Chapter 151

Tessa’s POV

When I returned to my apartment, I felt a little better. Not because I spent the entire evening with Brian, but because I was able to get some space from the school and Joseph. I was feeling like the cloud in my mind was parting and a little bit of sunshine was sneaking in.

Of course, I was going to have a good excuse as to why I missed Joseph’s class. But that wasn’t something I wanted to worry about right now.

I grabbed my phone out of my bag, which was left at school initially, but Brian brought me back to grab it before bringing me home. I hadn’t had a chance to even look at my phone since grabbing it from my locker. I already knew what I was going to see; Ruby would be in a panic for sure.

When I looked at the screen, there were about 10 missed calls. 8 of them were from Ruby and two of them were from Joseph.

I winced when I saw his name.

There were also a couple of text messages from Ruby as well, but none from Joseph thankfully.

I decided to ignore Joseph’s calls and just call Ruby so she could stop worrying.

“Oh, my God, Tessa!” Ruby nearly shouted on the phone. “Where the hell have you been?? I almost called the police!”

“Ruby, I’m fine,” I said calmly, lying out on my couch. “I just needed a break.”

“You skipped Professor Evergreen’s class. He warned us in the beginning that if we miss any class time, it will take a miracle to catch up. Tessa, you could fail,” Ruby scolded.

“I will speak with him tomorrow and see if I can make it up,” I said, brushing off her words.

I knew I should have cared more, but at the moment, I didn’t.

“Did you even hear what I said? It would take a miracle,” she repeated.

I sighed.

“This is just an extra course; I’ll still be able to graduate,” I assured her. “Graduation is in a few months and I’m passing all my other classes with flying colors. I’m still getting my degree.”

“I thought this class meant more to you than that?” She said, sounding a little saddened by my words. “Before Joseph was your boyfriend, he was your writing idol. Getting to learn from one of the best writers in the world is an honor…I never thought you’d let something like this stand in your way of concurring your dreams.”

My heart hurt hearing her words; I sat up on the couch and all the emotions that I had felt the last few days had come rushing back. All the hurt and pain began to consume me, and it took everything I had to not cry again.

I bit my lower lip, trying desperately to keep me together.

“You used to tell me that writing fantasy took you out of your reality and placed you somewhere you truly wanted to be. Writing was always separate from the outside world. That includes boy problems,” she continued.

I knew she was right; tears pooled in my eyes as I lowered my head shamefully. How did I stray so far from where I was only days ago? I hadn’t even been able to write for Fable magazine; my editor was still waiting on my newest story that I had yet to submit.

I was afraid to open my email to see if she had reached out to me. I’m sure she has… I was supposed to send it days ago.

I couldn’t even think about my blog; I wondered how many followers I had lost because of my depressing entries.

“I want my friend back…” Ruby whispered.

“I’m sorry…” I said in a broken whisper, my voice cracking slightly. “You are right. I haven’t been myself since the breakup. I’m losing grip of what I truly wanted. I’m going to delete my recent blog posts.”

“You have a lot of people worrying,” she admitted. “Including me. Those posts were really mean to men. Not all men are assholes.”

She was right about that too; I shouldn’t have labeled all men the same and said those awful things about them.

What was I thinking?

I shook my head at myself, not wanting to think about it anymore.

“I will make a post to apologize to my followers,” I told her. “I will fix this.”

“I know you will,” she said gently. “Because you are Tessa fucking Campbell and you can conjure this entire world.”

I couldn’t help but smile through my unshed tears; Ruby always knew what to say to make me feel better. I shouldn’t have shut her out like I have been.

“Thank you,” I breathed and from my tone, she knew I was crying. It was obvious.

“Wipe your tears, girl,” she ordered. “You got dreams to make come true.”

I chuckled at her words.

“That I do,” I agreed.

“And if you want, I’ll come with you to speak with Professor Evergreen tomorrow. If it makes it easier,” she offered.

