Across The Hall (6 page)

thinking to pick up where you left off?” He was standing in front of me at the foot of the bed. He looked as if he were ready to pound the crap out of

me. I briefly thought I was going to have to use my hard-earned Tae Kwon Do skil s.

“We’re not gonna let you fuck with her again! You had your chance and blew it. Sylvia is the happiest I’ve ever seen her and you are not gonna do

anything to change that.” I didn’t understand why he was so upset.

“While I am happy that Sylvia has people who care about her, I don’t understand what you mean that she is the happiest you’ve ever seen her.”

“You should know exactly what I mean. You’re the one who did it to her.”

“I know I took her by surprise, and that she was hurt. But it didn’t take her long to move on,” I came back defensively. Who the hel was he to tel

me what happened between us?

Reed scoffed at me. “Didn’t take long? It only took her the better part of two years, and that was to just go out on a group date with us. It wasn’t

until last spring that she even dated a guy one on one, and that barely lasted a month. So yes, she did move on, final y.”

I stared at him blankly. “But I saw her over winter break our first year with another guy and she was pretty cozy with him. Maybe she didn’t date

because she already had a guy back home.”

Reed rol ed his eyes. “Tal guy with blond curly hair? Total farm boy look?” I nodded. So he did know. “That was Jason.”

“See, I told you. She moved on.” I thought I should feel better that I was right but hearing about Sylvia hurting just made me feel hol ow.

“Jason is her best friend.”

No, I was her best friend. But I guess I fucked that up too
.

“I guess it got so bad that her dad cal ed a friend of his for help and Jason came with and final y got Sylvia to start talking again. But then you

were the one who left, so why should you care?”

“I didn’t know.” I mumbled more to myself then Reed. I hurt her badly enough that she didn’t talk? I looked at him for answers. “What else? What

don’t I know?” I had lived with the assumption that she was fine and better off al these years now. And here this guy was tel ing me that it had taken

her years -- years -- to even go out with a guy.
Oh, Sylvia what did I do?

“Man, it’s not my place to tel you. I just want you to stay away from her.” He didn’t look as threatening anymore.

“Please I need to know,” I pleaded with him. I had to know the damage I’d caused. From the sound of it, the damage wasn’t just to myself.

He must have seen the desperation in my eyes, because he let out a frustrated sigh. “We al met Sylvia our first year here. She lived next door to

Kerri and Kai in the dorms. Kai made friends with her first, and gradual y we al got to know her. At first we only ever saw her walking to and from

class. She was like a ghost. Sometimes she joined us for supper. She was a mess of a girl. She was always sad, never real y talked; she spent

most of the first year alone in her room. After that first summer, she came back a little livelier. She was stil sad but she didn’t seem like she was

barely holding on anymore. Sloane thought maybe over the summer she’d started on antidepressants. Even if that was the case, they didn’t

completely work. She stil holed up in her room more often than not. But she also went home more on weekends and would come back a little better

each time. Final y that spring, Jason came up to tour the campus and we al got to meet him and see how normal Sylvia was around him, almost

happy even.”

My head snapped up. “You said Jason wasn’t her boyfriend.” I was confused. If he made her happy, why wasn’t he?

“Oh it wasn’t for lack of trying on Jase’s part. Poor kid had it bad for her. No, Sylvia only ever looked at him as a friend. I think the first few dates

she did agree to were just to discourage him. After he started school here that fal Sylvia wasn’t a zombie anymore. Now she laughs and goes out

and has a good time. She’s alive.” He tilted his chin appraising me but stil warned me, “You are not going to ruin that.”

“You’re right. I’m not.” I wanted him to know that I wasn’t here to cause trouble, that real y it was al just a coincidence. “I didn’t know she was here.

I mean I knew she was going to go to U of M, but I thought she would be done by now. Hel , when my parents moved I thought I would never see her

again.”

He stil looked at me with distrust. “Then why was that picture of her out?”

