“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Isn’t Angel supposed to be meeting us at eleven?” He glanced down at his watch. “It’s 10:58 already; I’m sure she’s here.”
I was starting to get upset by this point, noticing his attempt to dismiss my suspicions without an explanation. “She is, but…..don’t you think we should talk about what just happened? Do you know that guy?”
“What?” He chuckled and turned on the charm, trying to throw me off with an incredulous gaze – like I was making this all up in my head or something. “Of course I don’t know him.”
My breath hitched in my throat. This moment marked the first time that I absolutely, 100% believed AJ was lying to me. I knew that he probably thought he had good reason to, but there was no way I was going to believe that he and the stranger in the hallway had never met. I continued to stare at him, trying to figure everything out on my own since he wasn’t offering up any information. His expression gave away nothing. When the elevator doors opened, Angel was standing in the lobby leaned up against a wall. Her face lit up as she ran in my direction and threw her arms around my neck.
“Sammy!!! Took you long enough!” She screeched.
I did my best to hide the frustration that I felt, but probably not very convincingly, though. “Sorry about that. We just got held up on my way down.” I shot AJ a menacing look as I spoke. He smiled and ignored my comment. Angel released me and hugged AJ briefly. I couldn’t help but to do a quick scan of the lobby for the big, Italian man who’d stopped me in the hallway.
“Ok, now that all that’s out the way, let’s eat. I’m starved,” Angel remarked.
We paced toward the restaurant and she must’ve noticed that I was quieter than usual. “What’s up with you this morning?” She asked.
“Nothing, I’m fine,” I lied. AJ squeezed my hand a little and smiled weakly.
Once we were seated I tried to let it go and enjoy the little time that I had with Angel. I hadn’t seen her since my birthday last November. She put her hand on my chin and lifted my face as her eyes wandered over my skin. I wasn’t sure why until I remembered that she hadn’t seen me since the accident. Immediately, I became self-conscious and shifted my eyes down to the table.
“Sammy, it doesn’t even look bad. I was expecting it to be way worse. Only a few of the scars are even visible now.” Even without Angel telling me, I knew that I’d gotten off easy compared to Leila when it came to that tragic accident. But I was still impatient for the last remaining dark marks to vanish so that I didn’t have them as a constant reminder of what happened.
The waitress came to take our orders just as Angel was releasing me. When the lady left, there was an awkward silence between the three of us. Angel picked at her nails distractedly, AJ stared out the window lost in his own world, and I was still trying to unravel the mystery behind the man in the hallway.
“So, are you nervous about starting school?” Angel blurted.
I cleared my throat as I gathered my thoughts. “Um, no. Not really.”
“I guess you weren’t there long enough to make friends yet, but is your roommate nice?”
“Yeah, it’s Deanna. Remember?”
“That’s right, I forgot. What about your suitemates? Are they cool?” She inquired.
AJ laughed a little to himself as I replied, “Well, they’re both nice, but one of them is……special.”
Angel laughed too and then she asked the million dollar question. “So, what ever happened to that Antonio guy? Did he really get that apartment near you?” AJ clenched his jaw as Angel spoke Antonio’s name. I couldn’t believe she’d bring him it up in front of AJ, but then again I hadn’t told her about all the drama between them.
“I have no clue. I haven’t heard from him in months; not since he showed up at the hospital after my accident.”