No Easy Choices (A New Adult Romance) (12 page)

             
No more. I fell asleep on a puddle of my own tears, worrying about Javier and what I was about to do to him.

Chapter Eighteen

My parents spent the morning driving from apartment complex to apartment complex--courtesy of Javier’s car, of course, since he insisted—while I tried to concentrate on my school work. Art came easily, since I was nothing if not a pent-up ball of emotions ready to pop like a balloon. And fear and heartbreak made great sources of inspiration.

             
My parents met me on campus for lunch, reminiscing about their days at their own school in a neighboring state. It was really hard to enjoy my field greens salad while they compared notes on the Grade-E Beef their cafeteria had served.

             
“I swear to you, princess, I saw the boxes as they were being loaded off the delivery truck one day. They said, ‘Grade-E Beef, Fit For Human Consumption’ on the side in big black letters.” My dad laughed, gesturing to his lunch like this could be the same quality of mystery meat. Or, lack of quality, I guess.

             
“Stop it, Robert, you know this isn’t mystery meat. It’s not even meat at all!” my mother teased, joining in my dad’s fun. It was great to see them so relaxed and playful with each other, not that they ever argued in front of me before, but I could just tell that they were a lot less stressed out than I remembered. Of course, having to fly down here to handle my drama probably wasn’t helping their stress levels, but they still seemed at ease. I smiled at their jokes about college life, but some of them were starting to ring a little too true.

             
“So, you haven’t said much about your classes,” my dad said, picking through his bowl of taco salad to get to the good parts, aka anything that wasn’t actually a salad-type vegetable. “Are the teachers good? The work load too hard?”

             
“No, I love the classes. I’ve got several projects due at the end of the semester, so in some of the classes that’s all we do, is just work on our pieces for the final review while the professor comes around and works with us. I mean, that’s the art classes, stuff like my basics, you know, English, math, I have papers to write and all that. But no, other than not understanding why an art major has to pass calculus, it’s going great.”

             
“See? I said the exact same thing when I was in school!” my dad said, turning to my mom who was already shaking her head at both of us. “What did I need with calculus? I was a communications major!”

             
“I told you back then, and I’m telling you now,” Mom said sternly, turning to me at her last words, “some of your classes are just to weed out the students who aren’t serious about an education. Everyone takes calculus and world literature. It’s to give you a solid base in your studies and to see if you really are cut out for college.”

             
“She was cut out for college the day my tuition check cleared at the bank,” my dad muttered, only half-joking. My dad hated to let go of money, even when necessary. That’s why he still wore suits that my mother picked out three Presidential administrations ago.

             
“See? This is what I miss. It’s awesome that the dinner table bickering didn’t fall by the wayside just because I’m not home,” I said sarcastically. That made both of them laugh.

             
“Oh, don’t let that keep you awake at night, we still do plenty of arguing at the dinner table!”

             
And then I had this epiphany right there at the cafeteria table, well, minus the bright white light glowing around my head or little naked angel babies floating around with a banner. THIS was what I would be looking for someday in a guy. Not good looks, not gourmet cooking ability and granite countertops, and certainly not throwing up in my car after drinking too much at a dumb party. I wanted somebody who would make me laugh during meal times, even when I was a million years old and packing my kids off to college.

             
I could tell myself that all I wanted to, but it didn’t help. I didn’t want just someone, I wanted Javier. I didn’t want to try to avoid him for his own good, but I sure didn’t like not telling my parents what was bothering me. How could I explain dumping Javier and why, without bringing up the “on the run from ruthless drug lords” thing? This was one of the first times ever that I’d have to handle it on my own. I guess college was as good a time as any to face real-life problems and stand on my own two feet.

             
“Well, well, as I live and breathe,” a Southern-accented voice drawled behind me, exaggerating the accent and trying to sound snooty. “If it isn’t Miss Andie, our wayward little sister.” I turned around and saw Quinn standing close enough to our table that I could have spit on her, if I wanted to. I desperately wanted to, but my mother would have my flesh removed from my still-breathing body if I actually worked up the saliva. Kennedy was standing behind Quinn, along with another sister, all three of them wearing matching sorority jerseys and hair bows. Kennedy looked torn, like she really wanted to greet me but wasn’t about to face the wrath of Quinn. I chose to give her a little wave under the table because I really did like her, but I was still a tiny bit afraid of Quinn myself.

             
“I don’t believe we have been introduced,” my mother said in a voice I’ve never heard her use outside of PTA meetings. “I am Andie’s mother, Sarah McMichaels, former president of the Gamma Omega chapter and national secretary. Of course, you might know me as the former Miss America, I’m sure you were told that during rush week when all the famous sisters are discussed. But I understand that you are now Andie’s
former
sisters? Is that right?”

             
Quinn looked flustered for a moment, looking to her fellow sisters for an answer. “Of course, Mrs. McMichaels. You’re practically a Theta legend. It’s nice to meet you in person.” Quinn practically curtseyed.

             
“Yes, well, I wish it was mutual. I understand that you actually encouraged Andie to part ways with her sorority. You can’t possibly know how devastated I am that my daughter will not be continuing my legacy.” Her frosty tone was really hilarious, especially since I was the only girl there who knew it was a complete act. Quinn looked like she was about to wet herself and her two friends were slowly putting more and more space between themselves and the victim.

