That Summer

Chapter Sixteen - Rekindling the Passion

Avoiding James the next couple weeks was hard.

On the one hand, I missed some aspects about him. On the other, he was way too clingy. His act to be nice before had just been that – an act. He was starting to become mean and threatening again, especially when he saw selfies of Adam and I on Facebook. He'd figured out the day we'd gotten back together, because we had made our relationship status public, and he had blown up at me.

I didn't want to be mean and block him, because I had hoped he would want to stay friends, but the more he insulted me, the more appealing that block button became. Besides, he could still text me, unless I got a new phone number or called my phone company to block his number. Maybe he would calm down and move on with someone else before I took those drastic measures, which was my hope.

Rachel wasn't happy, either.

She was friends with me on Facebook, so when she saw our relationship status, she made an "angry" face on it. Adam told me that she'd messaged him almost right away, screaming that she had hoped he was giving her another chance. So, we basically each had a person who was attached to us, but we didn't want to be assholes and ditch them from our lives, because they were also our friends. We had both decided the same – maybe Rachel and James would calm down after a bit.

After the initial freak-out, Rachel didn't bother to message Adam again. She didn't speak to him at work anymore, so I hoped she had given up. James, however, didn't seem to be giving up that easily. I still regretted the last time I'd had sex with him. Of course I never would now, since Adam and I were officially together. But that last time, I didn't know that hours later Adam and I would be official.

Now, it was November, and Adam and I were walking around in the mall. I couldn't believe I was already almost done my first semester, in about a month. The work load was quite a challenge, but we managed to see each other at least three times a week. On weekends, we stayed the night at each other's places.

Nessa was happy for me, and she told me that she was talking to a girl she might hook up with soon. I hoped she got to full fill her sexual fantasies. Not only that, but she told me this girl was super interesting and had a lot in common with her. So, she could be a potential girlfriend for Nessa.

As Adam and I were browsing the bookstore for potential reads on a chilly Thursday afternoon (reading only textbooks for the past two months was getting to my brain), he had gone into a different part of the store. I suddenly had the prickling sensation that I was being watched. I glanced around but didn't see anyone at first.

Then, another voice startled me.

"Fay!"

It was James.

He came right up to me. "What a coincidence. Been what, two weeks since I saw you, now? You haven't answered my messages in a few days, either."

My heart sunk. Why couldn't he just get the hint?

"James, I'm in a committed relationship now. I can't have anything jeopardizing that, and if you won't respect it..." I trailed off, hoping he'd get it.

"I saw Adam over there, he'll be a while. He's chatting it up with some blonde chick that isn't you." James gestured over to the "Fantasy" section. I couldn't see Adam from where I was, but I hadn't really thought about why he'd been about ten minutes there already. I'd just assumed he was looking at some book and being undecided as to whether to buy it or not. I could be like that sometimes.

I shrugged it off. "Probably a friend. He does have friends other than me."

"Isn't the girl that he cheated on you with a blonde?"