Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

Kenzie

“Mom, I’m here. I gotta go.” I pull my car into the last open spot on the street in front of Liam’s house.

“I’ll try to call when I have cell service again. It could be a week or so. Will you be okay?”

“Mom, I’m fine. I’ll be with Liam.”

“I know, but I still worry. This is your first time living away from home.”

“Don’t worry. You’re supposed to be having fun. You’ve wanted to do this forever.”

My mom is a teacher at the community college I just graduated from. The college offered her the chance to teach abroad for a semester at a school in South Africa. She’s always wanted to travel and see the world so she took the job and left last week. It’s perfect timing now that I’m leaving home to go to Parkshire College. Mom and I are starting a new adventure. A new stage in our lives. And we couldn’t be happier.

I’ve been waiting for this day for two years. My high school boyfriend, Liam, went to Parkshire without me after we graduated. My mom couldn’t afford four years of tuition at Parkshire so I went to community college for two years. It was the longest two years of my life. I missed Liam so much. He was four hours away, and between work and my job, it was hard to get away to see him. Sometimes we only saw each other once a month.

Now we’re finally going to be together. He rented a house near campus and I’m going to move in with him. I’m so excited! I was supposed to move in tomorrow, but I couldn’t wait to see him so I came a day early and am going to surprise him.

Getting out of the car, I smile when I see Liam’s house. It’s a small green house with white shutters and a white porch. It’s old and a little run-down but I don’t care. All I care about is seeing Liam again. I’ve missed him so much it hurts. He lived here all summer doing research for one of his professors, which was a great opportunity but a strain on our relationship. It was hard enough going the whole school year without him, but when he didn’t come home for the summer, it was even harder. The only thing that kept me going was knowing I’d be moving in with him at the end of August.

“It might be a couple weeks before I can call you again,” my mom says. “I doubt I’ll have phone service on the safari.”

My mom’s going on a two-week safari with some of her students. It’s something she’s wanted to do forever. I feel like we’re both in a great place in our lives. Like things are really coming together for us. We’re moving forward and making our dreams come true.

“Mom, it’s fine,” I say. “We’ll talk when you get back.”

“You know you can always call your dad if there’s an emergency.”

“I know.”

But I’d never call him, even for an emergency. My dad took off when I was five and moved in with a woman he met at work. He was having an affair with her for a year before Mom found out. When she did, Dad moved out of our house and moved in with Maria, his mistress. A month later, they quit their jobs and moved to Houston. They now have three kids together. I rarely see him or talk to him, which is fine with me. He has a new family. A new life.

“Honey, I’ll let you go, but I’ll be thinking of you. Be safe. I love you.”

“Love you too. Bye, Mom.”

We hang up and I hurry over to the sidewalk and race toward the little green house. The house I will soon share with the guy I love. My best friend. The guy who will one day be my husband.

I’m grinning from ear to ear. I’ve been waiting for this day for so long, and now it’s finally here!

Sprinting up the porch steps, I stop abruptly at the front door and run my hand through my hair, smoothing it into place. I yank my denim mini skirt down and adjust my tank top, wanting to look perfect when Liam sees me. This is his favorite outfit. He loves my legs, and this short skirt shows them off and always leads to sex. I bet I’ll barely get in the door before we’re going at it. When we’ve been apart for a while, we always go crazy when we see each other, spending at least a few hours in bed.

I knock on the door and wait for Liam to answer, my heart racing because I’m so excited to see him. But he doesn’t come to the door. Maybe he went somewhere. I didn’t even consider he might not be home, but it’s the middle of the day so it’s entirely possible he’s out running errands or hanging out with friends.

I get out my phone to text him and hear a noise coming from inside the house. So he’s home, but not answering the door. Maybe he didn’t hear me.

“Liam?” I knock again, and am about to ring the doorbell, but then see it has tape over it and a note saying it doesn’t work.

I knock again, harder this time. I’m tempted to tell him who it is, but that would ruin the surprise. I want to see his face when he sees me. He’s going to be so happy. We’ve both been waiting for this for so long.

