His Mistress

Nineteen: Her Roomate

Athena
When I woke up, I wasn't surprised that Levy was gone. This didn't upset me however. He was there when I needed him to be and that's all that mattered.
I washed my face, which became dry from all the crying I had done last night.
I usually didn't cry. I was taught to fix problems and not waste time whining over them, and that's usually what I did.
Even now, I wasn't even crying for myself, I was crying for my dad. He didn't deserve to be lied to and cheated on.
I was crying because telling him would break his heart and mine.
He was in love with my mother. He always has been. He was a good man.

I dried my face and gathered my belongings together to leave. I had class in a few hours and I wasn't going to let this drama keep me from my studies.
I heard my phone ring and I was hoping it'd be Levy, and praying it wouldn't be my mother.
It was neither.
Worst.
It was my father.
I wasn't sure if I should answer or not.
The phone rang three more times.
I took a deep breath.
"Hello," I answered the phone nervously.
"Hi, honey, how are you?"
"Good Dad, how are you?"
"I'm great. Very busy though. I don't know if you're mom told you, but there's a serial rapist on the loose over here."
"Yeah, she told me."
"Well I'm just glad you're safe."
"Yeah, I am."
"So what is up? I saw that you called me a few times. Is everything alright?"

This was the moment. The moment I needed to decide if I should tell my dad or not.

"Nini, you there?"
This made me smile. My father was the only one who called me Nini. It was his nickname for me. It was hard enough finding a nickname for my name. Athena.
Some people called me Thea or Nina. I don't know how that came about, but those were my nicknames in high school.

"Nini, dad really? I'm not eight anymore," I said to him.
"That's right, you're 18 now. But even when you're 28, I'll still call you Nini"
I smiled.
"So my favourite daughter-"
"Only daughter," I corrected him.
"You're still my favourite. Tell me what's going on."
"Oh nothing, I was just wondering when you were going to visit me. Mom visited me, so I figured it was your turn."
"Your mom visited you at the university?"
"Yeah, dad, I thought you knew-"
"Athena, I'm going to have to call you back," he said before he hung up the phone.

I guess I said something I wasn't supposed to say.
Did he know?

I walked to my dorm and opened the door.
Michelle was sitting on the bed dressed with her sunglasses on.
"Well finally," she said when I walked in. "I was wondering when you were going to get home."
"Well I'm here, so what's up?"
"I was wondering if I could borrow some money?" She asked me.
"Um okay, how much?"
I took out my wallet, getting ready to give her the amount.
"Five thousand dollars," she said.
I quickly closed my wallet.
"Five thousand dollars! I thought you were going to ask me for 20 bucks. Are you out of your mind?"
"No," she replied.
"Michelle, I don't have five thousand dollars just chilling in my wallet. I don't even think I have that much in the bank."
She threw her pillow against the wall, "dammit!"
"Why do you need that much money anyways?"
"To replace the money I lost at the party."
"Get a job then."
"I need it by the end of the week," she said.
"What for?"
"You ask a lot of questions."
"And why are you wearing sunglasses inside?"
"Because.."
"What's going on with you? You're acting weirder than usual."
"Nothing Athena, I just need the money okay. How much do you think you can lend me?"
"None, unless you tell me what's going on."
"Ugh forget it!" She said throwing a temper tantrum.
Her glasses slid a bit down her face and she immediately pulled them back up.
"Take of the glasses," I said.
"No."
"Take them off!"
"No!"
She sat there with her head down.
I tackled her on the bed and reached for her glasses.
She tried to fight me off but eventually I was able to grip her glasses and pull them off.
Her right eye was purple and swollen. The whole right side of her face was red.
I was frozen in place.
"What the hell happened to you?"
She grabbed the sunglasses out of my hands.
"Nothing, I fell."
"That is not what happens to someone who falls."
"Who's doing this to you?"
"No one. Why do you even care?"
"Because I do."
I grabbed her hands. "Let's go."
"Where?"
"Well first to the doctors then the campus police. Come on!"
"We can't tell the campus police."
"Why not?"
"Because he'll just hurt me even more. He's crazy Athena. He might even kill me!"
"Who?"
She stayed quiet. I knew she wanted to tell me but she was afraid.
"Who Michelle?"
Still she stayed quiet.
"Fine, don't tell me, I'll tell the police," I said walking towards the door.
"Okay okay!" She stopped me. "Marley, my pimp."
I quickly turned around.
"You're a prostitute?"
"Not every one is as smart as you Athena. Some people are not handed scholarships. Us average people have to pay for our own tuition," she said.
"So to pay for it, you decided to become a prostitute?"
"See this is why I didn't want to tell you! You're judging me. Look at you condescending me. You think you're so much better than me."
I rolled my eyes.
"Right now is not to time to state the obvious. We need to get you to a the medical Center."
She got up and I grabbed her arm.
I dragged her to the medical Center and the doctor on duty took a look at her face.
He was tall, tanned and very handsome.
He looked Egyptian.
Michelle wouldn't take her eyes off of him.
Behind the doctor were three other people, whom I assumed were students, watching the doctor examine Michelle's face.
"Do they all have to be here?" Michelle whined.
"Yes," the doctor said. "They are training right now. But don't worry, I will be the one doing the heavy lifting," he smiled. Michelle smiled back.
"This is a nasty bruise. Can you tell me how this happened?"
"Um, I fell."
I rolled my eyes. Couldn't she have thought of a better excuse.
The doctor raised his eyebrow. Clearly he was not buying it.
"You fell?"
"Yeah, off a boulder."
"Where?"
"At a lake off campus," she said.
He wrote notes in his notebook and stopped midway.
"You know, the best way that I can help you is if you tell me the truth," he said.
"I did," Michelle replied.
"So that's the story you're sticking with?"
"It's the truth."
"Okay then."
I shook my head.
He finished writing in his book.
"So Miss Ramsey..."
"- call me Michelle."
"Michelle, we're gonna need to do a couple stitches and you should be good to go."
She stood up.
"And since you fell off a boulder, I will need to disinfect to make sure nothing dirty entered or touched you that could cause an infection."
She nodded her head, and he pointed to a room that he wanted her to wait in.
She did.

Before he joined her, he took me aside.
"Do you know what really happened here?" He asked me.
I shrugged.
"She told me the same story she told you," I lied.
"Well, her bruises look similar to those of abuse. You wouldn't believe how many college girls fall into abusive relationships. If there is anything you know, it's important to tell me. If not me then security. Situations like these only get worst."
I knew everything he was saying was right.
I just couldn't tell him. It wasn't my secret to tell.
Here I was stuck in another situation where I knew too much.
I decided I would convince Michelle to get help on her own.

"If I find out anything Doctor, I'll tell you," I said to him.
"Please do," he said slipping a card into my hands.
He then joined Michelle in the other room and performed her stitches.

When Michelle was done, she came out covering her cheek.
"What happened?" I asked her.
"I look ugly," she said. "Who's going to want to sleep with me now?"
"Seriously? You just got stitches and that's what you're thinking about?"
I rolled my eyes.
"C'mon," I said as I dragged her back to our dorm.
She spent the rest of the afternoon looking at her face.
I decided to convince her tomorrow.
I took out the doctor's card from the pocket I slid it into.
Studying the card, I noticed that he wrote something with a pen.
You're beautiful. Call me ;)
I laughed and threw the card aside. I didn't need another guy.
I already had Levy.