I ran my hand through my hair pul ing at it, not wanting to admit that I’d spent a chunk of last night reminiscing about her. “It must have fal en out of

a box or something. Before you picked it up I hadn’t seen it in years.” At least that was true. I didn’t see that one last night. “I’m not going to do

anything. Real y. I’m just here for med school. That is my top priority. In fact after last night, I see that she has priorities of her own.” The last bit came

out harsher than I would have liked.

“What the fuck does that mean?” He bristled up at me again.

Great, what the fuck did I say wrong now? “Just that when I came home from the grocery store, I saw a guy outside her door being very...
friendly

with someone. I didn’t see who the girl was.”
Please tell me she has a roommate
, my heart pleaded, not ready to give up.

Reed just laughed loudly and slapped me on the back. “Yeah, that sounds about like our girl now. It may have taken her awhile to date again, but

she’s more than made up for that now.” I didn’t think I even wanted to know what that was supposed to mean. Reed was stil laughing as he headed

back out the door. “Come on. Let’s go play bal .” Looks like he’s going to let me off the hook.

I shook my head. It was a lot to digest. Sylvia was here across the hal . She hadn’t moved on like I thought, but now she had a new life, apparently

one that had no place for me. “I’l be there in a minute. I just need to get ready.” I cal ed out after him.

Reed must have been looking through the box labeled “games and movies” as I got ready, because every once in awhile he’d shout out

something like, “Sweet, I wanted to play this one” and “I wil so kick your ass at Halo” and “I haven’t seen this one forever.”

“Do you always open other people’s unopened boxes?” I joked with him as I came into the living room.

“Yeah, if I think I might find porn in it. I mean it’s labeled ‘games and movies.’ How could I not look through it?” He was grinning at me again.

I stil had something I wanted to say to him about Sylvia, but I wasn’t sure how he was going to react to it. I finished tying my shoes and let out the

breath I was holding. “Reed? Can we keep this about Sylvia between us?” I motioned back and forth between us with my hands and then pul ed my

hair back off my forehead, combing my fingers through it. “I don’t want everyone making a big deal of it. It was a long time ago and both of us are

done with it. So can we just let it drop?”

“They’re gonna find out. I mean Sylvia’s gonna eventual y see you, and I’m not sure how she’s going to react.” He had a point there.

“Wel , let’s just let them figure it out. I’l deal with it when they do. For now, I’l just keep a low profile until we figure out how to let her know I’m here.”

“I don’t know man. Kai is going to figure it out and if you think I was hard on you, it’s nothing compared to the wrath of Kai-ying and Kerri. Alone,

they are scary. Together...” he just shook his head. “I think maybe we should tel Sloane. He’l know what to do. He’s better with this shit than I am. If

nothing else, he’l at least help keep Kai in check.” We were moving towards the door when he added with an ominous grin, “Stil , if you do anything

to make her sad again, I won’t hesitate to let Kai rip your head off.”

I gulped, and wondered just what kind of girl this Kai was.

This couldn’t possibly be the terror both Reed and Sloane threatened me with. Kai was mesmerizing. How one so little could be so big

in...everything...was fascinating to see. She was very pleasant, overly curious, and very hyper, but stil charming. I could see that she was a firebal .

She, for lack of better description, danced around the room as she talked to us. She reminded me of a humming bird, bright and colorful and

constantly moving. Sometimes I wasn’t sure which moved faster: her mouth, her feet, or her hands. She asked question after question. I looked to

Sloane and Reed, and they just flashed knowing smirks back at me. Final y, Reed saved me.

“Kai, I think Quinn was stil planning on unpacking in this century.”

“Oh. So you need any help? We can al come and help you get settled into your place. Sylvia worked this...” I didn’t hear anything else. I had to

find a way out of meeting Sylvia for now.

I quickly jumped in. “I have to go home later this afternoon. I promised my mom I would come for supper.” Thank God, they live in the same city. “I

was just going to go up to shower and change and then take off.” I glanced quickly at Sloane and he nodded.

“Okay. Wel , then I guess we’l see you later,” she said with a slight pout.