When he still doesn’t answer, I try the door handle, knowing he always forgets to lock the door. As expected, the door isn’t locked and I open it and go inside. Liam moved into the house last week so this is the first time I’m seeing it. It’s really small. The living room is barely big enough for the couch he brought from his mom’s house. The black metal trunk he had in his room growing up serves as a coffee table.

“Liam?” I call out.

He doesn’t answer. I walk through the living room to the hall that leads to the bedrooms. Noise is coming from one of them. It sounds like something banging against the wall, probably a tennis ball. When he’s bored, Liam tosses a tennis ball against the wall. His mom used to yell at him for it, but he still did it.

“Liam.” I step into the room, then freeze when I see Liam’s naked ass directly across from me and two long skinny legs wrapped around his waist. A sea of reddish blond hair drapes over his shoulders as two delicate hands with aqua blue fingernails dig into his back.

This must be a dream. A nightmare. This can’t possibly be happening for real. Liam would never do this. He’d never cheat on me. Never in a million years. Every morning I wake up to a text telling me how much he loves me. How much he misses me.

He’d never cheat on me. It’s not possible.

The noise I heard before startles me and I realize it’s the sound of Liam thrusting into the girl as he slams her against the wall.

She moans and says, “Harder, babe. Harder.”

He gets a tighter grip on her thighs and thrusts into her.

“Like that, babe?” I hear him say. “You like that?”

What am I doing? Why am I watching this? Is this even happening? It can’t be. There’s no way this is real.

“Liam!” the girl shrieks.

“What?” he says, kissing her neck.

“Put me down!” she squeals, her legs trying to squirm out of his grasp.

“What is it?” He sets her down. “What’s wrong?”

“Liam?” I say his name as if I don’t know him. As if he’s a stranger. Because that’s how he feels to me right now. Like a stranger. Someone I don’t know, and wouldn’t want to. I can’t believe he would do this to me. We had plans. We had a future.

He slowly turns around. Confusion crosses his face.

“Kenzie?” he says as if he, too, can’t believe this is happening. He didn’t think he’d get caught. He thought I was arriving tomorrow. He was sure of it, because he knows I always do what I say. I’m predictable. I always stick to the plan. Until today.

“Kenzie!” he says, racing toward me as he suddenly realizes this is real. That I’m actually standing here in his room after watching him fuck some random girl. Or maybe she’s not random. Maybe they’ve been seeing each other for months.

Oh God, what if they have? What if he’s been seeing her behind my back the entire summer? Or longer than that?

I feel sick. The room is spinning and my head is pounding.

“Kenzie, it’s not what it looks like,” Liam says, holding both my arms as he looks in my eyes. “I swear, it was just…” He shakes his head, lost for words.

“How?” I manage to say, my heart pounding in my chest, feeling like it’s about to burst. “How could you do this to me?”

“You don’t understand,” he says, pulling me out into the hall and shutting the door behind him. “She means nothing to me. It was just—”

“You said you loved me,” I say, yanking away from him. “We were going to get married. We were supposed to be together forever.”

“And we still will.” He takes my hands and brings them to his mouth to kiss them. It makes me gag. Like literally gag to know that the hands that are now gripping mine just moments ago were gripping the naked thighs of some other girl as he thrust into her.

“You’re disgusting!” I yank my hands back and slap him across the face. Glancing down at his naked body, I notice he’s not wearing a condom. If she were just some random girl, he’d be wearing a condom. He wouldn’t be that careless.

“Who is she?” I demand, taking a step back as I fold my arms over my stomach, which is churning and gurgling like it’s about to dump its contents any second now.

He looks to the side. “She’s nobody. Just some girl in my Chem class. I swear she means nothing to me.” He closes the distance between us and gives me the sad puppy dog eyes he always uses when he’s trying to end a fight. “I know it was wrong and I’m sorry.” He softens his voice. “I just missed you, babe. I missed you so much.”

I glare at him. “This wasn’t the first time.”

“What are you talking about?” he asks, feigning confusion.

“This wasn’t the first time you’ve been with her.”

“Babe, I swear, it was. It’s the first time I’ve been with her, or anyone, since we started dating.”

