Chapter 2

Emma froze. No. I must be hearing things. She peeked around the corner and the last bit of hope in her life fizzled away. Matt was in the doorway of her room, with his hands all over her roommate Vivian. Vivian looked up at him and ran her fingers through his hair. Their clothes were disheveled. It didn’t take much imagination to figure what they’d been up to.

“It’s me or her, Matt,” Vivian cooed as she traced circles on Matt’s chest. “It’s me or Emma.”

“It’s you, Viv,” Matt answered. “You’re the one I want to be with.”

Emma’s heart shattered and dripped into the hallway along with the rain water she was soaked in. She choked back a sob, but the sound escaped. Vivian’s head snapped in the direction of the noise. She had the decency to look shocked for a bit, but then she giggled.

“It seems we have an audience. Who’s there? Maybe we’ll give you a show.”

A cascade of emotions bombarded Emma. Betrayal, anger, sadness, denial. More than anything, she wanted to run as far as she could from there. This can’t be happening. I must have heard wrong, she thought. That’s it. It’s some kind of misunderstanding. She took a deep breath and rounded the corner. Vivian’s smug look fell from her face, and Matt went pale.

“Emma,” Matt gasped. “I—”

“Oh dear,” Vivian said, recovering from her momentary shock and still gripping onto Matt. “It seems we’ve been caught. I suppose it’s for the best. It’s about time we aired this all out.” Vivian smiled at Emma with a wicked glint in her eye. Emma knew what she looked like: a sad, wet, and broken woman. And she knew what joy Vivian must have felt at that. Vivian Stone had a reputation around campus. Boys loved her, and girls hated her. She was known for stealing boyfriends and breaking up relationships. Emma thought being her roommate could have protected her. But all it did was provide her an easy target. Matt was handsome, intelligent, rich and taken. Everything Vivian wanted. Emma was sure Matt would be immune to Vivian’s ways. She was certain his love for her would keep him safe from Vivian. Apparently, he didn’t love her enough. Or maybe I’m not enough.

“Let’s go in your room so we can talk,” Matt tried to soothe Emma. He disentangled himself from Vivian and motioned for Emma to come close. Emma took a step, but Vivian jumped in.

“We should go to Tremaine’s,” she suggested. “We can talk over some drinks. Doesn’t that sound like a great idea?”

Another stab. Tremaine’s was a popular local bar. It was where Matt and Emma had met and had their first date. Vivian knew that. Not only did she love stealing people’s boyfriends, she loved to humiliate her victims as much as possible. It was a sport to her. She was just as evil as Jane.

“I don’t think that’s a good—” Matt started to say.

“That’s fine,” Emma interrupted. There was no spirit in her voice. She was a shell. But she refused to let Vivian see how broken she felt. Or let Matt know how much he’d hurt her. “A drink sounds great.” She tried to hide the tremble in her voice behind a smile. Emma refused to show them any weakness.

“That’s settled then. Let me just freshen up and grab us a couple of umbrellas, okay?” Vivian kissed Matt before darting into their room. Emma felt yet another stab. Matt started at her. His eyes looked around at everything but her face. The walls closed in around her. All Emma wanted to do was to submit to her emotions. But she couldn’t let herself feel anything. Not now.

“Emma, listen—” Matt tried to say.

“We’ll talk at the bar, all right?” Emma answered through clenched teeth. Her fists were balled up at her sides and small tremors quaked through her body. Matt said nothing else. The tension mounted between them. It was a palpable entity waiting in that hallway. After the longest few minutes of Emma’s life, Vivian emerged with a face full of makeup, perfectly coifed curls, and a small umbrella. Emma noticed she didn’t grab two.

“Shall we?” Matt and Vivian strode past Emma and she followed behind them. Night had fallen and the storm was still raging. Rumbles of thunder rolled in the air and flashes of lightning tore through the sky.

How fitting, Emma thought.

They approached Matt’s car. It was a sleek silver sedan. He always made sure it was in a covered parking spot. It was a high school graduation gift from his parents and he kept it in pristine condition. Emma thought of the heated leather seats inside and walked around to the front passenger’s side as she’d done so many times.

“Oh, Emma no,” Vivian sneered. “That’s my spot.”

