Chapter 51

So I'm changing the very end of last chapter. Nothing big, but I'm going to make it so that it ends right after the fight on Saturday night and this chapter picks up on Sunday morning. It doesn't change the outcome of anything, but fits better into the Pens actual schedule. Just wanted to give a heads up!










I woke up and it took me a minute to realize I was sleeping in one of the extra bedrooms. I turned off the alarm and got out of bed. I quietly made my way towards our bedroom, not sure if Sidney was awake yet. I peered into the open room and saw that the bed was made and he wasn’t in there.

It was exactly what I was counting on. I'd hoped that I wouldn't get up until he had already left for practice. I got dressed and made my way downstairs where I made myself a small breakfast. Then I packed up my things and got into my car. I drove to the library on campus where I bunkered in for the day.

Maybe I was running away from Sidney right now, but I had other things to take care of. Things between Sidney and I could wait until I'd finished my paper and taken this test. That may mean that we'd have to spend another day not speaking, but with the stress I was under from school, today would not be a good day for us to talk. I didn't want to say something I'd regret. Later on I walked into the deli where I usually grabbed lunch. I'd finished my paper, and needed a break before studying.

“Hey, don’t we have class together? Tanner, right?” an attractive guy said to me, smiling down from where he was standing. I smiled and nodded, recognizing him.

“Yeah, we do.”

“I’m Keagan,” he introduced himself, shaking my hand. “Mind if I join you?”

“No, go right ahead.”

“So was it just me, or was class really boring Friday?” Keagan asked.

“Just Friday?” I joked. He laughed.

“Yeah, you’re right. Damn electives. So what are you majoring in?”

“Animal Science major. How about you?”

“Math.” I scrunched up my nose at him.

“You must be really smart.”

“I never know how to respond when people say that. Sure, I’m good with numbers, but I don’t know five languages and I can’t cure any kind of disease.”

“I see what you mean.”

“So, I just want you to know right off the bat that I’m not trying to hit on you or anything. I know that you have a boyfriend and I have a girlfriend. Blunt, I know, but I didn’t want to be creeping you out or anything.” I laughed.

“Don’t worry, I appreciate bluntness. What’s her name?” I asked.

“Oakley. We met in class. She’s a fellow numbers geek.”

“Aw, meant to be?” I joked. I heard footsteps approach and looked up to see Sidney standing in front of us at the table. He was glaring down at Keagan.

“Am I interrupting something?” he asked, angrily. I let out a sigh.

“Keagan and I have class together. He saw me sitting here alone and wanted to keep me company.”

“How nice,” Sidney spat angrily.

“I’m going to get home. I’ll see you in class, Tanner,” Keagan said standing up. Sidney glared at him as he walked out.

“We got in a fight so you pick up the first cute guy you see?” I got up from the table and threw my sandwich away.

“Get over yourself. He has a girlfriend. He’s not remotely interested. And I’m not interested in being around you right now. I’m going to stay on campus and do some work and then I’m having dinner with Grace. I’ll see you whenever I get home tonight.” I turned my back on Sidney and stalked out of the deli. That conversation could wait until I’d calmed down.

I could hardly study. I was too upset with Sidney. Who did he think he was? He was so rude to Keagan for no reason and he was treating me like shit. I didn’t deserve it. I didn’t feel any better as I struggled to try to get some studying done at the library. I finally gave up and went to Grace’s early.

I told her all about the fight Sidney and I had and then about his attitude today. She offered to let me stay there for the night if I needed to cool down, but I declined. Sidney and I needed to have it out now or it was only going to fester and get worse. I wasn’t looking forward to getting home, but it had to happen.

I pulled into the driveway and took a deep breath before getting out of the car. I’d thought about everything I wanted to say to Sidney when I’d gotten home the entire car ride back, but now that I was home I’d forgotten it all. I walked into the house and smelled food in the kitchen, which was weird because if I wasn’t home for dinner, he usually had some sort of take-out. Then I heard a woman’s laugh.

I walked down the hall to the kitchen and froze in the doorway. Sidney was on one side of the island leaning on it with a glass of red wine in front of him. Tamara was leaning on the island from the other side with her boobs practically falling out of her shirt right in his face. I spotted the dishes and saw that someone had been cooking. There were also plates in front of both of them. He’d had her over for dinner.

“Oh, hi, Tanner,” Tamara said sounding disappointed. I looked back and forth between the two of them, anger boiling up in me.