“You’re lying,” I say, wrapping my arms even tighter around my waist. My stomach continues to churn and I’m feeling dizzy.

“Babe, I’m not lying. I swear. You know I’d never lie to you.”

I glance down at his dick. “You’re not wearing a condom.” My eyes go back to his face and I start to see a hint of guilt. Or maybe it’s regret. Regret that he got caught. “You wouldn’t be with a girl you barely know without a condom. You’re too worried about catching something. You always said that’s why you liked being in a relationship. Because you didn’t have to worry about getting a disease.” I point to the door behind him. “You’re in a relationship with her. The question is… for how long?”

“Kenzie, I promise you I’m not in a relationship with her. I—”

He’s interrupted by the sound of the door swinging open. He looks back to see the girl standing there. She’s dressed just like me, in a short denim skirt and tank top. There’s no way that’s a coincidence. He must’ve told her that’s his favorite outfit on a girl.

“Did you tell her?” the girl says to Liam, an angry look on her face as she chomps on pink gum that matches the pink gloss on her lips.

“Tell me what?” I ask.

She looks at me. “Liam and I have been dating for six months. He didn’t want to tell you because he didn’t think you could handle it.”

My eyes go to Liam, who’s biting his lip, something he does when he knows he’s in trouble and trying to find a way out.

“Six months?” I say to him. “You’ve been cheating on me for six months?”

He sighs and looks to the side, still biting his lip, so hard that I expect to see blood soon.

“Liam, is it true?” I ask, wanting him to admit it.

He doesn’t answer. He looks down at the floor and rubs his hand over his eyes and then his forehead. He always did that when he had a headache. I’d notice and offer to give him a shoulder rub to relieve the tension, then I’d get him some aspirin and a drink and stay by his side until he felt better. I was so good to him. Better than he deserved. But I didn’t know that until now. I thought I was it for him. I never in a million years would’ve imagined he’d want someone else.

“Liam, answer me!” I say, raising my voice.

“He wanted me to hide it,” the girl says, “until he could figure out how to tell you.” She chomps on her gum and shrugs. “It’s better this way. Rip the bandage off quickly and get it over with. Now you know and can get on with your life.”

“Could you get the hell out of here so I can talk to my boyfriend?” I say to the bitch who’s now gloating at the fact that she stole the guy I love. She’s seriously gloating, a big smirk on her face, happy that I caught them because it means she no longer has to hide the fact that they’re together.

“Liam, I swear if you don’t answer me I’m gonna—”

“Yeah,” he finally says, his eyes rising to mine. “It’s true, okay? Is that what you wanna hear?”

“No, it’s not what I want to hear! How the hell can you even say that? How could you do this to me? How could you be with someone else for six months and not even tell me? How could you say you loved me and wanted to be with me forever, when it was all lies? How could you do that to me?”

“Kenzie, you don’t understand how hard it’s been for me. How much I missed you. I’ve had to go two years without you and it just…” He takes a breath. “It just got to be too much.”

“Too much? Seriously? Like you were the only one it was hard on? Like I wasn’t suffering too?” I put my hands on my hips and narrow my eyes at him. “We had a deal. It was two years. Just two years apart and then we’d be together forever. You were the one who said it, Liam. You said we could do this. You said it’d be hard but that you loved me enough to make it work.”

“I thought I could, but it just got to be too hard. Every night I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too, but I didn’t go find some guy to replace you! How could you do this to me? We only had a few months left before we could be together and instead of waiting, you go out and find someone else? How could you do that?”

I’m on the verge of crying, but I don’t want to do it in front of him. I don’t want to show him, or the bitch standing behind him who refuses to leave, how much I’m hurting. I need to be strong. I need to show him I’m not letting this destroy me, even though right now it feels like it is.

I can’t breathe, and whatever was in my stomach feels like it’s at the top of my throat.

Liam turns to the girl. “Kat, you should go.”

Kat? Her name’s Kat? What kind of name is Kat?

“Why should I be the one to go?” She leans against the door frame, her eyes on me. “She knows the truth now. She should be the one leaving.”

