The Replacement Boyfriend

Chapter 5

Zayne

Watching Tace dodge Dane when he tried to kiss her goodbye was something I had never thought I'd see. Tace had never denied my brother of anything so maybe she was more hurt than she had been pretending to be. I could tell that she had been pretending to be okay for weeks while we were still at home and if I could tell she was faking a smile then Dane surely could, too. But he hadn't said anything about it. Not to me and definitely not to her.

I found it mind boggling how he could pretend like everything was okay and he wasn't keeping a huge secret from her, even if she was going to get hurt by it. One thing I knew for sure was that she was going to be even more hurt that he hadn't told her before she left and that he had left it to me to tell her once we were gone. I also knew she was going to be mad at me for not telling her as soon as I found out. I was starting to wonder why I had gone along with my brother's request in the first place. Oh right, the bro code.

We had left pretty early in the morning for our seven to eight hour drive to Chicago. Amara had been pretending to protect my guitar as I drove but eventually she dozed off, her head to one side with drool coming out the side of her mouth.

Tace spent most of the drive staring out the window, watching as the sky lightened from dark to an orange-red and then eventually to sky blue. Tace had an old Ricky Martin CD in and she hummed along, mumbling some of the lyrics at random intervals. I sang along softly and drove as carefully as I could so I wouldn't make any sudden jerks which would wake the kid up. Since Amara was sleeping, I didn't have to make any pit stops, except to pick up food for lunch.

My mind kept reeling back to the night I had found out about Dane and how I had spent the night in Tace's bed. It wasn't the fact that I had stayed over that was shocking; it was the fact that she had let me hold her the whole night.

Step one: showing her that I was still there, even if Dane wasn't.

I slowed down as I noticed a few campus buses which had stopped at the right light, one turn away from Stone Island Hall, our new five-story dorm-apartment. The streetlight turned yellow and then red as I neared the buses which drove out of the way. I sped up again just as some guy ran across the street, ignoring the 'don't cross' signal.

Tace gasped, making me jerk to a stop just in time. He stopped on the other side of the road and turned to look at us.

"Do you want to go to heaven earlier than necessary?" Tace demanded, sticking her head out of the window.

He laughed awkwardly, scratching his head of floppy brown hair. He said something back which I didn't head and ran off, heading toward Stony Island Hall as I took the turn.

"Idiot," Tace mumbled, turning around to find a very confused Amara, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Hey, baby. We've reached. It's time to wake up," she cooed and Amara nodded, yawning.

I asked around and found out where to park my car, thanking God that Tace and I had applied to the same dorm house and had gotten them. Stony Island Hall had five stories of apartments with two bedrooms and bathrooms, a full kitchen, a big living room area and a balcony. Four students shared an apartment and every floor was co-ed.

I wondered what Tace was thinking about it, since she would be sharing a room with someone and sharing the apartment with three. I knew she wasn't anti-social anymore but she still had panic attacks sometimes and I knew she was trying hard to be okay with all the changes. I could feel the pressure of starting a new life in college, so I knew she could feel it, too. I wished she would talk to me about it but she didn't seem like she wanted to talk and I wasn't going to ask if she didn't want to.

Tace helped Amara out of the car as I got my guitar out from the other side. I started unloading the trunk of my car, one suitcase at a time. I handed Tace one of the lighter boxes and her suitcase to drag along, her duffle bag on one shoulder. I grabbed one of my boxes after slinging my guitar case behind me and dragged my suitcase along, deciding to get the last box later.

"Your room or mine?" she asked and I gave her a dirty smiling but her hands were occupied so she couldn't whack me like she usually did.

"Yours," I decided, remembering Amara was with us.

I had no idea whether any of my roommates were there yet but I didn't want to walk in on anything weird or scar Amara for life.

We made our way up in the elevator, Tace's room was on the second floor but mine was on the third. We stopped on the second floor and found Tace's apartment. We walked right in, the fact that the door was already opened made it easier. Tace stopped at the entryway, probably trying to figure out which out of the two rooms was hers. There was a room to our immediate left but I could already hear the voices of two girls inside so I took another left, passing the bathrooms and found an entryway to the second room which seemed to be empty.

"Looks like your roommate isn't here yet," I said, placing my box and suitcase aside. "Good for you. Pick your side."

She dropped her box and duffle onto the bed closer to the window and slid her suitcase onto the side. Amara climbed onto her bed, yawning again.

"Want to settle in and meet for dinner?" she asked and I shrugged.

I picked up my box again, deciding it was best to introduce myself to my roommates and settle in first. I was half-way out of the apartment when a guy entered the room – the same guy who had ignored the traffic rules and ran in front of our car before. Ignoring him, I left the apartment, assuming that he was there for one of the other girls in the other room.

I took the elevator up to the next floor and found my apartment. When I went inside, all three of my roommates were already inside so I left my stuff on the only bed available before I went into the living room to introduce myself. The guy I was sharing my room with was a first year but our other two roommates were second years so they spent a while filling us in on what was available in Stony Island House and the things that happened there.

I was sure it wasn't just me who was thinking "So let the fun begin" when they were done.