Chapter 50

Rowena

The minutes seemed to tick by torturously slow, the flickering candle in the middle of the table slowly melting further and further down. I wasn’t sure how long it had been exactly, because part of me was too terrified to check the time, but I knew that he was late.

He’ll be here any minute, I kept telling myself, shaking my leg nervously beneath the table. He did say he was running late, after all…

Except, the longer I waited, the more that feeble reassurance rang hollow. I found myself compulsively checking my phone every few moments, as if willing a new message to appear—but my inbox remained stubbornly empty, almost as though it were mocking me.

By the time the first half-hour crawled past, an uneasy knot had formed in the pit of my stomach, slowly tightening with every wasted minute. What if he wasn’t just late, but not coming at all?

I tried to cast those thoughts aside, but I couldn’t help it. Heather’s poisonous words slithered through my mind before I could stop them, coiling around my brain like a snake waiting to strike.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you. When Adrian ditches you after he’s had his fun, leaving you heartbroken and alone…”

My jaw clenched as I forcibly shoved the thought aside. No, Heather was just running her mouth, as usual. Adrian would never do something so callous and cruel. He liked me, really liked me, and the feelings we had for each other were real. He wasn’t just trying to get to my brother through me.

Right?

Suddenly, a soft cough nearby made me startle in my chair. I glanced up to find the waiter hovering next to the table. There was a look of polite concern written across his features, but I could see his true emotion hiding just beneath the surface: annoyance.

“Miss? Is everything alright?” His gaze strayed pointedly to the untouched bread basket that was sitting in the middle of the table. “I just wanted to check if you might want to order something other than water soon? You’ve been waiting quite a while now.”

Heat flooded my cheeks as his words registered. Of course, it must look strange to the staff—a young woman sitting alone with nothing but a glass of ice water for nearly an hour now, taking up a table on a Friday night when there was a line of people waiting to be seated.

Shooting the waiter an apologetic grimace, I quickly shook my head.

“Oh! No, I… I’m just waiting for someone,” I stammered out. “He should be here any minute.”

The waiter’s brows lifted slightly, almost in a disbelieving manner, but he only nodded. “Very well. But I’ll have to ask you to place an order or free up this table within the next fifteen minutes or so. We do have other guests waiting.”

If it was even possible, my face burned even hotter at the waiter’s words. I watched him walk away, feeling my stomach drop; now, more than ever, I just felt like a spectacle. Shooting a furtive glance towards the entrance, I tried to swallow past the lump forming in my throat.

Where could he be?

As if conjured by the thought alone, that same nagging chorus of taunts rang through my mind—except this time, it wasn't Heather's jeering voice, but my own relentless doubts.

He’s not coming...

You’ve been set up, played for a fool...

My fingers tightened around my phone until the edges bit into my palm. A flicker of movement near the entrance caught my eye; two girls I vaguely recognized from around campus sauntered by, identical looks of disdain twisting their made-up faces as they took in my solitary vigil. A sharp bark of laughter escaped one as they passed by, cruel and mocking.

Heather’s friends.

“Loser,” I heard one of them hiss as she passed by.

“Pathetic,” the other chimed in.

My breath hitched in my throat as the horrible truth crashed over me in waves. This was a set-up, just as Heather had threatened. The words she had said weren’t just baseless taunts meant to throw me off.

This had been planned; I was sure of it now. Had Adrian been working with her this entire time? No, it didn’t matter now.

All that mattered was that I had been made a fool of in front of everyone. Again.

Fighting back the burning sting of humiliated tears, I pushed away from the table and lurched to my feet, causing my chair to scrape loudly on the floor. Ignoring the looks from the other patrons, I half-ran towards the entrance, blinking quickly to hide my tears. I needed to get out of here, to escape this mortifying spectacle before I completely fell apart.

By the time I burst out into the night air, my chest was heaving with ragged gasps, as if I had just run a marathon. Hunching my shoulders against the chilly air, smelling of oncoming rain, I looked around wildly for a moment before spotting the familiar bus stop just up the block.

With my head down, I hurried towards the bus stop, my teeth gritted against the hot prick of tears that threatened to spill down my cheeks at any moment. The air seemed to crackle with the hot scent of an oncoming rainstorm, but I couldn’t see the overcast clouds through my tear-streaked eyes.

Finally, I collapsed onto the bus stop bench and stared at the darkened screen of my phone, gritting my teeth and willing it to light up with some explanation—any explanation—from Adrian. Anything to make this gut-wrenching sense of betrayal and hurt go away.

But nothing came.

A sudden crack of thunder made me jump, glancing up in shock as the first fat droplets of rain began to pour down.

Of course. Of course this would happen.

Within moments, the few droplets had turned into a complete downpour, soaking me before I could even manage to get up and seek shelter beneath the eaves of a nearby building. I ran through the deluge, gripping my shoulders and shivering once I managed to find the tiniest semblance of shelter.

I almost would have laughed, had the circumstances been different. But as I caught a glimpse of my rain-soaked form in a nearby window, I knew that there was no mirth to be had.

My outfit, my beautiful bright red dress, had been soaked fully through. My hair, which I had spent so much time smoothing and straightening, was now frizzy and ruined. And my makeup now ran down my cheeks in dark black streaks, although I didn’t know whether that was from the rain or my tears. Maybe both.

But it was as I looked into the window, my lip quivering as I tried to hold back more tears, that I saw that I wasn’t alone. A dark figure emerged in the reflection behind me, their face covered by a black umbrella. At first, I thought they might pass; but then, they stopped behind me and held the umbrella out.

Slowly, I turned, my heart pounding in my chest.

I looked up to see Eric standing there, his jaw set hard and his eyes fixed on the ground as he held the umbrella over both of us.