But I didn’t. I let him victimize me. Over and over and over again. When he finally took it too far and I went to the authorities, I was all but laughed right out of town.
What would a fine young man like him want with a child like you?
Nice girls don’t tell lies. We thought you were a nice girl, Emmalyn. Don’t you want to be nice?
He’s got his whole life ahead of him, Emmalyn. Surely you don’t want to leave a dark mark on his future.
And yet, no one cares about the one he left on me. On my heart... my soul.
“No! Nope.” Stella sounds fierce, protective. “That doesn’t fly with me. He did something to you and I want—no, I need to know.”
“Just mind games.”
Stella stands from the bed. “What drawer are your jammies in?”
“Second from the top.”
She grabs a pair of flannel pants and a tank top and passes them both to me. “Get changed. I’ll be right back.”
I strip out of my wet party clothes but don’t put on my pajamas. I need a shower.
“What are you doing? Are you okay?” Stella asks as I step out of my room in only my undergarments.
“Just need a shower.”
“Okay. Can I... can I sit in the bathroom while you do it? To make sure you’re okay?”
I nod, secretly grateful to not be alone.
We trek into the small bathroom, and I step into the tub and pull the curtain closed. I toss my wet bra and panties out and turn on the water, cranking the temperature to scalding.
Stella chatters aimlessly as I stand under the hot spray, letting it wash away the scent of cheap beer, wishing it could wash away the memory of his touch.
“Did he pour his drink on you?” Stella asks as I rinse the shampoo from my hair.
“No. Um. That would’ve been... Melanie.”
“What?” my suitemate shrieks.
I’m nearly too tired to tell the whole sordid story, but I know Stella, and she won’t let me sleep until she knows it all.
“I guess they were there together. And she thought I was flirting with him and got really, really mad. She said some not nice things to me and then tossed her beer in my face.”
“And he let her believe that? That you were with him?”
I scoff out a laugh. “He encouraged the notion.”
“That little dick weasel!”
Even though she can’t see me, I shrug. “It is what it is.”
“No, ma’am. It is not.”
“Stella, I love that you want to help, but—”
“But nothing! Tonight, you sleep. And tomorrow?” She pauses for dramatic effect. “Tomorrow, we plot!”
Chapter Sixteen
Emmy
Stella didn’t leave my side for the rest of the weekend. And I mean that literally. We spent Saturday, Sunday, and Monday—which was blessedly a holiday—cozied up in our suite, binge-watching chick flicks, eating takeout, and plotting my payback.
Ultimately, we both decided the best form of revenge against Sterling was... nothing. He’s clearly after a reaction, and if I refuse to give him one, he can’t win.
However, we also agreed I can’t let him steamroll me either. I need to be fierce, which means taking no shit when it comes to him.
“I mean,” Stella says as we cut through the quad, “if he’s an ass to you, just ice him out. Don’t let him know he’s getting to you.”
“Easier said.”
“Lunch after, and you can tell me all about how you shut his ass down.”
“And you can tell me all about Samson,” I counter, already knowing it’s a lost cause. I asked about him at least twenty times over the last three days, but she shut me down each and every time.
“Toodles,” she calls over her shoulder with a finger-wave before breaking into a run toward her building.
I roll my eyes at her antics, but press on toward my destination, albeit slowly. While I don’t want to be late for Sterling’s class, I definitely don’t want to be early either. When it comes to his class, it’s bare minimum and nothing more.
I make it to the classroom with two minutes to spare, marching right past Sterling’s smug, stupid face, all the way to a desk in the very back of the room.
For the next one-hundred-and-twenty seconds, I sit on pins and needles, waiting for him to fling some low-handed, shitty remark my way. But he doesn’t even look at me.
It’s as if I’m not here. Invisible.
And how completely wrong is it—how completely damaged am I—that him ignoring me bothers me?