The Only Exception

CHAPTER 13

I thought I could handle the house, but the memories were too thick. Luckily Trey believed I was sick, and we left right away. I feigned sickness the next morning, so I didn’t have to face Trey or try to explain why I wanted to leave early and didn’t want to go to a movie. I was just glad I dodged the bullet with the Kappa girls and was able to get out of the party, but I was afraid I wouldn’t get away from the sorority that easy. After waking up the next morning, I found a Facebook message waiting for me from Layla Donaldson.

Hey girl!

I thought your name sounded familiar! Brittani from our Taylor chapter emailed me about you! We would totally love to have you around and it would be great to add another Alpha Mu gf to our chapter! Message me back asap, and we’ll get all the deets about meeting up and getting your paperwork filled out.

Kappa love,

Layla

Shit. She found me. I deleted my old account and got a new one as soon as I transferred; hoping the Kappa’s wouldn’t find me. I didn’t count on Trey being friends with Kappa girls.

Dammit.

I didn’t respond back, and since it was a long weekend, I was able to dodge any sort of a run-in. But I couldn’t hide from Trey that easily and we spent the day hanging out at his apartment where for every hour of Fox News I had to sit through, he had to sit through an hour of reality television. There was a lot of kissing, but he didn’t push me to go any further; that was just how I wanted it. Cuddling and reality TV were enough. For now.

Tuesday morning I got up as usual and headed into Brewster’s for work. I thought I could hide from the Kappa girls, but it turned out the campus was a lot smaller than I realized.

Layla’s voice was even perkier when she yelled. “Hey, y’all! Missy thought she heard that you worked here!”

There she was with her giant hot pink Kappa letters staring me in the face while she ran up to the counter. I wanted to crawl under the espresso machine, but I’d already been spotted.

“Hi, Layla.” I put on my best fake smile.

“Well, it’s been a long enough time since I’ve heard from you. I was afraid you were trying to avoid me,” she said in a voice that was so sugary sweet it could have given someone a toothache.

I caught Melanie raising an eyebrow at me from the pastry case. I knew I’d have to explain the story to her later, but at that moment I had to deal with the big, blond train at the counter.

“Oh, no, just been really busy,” I said, trying to sound sincere, but I just wanted to scream and tell her to go away; that I had no interest in joining their chapter.

“Well, I hope you aren’t too busy this afternoon. It’s Fall Festival on the quad and all of the student groups have tables set up. It’s a lot of fun! There is food, some games, and of course us Kappa’s will be there on Greek Row.”

She pulled out a post card from her expensive looking purse and handed it to me. It had a picture of around thirty girls in red dresses standing in front of a white brick house with “Kappa Beta: Sisterhood and Classy Women” written across the top in a frilly font. “That has some information for our upcoming activities, but you should come by the booth today and meet some of the other girls. I know they’d at least love to meet the girl that finally nailed down Trey Chapman.” She winked a heavily mascara coated eye.

“Um, yeah, I’ll totally do that,” I lied, sliding the postcard under the counter. “Is there anything you want to order before you head back to the quad?”

She waved a manicured hand. “Oh no, I just came by to see you, but have fun at work and hope to see you later!” With that she turned and swayed out the door while a few guys walking in watched her walk away.

Melanie practically bolted over to the counter. “What the hell was that?”

I could have played coy and pretended like I didn’t know what she was talking about, but I was a terrible actress and an even worse liar. “Some Kappa I met while out with Trey the other night.”

“And she’s trying to recruit you?” I looked over and Melanie had her hand on the counter, leaning onto it for dear life.

“I guess. It’s probably just because I’m Trey’s girlfriend or whatever,” I said as nonchalant as I could, stacking the foam cups next to the espresso machine.

“But you were a Kappa at Taylor, right?”

I looked around, making sure that no one heard her and put a finger to my lips. “Shh, no one is supposed to know that!”

“What aren’t people supposed to know?” Then Melanie’s eyes grew wide. “Oh, you haven’t told Trey yet, have you?”

I put my hand down and shook my head. “No, I haven’t, and I don’t want to. It’s a part of my life that I’d like to forget about.”

“You can’t just forget about the past, Mon; it’s what makes you who you are.”

I glared at Melanie. She didn’t know the entire story of my Taylor experience, but either way I wasn’t about to relive it. “You sound like my counselor.”

“Have you seen one since you’ve moved here?” she asked, not accusingly, but like she was genuinely concerned.

“I can’t, Mel. This is about me starting over. I saw one for the past few months, which has to be enough. I don’t need to keep going in and sitting on some guy’s couch three days a week and hope that it will make my problems go away.”

“And keeping it hidden from the world seems to be doing wonders.” She took a step toward me, lowering her voice. “You put on a great front with your smiles and sarcastic wit, and I’m sure the counselor helped, but you haven’t tried to get to know anyone here. Trey practically had to hunt you down like a puppy with a tennis ball to get your attention. Not everyone is out to get you. Some just want to get to know you.”

I wanted to say something. To come up with some sort of witty come back, but she was right. I’d been hiding everything inside for so long and it really had been wearing on me. Maybe it was time I looked into other options.

***

After work I threw my apron off and couldn’t wait to get home to get a shower in before class. With everyone bouncing between Fall Festival and classes, that only meant they needed more coffee; which made it a very busy day for us. My hair was matted flat from wearing a hat all day, and I was covered in spilt milk and coffee grounds. I looked like a hot mess and just wanted to get home. But of course that was hard to do when I had to go through the quad, and it was filled with hundreds of students gathered at different tables.

I zig-zagged through booths from student organizations and clubs for different majors, but then I heard an all too familiar voice.

