Chapter 20

CHAPTER TWENTY

B ro, You’ve Been Duped

Charlotte

I enter my evening Advanced Social Media class with more confidence knowing Professor Burton is aware of Raph’s stalking me about our breakup. Mila waves me over and shows me she has an empty seat beside her, so I walk over.

“Hey,” I say as I take the seat beside her. We have a good ten minutes before class starts.

“How have you been?” she whispers, looking around.

“Fine,” I answer, a bit on guard.

She looks around the room. If it’s Raph she is looking for then he is clearly not here yet.

“Everyone has been talking about Finn and how he went to Professor Burton. Raphael has been complaining nonstop about how rude it is that Finn did that, and he’s vowing to get him back.”

“What does that even mean?” I ask. “Raph was making me feel very uncomfortable. He was following me and approaching me when I asked him not to. You saw it with your own eyes,” I remind her. “I don’t even know why I feel like the bad guy here. Raph is the one in the wrong.”

“It honestly makes no sense why most of the classmates have taken his side,” Mila shares, surprising me. I noticed most of the other students were keeping a distance from me this year, but I had no clue why. My eyes widen. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.” She slides down her seat a little.

“Are people still talking about our breakup?” I ask.

She nods. “Raph isn’t letting it go. He feels like he didn’t do anything wrong and now the profs are looking at him badly, and he feels like you tarnished his name.”

“Are you freaking kidding me? How is that even possible? He’s the one who cheated, and I am the one causing problems? This is just so messed up,” I grumble, shaking my head and taking out my laptop.

I notice Raph walk into the lecture room. He has an arm around a girl named Evy’s shoulder. She is an international student from Sweden.

“He’s clearly moved on. Why is he wasting his time talking about me?” I ask.

“He was expecting you to take him back. At least, that’s what he’s been telling everyone,” she says, sounding apologetic.

We sit and chat for a bit more, but now I am feeling on guard about Raph. He is showing a side of himself I never saw when we were dating, or maybe I was just fooling myself. Professor Burton starts the lecture. She discusses some innovative options in social media advertising for a good hour. The last twenty minutes of class is more discussion as she goes around and asks different students about their placements and innovative strategies being used. I used to be one of those students who liked to participate. It’s how I developed a close rapport with Professor Burton and her assistant but ever since the breakup with Raph, I have been more reserved. I don’t want to bring attention to myself. Now I am wondering why my classmates would side with him? He was the cheater.

Class ends and we all start packing up to leave. As I walk out the door, I look for Finn but I don’t see him. A girl named Monica comes up to me. “How are you doing?” she asks. We have had classes in the past and we’ve chatted a bit over the years.

“Good, thanks, you?” I ask.

“Good. Things have been weird in class, right?” she says.

“Uh.” I feel stumped.

“What do you mean?” I ask her.

“I’ve never seen couple drama spill over into any of my classes. I mean, you cheated on Raph and he cheated on you. It happens, no biggie, right? But you need to move on. Having that boyfriend of yours bully Raph isn’t cool,” she states, and she is dead serious. She looks like a girl defending a friend. A very misguided, lying, cheating friend.

My mouth is agape. I don’t even know what to say. I blink. “I never cheated on Raph. I only met Finn the night Raph aired his threesome in front of the lecture hall, and I accidentally bumped into him,” I relay, even though I don’t know why I am defending myself to this craziness.

She clucks her tongue. “Raph said you’ve been carrying on with the hockey guy for some time and he had enough. That’s why he cheated, poor guy, but now he and Evy are tight and he seems so happy. Anyway, you have yourself a good night.” She walks away with a bounce in her step.

My head is spinning from her crazy story. I want to scream and shout and tell her she’s a nut for believing Raph. He’s clearly a manipulative lying asshole.

Mila walks up to me. “You okay? I just heard that. I don’t know why the stories are spinning out of control. It’s literally crazy.”

“I don’t even have words,” I snap because I am fuming inside. I shouldn’t care what people think, but I have been in class with a lot of them since freshman year. I had been dating Raph for seven months. We may not be besties and we may have only worked on group projects and stuff together, but I would expect these people to know better. For crying out loud, Raph just joined the program last winter when he came on exchange.

“I’m so sorry,” she says, and she gives me a hug. “I don’t know why they are believing his lies.”

“I don’t know why either,” I admit.

“Do you want me to walk with you? I know I’m not much help if Raph follows you, but I think two of us is better than one,” she offers.

“Thanks, maybe we can just walk off campus together,” I suggest.

Mila nods and we head off campus together. She does most of the talking because I’ve gone inside my head. I’m replaying all the insane things I’ve heard tonight about Raph wanting to get Finn back for going to the prof, and Raph making up all those lies.

When we reach the end of Mila’s street, she tells me to have a good night and I say the same to her. We part ways and I look behind me to make sure there isn’t anyone around. I don’t know how I got myself into a situation where I am scared of a guy I dated following me.

When I head back to the house, Ruby isn’t here. She did say she would be meeting with a group late tonight.

I find Cade and Aaron in the kitchen eating leftovers from dinner. “What did he make tonight?” I ask, knowing it was probably Finn who made dinner.

“It wasn’t Finn, he has the late class tonight. We ordered in Chinese. You want some lo mein and chicken?” Cade offers.

