The Timing of Love

Chapter 9

During the past few days, almost everything went back to normal. Almost because Julian would occasionally pop up and sit with us in the cafeteria or hang with us in the student house. He did not come back home. Yay me. When the girls and I would catch him running away from a morning hook-up, he would stop to say hi, which never happened before, and go on with his marathon. During the weekend, he along with Skyler and Annabeth joined us for bowling. It was a draw between me and Skyler and I spent the rest of the week scowling and glaring at him whenever I would see him. On Wednesday, our free day, we invited Annabeth for a girls' night in. During that night we talked endlessly and painted our nails. We went full-house when we braided our hair and danced to some Britney Spears' music. We dressed like her during Hit me baby one more time video and were profusely sweating the pizza delivery boy rang the doorbell twice. I thought we made his night when he saw us: stars were practically popping instead of my eyes. While watching The Other Woman, Amelia's choice, we accidentally informed Camilla about Jeffrey's crush on her. Relief washed through us when she did not remember a thing because of all the alcohol she induced into her. She was a light drinker. Amateur.

Now it was Friday night and I was walking out of a party with Amelia. Camilla stayed behind because she found another pair of shoes to try one. I caught Julian kissing a girl in a corner while I was drinking some vodka and I immediately went to Amelia, informing her about my plan. Needless to say, she dropped everything, the boy, the drink, and smiled at me before dragging me out. That was how we were walking to meet a guy who knew a guy. We followed him into the boys' dorm, the security guard studying us intently before giving thumbs up to the boy who grinned back. I rolled my eyes. Men are so stupid. We watched as he stopped before a door and knocked twice. The door opened slightly and I could see ginger curls poking out.

"Password?" he asked and I rolled my eyes.

"Ratatouille," our lead whispered, looking down the hall as if checking that no one heard him. I snorted as Amelia giggled.

The door opened wider and ginger head walked out, glancing at us before walking back in, and motioned for only our lead to follow him. This was stupid. He walked back out with a shoe-sized purple box and the door slammed shut in our faces. Wow, it was nice meeting you too, ginger.

"That would be fifty dollars," he said, smirking and looking proud.

"Calm your tits, dude. You're not selling drugs," Amelia said as she grabbed the box. I pulled out the money from the front pocket of my jeans and handed it to him. He stayed there and looked at us as if asking what now? I rolled my eyes as Amelia said, "Well, thanks. We'll see you around."

With that, he hesitantly went away as we watched him walking down the hall, opening a door and closing it behind him. We made our way downstairs. Julian's room was on the ground floor, at the back of the hall. Apparently, it was always opened because it was faster to get the girl inside. No one dared to enter his room, fearing his wrath. He was feared by most of the students, not giving two shits about punching someone to blood if he needed to. Yet, there we were, walking in casually like we owned the place. He did not share his room, being rich, his father paid for him to have a room alone, according to Austin. Inside stood a queen-sized bed in the middle of the really spacious room. A desk was near the door and I could see a bathroom peeking out from the door next to the bed. It was neat and clean, no doubt because he knew that he would frequently bring girls over. I paced to the mini-fridge under the desk and pulled open the door, revealing stacks of beers, chocolates, some strawberries, and eggs. I grabbed on beer and threw another one to Amelia. I watched questionably as she grabbed the condoms on the desk and hide them under the mattress.

"A little delaying won't hurt," she shrugged and gave me the purple box.

I handed it at arms-length, fearing what's inside myself. I walked to the bed and lifted the lid, holding my breath. Quickly turning the box upside down and shaking it gently, I looked as centipedes, worms, cockroaches, and spiders fell on the mattress, spreading everywhere on it and hiding under the blankets' pleats. Releasing my breath, I closed the box and grabbed my beer. Amelia switched off the lights and we walked out of the building. As I passed past a trash bin, I threw the box in and we found a three to hide and sat down. It gave the perfect view of the entrance of the building while sheltering us from eyes, both from behind our backs and from our fronts. Then, we waited, rather impatiently as we slowly drank our beers. It was just too bad we wouldn't get to observe their expression first hand, but safety first.

"You're ready to go back home tomorrow?" Amelia asked me.

I sipped on my beer before answering. "I guess. It's been almost three years since we've gone. How bad can it be?"

"You're right," she said. "Besides, I miss everyone back there."

"Me too," I whispered and was about to continue when I spotted Julian walking towards the dorm with the blonde from the party. They looked so happy, about to have sex while they talked and laughed flirtatiously. I jerked my head in their direction and Amelia's eyes lit up. I was guessing we shared the same expression. Nothing like a prank to get you high. Silence followed when they entered the building, I could only hear the fading sound of her heels clapping in the hallway. The sound of the door closing was very faint and I hold my breath, waiting.

Our hands flew to our mouths when a faint scream pierced into the night, trying to contain our laughs. Tears pricked my eyes as I was shaking quietly with laughter. My eyes were fixed on the scene before me. The blonde came running outside, heels in hands. Her dress was hanging on her waist, showing her lacey black bra. What a sight. I laughed harder when I caught Amelia's filming the scene. Julian came running behind her, asking her to wait and to go to her room instead, but she was long gone. For once, the role reversed. Oh, the irony. He stood there, half-naked, at first confused then anger slowly made its way on his handsome features. Scowling, he ran a hand through his curls and looked around. We pressed against the tree as he whipped his head, searching like a hawk. He must not find us tonight or find out it was us. Tomorrow, we would be gone the first hour in the morning to go to the spa and a hair salon before the wedding. He pulled his phone out of his jeans, still scowling angrily.

"Hey man. Yeah. You're in your room yet? Great, Can I sleep over?" he paused for a while. "I don't know, some shit-face covered my fucking bed with insects. Wait till I get my hands on him or her." He paused again and looked around. Amelia and I were holding our breaths. "I have no idea. I'll go check with the security guard. Yeah, I'll see you. Thanks, man. You rocked my world."

He then ended the phone call and went back inside, but not before searching for the culprits again. As soon as he was gone, Amelia and I shared a look before giggling uncontrollably. We stood back up, cling our cans in cheers, and carefully made our way back home. I fell asleep instantly when my body hit my cool bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day. I wondered if it would be hard for me. Since Joshua, I hadn't gone back once. I would always meet my family at a holiday house or they would come to visit me here. Sometimes, we even flew to France to visit my father's family. During the night, I heard my bedroom door opening and closing gently. Amelia quietly got under my blankets, as if sensing my distress from her room. She knew I would sleep lightly. She hugged me to sleep as she would always do whenever I did not feel good.