Learning Curve

Scottie

“Mind if I borrow your curling iron? I need to fix a few curls.” Julia says, leaning out from my half bathroom and shaking her blond hair side to side.

I laugh at her cute little dance and pull it out of the drawer in the white vanity at the side of the room that holds all my hair products, accessories, and devices like my hair dryer and straightener.

I hand it to her, and she smiles gratefully.

As she plugs it in and goes back to getting ready in the bathroom, I step back up to the vanity to continue working on my makeup.

All thanks to Tonya’s elbow today at practice, my nose took an accidental hit. It hurt like I suspect any fist to the face does and started bleeding instantly—and hasn’t stopped yet. I swear, it’s been trickling on and off for hours. Even worse, though, I’ve got bruises forming under my eyes from the force of the blow, and they’re an absolute bitch to get covered.

Julia holds a curling iron to her head at the front of her crown and peeks over her shoulder while still tethered to the cord.

“Did you get it to stop bleeding?”

“Yeah,” I respond, pulling the wadded-up paper towel from under my top lip and throwing it into the garbage can under my desk. I go back to hiding the bruises under my eyes with concealer. “I thought I had it under control before you got here. I don’t know why it started up again.”

“Nosebleeds are so finicky.”

“Where’d you learn that paper towel under the lip thing anyway?”

“One of my mom’s best friends is the doctor on staff for the New York Mavericks. She knows all sorts of tips and tricks for sports-related injuries.”

I bark a laugh. “You say that so casually.”

Julia giggles and shrugs, taking the curling iron out from the back of her head now and letting a spiral piece of hair drop. “I grew up around all these people, so I don’t even think anything of it, I guess. It’s pretty cool, though, huh?”

“That your dad is a billionaire with a bunch of billionaire friends?” I mock with a wink. “Yeah, it’s pretty cool.”

Julia rolls her eyes. “Trust me, you’d never think my dad was a billionaire. It took my mom my entire childhood to convince him to drive something other than a Ford Edge.”

“Honestly, I think that might make it even cooler.”

Julia nods. “He’s the best.”

It takes everything inside me, but I somehow manage to ask my next question without a shaky voice. “What do you think Finn’s deal is? Like his family and stuff?”

“I don’t know, actually. Ace is normally such a blabbermouth, but he hasn’t said anything about Finn or his parents.” She laughs. “Probably hedging his bets to keep from getting beat up.”

I force a laugh of my own. “Yeah. Finn’s a pretty good fighter.”

“Do you think that’s what’s happening tonight?” she asks about the Double C text we got about an hour before she got to my dorm. “Another fight?”

My lungs seize at the thought, but I play it cool, dabbing powder under my eyes.

“I don’t know.” What I want to say is Yikes, I hope not, but I’m afraid that’ll give me away. And I’ve got a promise going to myself that we’re not going to give in to the Finn Hayes feelings anymore.

Still, here I am, getting ready to go find out anyway. I’m not entirely sure if it’s just fear—that I won’t be able to bear not being there if there’s another fight involving Finn—or if I’m stupidly hoping it’ll lead to another kiss.

And yes, I’m aware. I’m hopeless.

I hear my phone ping with a new text message, but I’m too busy applying mascara to my lashes to check it immediately. It’s on the other side of the room where Julia is curling her hair, and mascara application is a delicate process.

“What is this, Scottie?” Julia asks through a horrified gasp. When I turn around to look, my phone is in her hand.

Shit.

My shoulders tense as Julia walks toward me, concern swimming in her eyes. I take the phone from her outstretched hand and read the message to myself.

Hey, skank. Did you know that your ex-boyfriend was cheating on you the whole time you were together?

It’s a fucked-up message, but I’m just glad it’s not about my mom. Unfortunately, another message pops up on the screen while Julia’s still right there.

I’m going to celebrate the day you finally get what you deserve.

“What the hell? What unimaginable asshole would send you something like this?” she questions, and a sigh leaves my lungs.

“I don’t know. It’s always an unknown number.” I shrug and make a point to clear the notifications off the screen and shove my phone in my jeans pocket.

“Wait…you’ve gotten more of these?”

“It’s no big deal.”

Julia frowns. “Scottie, it feels like a big deal. This is legit harassment.”

“Well, I did try to block the number once, but they just started using a new one.”

“You think you should take this to the campus police?”

“Hell no.” I laugh, horrified. “It’s not that serious.”

She’s not convinced. A huge frown mars the usually perfect skin between her eyebrows. “It kind of feels that serious, Scottie.”

“It’s fine,” I say and force a confident smile that I’m not even remotely feeling to my lips. “Plus, we don’t have time to go to the campus police tonight.” I check the clock and feel my stomach tense on itself when I realize we need to leave soon for Double C. “It’s almost ten. Are you ready?”

