Boring, safe broken hearted, veterinarian, hermit

Charlotte

I was right, so right. Beau was the worst kind of player, the charming do-gooder kind who made you believe without a shadow of a doubt that he cares when he doesn’t.

He may have stuck his neck out to help my family find a home but he did it to crash my gate. Stupid me thought he was the one, he felt like the one but that’s because he is a professional player and that’s what he wanted me to feel.

Proof positive; his ex, whatever she is, that he built a house on his land for answered his phone when I called. Part of me called him to make it clear that I didn’t want him to come here after I read his text. That was strength talking and strength is smart.

Another part called him because I want him to come here, god I do. But that was weakness talking and when Carmen answered his phone for him, weakness shut the hell up.

Now I have to figure out where I’m going to stay while he “waits for as long as it takes” to talk to me because I am not talking to him. It was crazy difficult to ignore his phone calls and text messages, it was even hard to ignore his emails. But I managed it by filling every second of my time studying and working at the clinic.

Seeing Beau in person would be infinitely more difficult, and I know that stupid bitch, weakness, would show her face and that would be that.

No, I cannot, will not, see Beau in person. I pick up my phone and dial the only person I’ve allowed to penetrate my troll like existence over the past four years, Mitch Mason.

Mitch is an animal loving computer nerd who works with me at the vet clinic. He’s two years behind me in school but he’s a genius and doesn’t have to work for his 4.0 GPA, at all.

He is also not the kind of person I would have given the time of day to in high school, which made him the perfect person to give the time of day to in college.

I live in an apartment complex off campus, way off campus, because it’s cheap. Mitch’s family is wealthy beyond belief and he lives in a beautiful house very close to school so he doesn’t have to bother with a car. I’ve studied at his place before, or more like, I’ve been tutored by Mitch at his place before so I know he has extra bedrooms sitting empty.

Now, Mitch is the kind of guy who is smart and wealthy but he is socially awkward and I am about to take advantage of that and ask him to let me stay in one of his empty rooms. He won’t say no because I’m pretty, and as socially awkward as he is, he would like people to think that he isn’t, and having me stay with him will do wonders for his reputation.

He answers my call on the first ring, “Hey, Mitch.”

“Hi Charlotte, why are you calling me?” See? Socially awkward.

“I need a favor.”

“Um, uh, okay, tutoring again?”

“No, this doesn’t have anything to do with school. My apartment is being exterminated over the next couple of days and I need a place to stay. Can I crash with you?”

“Exterminated for what?”

Shit, I didn’t count on him asking any questions, but I guess I wouldn’t want anyone bringing unwelcome critters into my beautiful house while their place was being exterminated either.

“It’s preventive, you know, the landlord wants to make sure we don’t have a breakout of something.” A breakout of something, that was stupid, sounds like everyone in my complex is going to get acne.

“Preventive. A breakout?”

“Yeah, it’s stupid I know but I don’t have any place to go. Is it okay to stay with you?” I say in a rush trying to make him forget the stupid exterminator story.

“Yes.” And that’s Mitch, a man of few words.

“Are you home now?”

“Yes.”

“I have to go to the library for a while, can I come over around six?”

“Yes.”

I chuckle, I don’t know if he’s in shock, distracted or still thinking about bugs but he isn’t adding to the conversation or elaborating so I tell him goodbye. I grab my backpack and my overnight bag and make sure to lock my door so no manipulative, playboy, womanizing man named Beau Hill can come in and wait for my return.

On my way to the library I stop and get a snickers candy bar and a bottle of water to smuggle in. I’m running low on cash after paying for my flight home and back so peanuts are my protein, chocolate is my sugar and water is my hydration.

I wonder how long a person could exist on snickers and water? A long ass time I imagine and that’s good because I still have seven weeks of school left and I’m broke.

Later when I’m lying in bed in one of Mitch’s guest bedrooms staring out the window at the full moon I have second thoughts about hiding out. If Beau is a player, and he is, and he only helped my family to get into my pants, which he did, why would he fly all the way to Iowa to see me?

I hold up my phone and scroll through our text messages from earlier today and deduce that he was probably bluffing to get me to take his calls. He just wants to touch base, make sure things are okay between us so he will get his full time veterinarian and fuck buddy when I graduate.

Well he can suck it. I’m not going home to Montana; Iowa is home for me now. I already accepted the full time veterinarian position the clinic offered me. I start when I graduate and pass the NAVLE. (North American Veterinary License Exam)

I haven’t told mom and dad about that yet. They will be disappointed that I’m not coming home, but there isn’t anything there for me anymore. I don’t know what they have planned for the future but it’s not running our family ranch. It’s gone and I sure as hell am not working for Beau at the Whiskey Hill Ranch and there is no way I’m living in his house. Ever.

With that solid in my mind I turn over and erase Beau from my phone, his number, his text messages, my text messages, pictures of him, everything. We are done and there is no sense holding onto the lie that was our relationship.

I’m going back home tomorrow, staying with Mitch is weirder than I expected. And anyway, there’s no way Beau was actually going to fly to Iowa and camp out in front of my apartment until I came home. Even considering it was absurd, that would mean he cared and he doesn’t.

I’ll walk to class from Mitch’s and grab a bus home later tomorrow afternoon. Then I will resume living my life the way I have for the past four years and the way I will be for the unforeseeable future as a boring, safe, broken hearted, veterinarian hermit.