Misjudged (21 page)

The Ultimate Betrayal.

It’s the week before Neil, Ryan,
and Alyssa are supposed to perform for the college’s annual music show, and while they’re all out practicing, I’m stuck at home with a blazing migraine.

I haven’t suffered with one this bad for at least a year, and I think I must have vomited at least three times in the past six hours alone. Brandon went to the local drug store and picked up the medication that my doctor had prescribed, before heading to the class he was already running late for. He seem
s to be getting better each day and his headaches are decreasing as more time passes by.

He offered to stay with me
but I could tell he wasn’t too thrilled by the idea. When I told him there wasn’t any need, and that if I needed him to come back then I would call or message him, I saw instant relief flash through his eyes. I guess this could be due to him missing out on so many classes as of late and needing to catch up.

Although he’s been staying here for the last couple of weeks, and will be until next week, when his monitoring period is up, I feel as though we’re starting to drift apart. I know this sounds crazy considering we’re practically living together, but he’s been spending a lot of time out of the dorm and coming home later and later each night
, as each week has progressed.

When I asked him where he’s been going and what he’s been doing, he tensed up and told me he was just hanging out with a couple of friends at the bar.
He isn’t due to return back to work until he’s fully better, and he told me he’s trying to make the most of his time off.

The only reason I’ve doubted his explanation is because each night he climbs into bed beside me, he doesn’t smell of any alcohol. Even though he hasn’t been drinking, under the strict orders of his doctor,
I would have thought there would still be a smell of alcohol on him or his clothes.

I’m really
hoping that whatever it is that he’s been doing, it has nothing to do with what happened to him and that he’s not trying to find out who did this and seek revenge. He should have reported it to the cops and let them handle it.

My cellphone springs to life on the pillow beside me
, telling me I have one new message.

I can’t get hold of Brandon, Is he with you? Rye.

He can’t get a hold of him? He should be in class with him.

I called B
randon’s cell as soon as I’d read the message from Ryan. He eventually answered after I tried calling for the third time. He sounded distant. No ‘I love you’ when we ended the call, and when I asked him where he was, he told me he was in the middle of class. I was relieved when he answered because it set my mind to rest that he hadn’t collapsed or anything, but at the same time, he sounded strange. The nausea I’ve been suffering from ever since my migraine decided to take full action against my body doesn’t even compare to what I’m feeling now. He lied. If he wasn’t doing anything wrong, he would have no reason to lie. I really don’t like where my mind is heading with this.

Glancing over at my alarm clock, I notice it’s time to take another pill, so I climb off of my bed and go to grab them from the living area. It’s pretty obvious from looking around the dorm that Alyssa and I haven’t been doing a lot of cleaning over the past couple of days. The place is a mess.

Picking up what looks like a month old newspaper from the coffee table, my eyes land on Brandon’s open wallet. I go to close it and take it back to my room, when a few pieces of paper fall on to the floor.

S
cooping them up off of the carpet, I still when I see a receipt. Now I definitely think I’m gonna throw up. He wouldn’t cheat on me.  No, he wouldn’t.

Fuck
.

According to this he
dined at The Majestic Hotel only two nights ago. Judging by what was ordered, he didn’t eat alone. Two appetizers, two entrees, and two desserts, all accompanied by a bottle of very expensive champagne. Fuck. I feel like my heart has just been ripped out and shredded into tiny pieces all over the floor.

Yep, I’m definitely gonna throw up.

***

After empt
ying the contents of my stomach again, I grab a blanket from my room and cocoon it around me as I lay down on the couch. Is this why he won’t kiss me yet? Maybe he’s changed his mind and doesn’t know how to tell me. There’s only one way to find out and that’s to ask him when he gets back, although God only knows when that’ll be.

The music
class finished over an hour ago and I know that if our roles were reversed, I would have at least checked back to see if he was feeling any better, but then, he didn’t go to class.

Having taken some pain relievers along with my prescribed medication, my migrain
e finally seems to be weakening and I even think I’ll be able to manage something to eat.

The main door swings open, and when I glance over the back of the couch, I think that perhaps my appetite didn’t quite make it ba
ck after all.

Brandon pauses when he sees me and gives me a tiny smile
, while placing his keys down on the breakfast bar. He shrugs out of his jacket and goes to hang it up, before walking over to where I’m sitting.

Okay. This is going to go one of two ways. Do I test him, or do I question him outright?

“Hey, how are you feeling?” He kneels down on the floor beside me and places his hand lightly over my forehead. “Have you been sick anymore?”

I nod
at him and feel the tears welling up in my eyes.
Please have a good explanation, please prove me wrong.

“Do you
need me to get you anything?” He asks, while moving over to sit on the coffee table, before facing me.

I shake my head in reply. I don’t know how best to approach this. I never imagined I’d doubt his feelings
towards me again. Ever. “No, I’m good. How was class?” Okay, I’m going with that route.

His shoulders tense and he
pulls his eyes away from mine. Oh hell. As he stands back up, he sees his wallet sitting on the coffee table and I notice him quickly glancing over at me, before picking it up and shoving it into his pocket.

“Just the same as usual, you know
…” He gives me another small smile, but I can see a trace of guilt all over his face as he heads towards my room.

“Will you be going out again tonight?” I sit myself up and see him pause, before slowly pivoting around to face me again. “I thought that maybe we could spend some time together.”

