Chapter 14. As soon as we got in Evie’s car the following morning, I knew something was off

As soon as we got in Evie’s car the following morning, I knew something was off. I could feel her anxiety, but I had no idea what had her so worked up. She had seemed fine inside the house.

“So are you going to tell me what’s wrong or are you just going to huff and puff in misery alone over there?” I asked her. “Is it something with Anthony?”

“Anthony? Uh no… there’s nothing with him one way or another. He was for the contest purposes only, so not my type.” Evie scrunched her nose like something smelled bad.

“You’re so bad, you had that poor boy following you around like a puppy last night.”

Evie shrugged her shoulders, “Which is exactly why he didn’t do it for me… Anyways, that’s not it.

“Look Sam, I’m only going to say this one time because I wouldn’t be a good friend if I didn’t.” She turned and looked at me. I guess my sneaking back in bed wasn’t as stealth as I had thought. “I don’t think that Ash is the right guy for you, at least not right now. I wish you would reconsider getting involved with him because I’m afraid you’re going to get hurt. I know that you are going to do whatever you want to do, whatever feels right for you… and that’s important too. You now get to make these decisions for yourself, but just remember, you’ll have to deal with the consequences too.”

“But earlier you said if it was meant to be…” I whined.

“I know what I said,” she snapped at me. I drew back from her, stunned at the angry tone directed at me. “But damn it Scarlett, this is going to end bad, I just know it! You’ve got to stay away from him, even if that means we stop going over there on Saturdays.”

I couldn’t believe she had yelled at me, she had never raised her voice at me before. It felt awful. “We don’t have to stop going over there,” I said quietly looking down at my hands. “Look… nothing happened. We are just going to try being friends.”

“Friends?!?” she barked. “Last Sunday, y’all were going to have no relationship whatsoever. This Sunday, you are going to be friends. Next Sunday, what? You’ll be friends that make out? How many Sundays until he’s fucking you, Scarlett?” she glared at me, but obviously wasn’t finished with her rant. “That’s all he’s interested in Scarlett, you know that right?”

“That’s not true,” I tried to argue. “It’s different.” Tears welled up in my eyes threatening to spill over in a waterfall.

“It’s different because he wants you to think it’s different. He’s a self-absorbed asshole that sleeps with anything that walks, and you are just more appealing to him because you’re an innocent little virgin that he wants to corrupt. Once he gets what he wants, he won’t have any use for you and he’ll move on to this next challenge.”

“Shut up!” I yelled back at her. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. It is different. Why can’t you just be supportive of me? You of all people should know that’s what I need.”

Evie didn’t respond. We pulled up to the dorm and we both got out of the car silently. Once inside the dorm, we each went in to our own rooms, doors closed behind us. After a shower, I felt better physically but my mind kept replaying the argument between Evie and I like a broken record. We had never been mad at each other before and I just couldn’t take another minute of it. I marched out of my room and across the living area to hers. Without knocking, I barged in to find her hidden in her pillows. She looked up at me, her cheeks stained with tears.

“Look… I’m sorry and I love you,” I began my apology. “There isn’t a person or a thing on this earth that’s worth you being mad at me.”

Suddenly Evie erupted from her pillow volcano like hot lava and lunged towards me. We held each other in a tight embrace. “I love you too” was the only thing she said and I sighed in relief. We didn’t need to talk about it anymore, our mutual forgiveness was understood.

She climbed back in her bed and grabbed her book. “I’m not sure what the deal is but it’s like every other book I’ve read since we’ve been here reminds me of you. First the whole Taking Chances thing, and now I’m reading Ruining Me and I can’t help but notice the similarities between your situation and this chick’s. Have you read it?” I shook my head no, still just thankful that we had moved past our first disagreement. I hated thinking that Evie was upset with me; I could not even fathom what my life would be like without her.

“So this girl in the book, Jay, she’s got these three guys she’s involved with… the good boy that she knows is best for her, the mysterious guy that she feels a weird connection with, and then a bad boy rocker that she uses as an escape,” Evie paused. “We both know which roles Dylan and Ash fill…”

“So all I’m missing is my bad boy rocker?” I lifted my eyebrows at her and smirked.

“That’s how I’m seeing it.” Her eyes glimmered with mischief and I could already see the wheels turning in her head. “That girl, Mina, in my PolySci class, mentioned her boyfriend was the drummer in some local rock band. I may need to find out where and when they are playing next so we can make an appearance. We may need to find you a Rhye.”

“A Rhye?” I asked confused.

“Yeah, Rhye is the rocker boy in Ruining Me,” Evie explained. “But it can be any of our rocker book boyfriends… Kellan, Shane, Jake, Trey… whoever you fancy.”

“And I’m guessing you’ll be looking forward to this BB challenge as well?” I knew damn well that tattooed rocker boys were Evie’s weakness.

“Let’s just say, I won’t be holding back for your sake,” she replied and winked at me.

When I returned to my room, I was still feeling a bit of regret over the argument. The guilt from that soon brought my thoughts to my parents, and before I could overanalyze what I was planning to do, I picked up my cell and dialed my mom.

The conversation didn’t go quite as well as I hoped. I was upset that they hadn’t even attempted to contact me in ten days, they were upset that I hadn’t called to apologize and grovel for their forgiveness. We argued, neither side listening to the other, and in the end, not much had changed with where our relationship stood, but I did agree to email at least once a week to let them know I was safe. I immediately called my brother to unload on him about how crazy our parents were, as if he didn’t already know. I also talked to Alyssa, which absolutely made my day. I couldn’t believe how big she sounded and we made plans for a princess tea party when I visited at Thanksgiving. It would be the only reason that I looked forward to going home.