The Truth About Ever After (31 page)

“Kiki,”
he said warmly. “It’s good to see you.”

I
immediately felt taken aback.
Since when was Eric Thompson
polite to me?
Granted, I hadn’t seen him since that night we had gone
out drinking with his brother and ended up eating pancakes at four in the
morning, but I had thought he was too
far gone
to even
remember that.

“You
too,” I said, trying to ignore the way his eyes seemed to be flicking across my
face and down my dress, as if he were taking me in. It made me feel all
fluttery and uncomfortable. “I’m surprised to see you here,” I said, trying to
control my body’s reaction to him. Why was my heart still beating so fast?

“Why?”

“Well,
I didn’t really think sorority parties were your thing.” I know my voice
sounded sarcastic, but I couldn’t help it. I could still feel the sting of his
words that night he had talked about me in the restaurant.

But
Eric merely laughed. “They usually aren’t,” he said, meeting my eyes. “But I
heard this one was going to be good.”

Something
about the intensity in his eyes made my stomach flip, and I looked away before
I lost my head. What I saw made my heart drop.

Andrew
was here. He had just walked in with a group of friends, all dressed in white
suits.
Tacky
, I thought meanly,
then
promptly felt bad. Surely I could be the bigger person
here, right?

“The
truth is, I
kinda
had to finagle an invite,” Eric was
saying, but I barely heard him. All I could think about was Andrew.

“Excuse
me,” I said suddenly, cutting Eric off. “I’m sorry, I see an old friend I have
to say hi to.”

His
face seemed to drop, and I felt a flash of guilt. “I’ll talk to you later,
okay?”

I
pushed past Eric and headed over to where Andrew stood, drinking a beer from a
real glass (no red plastic at this party).

“Hi,”
I breathed, feeling very nervous. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

Andrew blinked rapidly, clearly
uncomfortable.
“Uh,
hey, Kiki,” he said, not meeting my eyes.

“How
are you?” I asked, wondering what was wrong with him. He was the one that had
dumped me, for God’s sake; what right did he have to be so awkward?

“Fine,
fine,” he said, looking anywhere but at me. When he didn’t say anything else, I
felt my temper rise.

“Look,
things don’t have to be weird between us, right? Can’t we be friends?”

He
looked down at me, his eyes suddenly flashing. “Friends, huh? Friends, that’s
nice. You know, I would think that friends would tell each other stuff, you
know? And not put them at risk.”

I
stared at him. “What in the hell are you talking about?”

His
mouth turned up into a sneer. “Like you don’t know,” he said. “Well, I do know,
okay? Someone told me. And I don’t appreciate it, not at all.” And with that he
stomped off, leaving me feeling confused and strangely scared. What was that
all about? As I turned to find Kara, I caught sight of Eric again, standing on
the other side of the room, watching me.

***

“I
have news, and you’re not
gonna
like it much,” Kara said, grabbing my arm and pulling me into the laundry room.
It was about an hour after my encounter with Andrew and I still had no idea
what his problem was. Furthermore, I was starting to notice that other people
at the party were looking at me, some even
pointing
and laughing.

“What?”
I asked, feeling nervous. Somehow I just knew that these things were connected.

“Apparently
someone told Andrew that you… that you have…” Kara looked embarrassed.

“Kara,
tell me!”

“Someone
told Andrew that you have chlamydia.”

I
felt the color drain from my face. “Oh, my God,” I whispered. “No wonder he was
so weird.” I gasped. “Wait, was this before or after he dumped me?” She didn’t
answer, but her face told me everything I needed to know. “That’s why, isn’t it?
He dumped me because he thought I had an STD.”

Kara
just looked at me, clearly miserable.

“Any
idea
who
it might have been?”

When
she still didn’t say anything, the pieces fit together. I should have known
Sarah was involved the second
Kar
opened her mouth. I
turned on my heel and Kara grabbed my arm.

“What
are you going to do?”

“I’m
going to ask her what the hell her problem is!” Kara gasped, and I gave her a
withering look. “Come on, Kara. We’re not thirteen anymore. We don’t need to be
afraid of her.”

Kara
didn’t say anything, but she did follow me out of the laundry room. I found
Sarah in the kitchen, pouring champagne with Beth. “Sarah? Can I talk to you?”

She
turned to face me, gracing me with her bright, beautiful smile. “Kiki, you look
totally hot tonight!”

I
was pretty sure Beth snorted quietly, but I ignored her. I had bigger fish to
fry.

“Did
you, by chance, tell Andrew a rumor about me?”

Sarah
looked at me, a puzzled expression on her face. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“I
mean, my ex-boyfriend suddenly thinks I have an STD.” Beth slapped a hand over
her mouth to cover her outburst of giggles. “Could that have possibly come from
you?”

“Sweetie!”
Sarah said, reaching out to grab my hand. “That was just a joke. Oh, my God, I’d
forgotten all about it! It was totally no big deal, and Andrew totally knew I
was teasing.”

“No,
I don’t think he did.”

Her
eyes grew wide. “Is he mad at you? Oh, sweetie, you don’t think this is why he
dumped you? What a horrible bastard. You would think if the two of you were as
close as you thought, he would have just asked you about it, instead of dumping
you.”

I
stared at her. How had she managed to turn this around to make it my fault?
“Sarah, I don’t think telling people that I have an STD is much of a joke.”

She
rolled her eyes. “I’m so sorry if I offended you,
Kiks
,”
she said, her voice growing sarcastic. “I had no idea you were so sensitive. If
you want, I’ll go around and tell everyone here that you’re as clean as the
white snow, okay?”

She
turned away from me, effectively dismissing me and making me feel like I was
the one who was wrong. Feeling numb, I turned to leave the kitchen, but not
before I heard Sarah mutter, “I better get a deposit. You know her daddy has
paid good money for that kind of cover-up before.”

