Chapter Thirty-Two
Iris
“Don’t be a coward,” I said, looking down at my phone. “Answer my texts and come face me. You owe me that much.”
Two nights in a row, Bailey had refused to show up to the apartment, let alone answer any of my calls and texts demanding an answer what the hell her problem was.
Anger simmered in my belly as I finished packing up the rest of my clothes in a bag. I had no idea where I would go, but living with my mother was a better option than dealing with the aftermath of Bailey.
I set the last bag on the ground next to my bedroom door. I ran over a mental checklist of things I needed to do before moving out.
By miracle, our landlord had been surprisingly understanding of the situation and promised to stick the fine on Bailey for breaking the terms of our lease. That gave me a twang of pleasure knowing she was stuck with a $500 fee, even though in reality, it wasn’t chunk change to her. She’d just call her parents for the money, and they would send it without question.
My phone finally vibrated for the first time in two days. My fingers trembled as I pulled it out to read Bailey’s text. Omw.
“Really?” I scoffed. “After everything, you use shorthand to say something to me.”
I didn’t bother replying. Let her sweat the car ride to our apartment from wherever she had been staying for the past two days. I wasn’t even sure if seeing her would be a good idea. It was far too tempting to punch her in the face – or even the vagina – for betraying the rules of friendship. Then, again, I wasn’t even sure if we had been friends to begin with.
My phone vibrated again. I looked down to see Noah calling for the first time since Monday. I hadn’t even thought of texting him, or even trying to reach out besides trying to warn him on Monday. I needed the time to think about what I was going to do. I had assumed that he’d needed to think, too.
“Hello?”
“I was afraid you weren’t going to pick up,” Noah said. “How are you feeling?”
“Peachy,” I replied sarcastically. “I got expelled from school, and now I’m waiting for ex-friend to get back to the apartment so I can tell her that she’s stuck with the lease. How do you think I feel?”
“Obviously not peachy.”
I sagged in relief when a laugh escaped my lips. To hear Noah’s voice for the first time since seeing him on Monday soothed the anger brewing inside of me. Even if I had no idea how what was going on between us, it was still nice to hear his voice.
“Where’s your apartment?”
I could hear what sounded like traffic on the other end of the line. “Where are you?”
“I’m driving to you. Where is your apartment?”
“Why?”
He sighed in exasperation on the other end of the line. “Just tell me where you are, Iris. We’ll figure this out together, and I’m obviously not going to let you go be with your mom.”
“I’m staying with you, then?” I asked, unsure of where this conversation was going to go. I didn’t even know what had happened to Noah yet. “I mean, I don’t expect you to do anything for me or-”
“Don’t start on that. Just tell me the address, and I’ll be there as soon as possible to help you move things.”
He hung up after I rattled off the apartment address. I stared down at the phone for a long time trying to discern if I had heard that conversation right. Did Noah honestly expect me to move in with him after everything that had happened?
The apartment door opened a second later. Bailey stepped inside after a moment of hesitating in the doorway, unsure of my reaction. The anger simmering in my stomach raged to a boil at the sight of her standing in front of me.
While it felt incredibly tempting to rush her for ruining everything I had worked for, I kept myself on the other side of the living room. The last thing I needed to deal with was an assault charge from the police.
“Why?” I asked, quietly. I fixed her with intense stare. “Why, Bailey? Help me understand it.”
She shifted uncomfortably under the weight of my gaze. “I don’t know,” she finally said, shaking her head at me.
“I was just upset, you know? All of a sudden you were spending all your time with that freshman chick, and you had this hot teacher after you. I just… I…” She paused to take in a deep breath. “I was just jealous of everything going on in your life, and I was scared that I was going to lose you as a friend.”
“So you told the dean about me and Noah because you were afraid to lose me as a friend?”
She winced at that. “I know. It sounds fucked up. You have to believe me when I say that I regretted it the instant I sent off that email. I still regret it.”
Tears filled her eyes. I stared at her distantly as she cried and wiped at her mascara-smudged cheeks. Four years of dealing with Bailey, and she still had the nerve to play the victim, even though she knew exactly what she had done.
“People like you start fires and then pretend to be the victim,” I said in disgust as I grabbed my purse from the couch. “I’m done with it, Bailey. Four years of you pretending to be my friend, and I’m just over it. I’m moving out. The landlord already knows. I’ll get the rest of my things later.”
I grabbed my duffle bag and slipped the strap over my shoulder. Ignoring Bailey’s pointed sniffling, I managed to grab another few bags to lug down to the parking lot. The more I took tonight, the less I would have to deal with her later. I pushed by her in the doorway, not sparing her a glance, and walked down to the parking lot.
The night air felt chilly, but enough to cool my hot skin down the second I stepped out. I spotted Noah leaning casually up against the bumper of an SUV. Relief swarmed through me as I took in his chiseled face with a light shadow of a dark beard covering his jaw. His dark locks of hair were pushed back messily, and my fingers longed to bury themselves there just to distract myself from the exhaustion.
“You ready?” he asked, taking a hold of my bags. “How did everything go up there?”
I didn’t even argue with him when he placed my bags in the back of his SUV. I had nowhere to go besides my mother’s house, and spending time with Noah sounded far better than dealing with her. I had enough to figure out, and taking on my mother’s problems wasn’t on the top of my list.
“Horrible,” I said, running an irritated hand through my hair. “She admitted to sending that email to the dean about us. Then, she had the nerve to cry about it and basically try to make excuses for why she did it.”
I looked at Noah in distress. “I don’t feel like I can ever trust another person again after this. Bailey knows me. She knows all my secrets, and this one she spilled because she was jealous.”
“People do horrible things out of spite,” he said sagely. “I can tell you that from personal experience over the years.”
The tone of his voice indicated there was something more to the statement, but I didn’t question it further. He closed the trunk door and then turned to wrap his arms around me tightly. I let out a trembling breath. It felt so good to feel strong arms holding me tightly and to hear a steady heartbeat beneath my ear.
“I missed you today,” he whispered, running a hand down the back of my head. “I marked you down for missing class today. Pretty stupid now in hindsight.”
I stiffened at those words. Untangling myself from his arms, I looked up at Noah who stared back at me in confusion. “You still have your job?”
“Well, sort of. I-”
I tore myself away from him angrily. “What do you mean ‘sort of?’ I was expelled on Monday, and you were at class today? What the fuck?”
“Iris, listen to me. I-”
“No,” I shouted, tears blinding me as I reached for the latch to open the trunk. “I see how it is with you. I lose everything within a matter of days, and you get to keep your job because you’re some ex-rugby player who secretly writes erotic thrillers.”
I batted his hands away when he tried to reach for me. “No. Don’t touch me. If you honestly gave a shit, Noah, you would’ve tried to fight for me. Instead, you’ve been going to classes like everything is normal. You ruined my life and everything I worked hard for. What the hell is wrong with you?”
Silence.
Noah’s eyes slipped closed while I gathered my bags from the back of his SUV and slammed the door shut. Tears stung my cheeks as I pushed past him in the direction of my own car.
For the first time in my life, I knew what drove my mother to drink: indescribable and wordless and excruciating heartbreak. That was how I felt when I shoved my bags into my car and drove away, despite Noah calling out my name.