Red Alert/Red Notice (The "Super Jerk" Prequel)

13 - Love Will Tear Us Apart

^^Above, chapter title credit: Song by Joy Division.^^

{Geoffrey}

Seeing Raina's tear-streaked face as she runs out of the room is what makes all my fight drain away. It occurs to me that maybe everything Matt says is true. And that I probably made myself look like the biggest hoser ever.

"So are you two done?" Dwayne, the RA from our floor, keeps a firm hand in the middle of both our chests. "Wanna talk it out alone, or am I gonna have to watch you two like kids?"

"We can work it out ourselves," Matt grumbles, backing away first. "Thanks, Dwayne."

"Don't make me break you two up again," Dwayne says, giving both of us glares. "Or I'll have to get Res Life involved."

We both mumble something that sounds like agreement. Dwayne nods and lowers his hands, and soon enough, we're left alone again.

"So what's your deal, Matt?" I ask, trying to keep my voice under control. "Why'd you have to attack Raina like that?"

He doesn't answer for a second, a muscle twitching in his jaw. Then finally, "I'm jealous, okay?"

"Of what?" I shake my head. "It didn't seem to bother you before—"

"You and Raina seem so happy together. I've only had one girlfriend, and that was way back in junior high. The girls after that just didn't seem to want anything to do with me." Matt shrugs, then winces. "I figured it was just me and not them. So I stopped dating."

"Raina didn't want anything to do with me at first, if that makes you feel better."

"Not really," Matt says, shaking his head and studying the floor hard. "'Cause she does now."

I say nothing in reply. I think of Raina's expression the night she'd overheard my fight with Dad. He'd wounded her with his words, even if he hadn't intended for her to hear them. She'd seemed ready for me to break up with her right there and then. We'd been through some rocky patches, and I have no doubt we're in for some more. Honeymoon phase isn't even in our vocabulary to describe what we have.

"Look, Geoff, I'm really glad you're happy and everything. I just don't want you to forget who you are while you're doing it." Matt still doesn't look at me as he says it. "And if she's smart, Raina won't either."

Then he turns and walks away, leaving me staring after him.

≈

I don't see Raina again for the entire week following the Thanksgiving holiday. Things between Matt and me are tense still, but at least we're talking again. The one I do find in the picture the most often is Ridley. He's waiting for me after class towards the end of the week, wearing the expression he gets when he wants to ask a favor.

"Geoff! Hey, Geoff!" he calls after me when I pass him without looking. Seconds later, I hear his feet pounding up behind me, and then he's right in front of me, blocking my path. "Glad I caught you. There's something I want to ask you."

"Yeah?" I try to keep the suspicious note out of my voice. "What's that?"

"Well...I heard some guys talkin' about how the fraternity's gonna start accepting new members soon, and I was wondering if you'd put in a good word for me with Jake." His eyes are much too bright and eager, like a little kid asking for candy. "It'd mean a lot to my family if I became a brother."

"Pledging doesn't work like that, Rid. You can't just hope Jake'll take you because of one guy's word. You'll have to earn it." I knew that because of Dad, who'd served as the vice-president and then president of the frat when he'd been here. "The initiation, and everything."