5

I moved back into the dorm.

Vanessa owned an apartment near campus, but as soon as she heard I'd returned, she moved back too. Suddenly, she had endless things to say.

“My fiancé has been in a terrible mood.”

“That girl he was seeing threw a tantrum and dumped him out of nowhere.”

“He was only playing around, but she left while he was still interested. Of course he's upset.”

“He's my man, after all. If he comes to me to complain, I suppose I have to put up with it.”

Right on cue, her phone rang. She answered on speaker.

That tired male voice filled the room.

“I'm going to Europe for a vacation. Do you want anything?”

Vanessa laughed. “Why Europe all of a sudden? You're not going to win your girlfriend back?”

“She wants to be angry, so let her. I'll give her time to calm down, then I'll coax her out of it.”

Vanessa turned the expensive watch on her wrist and glanced at me.

“What if she decides she doesn't want you at all?”

“She won't. She loves me.” Julian sounded utterly certain. “She takes relationships seriously. Unlike you.”

He told Vanessa to pick a gift and ended the call.

She came to my desk with her arms folded.

“My fiancé's going to Europe. Want me to ask him to bring you something?”

Before I could answer, she sighed.

“Never mind. He's lazy. He never bothers with anyone else's requests. He only buys things for me.”

Even the slowest person alive would have heard the challenge in her voice.

Vanessa and I had been rivals since freshman year. We had both entered an innovation competition. She bragged that an expert was guiding her project and that first prize was guaranteed.

My name appeared beside first place. Hers appeared beside second.

Later that year, I won the university's autumn fashion contest. From then on, every time Vanessa looked at me, resentment sat behind her eyes.

She hadn't lived in the dorm, so we'd mostly avoided each other. Now she was making up for lost time.

I met her smile.

“Your fiancé is certainly good to you. Shame that, behind your back, he still gets on his knees to beg another woman for affection.”

Her expression changed. “What are you talking about?”

“You said he had a girlfriend. Couples kiss and hold each other. What did you expect?”

I looked at her expensive watch.

“If you can't tolerate that, maybe you aren't as secure in the official position as you pretend.”

The watch hit the floor behind me with a heavy crack.

By evening, however, Vanessa was cheerful again.

“Guess who I saw outside the library?” she asked our roommates. “Adrian Cole. He was waiting for the shuttle under a streetlight. Broad shoulders, long legs—I couldn't look away. I'm going to get him if it kills me.”

Adrian was the man she'd chased since freshman year.

While everyone crowded around the photo she'd secretly taken, I unlocked my phone.

Two messages waited for me.

They were from Adrian.

I heard you moved back into the dorm.

Would you like to have dinner sometime?