He lets out a deep sigh and looks slightly conflicted, “I already said I’d pop by the bar for a couple of hours. I’m sorry, Alex.”

I can’t believe he just called me Alex.
Since when did he start calling me fucking Alex? Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I’ve already lost him. Clenching my eyes shut, I take a couple of deep breaths and hope I’m imagining things. Using my full name was his quirky little thing, and come to think of it, I can’t even remember the last time he called me beautiful.

He heads into my room
and when I go to follow him in there, I stop right outside when I hear him chatting on his cell.

“
No it’s fine … I think she’s getting suspicious though … No, I’m not telling her, not yet … Listen I gotta go. Meet me at eight o’clock … Five zero seven … I can’t wait either.”

My heart, that was all over the
living room floor a little while ago, has just been stamped and trodden on a million times over, and not only that, it feels like it has been set on fire too.

***

Moment of truth time.

Brandon came out of my room a few minutes after I’d hear
d him on his cell. I should’ve just questioned him there and then. He came over to sit by me for a little while before he left, although he didn’t really talk. He seemed just as distracted as me.

I guess this is another reason why I’m acting all crazy stalker lady on him now. I’ve never been one to back away from confrontation, but I wanted to make sure I got my facts straight, especially after all the other times I’d jumped to the wrong conclusions. I’m really hoping that I’ve got this totally wrong.

That’s why I followed him here, to the ‘The Majestic Hotel’. A five star hotel.

The lobby a
rea is large so I’m able to sneak in behind him without making him aware of my presence. It would defeat this whole operation otherwise.

I’d expected him to head straight
towards the restaurant area, which is located across the lobby and to the right, but instead, I watch as he heads over to the main lobby area. He exchanges words with the clerk, who is standing behind the check-in desk. After a few stokes on her computer, I see her passing him a room key. He booked a room here? That’s what he meant on his cell when he said five zero seven. My stomach has twisted and the bile in my throat wants to pop up and say hi again. What the hell is he doing? I would do anything for him, I would do fucking everything for him!

My curiosity gets the best of me, and although all I really want to do is go back home and cry myself to sleep, with the hope of waking up in the morning and starting this whole semester
over again, I want to know who she is. I want to know why he decided to rip my heart out.

As he walks away and
towards the elevators, I hear the woman call over to him and say something about the penthouse suite. No fucking way.

I wait five minutes for two reasons. One, so he doesn’t see me, and two, so I can try and control the tears from spilling out from my eyes. Dammit, my eyes are like a freaking waterfall as of late.

After making my way up to the top floor, I find myself standing outside the room he booked. Should I even be doing this? Yes. I need to know, and I don’t think he has any intention of telling me just yet.

He told me he’d heard when I said that I was in love with him. Maybe he felt
bad that I spent all my time in the hospital, and that’s why he said it back. Maybe that’s what the guilty look in his eyes was all about.

Okay.
One. Two. Three.

I turn the handle of the door
and I’m surprised when it opens. I thought I would have to beat the door down or something. Slowly pushing it open, I can see why this is a five star hotel. Wow. It’s gorgeous, and my boyfriend is about to have sex with someone in here, and that someone isn’t me.

There’s no
one in the entrance hall so I creep inside. Ahead of me and through the doorway, are floor to ceiling windows which look out over the Seattle skyline. It’s incredible. I hear voices traveling from my left and figure it must be the bedroom. The door is partly open, so I peek through the small gap.

That’s the biggest bed I’ve
ever seen in my life. It’s covered in rose petals and…

“We have champagne, rose petals, the hot tub is enormous, and there’s room service twenty-four seven!” No. No. No. I thought this couldn’t get any worse, but it has, it so fucking has! This is the ultimate betrayal.

“This is just beyond all of my expectations. I know you said it was amazing but this is perfect,” Brandon sounds so happy. The happiest I’ve heard him sound for quite a while.

“How long do you have until she’ll expect you home?”

“I have a feeling she already suspects something. I hate lying and keeping secrets. I’ve been really fucking off with her … I can’t wait for this next week to be over with, Alyssa.”

I continue to watch
as she puts her arms around him, “The guilt you’re feeling now will be worth it, babe. I promise.”

I’ll save him the trouble of waiting for another week. God, Brandon and Alyssa?

He told me he was heading to the bar. She told me she was visiting friends. Neil mentioned the other day that Alyssa had started seeing someone. I just hadn’t realized my best friend was fucking my boyfriend. I guess it must be pretty hard trying to hide their affair, while we’re all living under the same roof.

Heading out onto the sidewalk, I don’t feel like I can trust anyone anymore.
In the space of a few weeks, my whole life, my almost perfect life, has been turned upside down. Ever since I went to that stupid fucking ball.

My hands are shaking
and my legs are feeling weak. The migraine from earlier wasn’t nearly as painful as what I’m feeling now. Before heading home, I decide to take a seat on a bench across the street.

I don’t know how long I’ve been sitting here, but the sound of laughte
r grabs my attention. Of course Alyssa and Brandon are stepping out of the hotel’s entrance together with huge fucking smiles all over their faces.

Pulling my cell
out, I send a quick message to Brandon, telling him that I love him. I want to see his reaction when he opens it up. Next, I call Alyssa’s cell. It’ll be interesting to see how she’ll handle me calling her at this very moment.

Brandon gets to his cell first
, while Alyssa fumbles around in her purse for hers. I see him raking his hand through his hair and even having the nerve to hold it up to her. She’s smiling?
Fucking bitch.