Chapter Sixteen
Her lesson with Jaime was canceled the following afternoon and though disappointed, Sansa was pleased to have a free hour. She was sure that he'd send her a text at some point with finalized plans for them that night. Not that they did much else but go to his place, have dinner, and make out.
She still didn't know if he had a kid. Or several kids. He was never quite that open about anything personal, now that she thought about it. He talked about his travels, experiences as a professor, concerts he'd been to, but nothing was ever really all that personal. On the other hand, she'd never asked either. Part of her was afraid to know, quite frankly. Plus, when he started regaling her with stories, she found herself swept up in the tales he spun. He had a knack for storytelling. Jon was more on the quiet side so it was different than what she was used to.
And she should probably stop comparing Jaime and Jon at some point.
So, during her free hour she visited the people she needed to visit such as her advisor and Admissions to see about declaring her major for next semester. A part of her felt perhaps she should talk to her parents first, but then if she already had the process going it would be harder to stop, and that's what she was going for.
She even sent a text to Jon to tell him what she had done after she'd set the wheels in motion.
He replied back almost immediately. You're really going to do it?
She replied back simply: Yes.
He came back with: I'm glad. How was the audition? You never let me know…
She frowned and typed: I'm sorry. It went really well. I should know by the end of tomorrow if I made it.
Her ever trusty Jon came back with: I've no doubt that you made it, Sansa. You have an amazing voice and you're very talented. I wish I could have been there to see you sing, but I will definitely be there for the show.
She smiled and typed back: Thank you. Oh, and I made some new friends! I went out with a bunch of people from the auditions last night.
His text back made her laugh: If they are a better influence than Margaery then I approve.
Sansa: I'm gonna tell her you said that.
Jon: Don't you dare.
"Oh my God, Sansa, I need to fucking talk to you like now!"
Sansa looked up thinking, well, there went her solitude and peace for the next hour under her favorite tree on the quad. She wasn't too worried about Margaery's current excitable state. She got like this at least twice a day over something. Sansa just took it all in stride now. "What is it?" she asked. Her phone dinged again, signaling a text. Sansa would get to him in a minute.
Margaery plopped right down on the grass and looked around them.
"Margaery, seriously, what is it?" Sansa asked with a laugh.
"I don't want anyone to hear," Margaery said and then looked her friend. "Have you heard from your boy Jaime?"
Sansa furrowed her brows. "No, why?"
"Because the motherfucker is going on a sabbatical. Starting, like, today."
xxxxxx
Jon frowned at his phone, waiting for Sansa to reply to his question of whether or not she was free tonight. He forced himself to pocket his phone instead of staring at it and willing her reply to come through. He was pathetic. Completely and utterly pathetic.
She was probably going out with Drogo again. It was getting to the point of ridiculousness that he had yet to meet the guy. Jon just wanted to clap eyes on him at least once. Okay, so he also wanted to talk to the guy, find out what his intentions were regarding Sansa.
Christ. He did sound like her father.
He might as well just accept the fact that no guy was ever going to be good enough for his Sansa. He just hoped this guy knew what he had in her. He also had better be respectful and not pushy – Sansa needed to go at her own pace—
"Hey, Drogo!"
Jon's head whipped up and he looked around. He saw some skinny kid waving madly on the lawn. He tracked the path the guy was looking down and was quite fairly taken aback when he saw a great hulking beast of a man with long hair pulled at the nape, dark eyes and muscles that looked like he could crush a skull in them. The tight t-shirt he wore didn't hide much.
Jon didn't ever compare himself to other guys. He was who he was. He worked out, he knew he had a good muscle tone, and that he wasn't a bad looking guy. Drogo, on the other hand…he was a giant. And he rather made Jon feel a bit inadequate. It was confirmed that this was Drogo when the hulking beast held up a hand at the guy waving to him.
"Class has been canceled!" the guy shouted.
Drogo nodded once and the other guy ran off. Drogo continued down the path and Jon decided to step right in front of it.
xxxxxxx
Sansa made like a guppy at her friend. Finally, she managed to say, "What?"
"It's spreading like wildfire. This girl in my class, Gilly, has him as her advisor. She went to talk to him about a class next semester and he was packing his office up!"
"What?"
Margaery nodded, looking almost proud of herself. Granted, she was always proud of herself when she got a hold of a juicy bit of gossip. Sansa, on the other hand, couldn't even think.
"Gilly asked him what was going on and he said he was going away. On a trip. And that he didn't know when he'd be back."
Sansa made like a guppy again.
Gilly left and went downstairs and was in the lounge waiting for her next class to start when Jaime and his brother came down the stairs together. Gilly overheard Jaime's brother saying that if he wouldn't have found himself in this trouble had kept it in his pants and not fucked around again with another student."
Sansa's arms were like steel bands at her sides. Her nails dug into the Earth, her eyes were wide and there was a roaring in her eyes. "Did they…did they mean…me?"
