Megan
By the time the campus police leave, some of my sisters arrive, the police are done with taking pictures and filing a vandalism complaint.
“What in the fucking hell happened here?” Stella asks, her mouth gaping open.
I shrug. “Honestly, I think it was like last year’s pledge incident.”
Stella looks around at the mess that I’ve started cleaning up, her eyes lock on the graffiti. “Wow, that’s fucked up if it was pledges,” she states.
I shrug again. “Whatever, let’s just get all this shit cleaned up. The police have everything they need.”
“The campus police?” Stella asks with a raised eyebrow.
“Yep.”
She rolls her eyes. “You might as well have reported this to the math club.”
“We have a math club?” I ask because honestly, that sounds like something that I would have joined had I known about it.
Groaning, Stella starts to pick up cushion stuffing. “Jesus, I love you, but you take nerd to a whole new level. I don’t fucking know if we have a math club, I was just trying to make a point. The campus cops aren’t going to do shit. They are just going to file this away and move on.”
“Whatever. Fucking Clark acted like a serial killer was here. He’s such a drama king.”
Stella stops and looks at me. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, he practically dragged me down the stairs and out the door and then demanded that I call the campus police,” I huff.
“That’s sweet. He was protecting you,” Stella says.
“Right. I mean, why does he think I can’t handle myself? He’s being so…so…ugh, this is why I haven’t dated anyone in forever. I’m a grown-ass woman and can take care of myself,” I snip as I set an unbroken vase back up on a table.
Stella steps toward me and puts a hand on my shoulder. “Megs, I get it. You take care of yourself and have for a long time. But you know what?”
“What?” I mumble.
“If I had been here with you, I probably would have done the same thing that Clark did. As your friend, I would have wanted to protect you too…and me.”
I let her words sink in as she stares into my eyes. I turn around, suddenly overcome with emotion. Stella is my friend, a real friend. Clark cares about me, really cares about me. I’ve isolated myself from having people who loved me for so long that the torrent of feelings coming at me like a tidal wave is now too much.
“Hey,” Stella says softly as she forces me to turn around and pulls me into a hug. And that’s when my emotional dam breaches. I let go and start sobbing. I sob for all the years I lost trying to be perfect, trying to be the very best, the very smartest. It’s like Stella understands that I just need to be held. She doesn’t speak but just gently rubs my back.
Eventually, my eyes become swollen, and no more tears fall. I hiccup as I pull away from her. I realize her shirt is wet with my tears and snot.
I place a hand over my face in horror. “I’m so sorry,” I say as I grab a smooshed tissue box on the floor.
She giggles and gives me a big smile. “Megan, it’s OK. I can change shirts and, clearly, you needed a good cry. I mean, shit, how long have you been holding all that in?”
I shrug and look around. A few of our sisters are glancing over at me from the kitchen and dining room. I start laughing at how ridiculous I must look. “I swear, I’m fine, everyone. Nothing to see here. Just your normal senior year breakdown.”
A few of them laugh and one by one they get back to cleaning up. I look at Stella again. “I fucked up, didn’t I?”
She nods. “But I think you can fix it?”
“Y-you think?” I stammer.
“Sure. Shit, have you not seen how he looks at you?”
“I…no.” I frown. “How does he look at me?” I try to think about it because Clark just looks at me like, well, I don’t really know.
Stella steps toward me. I look at her. I’ve looked at Stella a thousand times, but tonight, I truly see just how beautiful she is. Her dark curly hair is braided. Her lips have that awesome crimson shade of lipstick she loves. Her dark skin is flawless. She searches my eyes with her dark ones, and I swear she sees inside my soul. “He looks at you like you are a glacial-fed stream and he’s a lost hiker who hasn’t had water in two days. That boy loves you.”
“I don’t know about that,” I state skeptically.
“Trust me. He does.” She says it as though there isn’t an argument to the contrary.
I reach out and grab her hand. “Stella, I suck as a friend. I’ve been so absorbed in trying to ace all my classes, get the damn internship, and live some perfect life, that I didn’t bother looking around at the perfect life I already had. I’m sorry. You’ve been an awesome friend to me these past two and a half years.”
Now her eyes well up and she smiles. “I fucking knew you’d come around eventually. Damn, it took you long enough.” She pulls her hand away from mine and punches me playfully.
I laugh. “Thanks for not giving up on me.”
She pulls me in for another hug and we both squeeze the other. “Never. We’re sisters. And besides, it’s not like you weren’t ever fun. We’ve had some great nights playing chess. No one else would ever play chess with me. And when I wanted to nerd out and watch documentaries, you were always there with popcorn or ice cream. And there was that time that I wanted to do the sleepover at the air and space museum, and you jumped on the opportunity while everyone else laughed at me.”
I pull back and roll my eyes. “They were stupid. We got free astronaut ice cream. Like seriously, that alone made it worth it.”
We both start laughing before we hug again and sway from side to side.
“Uh, ladies, I hate to interrupt this love fest, but we’re gonna need more hands on deck in here,” Kendra’s voice rings out from the kitchen. We walk in to find the fridge trashed.
“Fuck,” I mutter. “My ice cream.”
I feel Stella’s hand on my shoulder. “Megs, you have bigger problems than melted ice cream. You need to figure out how to fix things with Clark. Because men like him do not come along twice in a lifetime.”
I smirk at that because Clark did come along twice in a lifetime for me. And she’s right, there’s no way in hell that I’m letting him get away the second time.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Clark
Me: Women are so frustrating!
Lanie: Hey! I take offense to that.
Di: Uh-oh. That sounds like a problem in Loveland.
Kent: I plead the fifth.
Tabby: You better fucking plead the fifth. Also, go change your daughter.
Kylie: You all live in the same house. Just use that fancy intercom system. And what’s with the lady-hate, C-Dog?
Me: Why is it that I try to help a woman out and she completely goes ape shit on me?
Lanie: You’re gonna have to be more specific than that.
Di: Yeah, we need more details.
Me: Someone vandalized Meg’s sorority house. I made her leave and call the police and she got all pissy with me.
Lanie: Like, how?
Me: Like, she said she could take care of herself and that I was overstepping.