Point of Retreat (Slammed #2)(11)

She laughs and stands up. “Will, has anyone ever told you it’s rude to be nosey?” She makes her way to the front door. “Let me know if you need anything. You know where we live.”

***

We spend the entire day Sunday watching movies and being sore. We're all still a little queasy, so we skip the junk food. Monday it's back to reality. I drop Kel and Caulder off at their school and head to the College. Three of my four classes are in the same building; one of the benefits of being in grad school. Once your course of study is set, all the classes are similar and are usually taught in the same area. The first of my four classes, however, is halfway across campus. It’s a graduate level elective called Death and Dying. I thought it would be interesting, being as though I’m more than experienced in the subject. I also didn’t have a choice. There wasn’t another graduate elective during the eight o’clock block that I could take, so I’m stuck with this one if I want all my credits to count. When I walk in, students are sporadically seated around the room. It’s one of the auditorium style rooms set up with tables that hold two seats each. I walk up the stairs and take a seat in the back of the room. It’s different, being the student now rather than the teacher. I got so used to being at the head of the classroom. The role reversal has taken some getting used to.

The class fills up fairly quickly. It’s the first day of the semester, so it will probably be the only day people actually show up early. That’s usually how it is…the newness wears off by day two. It’s rare for a professor to have everyone on their entire roll show up the same day after day two.

I throw my stuff on the table and take a seat. My phone vibrates inside my pocket so I take it out and slide my finger across the screen. It’s a text from Lake.

Finally found my phone. Hope you like your classes. I love you and I’ll see you tonight.

I begin to text her back when the professor starts calling roll. I finish the text and press the send button and put my phone back in my pocket.

“Will Cooper?” the professor says. I raise my hand and he looks up at me and nods, then marks his form.

He continues to call roll as I glance around the room to see if I recognize anyone. There were a couple of people I graduated High School with in my last semester elective. There usually aren’t many people I know in my classes since I’m a little ahead. Most of my high school classmates graduated college last May, and not many of them decided on Grad school. As my eyes make their way around the room, I notice a girl with blond hair in the front row turned completely around in her seat. When I meet her gaze, my heart sinks. She smiles and waves when she sees I’ve recognized her. She turns back around and gathers her things, then stands up and makes her way up the stairs.

No. She’s coming toward me. She’s about to sit with me. Oh, god.

“Will! Oh my god, what are the chances? It’s been so long,” she says.

I do my best to smile at her. I don’t understand my reaction right now. I can’t tell if it’s anger, guilt, or what. “Hey, Vaughn.” I try to sound pleased to see her.

She takes the seat next to me and leans in and hugs me. “How are you?” she whispers. “How’s Caulder?”

“He’s good,” I say. “Growing up. He’ll be eleven in two months.”

“Eleven? Wow,” she says, shaking her head in disbelief.

We haven’t seen each other in almost three years. She knows we parted on bad terms, to put it mildly; yet, she’s acting like she’s genuinely excited to see me. I wish I could say the same.

“How’s Ethan?” I ask her. Ethan is her older brother. We were pretty good friends while Vaughn and I dated, but we haven’t spoken since the break-up.

“He’s good. He’s really good. He’s married now, they’ve got a baby on the way.”

“Good for him. Tell him I said so.”

“I will,” she says.

“Vaughn Gibson?” The professor calls.

She raises her hand. “Up here,” she says as he marks her on his roll. She brings her attention back to me. “What about you? You married?”

I shake my head.

“Me neither,” she smiles.

I don’t like this. I don’t like how she’s looking at me-I’ve seen that look from her before. We dated for over two years, I know her pretty well. And right now, her intentions aren’t good for me.

“I’m not married, but I am dating someone,” I clarify. I can see the slight shift in her expression, but she attempts to mask it with a smile.

“Good for you,” she says. “Is it serious?” She’s digging for hints.

“Very.”

We both face the front of the room when the professor starts explaining the semester requirements and going over the syllabus. The rest of the hour, we don’t speak much other than occasional questions from her regarding the class information. When the professor dismisses us, I quickly stand up.

“It’s really good seeing you, Will,” she says. “I’m excited about this class now. We have a lot of catching up to do.”

I smile at her without agreeing. She gives me another quick hug and turns away. I gather my things and head to my second class as I think of a way to break this to Lake.

Lake has never asked about my past relationships. She says there isn’t anything good that can come up from discussing it, so we never have. I’m not even sure she knows about Vaughn. She knows I had a pretty serious relationship in high school. She even knows I’ve had sex-we talked about that. I don’t know how she’ll take this. I’d hate to upset her, but I also don’t want to hide anything either.