“What’s going on?” I asked. Sidney gave me a smile completely devoid of humor and full of “I can do it too.”

“I felt like cooking and since you weren’t going to be home I invited Tamara over so it wouldn’t go to waste.”

That stung. Sidney had not once ever cooked for me. On the rare occasion he’d been in charge of dinner he’d always had something made by someone else. Now he’d cooked for her. Then I spotted the wine they were drinking. There sitting empty on the counter was the bottle of Pinot Noir that the girls had gotten me to celebrate the end of my chemo treatments. The same bottle I never wanted to open so that I’d have it as a reminder.

“You need to leave,” I said turning to Tamara.

“Excuse me?” she asked, glaring at me. “I was invited.”

“Now you’re uninvited. Get the hell out of my house.” I wasn’t sure I’d ever spoken to anyone in that tone before, but Tamara got the point. She walked out of the kitchen and out of the house a second later.

“What the hell?”

“Are you serious right now?!” I yelled at Sidney, cutting him off.

“I don’t know what the fuck you’re so upset about. I invited the neighbor over for dinner. What’s the big deal?” He had a look of anger mixed with a smugness that I wanted to smack off of him.

“You’re unbelievable.”

I turned and stormed out of the kitchen and headed straight for the stairs. I went right into the bedroom and grabbed a gym bag and began to throw clothes into it. I couldn’t be here with him tonight. Not after what he’d just done.

“Going somewhere?” he asked, coming up behind me.

“To Grace’s. I don’t know when I’ll be back.” I didn’t even bother looking at him as I said it. I just continued to pack whatever I could grab.

“You’re leaving because I had Tamara over? Fuck, Tanner, you’re being immature. You had lunch with that asshole earlier and it was okay for you, but I can’t have a meal with a girl without you flipping out?” I spun around on him.

“Don’t even compare the two! They’re so different and I don’t even know how you can’t see that!”

“How is it different, Tanner? How is what you did better than what I did?”

“Oh, so you did this to get back at me? Who’s immature now, Sidney? I feel like I should just be waiting to hear you say ‘I know you are but what am I?’” I spat at him.

“What the fuck do you want from me?!” he yelled.

“An apology, even though that’s not even close to good enough right now,” I told him.

“I have nothing to apologize for. You went behind my back and had lunch with another guy!”

“Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare accuse me of anything, Sidney. Keagan is a classmate who saw I was eating alone and decided to sit down and join me. It wasn’t planned. And if you really want to get into it, why don’t I bring up the how many thousands of girls that would die to have you just for one night? The same girls that I’ve never even once said a word about, not even after I had to witness one kiss you! She fucking kissed you, Sidney and I didn’t say anything to you about it because I trust you! Apparently you can’t give me the same trust when the only thing I’ve ever done was share a table with a male at lunch.”

“And I shared a table with a female at dinner.”

“No, you didn’t. You know that she has a thing for you. You know that she’d do anything to take you from me. And you cooked for her! When was the last time you cooked for me?” He didn’t respond. “That’s right, you have nothing to say because you never have. Even when I had cancer and was going through chemo you never cooked for me, but you had no problem cooking for that gold digging whore! And that’s not even the worst part. The worst part is that you drank my wine. You drank my fucking wine, Sidney!”

“It was just a fucking bottle of wine!”

I felt the stinging on my hand before I even realized I’d slapped Sidney across the face. He looked at me in complete shock, covering his cheek with his hand. Even so, I found that I didn’t feel bad about it. I only wished I could do it again.

“That wasn’t just a fucking bottle of wine. That bottle was given to me by the girls when I finished chemo. That bottle symbolized the six months of hell I had to go through to save my life. I had a piece of my skull removed, a tumor taken out of my brain, and I went through chemo, getting sick almost every day for six months. That bottle was supposed to remind me that I’d gone through hell and I’d survived. You knew how much it meant to me and you let her drink it and you drank it with her. You obviously don’t care about what matters to me. I can’t even look at you right now.”

I zipped up the gym bag and picked it up. I could feel tears building, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry. I shoved past him and made my way downstairs. I heard him chasing after me, but I didn’t care. I grabbed my car keys, the ones for my old car, and headed for the door when I felt his hand close on my arm.

“Tanner, wait.”

“Get your fucking hands off of me.” I ripped my arm out of his grasp and walked out the front door, leaving him standing in the foyer.