Love, Lies, and Deception
L.P. Dover
The man in front of me wasn’t the same man I thought I knew. The once warm eyes that stared back at me many times before were now cold and detached … empty, no remorse for what he’d done. How could I have not seen it before?
Was I that blind, and so oblivious to the danger that was hidden inside of him? Obviously I was, but now it was too late.
“Spring break, here we come!” Emily yelled, tossing her bags out the front door of our apartment. It just so happened that her boyfriend decided to walk through the door at the exact same moment. With an agitated look on his face, Justin reared back and let the hot pink duffle bag fly past him. Emily covered her mouth with her hand to mute the snicker that escaped her lips at the look of surprise on her his face.
“Shit!” he growled, pinning a lethal stare at my roommate and long-time friend. “What is it with you and throwing things? This is why I never buy you anything breakable.” His lips were set in a firm line—making him appear angry—but the Hawaiian shirt and goofy hat was all I could focus on. It took all I had not to laugh at him.
Emily bit her lip, trying hard to keep from smiling, and threw her hands exasperatedly into the air. She exclaimed, “What? I didn’t know you were gonna be there! Next time, don’t charge in here without looking around in caution first. You should know better. Geez ...”
Not giving Justin any time to speak, she huffed and bolted into her room to grab the last of her things, sashaying her hips the whole way. Her yellow sundress swirled around her thighs, and even though Justin was frustrated I could hear his appreciative sigh.
Shaking his head, he watched her walk away with a slow growing smile forming on his face. “There’s never a dull moment with her, is there?” he asked, laughing.
With a sly grin on my face, I said, “Never, but after almost two years of dating her, surely you’re not surprised … are you? You knew what you were getting into when she threw your Oreo delight right back at you that day in the cafeteria.”
His laugh radiated through the room. “Yeah, you’re right. Her fire was what attracted me from the very beginning. I’m surprised she didn’t slap me after I laughed at her.” He paused for a moment and shook his head. “She let me have it, didn’t she?”
“Yeah, she did.” I laughed. “Those were good times. To be honest, though, I think she actually was aiming at you with her bags. It’s kind of hard not to miss you with that shirt on.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” he muttered. “And if you think my shirt is bad, wait till you see Kristian’s.”
“Ugh … I can only imagine. You are both going to embarrass us aren’t you?”
Justin chuckled and winked at me. “You know it.”
Groaning, I turned around and headed back to my room. “All right, I’ll be right back. Don’t you guys leave me,” I warned him.
“Like Kristian would let me,” he shouted as I walked away.
Emily was singing her heart out when I went past her room, and it made me smile. We’d been best friends since junior high, always trading clothes and talking on the phone for hours on end. We were both tall, but she had shoulder-length, strawberry-blonde hair with natural waves while mine was chocolate brown and straight. Her bright blue eyes stood out against her pale features, while my green ones were more subtle and exotic, or at least that was how Emily always described mine.
We connected instantly on that first day of school when I knew no one and she was the only one kind enough to befriend me; we were thirteen years old.
Her home life growing up was one of despair and heartache. After being abused as a child, she spent most of her young years counting down the days until she could leave and move out on her own. When my older sister started college and moved out, Emily came to live with me for a while during high school, working a full-time job, before moving into her own apartment.
My parents loved her as one of their own, and didn’t mind that she stayed with us. They were sad to see her go when she decided to get her own apartment our senior year in high school. I thought my life was perfect until a little over a year ago a tragedy of my own took everything I loved away from me.
A drunk driver sideswiped my parents on the interstate and made them lose control of their car, causing it to flip. What made it worse was that it was their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary. Emily and my friends were all that kept me sane; I haven’t been home since their funerals.
Justin, however, had been a savior to both Emily and me. I met him first, considering we had a class together back then, and was instantly drawn to him. His quirky attitude and fun-filled nature helped distract me from my loss, and eventually helped me to live life again. His warm brown eyes, sandy blond hair, and athletic body would get any girl swooning, but it was his boyish smile and generous heart that won Emily over when I introduced them … eventually.
Unfortunately, it didn’t start out like that. I still remember the day it all began; he wasn’t paying attention and spilled his Oreo delight down the front of her shirt in the campus cafeteria before I had the chance to introduce them. To this day, she still never lets him live that down. I enjoyed listening to them banter back and forth about it.
Glancing around my room, I noticed my phone charger still plugged into the wall. I can’t forget that, I said to myself. My sister would have a fit if she couldn’t get in touch with me while I was gone. Unplugging it, I slipped it into my duffle bag and threw the bag over my shoulder.