As
Beth dissolved into giggles, I hurried from the kitchen, feeling like I was
going to faint, or throw up, or both. All I wanted was to get up to my bedroom
so I could take off this stupid dress and cry myself to sleep.

“Kiki!”
I groaned as I heard Eric Thompson call my name. Maybe I could pretend I hadn’t
heard him.

No
luck. “Kiki!” Eric called again, this time grabbing my arm. He spun me around
so I was facing him. “Jesus, I heard that. Are you okay?”

Before
I could respond, I felt someone else tugging at my other hand. Oh, why couldn’t
everyone just leave me alone?

“Kiki,
Tina locked herself in the bathroom!” It was my sorority sister
Krissy
, wiping away worried tears while very much enjoying
the drama that Tina always seemed to provide. “She’s had so much to drink, and
she won’t let me in. I don’t know what to do!”

I
sighed and turned back to Eric. “I have to deal with this,” I told him. He
looked like he wanted to protest, but I had already moved away, following
Krissy
down the hallway. “She’s going to be fine,” I
soothed. “You know she does this at every party. Let me guess, she was fighting
with John again?”

By
the time I had finally gotten Tina to open the door (using a combination of
threats and bribery), I was desperate to escape. Making my way back out to the
party, I was determined not to talk to anyone. All I wanted to do was get
upstairs to find my coat so I could go back to my dorm.

But
my way to the stairs was blocked. Andrew was standing there, a happily dazed
look on his face, as Sarah clutched his arm and whispered something in his ear.
Of course
, I realized, feeling more
weary than angry. She wanted him for herself.
Makes perfect sense now.

Deciding
I could do without my coat, I turned in the opposite direction, pushing through
the party guests until I was finally outside. The cold, clear air felt
soothing. Suddenly, I knew I would never make it home. I sank down onto one of
the stone benches circling our lawn, and let the tears come at last.

“Hey,”
a quiet voice behind me said. I didn’t even have to turn around; I knew it was
Eric Thompson.

“I’m
kind of having a crappy night,” I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking. “Do
you think we could talk later?”

To
my surprise, Eric did not go inside. Instead, he came and sat next to me. “I
know you’re having a bad night; that’s why I came out. I was watching you in
there.”

“You
saw all that?” I asked, feeling my embarrassment grow.

“You
mean did I see that girl be a complete bitch to you? Yeah, I saw that. Kiki,
why didn’t you go off on her? She deserved to have her ass kicked!”

I
shrugged. “She’s an old friend,” I said, feeling tired.

Eric
snorted. “Nice friend.” He must have seen that I was shivering, because he took
his suit coat off and covered my shoulders with it. “Better?” he asked.

Something
about the kindness, the basic decency of that gesture, sent me over the edge,
and I was sobbing afresh.

“Kiki,”
he said softly, wrapping his arm around me.

“Please
don’t be so nice,” I gasped through my tears. “I know you don’t like me. I
don’t want to cry in front of you.”

“What
makes you think I don’t like you?” he asked, sounding surprised.

“I
heard what you said to Matt that night we met,” I gulped. “You think I’m a
spoiled rich girl. A stupid, silly ditz.”

“No,”
he said firmly. “I don’t think that at all.
Not at all.
If I ever thought that, it’s because I didn’t know you.”

“Oh,
and you know me now?”

“I
know enough.” I looked up at him, confused. He went on. “I know that when my
brother got his heart broken you drove two hours to be with him while he got
drunk. And I know that you spend half your free time joining clubs and
organizations, trying to make things better for people.” He smiled sheepishly.
“I may or may not have spent some time watching you at the student center.” His
face grew more serious. “I know that you’re strong enough to keep your shit
together even when people treat you like garbage. And that even when you feel
like breaking down, you’ll still stop what you’re doing to help a friend when
they need you.”

I
just stared at him. Who on earth would have thought that Eric Thompson even
noticed me, let alone spent this much time thinking about me?

“I
think you’re actually pretty special, Kiki Barker,” he said, his voice low.
“You just… you blow me away, if you want to know the truth.”

“Wow,”
I finally whispered. “And here I was thinking you were a stuck-up jerk.”

Eric
threw his head back and laughed, a deep, rumbling laugh. I liked the sound of
it.

“How
do you feel?” he asked, suddenly pulling himself together so he could peer down
at me in the darkness. “Do you still feel sad?”

“A
little,” I said, shrugging. “To be honest, I’m a little used to it. People
treat me like that a lot.” His face grew angry, and I shrugged in response to
his unspoken question. “Because of who my dad is, I guess. They think I deserve
it, because of the money thing.”

“Well,
they’re assholes then,” he said firmly. “You’re much better then that, you
know. Much better.”

I
smiled at him in the darkness. I had tried to tell myself that before, my
parents had told me, even Kara and I tried to convince each other that it was
true. But somehow, coming from Eric Thompson, I actually believed it.

Suddenly
he stood. “Come on,” he said, holding out his hand. I took it without question;
it felt like the most natural thing in the world. He pulled me to my feet, not
letting go of my hand as he led me across the grass.

“Where
are we going?”

“First
we’re going to find some food, and then we’re going back to my house to hang
out with some decent people.”

“Won’t
they think I look stupid in this dress?” I asked.

Eric
shook his head. “Nope. And even if they do, who cares?” Suddenly he stopped and
turned to face me. “
I
think you look
gorgeous in that dress,” he said, staring at my face. “I wanted to say so as
soon as I saw you.”

I
felt my stomach flip at his words, at the look in his eyes. Suddenly, he broke
out into a grin. “Come on. Let’s get the hell out of here.”