When you wake up you reach across the bed before you even open your eyes, but jerk wide-awake when you realize Josh isn't there. He didn't have class today so there was no reason he wouldn't have come and slept in your room after he got done with the library. You roll over and see Charli already awake texting someone and laughing quietly at the conversation.
You: "Did Jaden not spend the night?"
Charli: "No... he ended up going to the Beta Gamma party."
You: "Is there any chance Josh went with him?"
Charli: "Have you not heard from him still?"
You: "No, he still hasn't even read my texts from last night."
Charli looked up from her conversation, finally paying attention as you asked: "You're already texting Jaden, right? Can you just ask if Josh is with him. I don't want to seem crazy."
Charli: "Actually I was-"
Your phone vibrates and you check and it's finally a message from Josh explaining he fell asleep studying.
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You know you should feel relieved, but you don't. Who falls asleep at the library? Was he alone? Was he even telling the truth?
You: "I just don't know what to believe anymore. Who falls asleep at the library?"
Charli: "He is literally obsessed with you, sweetie. I'm sure it's nothing big."
You break down into tears and finally tell her the truth about everything. What happened at New Years Eve, how you saw Mads texting him, and finally how you'd gone through his phone and saw that Mads was in town.
Charli: "What?? She's in town? Why in the hell is she here?"
You: "I don't have any idea. He didn't tell me anything. Please will you just ask Jaden."
Charli: "Jaden isn't talking to me right now."
You: "What happened?"
Charli: "Last night he kissed me."
You: "And that's a bad thing? I thought you liked him?"
Charli: "I did. But I don't know... I kept remembering what he'd done to you and what Nick did to me and I guess I realized I don't want anyone bad enough to risk going through that again."
You: "Are you sure you're willing to miss out on a chance with something great just because you're scared."
Charli: "It's not just that. I just want what we both know you and Josh have. It's complicated but I had to be honest."
You: "Well what we have turned out to not be worth much if he's sneaking around with his ex all night."
Charli: "Hey, You don't know that's where he was. He's probably over in his room waiting for you to calm down about falling asleep at the library. You should go talk to him."
You: *changing the subject* "Wait then who were you texting?"
Charli: "It's not a big deal, just Chase. He was telling me about his flight and checking up on you."
You decide to ignore that until later and go to find Josh. Out in the hall, you realize you aren't ready to face Josh yet just in case he is about to break your heart. You head down to the cafeteria and grab 2 coffees and then head back to the dorm.
The walk across campus really cleared your head. Josh had given you no reason not to trust him. Sure he didn't tell you about texting her, or about her being in town but he'd basically given you a free pass to look in his phone. He wouldn't have done that if he was cheating on you.
