Unexpected

Chapter 17

A/N Note This chapter is dedicated to ariarlyn918, an amazing Wattpad author that really inspires me--you should absolutely check out her stories as they're very well written and more than a little steamy (in the best possible way!)! xoxo 

When I got home, not surprisingly, I had an extremely difficult time focusing on my bar review course, which started two days after I returned. The only thing that would help clear my head was reminding myself that if I failed the bar exam all because of a stupid vacation romance, I was never going to forgive myself. I’d worked way too hard to throw away everything now.

But even when I was able to control my emotions well enough to study, the outside world wasn’t doing me any favors in not providing any additional distractions. Shortly after I got home, one of the tabloids ran a huge spread with exclusive pictures of Alex and I from our time on the island. There were pictures of us at dinner, at the drive in movie, just walking around, everything. There were even pictures of us saying goodbye at the airport and of me crying on the plane after we left. It was clear that it was another guest of the Mustique Company and based on the angle that the picture was taken in the plane, I was fairly certain who it was.

She did a big interview to go along with the pictures, talking about how we were always all over each other but that it was clear we really cared for each other, emphasizing how touching our goodbye scene was. Part of me at least appreciated that she at least got the story right and didn’t just call me some sort of a tramp, but mostly I just felt betrayed and hurt. I couldn’t imagine ever being so hard up for money or fame that I would sell out someone’s private moments like that. I was especially pissed that I had worked so hard not to break down completely in front of Alex that final day -- fat lot of good it did me as he was now able to see just how shattered I was by our separation.

My friends and classmates were understandably interested in what had happened so I gave them a Cliff’s Notes version to go along with the photos everyone seemed to have seen. The dean of the law school even stopped me in the hallway one day and asked how my vacation had been -- fishing, no doubt, for the story. As she was a really nice but completely intimidating person, I couldn’t imagine getting into it with her so I simply told her it was a nice time and all but ran into the library to escape.

After avoiding me for the first couple of days, Adam approached me one day after class and said that if I needed anyone to talk to, that he was there for me. He asked if Alex and I were still dating and visibly relaxed when I said that we weren’t, that we had just hung out together because we were vacationing at the same place at the same time. Clearly the thought of having to compete for my affections against a prince had been causing him a great deal of stress, because he was his normal warm and chatty self after that. Which I was glad of, barring any future declarations from him. I figured that if nothing else, I was safe from that until we were done with the bar in eight weeks.

 

Later that week, Maggie and I were studying that week’s review of Contracts at the law library. After I’d asked her to clarify a question I had regarding our outline, we both took a little break. “Has he called? Or emailed?” Maggie asked, although I’m sure she knew the answer from my behavior.

“No, Maggie, he hasn’t. And I didn’t -- and don’t -- expect him to. We didn’t even exchange contact information, although I’m sure he could find me fairly easily. I don’t need the distraction right now anyway.”

“Sure, because your life is so simple and easy right now,” she said sarcastically, gesturing at the tables around us in the library, where at least half a dozen people were staring at me. Maggie made a big show of waving at an underclassman that was peeking out at us from the stacks. The girl at least had the decency to look embarrassed before she all but ran away.