I appreciated the offer, but I think this is something I need to do myself.

“I’ll let you know,” was what I told her.“By the way, where did you go today? I looked everywhere for you, but you were literally nowhere.”

“I left campus,” I admitted; I had to tell her the truth. She would find out sooner or later and I didn’t want her to find out from anyone other than me.

“Did you walk home?”

“….”

“Tessa?” She asked after I didn’t respond.

“No…” I answered slowly. “I got a ride.”

“From whom?” She sounded skeptical, not that I could blame her. I didn’t hang out with many people other than Ruby.

I sighed.

“Promise you won’t be mad?” I asked, biting my lower lip. She didn’t respond so I sighed again and continued. “I got a ride from Brian.”

She gasped loudly into the phone.

“You what?” She said loudly, making me wince and pull the phone away from my ear. “Are you insane? What made you leave campus with that jerk?”

“I needed to get away,” I said in return. “And he was available.”

“Tessa, that was incredibly stupid. He’s unstable.”

“He didn’t seem unstable at all,” I said, shrugging though she couldn’t see me. “He seemed concerned.”

“Don’t tell me you’re falling for his bullshit again,” Ruby seethed. “He’s a no good dirtbag and you know this.”

“It’s not like we are getting back together, Ruby. I won’t put myself through that again. But it was nice getting away. We just got ice cream and talked.”

“Are you forgetting all the shit he’s put you through? He’s been harassing you since you dumped him,” Ruby reminded me. “He puts you down every step of the way.”

“I know,” I said, tugging at my fingers nervously. “Don’t worry, Ruby. I’m not going to fall for his shit again. I promise. I won’t put either of us through that trainwreck again.”

After a short pause, she finally sighed.

“Just be careful,” she breathed. “I have homework. I have to go.”

Before I could say anything more, she hung up. I stared at my phone with a frown; I knew she was upset with me. But I was an adult and could make my own choices. I didn’t need her to tell me what to do; but then again, she often knew better than I did. I needed to learn to trust her words more.

But in this case, she had nothing to worry about. I wasn’t planning on getting back together with Brian. I didn’t feel that way about him anymore and I certainly didn’t want to deal with his friends again. Especially Amanda.

I shuddered at the very thought.

It was just nice to step away from the school and have a fresh ear to listen to my problems. There was nothing more other than that.

I shook the thought from my mind and grabbed my laptop off the coffee table. I opened my blog and saw that I had a bunch of messages from people asking if I was okay. Some men were ridiculing my posts, not that I could blame them.

I seemed to have lost a bunch of followers too; not enough to make a huge impact, but every follower mattered. My heart hurt knowing that I had caused that.

I sighed and deleted all the posts I’ve made these last few days and then I proceeded to type out a long post apologizing for my cruel words. I took the time to reply to each message as well and let everyone know personally that I was fine and apologize for my cruelty.

The process took a couple of hours but once I was done, I felt a little lighter.

I journaled for a bit as well and made a sandwich to munch on before taking a shower and going off to bed.

….

Joseph’s POV

The light in Tessa’s room turned off. I stood in the street, staring up at her apartment building feeling this wave of pain in my chest. Of course, Tessa was free to see whoever she wanted.

But why did it have to be Brian?

After everything he had put her through.

I was angry at the idea of them together and I was even angrier that she ditched my class to be with him. I was planning on letting her make up her coursework so she doesn’t fall behind and I still will allow it, but I hope she can at least be honest with me once I can speak with her.

I turned my back on the building and began toward my car which I left across the street. As I reached the car door, I heard a muffled tone from nearby and realized it was from a parked car. I knew whose car it was before I heard his voice.

“I’m telling you, Amanda. Once I get back on Tessa’s good side, I will have her write blog posts about me and my family's business. That’s the only reason why I’m talking to her again. Once we get more business, I’ll dump her, and I’ll take you on that date I promised you.”