for her boyfriend, and he’s going around getting his dick wet at frat parties.
And I still haven’t told her the truth. I had all day to do it, for chrissake. We sat together in Abnormal Psych this morning. We spent an hour in the car together on the way up here. Yet every time I opened my mouth to tell her, I couldn’t get the words out.
I’ll say something on the drive home tonight. I have to.
I’m just going to suck it up, blurt it out, and let the chips fall where they may.
Like a coward, I wait until the last possible second to broach the subject with Demi. After picking her up from her parents’ house, I let her chat for the entire drive home, nodding and smiling while internally gathering my courage. The last time I found myself in a situation like this, it blew up in my face like a grenade. Every fiber of my being wants me to keep my mouth shut, but I like this girl, and I think she deserves to know.
I guess I’m not a great actor, because Demi finally calls me on my behavior as I turn onto the main road toward campus.
“Okay, what is up with you?”
“Nothing,” I lie.
“I’d think I was boring you, but I know for a fact that I am not boring. I’m a fucking excellent conversationalist and I just told you a story about the time I met Gigi Hadid in South Beach AKA the best meet-cute of the century.”
I crack a smile. “You’re certainly not boring,” I agree.
“So why are you acting weird?” Demi sounds aggravated.
“I…” Inhale. Exhale. Here goes. “I need to tell you something, and I’ve been debating all day whether or not to do it.”
“What is it?”
“Uh.”
Silence commences.
“Okay. Cool. Great chat, bro!”
I quickly backtrack. “You know what, it’s not important.” It’s none of my business, I tell myself. Whatever Nico’s doing is his own business.
“I’m joking,” she insists. “Tell me what going on.”
“Uh.”
Silence recommences.
“Come on, Monk, am I going to have to beat it out of you?”
“I’d like to see you try.”
“I’m a lot stronger than I look.” She frowns. “Are you really not going to tell me?”
“Nico,” I blurt before I can stop myself.
And I instantly want to punch myself in the face, because Demi is like a shark that just caught a sniff of blood.
“What about him?” she demands.
“Nothing.” Goddammit, why did I even bring it up? And why is it taking so long to reach Greek Row? I need an escape plan, ASAP.
“Hunter,” she says sharply.
“Fine. Just…don’t shoot the messenger, okay?” I release a quick breath. “I ran into him at a party this weekend at the Alpha Delta house. Saturday night?”
Demi toys with one of her hoop earrings as she thinks about it. “He went out with his work friends Saturday night. I thought they were in Hastings, but I suppose they could’ve gone to that party.”
“They were definitely there. I don’t know if it was with the work buddies or not, but Nico was there. He and I even spoke.”
“Okay. So he went to a party. Big deal.”
“That’s not all he did.”
Her features sharpen again. “What do you mean?”
“I mean I saw him upstairs with some chick.”
Once again, silence falls over the car. Shit. I should not have brought this up at all.
“All right,” she says slowly. “You saw him with a girl. What were they doing?”
“They were exiting a bedroom.”
“Were they naked?”
“Well, no, they were both fully clothed. But…” I don’t want to say it, but I force myself to spit it out. “He was zipping up his pants.”
“Oh.”
“Obviously that doesn’t mean they were doing anything,” I add hastily. “Maybe they both needed to use the bathroom and he forgot to do up his fly after taking a leak. But, speaking as a guy—”
“As a fuckboy, you mean.”
“Whoa.” I’m taken aback by the verbal assault. She must really hate me right now. “Should I remind you I haven’t been sexually active in months?”
“Should I remind me how sexually active you were last year? You said so yourself, remember? So maybe you’re just associating your own behavior with whatever you think you saw Nico doing.” Her lips tighten. “Maybe they were using the bathroom. Maybe they were hanging out or talking or whatever. You don’t know for certain that something happened.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying to you,” I grumble. “I don’t know if anything happened.”
We reach the fork in the road that leads to Greek Row, and I