It was all over campus: senior Thomas Pearson being dumped by junior Reed Brennan in a tough way. I heard people whispering as I was walking and it was getting on my nerves so much. I didn't see Thomas for the entire day and it was better like this.
I was about to head to my room to get some peace when Noelle yelled at me, "Reed!" I didn't want to stop to wait for her, so I kept walking.
"Reed; wait for me." Her tone wasn't so patient at all so I took it as a warning and stopped walking to wait for her. She came by my side in like two second. She was alone.
"You okay?" she asked me. Since when you care?
I shrugged, "I'm fine." She opened the mouth to say something but I wasn't in the mood at all. "If you came here to remind me that you were right, get the hell lost, that's the last thing I need," I said. I didn't even let her the time to answer, I was already gone. She was probably surprised, so she didn't run after me but I knew she wouldn't be so friendly in like forever. Too bad.
It was almost ten when someone knocked on the door. I wasn't sleeping, I couldn't sleep. Constance was sleeping so hard that she didn't even hear the knock. I got out of bed to open the door. It wasn't a girl from my house, otherwise she wouldn't have knocked. When I opened the door, I saw the last person on Earth I expected to see here.
"Josh?" I said, surprised. His face looked tired and he didn't seem to be here for a good new. He looked pale.
"What's going on?" I asked. He made me freak out by staying silent. "Josh, what's going on?" I repeated, more worry.
He looked at me and when he opened the mouth, I knew this wasn't good at all. "I wouldn't be here if I had the choice but I don't. I know it's late, Reed but you have to come with me to Ketlar. It's Thomas," he said, gravely.
It took me a while to assimilate the information. Then, I understood he was asking me to help him with Thomas. "What? He made an overdose and you don't know what to do?" I said, ironically even if it wasn't the good time to be ironic.
Josh looked at me as if I were insane. I wanted to yell that I wasn't the one who was insane. Thomas was.
I felt mad at him, still. I didn't want to see him, and I surely didn't want to "save" him.
"No. I don't know what he took, but when I came into the room he was about to jump through the window or cut his veins with a knife. He feels so bad, Reed. I tried to convince him not to do it but he said you're the only one he wants to see. So I'm kinda begging you; can you please talk to him so he won't commit suicide?" he asked. I stared at Josh for a while. Thomas Pearson committing suicide? That didn't make any sense. That was the biggest joke ever. He would never ever do that.
"I know you think it's insane, but he's about to broke everything in the room and I'd appreciate if I could sleep on my bed tonight instead of sleeping on the floor," he added.
I didn't believe a word of this. I wanted to have Noelle's strength and just told Josh to get the hell out of my room, but I wasn't Noelle, so I just nodded and followed Josh to Ketlar. Meanwhile, I had succeed in convincing myself that I wasn't doing it for me or for Thomas. I was doing it for Josh who needed to get his night of sleep to be in shape tomorrow morning. I wasn't afraid of being caught, I was more angry with Thomas for making me live all of this. When we got into the room, Thomas wasn't here anymore. Maybe Josh did tell the truth because everything had been thrown away like someone had wanted to break everything on the walls. I came near Thomas's bed and I saw a picture. It was a picture of me. He had a picture of me on his wall, near his bed. What the hell?
Josh noticed my interest for the picture. "He put it there like months ago, before you even started dating," he said, answering to my silent question. I didn't add a thing, but my first thought had been Awwww but I made myself shut up. It wasn't sweet at all, it was a little bit creepy if that picture had been there before we were officially dating. Had he been stalking me? Or had he just known that we were meant to be?
Josh looked through the window and I started to doubt what he had said. He didn't look surprised when we walked into the room and saw that Thomas wasn't there anymore. Just like he planned it.
"Where is he?" I asked Josh.
He looked embarrassed. "I don't know, I told him to stay here that I was going to look for you," Josh answered.
I noticed he was standing between the door and me so I couldn't really escape. Was he about to rape me? I kinda got afraid but it was stupid, I mean, look at the guy. He looked so childish and so innocent, how could he even think about this? No, for sure, he made me come here for a good reason. I looked at him, as I was waiting for some kind of answer, which I wouldn't get… Probably. I was looking at Josh and he was getting closer and closer to me. I didn't move. What the hell is he doing? His eyes caught mines and he stared at me with some sort of adoration in his look. It kinda scared me. He touched my cheek with his hand. He was sweet but I didn't want this.
I took a step back, "What are you doing?" I wasn't ready at all to have something else with my ex boyfriend's roommate. And not with Josh. This guy, if I could trust what Noelle told me, was a freak.
He walked to me. I was stuck between him and the wall. His look freaked me out. He looked possessed or something like this. I tried to escape, but he kept me on the wall. His arms were on my body, touching everywhere, even places where Thomas's hands hadn't been yet. I wanted to scream but he kissed me, so I couldn't make a sound. I tried to make him let go of me but he didn't seem to want to let me go.
When he let go of my mouth, I asked him, totally freaked out, "What the hell are you doing?"
He looked at me without stopping touching my hips, "Because I want you, Reed, I want you so bad… Thomas didn't deserve you at all. I swear I'll treat you well. No lies with me."
And he started to kiss me again.
"Josh… Josh, stop, Josh, stop it!" I yelled.
But he didn't hear me… Or didn't wanna hear me out. I tried to slap him or hit him anywhere but I wasn't able to punch him. It was like nothing could make him let me go.
The door suddenly smashed on the wall. I tried to scream but again, Josh didn't let me the time to do this. I was almost naked. And I was scared. Then, the person who had opened the door came into the room, "You, psycho, I understand now why you wanted me to go see Reed into the woods. Because you knew she wasn't gonna be there. You, son of a bitch, get your hands off her!"