The Space Between Us

Chapter 11 ~ Gossip

The bell finally rang, and I darted out of the classroom.

I heard the girls' giggles behind me as I walked. How were they already out of the classroom? I thought I had been fast.

"He is so hot," I heard one of the girls say.

"We're so lucky that he's in our class," said another. "I mean, who'd have thought that River Alves would take an art class? Isn't he, like, a sports management major?"

"I was only taking it for credit, but now I'm taking it for him," said the first girl.

A third voice laughed obnoxiously and said, "Same! Maybe I can get with him by the end of this."

Apparently, we were all going in the same direction, so I kept hearing their voices.

"He's still with his girlfriend, isn't he?"

"Oh, the really hot one?"

"They've all been really hot."

"Taylor is her name this time."

I stopped walking. Without realizing it, the three girls that had been gossiping behind me nearly ran into me.

"Watch it," one of them snapped, glaring at me.

"What a weirdo," said another under her breath as they walked away.

I almost rolled my eyes. There were plenty of insults better than 'weirdo,' if they had to choose.

Then I remembered why I had stopped: River had a girlfriend??

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I was distracted at work that night, and Jess noticed. To combat my poor focus, she gave me more work to do. That was her way of making sure I was too busy to be distracted, even though I wasn't sure if that was the solution.

The effort of school and then work until 7 p.m. wore me out. I went back to the apartment and collapsed on the couch without even opening my eyes fully.

When I finally looked around, I saw that River was still out. But a few minutes later, the door opened, and River strolled in. I barely gave him a chance to close the door when I was standing right beside him with my arms folded.

He made to move past me, but I blocked his way.

"You have a girlfriend."

He stared at me, his hair falling in front of the left side of his face. His gaze was stony.

"Who told you that?"

"I heard it from your group in art class," I said, my cheeks growing slightly pink. I just admitted that I'd eavesdropped.

River clenched his jaw. "I don't have a girlfriend. They're delusional. Now, get out of my way."

He pushed past me, clearly hoping I'd drop it. I didn't. I followed him to the door of his room.

"They must have a reason for saying that. I don't want to come between you and a girl by living here," I said, unfazed by his attitude.

"I don't have a girlfriend, didn't you hear me?" said River, gripping the door handle of his room. "Leave me alone."

"We can't keep this up forever!" I said, raising my voice as he slammed his door shut in my face.

I sighed. Oh well.

I really hoped River and I could come to an agreement about living together soon because I wasn't sure how long I could stay this nice.

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Saturday morning, River was awake early and already showering, so I waited for him to be done, making sure and then double sure that the water had stopped before I knocked and entered the bathroom. He'd probably lock the door, but I did not need an awkward encounter during our first week of being roommates.

River was gone by the time I got out of the bathroom. I got the brilliant idea to check the Twitter of the men's soccer team. They indeed had an away game today, which meant River would probably be gone until evening.

I looked around the apartment. He didn't have anything of his in sight outside of his bedroom, I noticed. Did he even eat here?

An hour later, James and Alice were standing in the living room.

"This is awesome!" Alice exclaimed, looking around with a smile on her face.

All of us wore our signature outfits today. Alice had heavy make-up, complimenting her all-black outfit and high, black platform shoes. James, on the other hand, looked like he was ready to go camping with his flannel shirt. Or maybe build a house out of logs. I opted for a casual jeans and t-shirt look.

"You didn't have work today?" asked James.

"No, I got the day off," I said with a grin. "I figured you guys would want to see this place."

"Totally!" said Alice excitedly. "It looks great!"

I was so happy and comfortable with them that I completely wiped River from my mind. All afternoon, we ate snacks and played games. James had brought over two board games, and after we played those, he helped me hook up my Wii to the TV, and we played Mario Kart. Alice was terrible, even though she liked gaming, so it was James and I competing with Alice coming in dead last each time. At least we were all laughing a lot.

Not once did they suspect another person lived with me. When asked about the closed door, I said it was a closet, and they didn't pry further.

When they left, I was in high spirits. Perhaps the year would be fine if I was able to keep my weekends this way.

My stomach grumbled its displeasure at eating only junk food all day.

I looked in the cupboards and the fridge before I remembered that I hadn't gone shopping yet. I sighed, gathered up my keys, and drove to the nearest grocery store.

I pushed the grocery cart half-heartedly, my eyes scanning product after product, not really knowing what I was going to get. I leaned on the cart and adjusted my glasses after they fell when I yawned.

I turned the corner and bumped into someone.

"Sorry--" I began to say, but I stopped.

I was met with a familiar glare and dark eyes.