“You can ride in the back,” Matt offered, and went to open the door for her.

“But, Matt,” Vivian pouted. “She’s all wet. She’ll ruin the inside of your car. We can let that happen.”

This was another shot at humiliation. Vivian wanted Emma to try and fight for her spot. It was part of the game for her. She got off on causing heartache and emotional turmoil. Emma refused to give her the satisfaction.

“You two go in the car. I’ll meet you there.”

“Em…,” Matt reached out for her. Emma backed away. She couldn’t bear to be touched by him.

“I’ll meet you there,” she repeated and ran off in the direction of the bar. Her heart thrashed against her ribs as she ran. She longed to release her emotions, to let herself feel them.

But she couldn’t. She took advantage of being away from them and did her best to collect herself. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. It was her mantra as she ran. She did her best to try and not notice as Matt’s car passed her. She tried not to see how Vivian threw her head back in laughter as they watched her run in the storm. She would lie to herself and say it didn’t sting. She stayed numb to the pain.

Don’t cry. Don’t feel.

Her legs and lungs were on fire with exertion when she reached Tremaine’s. Not a month ago, she was nestled in Matt’s lap celebrating their anniversary. He’d tenderly kissed her and promised that they would always be together. He gushed about his plans for their future. And now he’d all but erased her from his life. It was then she decided she’d return the favor.

She walked into the bar and the pang of nostalgia was hard to fight off. She loved Tremaine’s. It was decorated as a 1920’s speakeasy. There were often local artists or musicians performing there. Its cozy atmosphere was also perfect for studying. She’d spent so many amazing evenings there.

After this is done, she promised herself, I’ll never set foot in here again.

Matt and Vivian were seated at her favorite table. Emma took a deep breath and approached them.

They sat next to each other, leaving the space across from them empty for her. There was a drink waiting.

“I ordered a sangria for you. I know it’s your favorite,” Matt said. Emma stared at him. She figured she’d need the liquid courage, so downed the drink in one breath. Emma felt an instant buzz. Good, she thought. Matt and Vivian were surprised but quickly regained their composure.

“Listen, Matt,” Emma said after she finished. “I don’t have the energy for this. If you want to break up with me so you can keep screwing around with Vivian, that’s fine. Consider us broken up.”

Vivian was clearly upset by Emma’s strong will. She wanted Emma to break. She wanted to see the hurt she had caused her.

“We didn’t mean for this to happen or to hurt you,” Vivian lied. “You just worked so many hours and Matt got lonely. I kept him company one night. One thing led to another and we…”

“You slept with her?” Emma seethed.

“We’re in love, Emma,” Matt added. “Deep, passionate and true love. I’m sorry if this is too much for you.”

“I said, I don’t care,” she looked over at Vivian. “You want him? You can have him.” Vivian was becoming more and more irritated.

“This is your fault you know,” she said in another attempt to tear Emma down. “If you hadn’t been such a shitty girlfriend, this would never have happened. I mean, look at you. All you do is work, and study. You never try and look good for him. You’re such a prude. It’s no wonder he got bored of you.” A wicked glint flashed in Vivian’s eyes. There was one more thing she could try to break Emma. “Maybe you should have learned a thing or two from that loose friend of yours, Sabrina. She certainly knows her way around campus if you know what I mean.” She threw her back and laughed.

Emma stood, grabbed Vivian’s drink and threw it in her face.

“How dare you? I was hoping to keep our friendship intact, but I can see that’s impossible!” Vivian jumped up.

“First of all, we were never friends, you back-stabbing skank! Second of all, you keep Sabrina’s name out of your mouth. Say what you want about me, but I will not let you sit there and talk shit about my friends.”

“You’re just jealous I got your man!”

“You. Can. Have. Him,” Emma repeated. By then, the entire bar was watching them. And Emma found she didn’t care. She turned to leave, but Matt grabbed her. “Don’t touch me!”

“You think you can just leave like this?” He yelled at her. “We tried to have a civilized conversation with you and this is how you act?”

“You cheated on me! So now I’m breaking up with you. Happy?” she yelled back. “I’ve released you so you can be with your precious bitch. Congratulations. I hope you and that devil slut have a great life!”