Page 14 of No One Else
It had been excitement.
My stomach had done a strange swoopy motion I’ve never experienced around him before.Thatwas what had turned things awkward. I could barely even look at him after that.
Was I just remembering that night at Empire? The brush of his body against mine? The softness of his lips? Or had something deeper truly taken root?
At least until he’d told me he has a girlfriend now. That had knocked any physical thoughts right out of my head. Well, good for him. I’m glad he can move on.
Still, I don’t mention Sarah to my friends. It’s a little embarrassing, to be honest. He claimed to love me, and yet here he is with a new girl just one month later. Was it really love if he could get over me so quickly?
Oh my God, Natalie, I mentally slap myself. Conceited much? He’s allowed to do whatever he wants. It’s for the best anyway if we’ll be working on this project for the next couple months. We don’t need the added complication of unresolved feelings.
“I’m glad for you then,” Charlotte says, smiling.
“You’re really brave,” Eden chimes in, hands still covering her cheeks. “I’d be so flustered.”
“It’s no big deal.” I stand and throw my trash in the garbage, catching Samantha’s eye as I sit back down, looking at me, scrutinizing. I’m surprised she hasn’t mentioned Evan since that night. She was awfully sneaky inviting him to Empire without telling me.
She changes the subject then to Charlotte’s grad school applications and I let the conversation wash over me, glad to be done with talking about me.
When did my life become all drama llama?
***
“HEY, SWEETIE, HOW AREyou doing?”
I switch the phone over to my other ear, the wind doing everything it can to make it impossible to hear her. I pick up my stride along the sidewalk, the campus bookstore within sight.
“I’m doing fine, Mom. You don’t have to call so often just because I’m single now. I’m not wallowing in grief or anything.”
“You know I can’t help but worry about you. You’re my baby.”
I smile, pulling my scarf tighter around me.
“I’ve been hanging out with my friends and keeping busy with Suncoast Serves. And getting a start on schoolwork. I’m actually on my way to meet Evan for a project now.”
“Ooh,” she says in a flirty tone. “Who’s Evan?”
“He’s my partner for a Marketing class project.” Though I spilled my guts about everything with Carter to her, I never mentioned Evan. I didn’t know at the time what to think about all of it. I still really don’t.
“Oh,” she says flatly, disappointed now.
I roll my eyes, but only because she can’t see me. There’d be hell to pay if I did it in front of her. “What,” I say jokingly. “You want me to move on already?”
“Well, yes.”
Her matter-of-fact tone has me stopping abruptly in the middle of the path. A girl bumps my shoulder from behind and I step aside onto the grass. “It’s only been a little over a month since Carter and I broke up. That’s too soon, right?”
Silence echoes from the other end of the line. Oh, now she doesn’t have an opinion?
“Mom, I’m asking you for real.”
“Oh, honey,” she hedges. “I’m sure the dating landscape has changed in the past thirty years. But you’ve always been so independent. I thought you’d be over it by now.”
Over it. Is it wrong to just forget about the last three years so quickly? Does it make me a bad person that I’ve already forgotten about him for the most part?
There’s been no word from him, no attempts at reconciliation, not even a freaking apology. Did our relationship really mean so little to him?
“Are you interested in someone?”
