Rome’s jaw clenched and Mrs. Prince wiggled her fingers in a snotty wave in my direction behind his back. She was only missing the obligatory cackle.
Ally threw her hands up in the air in frustration and I took that as my signal to leave and ran for a taxi.
I jogged down the road, holding out my hand to an approaching cab, and I thanked God that it began to slow down.
“Rome, don’t you dare!” Mrs. Prince’s authoritative voice screamed, and I heard tyres screeching and horns blaring from behind me. Before the cab had drawn to a stop, I opened the back door and dived in.
The alarmed driver frowned at me in the mirror. “Where to?”
“UA, University Row.”
He signalled to pull away. I leaned back in the seat, closing my eyes, when fists suddenly pounded on the window.
“Molly, baby, listen…” Romeo was at the door, running alongside the cab, frantically pulling on the locked handle and slapping the roof. I turned my head away from his worried face, squeezing my eyes shut.
“Baby, I can explain. Fuck, Mol, stop!”
I folded my arms across my stomach, anger causing me to shake.
The driver turned towards me with a highly confused face. “You need me to stop?”
I sighed as Romeo disappeared from sight and clutched the seatbelt tightly. “No, I need you to take me home. I need you to take me away from that guy… as fast as you possibly can.”
* * *
As I entered my room, my new clothes scattered on the floor—the result of me throwing down the bags in rage—and I flopped on my bed.
So this is what it feels like to have your heart broken. This is what it feels like to… feel. It’d been so long since I’d embraced my emotions that I couldn’t actually remember.
My phone rang again. It’d been ringing non-stop. I knew it was Rome. He was probably racing here now to explain. Explain how he lied about going to the gym this afternoon and instead took his arranged “fiancée” out for lunch as she pawed gleefully at his chest much to the delight of his dictatorial mother and her right-hand henchwoman. I couldn’t fathom how he could even let her do that. After everything he’d said about Shelly.
I stared at my white gauze curtains rippling in the breeze and sat bolt upright. He would try to climb up my balcony.
I scooted off my bed and locked my doors. I always left them open for him, but not tonight. He could just bugger off. I returned to bed and closed my eyes.
Twenty minutes later, I heard the rustling of the trellis. Ten seconds after that, heavy footsteps on my tiled floor, and five seconds after that, the balcony doors rattled, denying Romeo his entry.
“Mol! Open the f**k up. I know you’re in there!”
I covered my head with the pillow as the assault on the seven-foot wooden doors continued, until abruptly, it stopped.
I sat up slowly, crawling to the bottom of my bed to peek out of the doors—no movement… nothing.
I moved back to the pillows and reburied my head.
“What the hell??? You can’t just come in here… wait!”
“MOVE!”
“Molly! Molly! Watch out—”
My bedroom door smashed open with a loud crack as Rome powered through. Cait, my sorority sister, ran behind, panting, her mousy brown hair swinging in her face. “I tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t leave. Do you want me to call security?”
I stared at Rome, a ferocious expression across his features.
“Don’t. Even. Think it,” he threatened, a staccato on each word.
I turned to Cait and shook my head.
Cait edged in closer, eying Rome. “You’re sure?”
I sighed. “Yes. Thanks, Cait.”
She curled her lip in disgust at Romeo; she wasn’t a fan of the opposite sex. “Holler if you need me.” And she shut the door. Romeo twisted the lock, trapping me inside.
“Just leave, Romeo. I have nothing to say to you.”
He stormed towards the bed and spread his hands on the mattress beside me. “Well, I have somethin’ to say to you!”
“What? That you’ve been lying and cheating all this time and that when you say you’re training in the gym, what you really mean is that you’re meeting up with Mommy Dearest and that tart?”
He bolted upright, fists tight. “That’s not what f**kin’ happened at all!”
“Whatever. I don’t care. Leave.” I lay back down, staring unseeing at the white wall.
Hands gripped my upper arms and Romeo jostled me to his chest, our noses almost touching. “My momma asked me to meet her today. Some kids charity she’s on the board of asked for a signed Tide jersey for an auction. I went to drop it off and when I got there, Shelly and Mrs. Blair were waitin’ with her at the restaurant.”