“Yeah,” Julia replies, running to the bathroom, yanking the plug out of the wall, and combing her fingers through her curls as she steps back into the room with me. “How do I look?”

I smile, and this time, it takes no effort. “Beautiful, as always. I’ve never seen you look anything short of perfect, though.”

Julia smiles. “Look who’s talking.”

“I literally just stopped bleeding all over the place. And you can still see some of the bruising under my eyes.”

“You look gorgeous, girl. Promise.”

I glance at myself in the mirror and will myself to see what Julia is seeing. To be a confident, badass bitch tonight who doesn’t need Finn Hayes or anyone else to notice her.

I need the bravado, even if I’m faking more than half of it.

“All right, let’s go. Before we’re late and we miss the whole damn thing.”

Julia’s eyes widen as I grab her hand and drag her, but she catches on quickly, snagging her tiny purse from my desk on the way by and jogging to keep up with me as my door slams behind us. I’ve opted to go bagless, just shoving some cash, my ID, and a lipstick in my pocket.

We laugh all the way down the stairs, passing Carrie at the front door of Delaney Place and pausing for a brief cordial exchange.

As soon as we start walking, I glance at my phone for the time—10:05.

The entrance to the Gyger Tunnel is under the football field and at least seven minutes away if we speedwalk.

“Come on. We have to hustle,” I command, pulling Julia’s hand again. She laughs but complies, and her phone chimes in her hand.

To her credit, she reads it and walks at the same time. “Ace says they’re almost there.”

“See? I told you.”

“Don’t worry. Ace will make sure they let us in.” The way she says it is so matter-of-fact, I can’t help but question her.

“You say that like he’s never broken a promise.”

She shrugs. “I guess that’s ’cause he hasn’t.”

“Never?” I ask disbelievingly. All the guys I’ve ever known have slipped up at least once.

She shakes her head, the mottled yellow glow from the streetlights shining in her eyes. “Never. I know he’s crazy, but he can’t help that. It’s in his genes.”

“I just didn’t know a man could be that reliable. I mean, my dad is incredibly reliable, but from my experience, he’s an exception.”

“Really?” she asks, and she seems genuinely shocked. “All the men in my life are unequivocally reliable.”

“All of them?” I question, aghast.

“Yeah. My dad. My grandpa. My dad’s friends, who are all my pseudo-uncles, I guess. Ace and even his little brother Gunnar, who’s truly a crazy shit.”

“Crazier than Ace?”

Julia’s face actually startles. “Oh yeah. Ace is like a zero on a hundred scale compared to Gunnar’s one hundred.”

“Okay. That actually frightens me.”

“It should.”

I shove open the door for Wheaton Hall. It’s the building that holds all of the professor’s offices, and also, the safest, fastest shortcut for two ladies walking alone this late at night on campus. I pull Julia inside and startle when a large man appears at the other end of the hallway when we’re halfway down it.

My scream echoes off the stone walls, and Julia’s follows shortly after.

“Hey, hey,” a voice I thankfully recognize calls over ours with authority. “It’s just me. Professor Winslow.”

I take several deep breaths to calm myself, and Julia covers her face with her hands. It’s safe to say we both thought this was the start of our very own true crime special on Netflix.

“What are you girls doing in here so late?”

I nudge Julia with my elbow to get her moving with me—time is still ticking—and walk toward Professor Winslow with confidence. It’s feigned, but whatever. “Just cutting through to the other side of campus. This is the safest route.” He frowns, and I find myself questioning him. “What are you doing in here so late?”

He smirks. “Department meeting ran late, and then I got busy on some graduate papers. Turns out being the boss is busy.”

Julia widens her eyes in an unspoken We have to go.

“Well, see you later…in class…I guess,” I say awkwardly, grabbing Julia’s elbow and dragging her by the professor.

“Hey,” he calls, pulling me up short before we can get too far.

I grit my teeth and turn around. “Yes?”

“I noticed Finn had some new bruises in class last week. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

Julia squeaks, and I tighten my grip on her elbow. She thinks those bruises are from the Double C fight, but I know for a fact he had other bruises too. Bruises that weren’t there that Saturday night he asked me to stay at his dorm.

Though, I haven’t told Julia or anyone else that.

There are so many things I could say and so many I know I shouldn’t, so I settle on the plain truth. It’s hard to hear, even from my own lips.

“Finn Hayes makes sure I don’t know a damn thing about him.”

Professor Winslow’s eyes narrow, but he nods. “All right, girls. Be safe.”

We take off at a run, and we don’t look back. We’re late for Double C, and there’s not a single thing that’s safe about that.