“Sure,” I say, and I grab a fork and share with them. I begin to stuff my face, even though I already ate dinner.

“Is everything okay?” Aaron asks. I don’t want to get into it with the guys because then they will know Finn saved my ass from Raph, and we knew each other before I moved in here.

“Not really, my ex is causing shit,” I say, keeping things simple.

“Do I need to go kick his ass?” Cade sweetly offers.

“Nah, he’s just spreading rumors about me, even though he’s the one who cheated,” I explain.

“What a dick,” Aaron scoffs.

“He really is. I feel like such a fool,” I confess.

“I can relate to that,” Cade says suddenly, surprising Aaron and me.

We both keep quiet and watch Cade.

“Do you think Scarlett is cheating on me?” he asks both of us.

“It’s hard to say.” I’m the first to respond as Aaron watches Cade, almost frozen, holding a forkful of lo mein. “Do you have proof or something?”

Cade shakes his head. “Nah, just a hunch. Sometimes I feel like a fool and other times, I don’t know. . .”

My chest squeezes as I watch the conflict inside him.

“Have you ever asked her?” I ask Cade.

“She denies it,” he says.

“I never asked Raph. It never crossed my mind that he would cheat, maybe because I would never cheat on someone. I think it’s just bad form. If you don’t want to be with them then move on,” I state and I dig into the lo mein.

“You really are super cool,” Aaron says. “It’s too bad you don’t like jocks.”

Cade laughs and I laugh too, but my insides are still all knotted up.

“I need to go for a run. I’m too worked up,” I tell the guys.

“I can come with you,” Cade offers. “It’s late.”

“Me too,” Aaron says.

“Thanks, but you really don’t have to,” I assure the guys.

“Go get ready and meet at the door in five,” Aaron says to Cade and me.

“Okay.” I nod. “Thanks.”

I head to my room to change into a pair of leggings and a sweatshirt since it’s cold at night. I can’t help but smile about my newfound friendship with the guys. Ruby was right, they are good guys.

As we are heading out the door, Finn pulls into the driveway. As much as I want to share with him what happened tonight, I know I shouldn’t involve him. He’s already twisted up in Raph’s web of lies, and I don’t want him getting into any trouble because of it.

Finn gets out of the car and waves to us. He watches me curiously and I try not to make eye contact for too long. This is a problem I need to deal with on my own.

“Should this be a race or a regular night jog?” I ask the guys.

Aaron laughs like it’s a rhetorical question.

I place my hands on my hips and raise my brows. “Well?” I look between him and Cade.

“Charlie, we are both D1 hockey players. You aren’t beating us in a race,” Aaron brags.

“Damn straight,” Cade adds. “Besides, I can beat Aaron without even trying.”

“Cocky.” I laugh. “So a race it is. Come, let’s go to the road.” The three of us line up. “Ready on three. One, two, three.” The moment I say three, we all take off. I’ve got to hand it to the guys, they are fast. I don’t go full throttle at first.

“How far are we going?” Aaron asks.

“Around the block,” I say.

Cade nods and picks up speed, moving ahead of Aaron and me. I keep a steady but swift pace. I don’t like to use all my energy at the outset unless I am running a shorter distance competition.

“Good for you, Charlie, keeping up with the big boys,” Aaron jokes.

“Funny, I didn’t take you to be a sexist,” I tell him.

“Ooh.” Cade laughs.

That’s when I decide to amp up my speed. “This has been fun, guys.” I notice them both give me a weird look but I don’t see what happens next because I take off, leaving them in the dust.

I make it back to the edge of the driveway and I pause to catch my breath and take a sip of water from my water bottle. The guys make it back after me.

“What was that?” Aaron asks.

“Bro, you’ve been duped. She’s a D1 track and field runner,” Cade tells him.

“I knew she ran but not like that,” Aaron rebuts.

We all burst into laughter.

“Thanks, guys, this felt good,” I say as the laughter cleans out the anxiety that was building inside me.

“It did feel good. But I want a rematch,” Aaron says.

“You can’t be serious,” Cade retorts, watching him with annoyance.

“I didn’t bring my A game. Why didn’t you tell me she was D1?” he asks Cade.

“I thought you knew.” Cade shrugs.

“How did you know?” I ask Cade.

“I’ve seen you at practice and Esa is in one of my classes. We’re friends. I told her I knew you, and she said you were one of the top runners on the team. Esa said there are rumors you might be asked to try out for Team USA.”

“That’s not on the table. I’m not here to make running into a career,” I state.

“Why the heck not?” Cade asks. “That would come with crazy opportunities.”

“It’s complicated, but I need to finish school and get back to Buffalo,” I reply without further explanation.

“So are we going for a second round?” I ask, looking at the guys.

Aaron yawns. “I’m tired.”

“You hear she’s going to be an Olympian and you back down?” Cade laughs.

“Fuck you, bro,” Aaron curses shaking his head. “Let’s get her on the ice and see if she can beat us at our sport.”

“I would love to get on the ice with you guys. That could be a fun idea for a morning post,” I say with excitement.

“You’re relentless.” Cade chuckles.

“Let’s go home. I need sleep.” Aaron grumbles.

We enter the house joking around. Finn is in the family room eating and watching television, but I don’t stay to chat with him. Instead, I go to my room because it’s better not to feed the rumor mill.