Chapter Six
I don’t think I comprehended one thing that was covered in all of my classes the next day because all I could think about was my 4:00 meeting with Jonathan and what he had said to me the night before. His words ‘It’s not what you think’ kept playing over and over in my mind. If it wasn’t what I thought, then what was it? It was so obvious that Barbi was into him and he seemed to like the attention from her, so what was I missing?
I bolted out of my last class when it was over and I rushed back to my room to wash my face and freshen my makeup. Even though I knew I shouldn’t, I wanted to look nice for him. Maybe I had completely misunderstood the whole Barbi thing, I mean he did kiss me again and he said he couldn’t stay away from me. I bounded off to meet him and I allowed myself to feel hopeful about where things could go with us.
As I rounded the corner into the lobby Jonathan was standing in front of the room where we were supposed to be meeting but his back was to me, and it looked like he was talking to someone. As I got closer, I saw the boobs before I saw anything else and my stomach dropped into my toes. It’s not what I think, huh? Barbi was standing about six inches from Jonathan apparently talking so low that he had to lean down to hear her. He had a huge smile on his face and once again he looked perfectly happy to be around her. To anyone who didn’t know them, they looked like they were a couple.
I walked right past both of them without saying a word and went into the room and sat and waited for Jonathan. Since this was a requirement I was going to keep the conversation strictly about school, I wasn’t going to give him any opportunity to make it about anything else. He was trying to play me and I was not one to be played. I needed to get him out of my life before I was in too deep.
Not even five seconds later he was right behind me and he closed the door behind him before sitting at the desk. He sat there for a minute, his eyes perusing all of me and then they settled in mine.
“It’s good to see you Sky.”
I returned his gaze with a cool stare. “What’s the first question you have for me?”
He seemed taken aback by my cold demeanor and I think he could tell that I was not in the mood to play nice and he didn’t push me. He shifted in his chair, glanced down at his notepad and then looked back at me, his eyes betraying what he was feeling. There was a longing there that I did not need to see. It made it much harder to stay mad at him. But all I had to do was remember the scene with Barbi I had walked up to a few minutes earlier, and the angry feelings came back. Why did she have to wear such slutty clothes all the time? It was so trashy to have your tits out all over the place. Focus Sky, Jonathan is talking to you.
“Well?” He sat there waiting for my answer.
“I’m sorry, what did you ask?”
“What three things do you hope to achieve this year?”
“Oh, right. Well, I want to prove to Mr. Cohen that I am a viable candidate for his internship program next year, I want to get straight A’s in all of my classes and I want to have a good year.”
“A good year? What do you mean?”
I gave him a hard look and tried really hard not to narrow my eyes at him. “I mean that I don’t want to have to deal with any bullshit this year. I want the people that I meet this year to show me their true colors from the beginning so that I don’t have to question their motives. I don’t need any distractions while I am trying to focus on school.”
A loud, heavy sigh escaped his lips. “Skylar, if you’re referring to me I have been nothing but honest with you.”
He looked at me and I could see that he was exasperated but in that moment I didn’t care, I knew what I saw when I walked in here and what I had seen too many times in the past week. I pushed my seat back and stood up and looked down at him, annoyance written all over my face.
“Are we done here?”
“Sky, come on, don’t be like this.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.” I grabbed my bag, walked out and it took everything in me not to slam the door.
As I walked back to my room, Barbi was sitting in our lobby and she gave me a sly smirk as I strode past her. I wanted to knock that smirk right off of her plastic face, but I just looked right through her and kept walking.
***
I buried myself in books for the next few weeks and I was able to avoid Jonathan for a long time. I would occasionally see him leaving the library around the same time he had run into me that one night that he kissed me, and I always waited until he was well out of sight before I left. Thankfully, our library was huge so I was able to barricade myself in a back corner on the seventh floor and none of my friends, including Jonathan, had discovered my special spot.
It was Wednesday night and I was super excited because parents’ weekend started Friday and my parents were coming the next night. I wasn’t as homesick as I thought I would be but I couldn’t wait to see them. It was almost midnight and I had just finished up another long night in the library, and I was smiling to myself thinking about seeing my parents as I waited for the elevator. The doors opened and my smile immediately went cold as my eyes fell upon Jonathan’s gorgeous face. I could see his eyes brighten when he saw me and he was the last person I needed to see. No, no, no! I wanted to turn and bolt but that would have made me look like a coward, I was mature enough to deal with this. I pushed my shoulders back and stepped into the elevator, careful to stand as far away from him as possible. I stood looking straight ahead and did not speak.
I could feel Jonathan looking at me. “Hi Skylar.” If only that voice didn’t sound so sexy.
My belly flipped and it took everything in me not to turn around and throw my arms around him.
“Hello.” My response was curt as I kept my eyes focused on the door in front of me. The elevator seemed to take an eternity to get to the first floor. C’mon elevator, hurry up!
“Are your parents coming this weekend?” He sounded genuinely curious.
“Yes.” My response was once again curt, and I didn’t try to have a conversation with him. The silence was deafening and I had to be on the slowest elevator in history.
“Mine are too.” I could hear sadness in his voice.