The Freshman Tease ✓

28. Familiar

Katie

I'm standing outside in the cold, holding an umbrella that turns inside out in the wind every couple minutes. I severely regret buying this cheap one, and make a mental note to order a nicer one tonight.

The doors to the building I'm waiting outside of finally open, and a wave of people come out. I spot the familiar platinum blonde hair. "We're finally done!" Leena says as she shuffles through all of the people to get to me. It's been a rough week, but I've finally finished my first term at university. Luckily Leena and I finished on the same day, only an hour apart.

"Let's celebrate," I grin, "dinner?"

Leena drives, the gloomy rain has gotten heavier and noisily taps the windshield, while the wipers can barely keep up. I learned pretty quickly after moving here that the amount of rain in this city is ridiculous. "So how have things been?" she asks, "I'm really sorry we haven't had much time to hang out this term."

"No no don't worry about that," I reassure her. She's planning to apply for one of the most competitive engineering programs at the university next year, so she's been studying really hard. I didn't want to disrupt her with my problems. "It's been kind of rough these past few weeks." She knows the general gist of what's been going on. I was an idiot and didn't listen to her when she told me to stay away from Jason from the beginning.

"Is this about Chad?" she asks warily.

"Well..sort of.." I say awkwardly, knowing how she's about to react.

She looks at me suspiciously as we reach a red light. "I really hope this isn't about Jason. You told me you would stop talking to him after the office incident over a month ago!" She scolds me.

I give her a sheepish look.

She rolls her eyes. "Jesus christ. What happened this time?"

"After I got home from Chad's, Jason called. He could tell I was crying, and then came over to comfort me," I choose not to clarify what I mean by 'comfort' but she sees through it anyways.

"And by comfort you mean..?"

"Ok ok we slept together," I admit.

"Katie for god's sake," she groans, "he took advantage of you while you were vulnerable."

I'd never thought about it like that. I don't want to believe that's what happened. I'm not that stupid...right?

"He was nice this time though. He seemed to care about me. It wasn't like Halloween where he left," I say defensively, "and then the morning after he asked me to be his date for the ASA Christmas dinner." I don't know whether I'm trying to convince her or myself.

She frowns. "I thought you told me you were going because the team invited you."

"Well...yes, it got complicated," I admit, "later that day I went to his office and caught him having sex at his desk."

"Oh my god. Unbelievable." Her expression is a mix of disgust and disbelief.

"After I left was when Ray and Lincoln invited me." 

She pauses for a bit. "And that was your last interaction with Jason...right?"

"Yes."

"Alright. So, you'll see him at the dinner, and then no more, right?" She does not look like she's asking, more so ordering me.

"Yes, I'll be done with him," I state.

"You better be, or I will give you absolute hell for it," she mutters, flames flashing in her eyes.