“Are you okay?” I asked her as she slid from the chair into my front seat.

She nodded weakly.

I pulled away from the curb with anxiety aggravating my belly.

I had accomplished what I set out to do, and now I needed to get Jessica as far away from me as possible. She made me feel guilt, a luxury I couldn’t afford while trying to steal Caleb.

I put the radio on as we eased onto the highway. Jessica spent most of the ride home gazing again out of the window. A part of me wanted to ask what she was feeling, if she was sad or relieved. But the part of me that wanted Caleb, kept my tongue glued to the roof of my mouth. This was business, I reminded myself. I wasn’t here to make a friend.

When the grey rooftops of the campus came into view, we both breathed a sigh of relief.  I parked my car in front of the building and jumped out to open her door.

“Do you need me to help you to your room?”

She shook her head “no” and winced as I helped her from her seat. She was pale and her usually full lips looked limp and timid beneath her running nose. Not the Jessica Alexander that was featured in the school paper less than two months ago. Even her hair was dull and lifeless, hanging in greasy chunks around her face.

She hugged me before shuffling off toward the elevators. I watched her jab at the button, leaning limply against the wall, hugging her arms around her torso. When the elevator finally arrived, she turned one last time to wave weakly at me before climbing in and disappearing behind the doors. I slumped against my car suddenly feeling exhausted.  I decided not to go back to my room. Cammie would be there and when it came to me, she was terribly perceptive. I drove, instead, to a breakfast place a few miles away and seated myself at the bar with a newspaper someone had left discarded outside.

The cover story was on Laura Hilberson and the lack of leads in her case. The detective handling the case was speculating that Laura’s disappearance might not have been an abduction and that all evidence was pointing to Laura having purposely disappeared.  Her distraught parents were begging someone to come forward with information.

I wished that I had paid better attention to the girl when she shared classes with me. Those were my pre-Caleb days, when I hadn’t cared a thing about who he was dating and why. She didn’t seem like the type of girl who would want to disappear. She was popular and perky, a communications major, according to the paper, who had aspirations of becoming a news anchor. I stared at the grainy picture of her and tried to imagine her sitting behind the anchor desk of the six o’clock news. Now she was on the six o’clock news. I felt sad for her, wherever she was. Something had gone terribly wrong, kidnapped or not, and now it was likely that Laura would never see her dreams come to fruition.

I thought about my own dreams as I bit into my bagel. I wanted to be an attorney and put bad people in prison. Now, I was the bad person because I was plotting and scheming for a stupid boy. I hadn’t even thought about my dreams lately. It was like Caleb had rooted out my ambition and replaced it with a lusty obsession. God, I was really going downhill. I finished up my coffee and tossed money on the counter. If this obsession was draining my ambition now, what would happen if I actually got him? Would I be so enraptured with Caleb that I would be satisfied with being his girlfriend and nothing else? That would mean following in my mother’s footsteps and she had warned me against falling for a man before accomplishing my dreams.

I was halfway to convincing myself to forsake my Caleb obsession when I arrived back on campus. I parked my car in the student overflow lot and trotted toward my dorm building feeling resolved. I needed to stop this foolishness now before I ruined everything I was working for. As I climbed the stairs, I heard voices echoing from the third floor landing. I slowed when I realized that one of them was Jessica‘s. She was cooing, talking in that sweet, girly voice that advanced flirters used to charm men. I walked slowly trying to catch as much of what she was saying as I could.

“Not today. I have my…you know…”

I climbed the last few stairs and turned the corner. Jessica was on her tip toes with her arms wrapped around Caleb’s neck. They were nose to nose and he was looking down at her adoringly. I stopped abruptly and they both turned to look at me.

“Olivia!” she said sounding embarrassed. “Hi.”

“Hi,” I said looking at Caleb. He looked right through me—like I wasn’t even there. He turned back to face Jessica. Ouch. Jessica was freshly showered with her hair wet and pulled back in a bun. She looked significantly more polished than when I had left her hours ago. It dawned on me then. Caleb must have hinted at sex. Jessica, who had received strict instruction to abstain from hanky-panky for the next fourteen days, was trying to deter him with a story about her period.

I shuffled my feet embarrassingly.  Her face was red and she was looking at me pointedly.

 “Um…” I pointed to the door, which they were blocking and raised my eyebrows to demonstrate my annoyance.

“Oh, sorry.” Jessica giggled and pulled Caleb out of the way. She made sure to wink at me as I squeezed past and I made sure to brush Caleb’s back with my arm. He jerked away from my touch and I smiled in satisfaction.

Jackass.

I walked quickly to my room with the faint stirrings of anger beginning to rise in my chest. How could she be all over him like that, after what she’d just done? I jabbed my key into the lock and turned it so hard the tips of my fingers hurt from the force. Hours after aborting her baby and she’s already wrapped around him like string cheese. She was an idiot and I had to have him—simple as that. I would learn to balance him with my ambition. I could have both and I would. I burst through my door with determination and told Cammie to shut up before she had the chance to open her mouth. I threw myself on my bed and pretended to read a textbook. By the end of the week, Jessica and Caleb’s relationship would be in tatters and I would have my second chance.

Chapter Eight

The Present

“Olivia? Will you come?”  Caleb’s voice hangs on the other end of the line, waiting for my response. I sigh, looking around my apartment and plucking at my sweater. He wants me to come over for dinner and I feel like that would really be crossing the line. It’s not like I am virgin to crossing lines but I am trying to be a decent person. If I can keep things away from his personal life then I can make-believe that he is instigating the whole shebang.

“Seriously, Caleb, I don’t think it’s a good idea.  Your girlfriend would have a breakdown if she found out. Why can’t we meet at a restaurant or something?”

“My cooking is better than any restaurant you’ve ever been to. Besides there’s more chance of her spotting us out at a restaurant than at my place.”

Unless she’s stalking you like the last time….I think bitterly.

“She didn’t have much of a problem finding my apartment,” I say sourly. “Besides, I barely know you. How prudent would it be for me to show up to a stranger’s house for dinner? You could be a rapist for all I know.”

“Olivia, you’ve already had me over to your place and survived. I’ll open a bottle of wine…it‘ll be fun.”

“I’m not really a fun loving person.”

“It will be dangerous.”

I smile.

“I only drink red wine.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And make sure she doesn’t show up this time.”

Caleb laughs. “Really? I thought it would be nice if she came.”