             
“Well, no, that’s...well, that is to say that we...” Quinn began, turning red.

             
“Save it, dear,” my mother said in a staged whisper, leaning close. “I’ll be taking it up with my friends at national headquarters. You can explain to them what happened.” My mother returned to her salad, pretty much dismissing Quinn where she stood. The trio slunk away, probably in need of clean underwear after Mom’s threat. I stared at my mother open-mouthed.

             
“What?” she asked, poking her fork around in the salad remnants at the bottom of her styrofoam bowl. “I hope you don’t think that I’m just going to let it slide that they very nearly kicked you out. I will be calling nationals, I wasn’t kidding about that.”

             
“Mom! You were brilliant!” I reached over and hugged her, flattening her hair a little bit by mistake. My dad grinned at both of us the way he usually did when he didn’t understand the estrogen vapors in the air.

             
“But sweetie, I am happy to defend you to some girls who need to be put in their place, but you never really did explain what happened. You can tell us, you know,” my mom said, genuinely concerned and putting down her fork to look at me. I looked over at my dad and saw that he, too, had stopped chewing and was watching me. I sighed. Better to get it over with now, I guess.

             
“Well, it had to do with Javier,” I began, but was interrupted by my dad pounding his fist on the table.

             
“What?! Did they make you choose between him and the group? Why, just because he’s foreign? He’s a perfectly nice young man and they had no right...” I put my hand on his arm to stop him.

             
“Well, Dad, that wasn’t all of it. I’m sure it had something to do with it, on some level, but there’s more. And before I tell you guys, I want you to know...I’m done with Javier. It’s for his own good.”

             
I spilled it. All of it, every detail—well, except for the details that no parents ever want to hear coming out of their college-aged daughter’s mouth, details like couch makeout sessions and sleepovers—but definitely the parts about Quinn digging up Javier’s past and his explanation about his family. I saved the part about my hunch for last, horrified when my mother’s hand went to cover her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes.

             
“That poor boy!” she said with a hushed cry. “Losing his family like that!”

             
“Yeah, I know, right? But that’s why I need to just end it before things get too serious,” I said. Only my voice cracked a little bit on those last words and a tear rolled out of the corner of my eye, splashing on the speckled formica table top. My mom reached out a hand and grabbed mine with hers.

             
“But are you sure?” she asked.

             
“Well...no. Of course I’m not sure. But I think I’m right, and the last thing Javier needs to do is sneak around with me and try to ditch the bodyguard. I didn’t even know about Diego until we accepted a ride with him after the dinner the other night. Plus, and yeah, I feel really selfish, but I’m kind of thinking of me, too. I don’t want to be with someone if we have to run from bad people, looking over our shoulders. No, it’s better this way,” I said, all in one rushing breath.

             
“Princess.” My dad stared at me with that stern look he usually saved for handling teenaged girls who snuck in after curfew or brought home a C in biology on a report card.

             
“Yeah?”

             
“Are you trying to convince us?” my dad asked. “Or are you trying to convince yourself?”

             
I stopped for a second and stared down at the swirls of grease sitting on top of my taco salad, unable to even think that through. I knew what I didn’t want to do, and that was hurt Javier. But there was no way to do the right thing here without hurting everybody involved. I just hoped I had the courage to say it to his face this time.

             
“I don’t even know.”

Chapter Nineteen

             
The apartment hunt took longer than I thought it would because my parents managed to find something wrong with every apartment they looked at. Some were in bad neighborhoods, others didn’t include utilities, and some were too far from campus, whatever that meant. It’s not like I didn’t have a car.

             
Wait! My car! Was I going to lose my car now that I didn’t hold up my end of the bargain with the sorority? They couldn’t take my car! I named her and everything! I was NOT about to lose my shiny new car over a bunch of snooty mcsnooties. I wouldn’t go down without a fight.

             
But it didn’t matter, not yet anyway, since my parents couldn’t make up their minds about where I was going to live. I gave up hope of it being any time this week when my parents began discussing hiring a real estate agent and just buying a condo, talking about what a great investment it would be and how they could make a return on it when I graduated.

             
“Oh, and if Andie decided to go to graduate school here, that would help her out there, too,” my mother stated.

             
“Yes, and ownership of property is always a good money decision,” Javier interjected while my mother nodded in agreement. Did I mention that Javier was still cooking for us? What? It had only been three days that we had crashed at his apartment, forcing him to bunk next door in what had to be the nicest servant’s quarters ever built.

             
The apartment search was killing me. Well, not the actual apartment searching since all of it took place while I was in class, but the staying on at Javier’s apartment and taking advantage of his kindness. I couldn’t very well dump him while we were shacking up at his apartment and throwing him out on the street, but I also hated to drag this out and lead him on, knowing that his safety and our happiness weren’t going to work out together. I felt guilty every time I dried off on one of his soft towels or ate another bite of his fantastic cooking.

             
And my parents weren’t helping. I have never known those two to be so much in love, but every time I turned around they wanted to go have a romantic couple’s dinner or go take another look at some property or just walk around the campus and reminisce about their college days. I knew those two all too well. It was a plot to keep me alone with Javier. Those little sneaks knew I didn’t think it was a good idea to keep stringing him along, but here they were, leaving us alone or insisting that we go out so they can watch an old seventies movie. It’s a plot, I swear.