The More We Know

Part Four

I rolled up to the curb outside Aubrey's dorm ten minutes early, having no problem with parking in the fire lane. My stomach felt like a family of angry chimpanzees were tearing it apart from the inside out. My palms were wet, long surpassing the clammy stage. I was jittery, anxious, expectant, and about ready to burst from the cacophony of emotions eating me from the inside out. Basically, I felt like a virgin on prom night. Walking down the hotel hall.

I reached for the door handle, ready to launch myself inside with all the smooth, suffocating swagger of which I knew I was capable. My fingers hadn’t even wrapped around the handle when the door thrust open, slowing only after it collided with my face. I was pretty sure the sound I emitted sounded anything but smooth. Or manly.

“Jahar?” a familiar, voice shrieked. “Oh my goodness. Are you all right?” Aubrey squeezed up against me, running her hands over my face, knowing something should be broken or gushing. Other than my ego, everything was just as intact as it had been two seconds ago.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” I reassured her, taking a step back and smiling with exaggeration so she could see we didn’t need to spend our first date in the waiting room of minor emergency. “However, if you promise to run your hands all over me like a nun who’s fallen off the wagon every time I get hurt, I’ll be faceplanting into every door I pass.”

Her lines of concern drew tighter into an expression of amused accusation. “You’re early,” she said at last.

“And unless you were running away from Ty, you’re early too.”

Shrugging, she mimicked my expression.

“I wasn’t sure if you were going to show. Especially since the warmest interaction I had with you this week was the cold shoulder,” I said in a teasing tone, although I wasn’t really.

Ty made it to class Wednesday and Friday and, with his presence, caused Aubrey's absence. She was there physically, but not in spirit, I guess you could say. She hadn’t said a word to me, in fact, she hadn’t even acknowledged me.

I wanted to ask her if this shell of Aubrey had been created because of something I’d done or because of something Ty had done, but since she wouldn’t even spare a sideways glance my way, I lulled myself to sleep analyzing the hell out of that puzzle.

“Yeah, about that,” she said, her eyes drifting to the side. “I’m sorry I ignored you all week. It’s not that I wanted to, but Ty—” she caught herself, but I didn’t need her to elaborate. The question mark that was Ty was a one word answer. “It’s just that . . . it’s, it’s . . . it’s complicated,” she finished, looking like she’d just had a molar removed without Novacain.

“Uncomplicate it then,” I said, once her eyes drifted back to mine and I was able to talk. The force of tongue-tying was strong with this one.

Her eyes rolled, but the corners of her mouth soften as she glanced down at the bouquet spilling out of my arms. A smile that was too personal to be interpreted spread as I handed them to her. “I’ve never had a guy bring me flowers before.”

“You’re kidding me, right?” I said, not able to comprehend that Ty was an even bigger loser than I’d thought.

She shook her head. “Nope, you’re the first. Besides, they’re ridiculously overpriced, an awful cliché, and their short lifespan is cut in half whenever they wind up in my care.”

“Well, if that's the case,” I said, reaching for the bouquet. “I guess I’ll just take these filthy things off your hands and deposit them into the nearest trashcan.”

I’d never seen a girl grip flowers like she had a ninja hold on them, but that was what Aubrey did. “Mine,” she said, spinning away from me and heading towards the door. “I’ll be right back," she smiled, jogging down the hallway, the orchids and her hair bouncing to the beat of her stride.