“It was nice meeting you, Kai. Reed, Sloane. Thanks for the game.” I added with a wave, “I’l see you around sometime this week.” I left, going

back up to my place. I didn’t real y want to go home, but I was going to now. I couldn’t stay here on the off chance that Kai found out and showed up

with Sylvia. Sloane agreed that we should avoid it for now. He’d feel her out on how she would react to seeing me again, and how best to approach

her.

Sloane was an interesting guy. He was fairly quiet, and even though he was defensive about Sylvia he was stil insightful when we explained the

situation to him. This was amazing, considering Reed’s tact. While we were walking to the basketbal courts, Reed had said, “So I met the asshole

who broke Sylvia’s heart.”

Sloane gave him a dirty look and motioned over to me. “Oh, don’t worry. Quinn here knows al about it.”

Sloane glanced up at me curiously. “Do you know him?” Reed just laughed, and it dawned on Sloane that it was me. First he gave me a heated

look, but he looked over at Reed in confusion as to why he was laughing. “What the hel is so funny about this, Reed? Nothing was funny about

Sylvia when we first met her,” Sloane chastised him while stil flashing angry glances at me.

“It’s alright Sloane. I gave him the riot act this morning when I found out. But he has a side, too. I think you should hear it.”

Sloane looked expectantly at me, his green eyes dril ing into me, waiting for me to speak. I wasn’t sure what to say. I was the asshole who broke

it off and left. I’m the one who didn’t answer her cal s and left for a month after I did it, choosing to hide with my grandparents rather than crawl to

Sylvia on my knees, begging her to take me back. Sloane looked as if he could feel the guilt rol ing off me, so I figured I would tel it as honestly as I

could.

“Since you know about the break up then I assume you know about her and I dating since our freshman year in high school. When it came time for

col ege I broke it off. I was heading to Princeton and she needed to go here. I didn’t want to deal with a long distance relationship and the inevitable

breakup that would ensue. We would have enough pressure with classes and being away from home. We didn’t need the added pressure of a

crumbling relationship. I ended it when we could both have the summer to get over it.” That was the excuse I had been using, since I could never tel

anyone the real truth.

“So what?” he was just as pissed as Reed but in a quiet, menacing tone. “Now that you’re in the same city, you want to start it up again?” As if it

was that simple.

“No. She seems to be doing fine on her own now.” I thought bitterly of the image in the hal way. “I didn’t even know she was stil here. I just came

for med school.” I wondered how many times I was going to have to say this. “Honestly, my mom picked out my apartment. My parents left Quarry

Springs over three years ago and I doubt my mom even thought about Sylvia when she looked for my place.”

Sloane was stil looking incredulously at me, so I continued. “Until this morning when Reed told me about her, I didn’t know how badly it had

affected her. I don’t know how I would have reacted if I did. I do know that I never intended for it to be like that.” Sloane was starting to relax, so I kept

up the reassurance. “Real y. I don’t want to hurt her. I wil do whatever it takes to make this easier for her. Reed said you could help with that.” He

looked over at Reed, so I did too.

“Sloane, I believe him. Plus, we’re here now if he does try anything with Sylvia. We can deal with that if it happens. Right now, we need to figure

out how Sylvia is going to take this.” Reed said this seriously, and I was beginning to see that he didn’t take much seriously. Sloane responded to

that with a snort, but then took a deep breath.

“Wel , just know that if you screw this up and hurt her, you wil not only have to face Reed and me, but Kai wil ...wel , I’m not certain what she wil

do. But it won’t be good.”

Reed laughed again and I was a little worried.

We played bal then as we discussed possible ways for Sylvia to find out. I sucked at basketbal and only agreed to play because I wanted to get

to know them. It looked as if I was going to need their help. It wasn’t an overly sunny day, but it was very muggy. Between the humidity and

discussion of Sylvia I was ready to be done way before either of them. Final y, we cal ed it quits and headed back to the apartment. We stil didn’t

have a definite plan, but Sloane said not to worry about it. If I kept a low profile he’d figure something out.