Margaery's expression softened and now she actually looked sad. "No, little dove. They were talking about some student named Tysha."
xxxxxx
Drogo looked down his nose at Jon and arched a brow. Jon held up a hand. "Hi, you don't know me—"
"I'm straight," Drogo said. He had an accent that Jon couldn't place, not that that mattered, but he could see how that might have turned Sansa's head. She had a thing for accents.
Jon shook his head and laughed softly. "No, I'm not hitting on you. I wanted to introduce myself. We have someone mutual in common."
Drogo furrowed his brow. "Who?"
"Sansa."
Again Drogo said, "Who?"
xxxxxxx
"Sansa? Are you in there? Blink if you can hear me."
Sansa blinked rapidly. She'd been staring off for so long trying to catch up with what Margaery was telling her that her vision had gone blurry. She looked at her friend. "It wasn't me?"
"No. Your name wasn't mentioned. It hasn't been. You haven't heard anything about this at all?"
Sansa shook her head. "My first class was with Jaime today. There was a note on the door that it was canceled."
"He never texted? Called?"
Sansa shook her head. "No…he never…no."
"He's a fucktard. God, I hate him. Sansa, I know this sucks total ass, but I'm glad you can put him behind you now." Margaery shook her head slowly. "You weren't the only one."
No, apparently not. And that's what hurt most of all. Sansa had thought she was special, but she wasn't. Not at all. She was just another girl. Another girl for him to fool around with and apparently there had been others before her. Probably before this Tysha chick.
Oh, God. She felt sick.
"You know how rumors are once they get going," Margaery said. "Apparently, he had had an affair with a couple girls last semester, too. They've since graduated, but one of them stalked him after he put an end to it. People are saying that's how he lost his wife. Though I hear she was a bitch anyway."
"But I mean, is any of it true?" Sansa asked.
"Do you really doubt it? His leaving so suddenly pretty much implies guilt don't you think?"
Yes, she did think. But she still wanted to hear it from the source directly.
xxxxxxxx
Jon hadn't been prepared for that. "You know, Sansa. Sansa Stark. Your girlfriend? The one you've been seeing for about a month now?"
Drogo shook his head. "You have me confused with someone else. I don't know a Sansa."
Jon opened his mouth to tell he most certainly did know Sansa, when a familiar looking white-blond woman came running up and slipped her arm through Drogo's. "Hey baby," she said. Drogo grinned down at her and bent to kiss her quickly. On the lips.
"Now hold on a goddammed minute," Jon said, his temper flaring. Was this hulking beast doing Sansa wrong?
"Do I know you?" the woman asked him. "You look familiar."
Jon ignored her and focused on Drogo. "You know Sansa Stark. I know you know Sansa, because she told me all about you. You've taken her out—"
"Whoa, hold on a second," the blond woman said, her finger up and waving. "Sansa Stark? She's on my floor."
Jon now knew who this was. He pointed at her. "You're her RA, right?"
She nodded. "Daenerys. What the hell is this about my man is dating Sansa?"
"I am not dating this Sansa," Drogo said. "I don't even know who she is."
"You had better not be dating her," Daenerys said and moved away from him. Her hands were on her hips and she looked ready for a fight.
"I do not know who she is!" Drogo exclaimed.
"Then why is he saying that you're dating her?" Daenerys demanded.
"I sincerely hope that you're not leading both women on, or cheating on one with the other," Jon said angrily.
"I've seen you give eyes to her before now that I think about it," Daenerys said, eyes narrowed. "What the fuck, Drogo?"
"Stay the fuck away from Sansa," Jon growled at him.
And then Drogo punched him. Three times. As Jon lay on the ground, he wondered when the yellow birds would start circling his head the way they did in the cartoons of his youth.
xxxxxx
Sansa paced her and Margaery's dorm room, her phone clutched in her hand and willing Jaime to respond to her. She needed to know; to hear it from him. She wanted the truth, no matter how sordid it was.
Margaery watched her quietly, a pillow on her lap. She was playing with the hem of her pink silk pillowcase and looking worried. "Could you maybe talk to his brother?" she asked finally.
"How can I talk to Tyrion without letting him know that I was hooking up with his brother?" Sansa demanded. She realized she might sound a tad hysterical.
Then a knock came at the door. Sansa and Margaery looked at each other and then Sansa ran to the door, heart hammering in her chest. She whipped the door open and found Jon.
Her eyes went wide. He looked like he was developing a black eye, and his lip was swollen on one side and split. He also looked downright pissed.
"Jon!" Sansa exclaimed and yanked him into the room. "What the fuck happened to you!"
"Holy shit!" Margaery exclaimed. "Did Ygritte do that?"
Jon shot her a look and Margaery said, "What? That chick is a bitch; it's a legit questions."
"No, it was not Ygritte," Jon snapped and looked at Sansa. "Ask me who I just met, Sansa. Ask me who just punched me out cold."
Sansa shook her head. "I don't want to."
"I will," Margaery said and got up. She stood next to Sansa. "Who did you meet and who just punched you out cold?"
"Drogo," Jon replied, looking at Sansa.
Sansa rubbed her forehead and made a face. "Oh, shit."
"Yeah, exactly," Jon said. She had never seen him so angry. "What the fuck is going on, Sansa?"