Liam looks between us both. “I really don’t give a fuck. I can’t do this right now.” He storms past her into his room. “I have to get dressed. Stay. Go. I really don’t care. I’m getting out of here.”

He’s playing the victim, like he always does. Whenever we’d have a fight, even if he was the one who caused it, Liam would always find a way to turn it back on me. My friends used to point that out, but I always denied it, defending the guy I loved because I couldn’t stand to hear anyone say something bad about him. But my friends were right. He never takes responsibility when he does something wrong.

“You might as well go,” Kat says to me, remaining at the door to Liam’s room.

I look over at Liam, who’s putting on his jeans, then back at Kat, who’s picking at her fingernail polish as she chomps on her gum.

She swings her hair back and I get a whiff of her shampoo. It smells like pineapples and coconut. The overly sweet scent makes my already queasy stomach feel even worse. Before I can stop it, my stomach contents push up my throat and spew out of my mouth.

I hear Kat scream, and when I look up, I see the burrito I ate for lunch is now all over her white tank top, bits of it splattered on her neck and shoulders.

“Liam!” she screams.

He races to her side, then stops suddenly, his face cringing. “Oh shit, that’s disgusting.” He looks away from her.

“Help me, you idiot!” she yells at him.

“I can’t deal with that shit,” he says, walking back through his room to the bathroom. He returns with two towels and tosses them at her. “That’s the best I can do. I can’t be around that or I’ll end up hurling too.”

He walks past us both and goes down the hall to the living room. I hear the front door open and shut.

Kat and I are left standing there, facing each other. She glares at me, then rips off her tank and throws it at me. She goes into Liam’s room and slams the door shut. I hear it lock, then a few moments later, I hear the shower running.

My stomach feels better now that I threw up, but my heart is still aching from being ripped to shreds. I go down the hall to the kitchen and get a plastic cup from the cupboard. It’s the green shamrock cup Liam and I got when we went to a St. Patrick’s Day festival last March. Kat said they’d been dating for six months, which means he was probably dating her when we went to that festival. The thought of that hurts my heart even more. How could he lie to me like that? How could he see me and talk to me and kiss me, knowing he’s with someone else?

I fill the cup with water and drink it down. Then I hang my head over the kitchen sink and splash cold water on my face, over and over again until that dizzy sick feeling finally goes away. I grab a kitchen towel and dry my face, then take a deep breath and walk to the door. I’m tempted to text Liam and ask if this is really what he wants, but then I don’t, because doing that would be giving him a second chance and he doesn’t deserve a second chance. He lied to me, cheated on me, for six months! He doesn’t get a second chance after that.

Back outside, I slowly walk to my car. People are passing by me, smiling and laughing like they don’t have a care in the world. To them, this is just another day. But to me, it’s the end. The end of what I thought would be forever.

I get in my car and drive down the street, stopping every few feet for people to parallel park in front of their new home. It’s move-in day and the streets around campus are packed with cars and people trying to get settled into their dorm room or off-campus housing.

What am I going to do? Where am I going to live? I was supposed to live with Liam. He was my only option for housing. It’s too late to get a dorm room. The apartments are all rented out. And I’m sure everyone looking for a roommate has already found one.

I turn down a side street and see someone pulling out of a spot in front of a row of houses. Needing a moment to figure out what to do next, I pull into the vacated spot and turn the car off. I get out and go stand on the sidewalk, feeling lost and confused, not sure what to do or where to go.

“Watch out,” some guy says as he nearly hits me with a couch he’s holding.

The guy holding the other end of the couch says, “You need to move off the sidewalk. Another couch is heading this way.”

I see it coming and back out of the way toward the small blue house that’s just behind me. It’s a similar style to the one Liam’s living in, except the porch is larger and there’s a white swing on it.

Sitting down on the porch steps, the weight of what just happened hits me all at once. My head falls into my hands and tears pour from my eyes.

This was supposed to be the best day of my life, but it turned out to be the worst. I lost my boyfriend. The life I’d planned with him. And I have nowhere to live.

This is definitely the worst day ever.