I was still grinning to myself as I made my way back to my dorm when Derek suddenly walked up to me. He looked tired and disheveled, and I could smell the sweet odor of alcohol coming off him.
“Dominic, Dominic, Dominic. What’s this I hear about you and my girl?”
“There’s nothing to talk about, Derek,” I said and walked away.
“You like her. I know you do. I could see it in the library that day. What’s wrong? Can’t get your own girl so you have to try and get mine? You have no right to her. She was mine before she even came here. Stupid girl. She should’ve stayed at home. I knew this college thing was a bad idea. Everything was fine until she got here. You have no right to her! You know that.”
“Derek, this has nothing to do with me.” It did, I supposed, but I didn’t want to add fuel to the fire.
“She broke up with me, you know. Just like that.”
“I know. I’m sorry,” I said.
He laughed. “Of course you know. And of course you’re not sorry. And I did nothing to deserve it. It’s not fair. She was my girlfriend, and I was in with her family. I was in! And now . . . now she’s gone. Why? Because of you, isn’t it?” he said and leaned forward.
I grimaced as he breathed over me. Whiskey mixed with something sweet. It made me want to throw up. I turned my head away.
“Derek, you’re drunk, and you’re not thinking clearly. You better leave me alone. You really don’t want to mess with me,” I said.
“Oh yeah? Or what?” he said and moved forward to punch me.
Derek was too drunk and too slow to aim correctly. I moved to the side as he swung at me, and watched as he fell straight to the floor. Despite being annoyed at him, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the guy as he lay there on the floor. It was a pitiful sight. I shook my head and leaned down to help him up, but instead of taking my help, he spat at me. Luckily he missed, and I watched as spit landed near my feet.
“What the hell, Derek? I was only trying to help you up. Why did you do that?”
“Because you deserved it. That’s why. You’ll see, you scumbag. I’ll get you back. I’ll get you all back. You’ll see. Just wait. I’ll get you back, and you will get what you deserve.” His words were slurring, and he continued to lie there with his head to the side. If he was trying to act menacing towards me, it really wasn’t working.
I walked away. If he didn’t want my help, then I wasn’t going to give it to him. I didn’t feel sorry for him any longer. Nobody had ever done that to me before. I walked back to my dorm, grateful that he hadn’t followed me and locked the door behind me. I then immediately grabbed my phone and called Candice to tell her what had happened.
“What? Are you serious?” she said. She groaned. “I’m so sorry, Dominic. He’s such an idiot. I had no idea he would do something like this. I don’t even know why he’s being this way. Like I said, the two of us haven’t been happy for a long time now. I think he’s more upset at being away from my father than he is from being away from me. I’m so sorry. He actually spat at you? That’s disgusting. Are you okay?”
“I’m okay. I just thought I should let you know, though. I didn’t want to keep it to myself. Just in case you hear it from someone else. Although, thankfully, there didn’t seem to be anyone around us.” We would’ve gathered a crowd for sure had someone walked past and seen us.
“I’m worried about him, Dominic. Or, more specifically, I’m worried about us. I just get a bad feeling about him. I’m not sure why. I’m so scared that he’s going to do something.”
“Does he have a history of violence?” I asked.
“Not that I know of. He’s really moody, but I’ve never seen him violent. I’m not sure if he’s got it in him to do something bad, but he might still cause trouble in another way. Just be careful.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I will be. But you must also be careful. I will make sure that he doesn’t do anything to hurt you. Just be on guard and call me if you hear from him. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s still passed out in the corridor. The guy reeked of alcohol.”
“I’m sorry for all the trouble, Nicky.”
I don’t think Candice realized how much I would do for her. “Don’t ever be sorry for something that Derek does. This has nothing to do with you.”
I put the phone down and thought about Derek. Was he the sort of guy that I should be worried about? Would he cause trouble for us? I tried to figure out if he was dangerous or whether he was just a guy that had his ego bruised. I couldn’t decide. There was something malicious about him, but I had no idea how far it ran. I decided to call Axel just in case. I explained the whole thing to him and told him that Derek had tried to take a shot at me.
“He missed, though.”
“He missed?”
“He was so drunk. He missed and fell right to the floor.”
Axel groaned. “Idiot. So, what are you going to do?”
“For now, I’m not going to do anything. There might be nothing to worry about, but just in case, I think it’s best to keep my guard up.”
I didn’t really want to tell anyone at the college about what had happened. The last thing I needed was for rumors to start flying and for things to get exaggerated. I also didn’t want everyone talking about Candice. It was hard enough that she had come in with such a target on her back. She was the new kid with a semi-famous father. She didn’t also need to be the girl that had started a feud between two guys. I wanted to keep her as protected as possible.
“Yeah, you better stay two steps ahead of him just in case.”
“That’s why I called you. I wanted you to know what was happening. If anything goes down, do you mind if I call you for back up?”
“Of course I don’t mind. Hopefully, it won’t come to that but just call me if you need help. Don’t let this idiot win!”
“I won’t,” I said.
“So, sounds like this girl must be something special. You wouldn’t go to all this trouble for just anyone. I thought you weren’t interested in dating right now. Isn’t that what you told me? That you just wanted to play football and study?” I could hear the teasing tone in his voice.
I laughed. “Well, it’s Candy, remember . . . she is someone special.”
“And hot,” he said.
“Well, yeah, that too.”
“Just be careful, Dom. This is the reason why I don’t get involved with girls. At least not in a serious way. They’re trouble, sometimes.”
I smiled as I thought about Candice and I in bed together that morning. “Yeah, but sometimes they are worth the trouble.”