“Are you taking Sarah out this weekend?” I asked curiously. It was Friday, and Virgil and I were on our way to my last class of the day. I was wishing away the time, anticipating the start of the weekend. Weekends were always the best.
I got more Nicholas time.
Virgil shrugged. “We don’t have any big plans or anything.”
Although he was opening up a little about his relationship with Sarah, it was coming at a snail’s pace.
“You should buy her flowers,” I suggested.
He looked at me like I was crazy. “Why? It’s not her birthday.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s exactly why. Be spontaneous. Give her flowers for no specific reason, other than you’re thinking about her. It’s romantic.”
“I’m plenty romantic. I’ve never heard any complaints,” he defended.
“Oh yeah? What was the last romantic thing you did for her?” I stopped walking and waited for him to turn toward me.
He seemed to be having a hard time coming up with an answer. “I don’t know.” He rubbed the back of his neck and kept staring at his feet. “I let her pick out what to watch on TV last night.”
He actually sounded proud of that, and I could only stare at him in return. the opposite of romantic.”
I was just about to go into all the things wrong with his notions of romance when Russel approached us. Melody stood behind him. My stomach twisted with anxiety when Virgil moved closer, putting his arm in front of me like a shield.
I wasn’t sure why I was so nervous. They were my classmates. Sure, they had shunned me in recent times, but they weren’t dangerous. I reached out and put my hand on Virgil’s arm, telling him silently it was okay.
He didn’t relax still.
Russel and I had never shared more than a few words, so I was unsure what to even say. He glanced over at Virgil and raised his hands up with a smile.
“This isn’t about me .” He turned his head to me. “Melody wanted to talk to you, but she didn’t want to come alone.”
My disbelief and curiosity must have been plastered over my face because Russel chuckled and shook his head. He grabbed Melody’s elbow, ushering her forward until she was facing me. She stared at the ground for a minute, before finally lifting her head up to meet my eyes. I saw tears streaming down her face.
“Willow… I’m… so… sorry.” Her words were interrupted by hiccups and shallow breaths.
I didn’t have a clue what had upset her so much. It made no sense for her to be that emotional about ignoring me. Not even I was that upset about that treatment. “For what?”
Her eyes darted over to Virgil and back to me, and she sucked in an audible breath. I almost wanted to hug her and let her know nothing could be as bad as she seemed to think.
“I… I did something.” She wrung her hands together and I saw desperation and plea in her eyes.
“What did you do?” Virgil asked, eyes narrowed.
He sounded suspicious and not the least bit patient, and it suddenly dawned on me where this might be headed.
“Right after we began classes this semester, I met a guy,” she began, her voice shaky. “He was handsome and sweet, and I couldn’t help falling for him when he said he was interested in me.”
“Okay,” I said slowly when she paused. I felt like she needed something to spur her on and tell what she wanted to. And Virgil looking at her like she was a criminal wasn’t helping .
“Willow, you have to know… you… please understand… he was charming and so nice to me. He took me out to dates and bought me things. I really didn’t question him when he started probing about you. At first, that is. I was jealous that he seemed interested in you, but he told me you were his estranged cousins and hadn’t spoken to each other in a few years. He wanted to make amends with you and I was so happy he didn’t like you romantically. I didn’t even think he was lying.”
“I don’t have any cousins, Melody. Why didn’t you just ask me?” I pressed lightly.
She avoided my eyes. “He said not to tell you anything. That he wanted to surprise you himself. He just wanted me to find out more about you, so he could figure out a way to bring your families back together.”
“Is that why you always asked about my marriage all the time?”
“Yes,” she said softly, finally looking directly at me. “I’m sorry. After a while, his interest in me seemed to lessen, and he only wanted to know where you were, what you were doing, and who you were with. I knew something was wrong, but I was stupid. I liked him and thought if I kept giving him information, he would like me back.”
“What’s his name?” Virgil asked before she could say any more about herself and her feelings.
“Hector. Hector Willis.”
We all fell silent, except Virgil, who was muttering curses. I rubbed my stomach, trying to ease my nervousness until Melody’s eyes zoned in on my movement. That made me immediately stop. I didn’t trust her at all and had no inclination to divulge I was pregnant.
“Why are you telling me this now?” I asked. “What happened that you wanted to confess to me all of a sudden?”
“Well, Hector is ignoring my calls and hasn’t spoken to me in a couple of weeks. It hurt when he cut all communication and it just didn’t make sense. Then you were… uh…” She blubbered as she glanced at Virgil. “You had him around you all the time. I guess I started to wonder if something bad happened. If you were in some kind of danger. I was scared to say anything, but I was feeling guilty. I told Russel everything a couple of days ago, and he convinced me to tell you everything. nothing I’ve done caused you any trouble.”
“Willis was playing you,” Virgil said. “And your actions resulted in a lot of problems for many people.”