Empty Me Out (The Liquid Series, #1)

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The spring semester had been in full swing for a little over three weeks, and I was already burnt out. My business courses were a real killer and I was struggling to keep up with the workload. As a result, I was spending more and more time holed up in my room surrounded by textbooks, flashcards and piles of notes, trying to make heads or tails of it all.

I felt like a hermit, and I missed my friends something fierce. Dealing with a sense of isolation and loneliness was an unfortunate side-effect of my live-at-home college arrangement. When threatening to overwhelm me, I combated those feelings by staying connected to my friends in various ways. Skyping, texting, and good old-fashioned phone chats kept me from being an island unto myself. Spending as much time as possible with my mom even though she worked a lot helped too.

I also stayed occupied with favorite hobbies—or, in the case of scrapbooking, favorite obsessions—to keep my mind focused on something other than Mark. Remaining busy proved to be the most therapeutic way to move the energy of my thoughts away from his radio silence since our near-perfect date. No phone call. No text message. Nada. It absolutely pissed me off, but I sure as hell wasn't going to waste any more brain cells worrying about it. It didn't matter—I barely knew the guy anyway. At least, that's what I kept telling myself.

A knock at my bedroom door jolted me out of the doldrums. "Come on in," I said, flipping my opened Principles of Marketing textbook over and setting it face-down on the bed to mark my place. The door creaked as it swung open, revealing my mom still dressed in her business attire, fresh from the small, private law firm at which she was a paralegal. Entering my room, her heels clip-clopped across the hardwood floor. Her two-piece lavender pants-suit brought out the silver flecks dispersed throughout her short, dark hair. Hazel eyes resembling mine gazed upon me with affection as she sat down on the bed beside me, my cell phone in her hand.

"Oh, you poor baby. You've been working so hard," she remarked while observing the mess of books and papers strewn all over my yellow and white striped, down comforter. Leaning over, she kissed my forehead. "You look tired. Why don't you take a break, and I'll make you something to eat."

"Yeah, mom, that would be great. Thanks," I said. She always seemed to know just what I needed, and I loved her for it.

Mom smiled warmly at me, happy to do her part in easing a little of my stress. "Grilled cheese and tomato soup sound good?"

"Perfect," I agreed, returning her smile.

Standing up to leave, she hesitated, remembering her other reason for the visit. "Here." Extending her hand to me, she continued, "You left your phone downstairs and it's been ringing like crazy. Sounds like someone's trying to track you down." She placed the phone in my open palm before retreating downstairs to prepare my night-time snack.

I glanced down at the screen to notice three missed calls from Calista, plus her text message:

Where the hell are you?!! You need to call me ASAP!

Wondering what could be so urgent, I immediately dialed Cali's number. "Oh my God, Kelsey," she answered on the first ring. "I've been waiting forever for you to call!" Her shriek made me hold the phone away from my ear. I could hear a throng of loud voices coupled with the pulse of bump-n-grind music in the background.

"What's the matter? Are you okay?" I asked, suddenly panicking and hoping she wasn't in any kind of trouble. I glanced at my clock on the nightstand—just after 8:30 PM.

"I'm completely fine, Kels," she said, but the inflection in her voice was peculiar and hard to read. A long pause rang out as I waited for her to elaborate. Soon, the background noise grew muffled as faint sounds from another conversation came through the muted connection. Obviously, she was talking to someone and didn't want me to hear what was being said.