“Hey, Monica!”

No, not Trey, not now. He was standing in front of the Alpha Mu booth, right at the top of the line of Greek tables. Some of his other fraternity brothers were talking to some unsuspecting freshmen who were signing up on a sheet of paper and looking at different pictures that they had displayed on a poster board. Obviously they didn’t know what they were getting in to.

I froze on the sidewalk while Trey jogged over to me as fast as his expensive dress shoes could carry him. He had on his charming, political smile and stopped only a foot in front of me.

“Hey, Trey,” I said, wishing I could disappear. Not only did I look like hell, and smell like sour milk, but I could just see the top of Layla’s blonde head at the table across from Alpha Mu’s. I was praying she didn’t see me.

“Just getting off of work?”

“Gee, no, I just like to wear my uniform covered in coffee making supplies,” I said with more snark than I intended. Maybe if I was mean enough he would think it was PMS and let me go.

“Well, since you aren’t doing anything maybe you’d like to walk around to some of the booths with me. The college Republicans always have good snacks, and they load me up with them.” He unbuttoned the buttons on his shirt sleeves and then rolled them up.

I shook my head. “Um, no, that’s cool. I just want to get home and shower before my next class.”

“You sure?” he asked, sliding his hands in his pockets. “I’m even willing to go by the student organizations you want to.”

Before I could even get in a word edgewise, Layla came bounding up next to Trey. I’d been caught.

“Hey y’all!” She beamed

“Hey, Layla.” Trey nodded in her direction and then shook her hand firmly, like the good politician-in-training he was.

When she let go of his hand she turned her full body to me. “Hey Monica, I was hoping you’d come! I was just telling the other girls about the email from Brittani at Taylor. Our secretary said she could easily get you all registered before recruitment starts.”

I couldn’t even look at Trey. I didn’t want to guess the expression on his face, or what excuse I could make to him. “Um, gee Layla, that’s great, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to really participate much in anything this year.”

Layla giggled, an honest to God giggle like a little schoolgirl. “Of course you can, silly, once a Kappa, always a Kappa. Even one that has transferred.”

I did it. I shouldn’t have, but I did it. I glanced at Trey who looked like he was deep in thought. I didn’t exactly lie to him about it, but I never told him. I could feel the tears of embarrassment welling in my eyes and I blinked hard, trying to squish them away. “I have to go,” I stammered, quickly pushing past them and jogging around the other tables.

“Monica, wait!” Trey yelled after me. I kept running until I was inside my apartment and only then did I rest my back against the wall and let a single tear roll down my cheek. They found me. The Kappas found me, and I didn’t know how I would get out of joining again. Maybe Melanie was right. Maybe I should have gone back to counseling.

It wasn’t even a minute before a knock came at the door. “Mon, it’s me, Trey, open up.”

“No,” I protested, wiping my wet face.

“Monica, come on. I’m not mad I just want to talk.”

“No.”

“Monica…”

“Fine.” I groaned and threw the door open.

He stood with his arm leaning against the door frame. The charming smile was wiped off his face and replaced with a blank slate. He wasn’t exactly scowling, but he didn’t look happy either. “Can I come in?”

I held my arm out and stood to the side. He sauntered in, and I closed the door behind him. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that I was a Kappa at Taylor. It was stupid and it was my mistake, but I don’t want to join again now that I’m here,” I blurted it all out like word vomit.

He shoved his hands in his pockets, staring down at the floor. “Well, it makes sense why you wanted to leave the party so early.”

At least I convinced him that was the only reason I wanted to leave the party. If I had this type of reaction from running into Layla, who knew what would happen if everyone found out about the other part. I would have to be institutionalized.

“I know. I should have said something earlier. I’m so sorry,” I said, wrapping my arms around myself and rubbing my elbows.

He looked up from the floor, his eyes meeting mine. I was afraid he would look at me like a child that should be reprimanded, but instead his eyes were filled with genuine concern. “Mon, you don’t need to lie to me. All you had to do was tell me that you were a Kappa, and you aren’t anymore. It’s like politics. You can try to hide something, but eventually it comes out, and it’s even messier when it does.”

I swallowed, nodding.

Trey took a few steps closer, putting his hands on my arms. “I’m not mad at you. It was just a huge surprise when Layla came running over to us. I don’t like to be caught off-guard.”

I sighed. “I don’t either.”

“Can we try not to keep secrets from each other anymore?” he asked, raising his eyebrows slightly.

I nodded. “I can try.”

“And you’re going to have to tell Layla you’re not joining Kappa if that’s what you want. I don’t want you hiding out all the time,” he said, rubbing his hands up and down my arms.

“Do I have to?” I whined.

He pressed his forehead to mine with a small smile crossing his lips. “Either that or we run away to some island off the coast and spend the rest of our days drinking fruity drinks and hiding from the world.”

I wrapped my arms around his waist, pulling him against me. “Mmm, that sounds way better.”

He gave me a quick kiss, but I wouldn’t let him pull away, and slid in another kiss right after the other and lightly ran my tongue along his bottom lip.

“Monica,” he breathed onto my lips. “As much as I’d love to stay here with you, I do need to get back out to the quad and then to class.”

I poked out my bottom lip. “Can we continue this later?”

“I wouldn’t miss it,” he said, giving me another quick kiss before he headed out the door.

I breathed a sigh of relief as soon as the door shut. It turned out better than I thought with him finding out about Kappa, and I knew exactly the email I’d have to write to Layla. As far as not keeping things from one another, well…there was one that I just would have to keep hidden and hope that no one else brought up my other secret. The one that I knew would change the way he thought about me forever.