“I’m not sure, Aubrey. I got a text from Drake that he needed me to come over. When I got there, the things he said… I just don’t know what happened. How could he think those things about me?” I looked at her, my eyes begging her to make me understand.
“What things, sweetie?”
“He called me a whore! He actually thinks that I take money from men for sex. I let him in my life, in my fucking body. And he thinks I’m worse than a slut.”
“What? You’ve got to be kidding. That’s fucked up, Lex.”
I barked out a laugh, nothing humorous in my tone at all. “I wish I were kidding. God! I have the worst taste in men in the history of the world. What the hell is wrong with me, Aubrey? First I pick a cheater who stalked me and now a guy who’s willing to believe that I’m a hooker. That I’m turning tricks to pay for college of all things.”
“Why on earth would he think that’s how you’re paying for school? He knows you fly with your dad.”
“He said something about my dad’s finances. By then I wasn’t really listening. I couldn’t really focus on what he was saying.”
“We’ll figure this out, Lex. I’m sure it was just all one big misunderstanding.”
I shook my head. “No, there’s nothing to figure out. I broke up with him and left. Drake chased after me and Jackson stopped him so I could leave. It’s over. I’m done.”
Aubrey wrapped her arms around me. “Don’t say that. You love him. Are you ready to walk away completely, not even knowing what made him say what he did?”
“Aubrey! How could I ever trust him again after he made an accusation like that?”
“I’m not saying you need to forgive him, but maybe you should at least hear him out once you’ve calmed down. Maybe you’re right and it’s better that you end it. But what if you’re wrong? What if there’s an explanation of some kind? Can you handle ending things with him and seeing him on campus? Seeing him with other girls?”
The thought of him with someone else made me want to vomit. “I…I don’t know. I can’t imagine any explanation that would be good enough for me to forgive this. I told him he was only my second lover. That means he thinks that I’m a liar, too.”
“Take some time for yourself. Think about what you want to do. If you decide to walk away, you have my support. And if you want to talk to him to get to the bottom of all this, I’ll respect that, too. You’re the only one who knows what the right decision is here. No matter what, you’ve got me in your corner. Pinky swear.” She held her pinky out for me to shake. Even at the height of my despair, the gesture made me smile, remembering all of the promises from our childhood.
“Love you, Aubrey. Thanks for coming to my rescue.”
“Shut up, Lex. You gave me the lecture last night when I thanked you for being there for me. You know that’s what best friends are for. Now, I rented the room for the whole weekend. The jerk at check-in even made me pay for last night so I could get into the room now instead of waiting until this afternoon.”
“Asshole,” I muttered, mad at men in general right now.
“How about we hang out, eat junk food, and watch movies all weekend?”
“Don’t forget about our plans involving vodka,” I reminder her.
“Yes, and vodka. Why don’t you send your dad a text letting him know you and I are having a girls’ weekend? I’ll let my ‘rents and Jackson know, too. We’ll turn the phones off and pretend that the outside world doesn’t exist for a couple days. No pressure to make a decision until you’re ready. It will be good for me too after how freaked out I’ve been this past week.”
“Yes! That sounds like exactly what I need to do.” I opened my phone and noticed that I had several missed calls from Drake and Jackson, along with a dozen text messages. I resisted the temptation to open any of them and typed out a quick message to my dad. He was out of town on a charter, so he wouldn’t expect to hear from me that much anyway. “Can you let your brother know I’m okay when you send your message? He’s already tried calling me.”
“Already done. Didn’t give a lot of details to Mom and Dad, but I did let Jackson know that you were safe with me and that I had everything under control. Now, off with the phones!”
We powered down our phones and Aubrey tossed them into the bag she brought with us. “What did you pack?”
She pulled my favorite pair of pajamas out and handed them to me. “Figured we’d need comfy clothes. So I brought jammies and yoga outfits. It sounded like an emergency, so I didn’t bother with much else. And we’ll have to order in food ‘cause I’m only going out once for supplies since I skipped packing my makeup.”