know she is only leaving because she doesn't want to bother me when I am with a 'friend'. I would rather her stay, it is less boring that way, but I do not dare tell her as I know it makes her happy to think I'm meeting new people, making friends. It is the only reason I joined a frat in the first place. She reluctantly takes the basket back from me, kisses the underside of my chin, and turns to find her friend. "Te quiero!" She calls as she waddles away, trying to distribute the weight of her basket full of books between her arms, back, and legs. I laugh at the sight. She turns the opposite direction Alexandria had come from and heads towards the slim smoothie section. My sister hates smoothies, so I can only assume it is her friend she goes there for.

I sigh, heading back to Wick, who has found three or four snacks he thinks are worth buying. "Is that the girl you're into?"

I don't hide my disgust at the question. Both at the fact that anyone would ever think I was interested in my sister, and at the fact that my frat brothers would not stop bringing up my supposive interest in 'the girl from the party'. My 'brother's' had heard about the fight and decided that the only reason I'd ever do that was because I must be wildly attracted to that girl. I would have done it for anyone. "Absolutely not. That is my sister."

He lets out a sign of relief, wiping the imaginary sweat from his brow. "Good, I was worried there for a minute."

I don't let my mind try to make assumptions on his words. I know exactly how that would end. "Why's that?"

He crouches down to look at the bottom shelf. "I mean it's one thing to like a girl for her body, but it's another to like her for her personality. Just don't wanna see you settling down too quickly. You're a freshman, you have plenty of women to experiment with before finding the one."

I press my tongue to the roof of my mouth, fairly certain I know where this is going, but I will not lose control of myself again. "Right."

He doesn't notice my change in demeanor. "I mean just looking at her, clearly she's a personality kinda girl, if you get what I'm saying." He laughs like it's some kind of sick, twisted joke while I wait for him to stand because it would be no fun to strangle him when he's already down. He clearly doesn't feel his impending death drawing nearer and nearer, as he keeps talking. "I mean what's up with her arm. Is that some sort of weird birth defect or something?"