Seven
Eve
“Hey, Mom! Hey, Dad!” I greeted cheerfully as I walked into the kitchen.
“Hey, sweetie,” Mom replied with a smile, as she set the table, “How'd you sleep?”
“Good,” I replied, walking over to the counter to make myself a cup of coffee.
Dad was reading the local news in the papers while he nursed a cup of coffee, but there was no sign of Nathan. He normally doesn't miss breakfast no matter what, but since two days, he's been missing them, and I bet he's avoiding me like the plague.
“Um, Mom?”
“Yes, sweetie?”
“Where's Nathan?” I enquired.
“Oh, he still hasn't come down yet,” Mom replied, taking a seat beside Dad. “Dunno what's been happening with him lately.”
Speaking of the devil, he walked in at the moment.
“Morning.” He greeted and grabbed some bread from the table.
“Morning.” Mom and Dad chorused.
“Bye.” Nathan turned and made to leave.
“Wait, Nathan, you're not having breakfast?”
He shook his head. “Nope. I'm late for school. See you guys later.”
“Nathan…” I called out, but he had already walked out.
“What's wrong with you two?” Dad asked, his eyes still glued to the newspaper as he took another sip of his coffee. “Did you two fight or something?”
“What? No, Dad. What gave you that idea?”
He pulled his eyes out of the paper and gave me the eyes.
Ugh! This is why I hate my Dad! He knows everything! Nothing gets past him.
“Alright, fine. He wanted to throw a party and told him no, so he thinks that I hate him or something.”
“Oh, so that explains it.” Mom threw in.
“Explains what?”
“Why the party didn't hold.”
“You knew about the party?” I asked in surprise.
She nodded, “Yes, he took permission from me, and I told him no alcohol, no making out in any of our bedrooms, no…”
“Geez! Mom, you could have told me. He could have told me.” I said in frustration, rubbing my eyes. “Now, I'm the bad guy.”
“Hey, it's fine.” Dad cut in sharply, “He'll get over it. Just give him a few days.”
Katy's honk blared outside.
“Katy's here. See you guys later.” I grabbed my bag alongside a few slices of bread, then walked out.
“Hey, babes.” Katy smiled at me.
I returned the smile as I got in beside her, “Hey, what's up?”
She started the car and set it in motion.
“Okay, someone seems to be in a bad mood today.” She teased. “What's wrong?”
“Come on, you know you can tell me.” She pressed further.
I told her everything that transpired between Nathan and me.
“Oh, come on. Pfft!” She scoffed, then waved it off. “He should stop acting like a baby and get over it. There's no way you were supposed to know he took permission from your parents, and besides, you needed some quiet around the house that day, so don't you ever feel bad,” She turned to me. “Okay?”
I nodded. “Okay.”
“That’s my girl.” She muttered, then returned her eyes to the road.
“I never got the chance to ask because I was busy with my gig. How did it go with Dexter's parents?” I enquired, tucking some strands of hair off my face.
“Oh, it went surprisingly well.” She responded.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” She nodded, “They all seemed to like me, even his sister.”
“That's nice.”
“I think… I think that Dexter's gonna propose.”
I straightened up. “What?”
She nodded. “Last night, while I was over at his place, I found a ring in his drawer when I was searching for my charger.”
“Oh, my God! Really? Aww, Katy.”
“Actually, I'm kind of scared.” She said, turning to give me a nervous smile.
“Why would you be scared? Isn't this what you wanted? You've always talked about living with Dexter.”
“Yes, it's what I wanted, but I don't think I'm ready for marriage, right now, Eve.” She explained. “I'm twenty-three. And besides, my father wouldn't even approve.”
“Uh, are you saying you're scared of getting married because you're twenty-three or because your father wouldn't approve?”
“Okay, a little bit of both!” She threw her hands up in the air.
“Katy, you've been in a relationship with Dexter for three years now, and I can tell he loves you as much as you love him. You've both come so far for you to give it up.”
“I didn't say I didn't want to marry him, I'm saying I'm terrified. It's all overwhelming.”
“He hasn't even proposed yet.”
“Yes, but I'm still terrified as fuck. He'll do it sooner or later, and I don't know what to say.” She pulled the car to a halt in front of the school. “And we're here.”
“Hey, don't worry too much about it, okay?” I placed my hand on his shoulder.
“Okay.”
“Come here.”
I pulled her into a hug, and we disentangled after a while.
“Okay, bye. Love you.”
“Love you.”
She drove off to her school, and I turned and began to walk to my first class, which was Econ.
I couldn't help but notice whispers among students. Some three me a glance, while some didn't.
“Hey, girl!” Jeremy, my school's gay closest friend, walked up to me and pecked me on the cheeks.
If there's anyone to ask about what was going on on campus, it's probably him, ‘cause he has his ear to the ground.
“Hey, Jeremy.” I returned the smile. “What's up?”
“Well, you know, I'm being the diva I'm supposed to be, so yeah, I'm cool.”
We began to walk to class.
“So, what's going on? What's everyone whispering about?” I asked inquisitively.
“Well, there are two hot topics flying around campus.” He replied. “Hey, girl, what's up?” He waved to a girl walking past us.
“I'm good.” The girl responded, “You.”
“As you can see, I'm totally doing great.”
“You coming tonight to the party?”
“You know me, I wouldn't miss it for the world.” He responded with a wink.
The girl laughed, “Alright, I trust you.”
Before she walked away, she threw me a weird glance.
“Okay, what was that all about? Why is everyone looking at me that way?”
“Okay, your ex-boyfriend apparently broke up with Tracy last night. What? No, I didn't phrase that correctly. Tracy broke up with your ex-boyfriend last night because she caught him in bed with someone else.”
“Yeah, and what does that have to do with me? Cameron and I broke up months ago.”
“Well, Tracy assumed that the girl in his bed was you, and Cameron didn't bother to correct her, so she told everyone, and that's why they're giving you that glance.”
“Oh, my God!”
“Yes, and now they're calling you a two-faced bitch for going back to pick up the you threw away after you swore you won't.”
Hot blood rushed to my face in utter anger as my fist clenched.
How dare he?
I stormed off to where Cameron normally spends his mornings.
“Eve! Where are you going?!” Jeremy yelled after me. “Don't you wanna hear the other hot topic?”
My anger knew no bounds. He has embarrassed me once in front of the whole campus, and I'm not letting him go scot-free the second time!
I was ready to yell and devour him if I found him, but right now wasn't the time. I was already late for my morning class, Econ, and I hate being late for any of my classes.
I'll have to deal with this later.
I darted towards the lecture hall.
A few minutes later, I had already arrived, but to my utter surprise, the class was full to the brim, which was unusual.
Why is it crowded like this? I wondered, standing at the back with the other few students with no seats.
With a quick glance around the hall, I noticed that most of them were girls, and I saw faces I'd never seen in this class before.
Some of them don't even take this class!
Just then, a man flawlessly dressed in a dark blue suit, carrying a laptop and a textbook book walked in, and the hall erupted with murmurs.
My heart skipped a trillion beats and began to pound vigorously as I stared at the man standing at th
e podium.
Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God!
Am I hallucinating, or is that Charles Herman?!!!
I'm not hallucinating! That's Charles Herman!!
What the hell is Charles Herman doing here?!!