He shook his head as we approached the stairs of the Hanson Building. I was walking through the door when he called out to me. “And be sure to sit in the back, man. You look a mess.” He made a face like my appearance disgusted him, which made me laugh, sticking my tongue out at him as I went inside.
Class had already started when I walked in. The professor glanced up at me and paused for a second when I entered. I was thoroughly embarrassed for being late and decided that if it ever happened again, I’d just be skipping class altogether.
His lecture was boring as usual and I dozed off a few times before he dismissed us hours later. Terrell was outside the building waiting, of course, with a few more comments about what I had on as we paced back toward the dorm.
“Maisha’s car is down, so I gotta pick her up from work in about an hour. You should ride with me, cause we’re going to lunch after,” he offered.
I thought about it and my stomach growled. “Okay, just call when you get ready to leave.”
He ageed and I went on to my room to shower and do the many other things I didn’t have time to do before leaving that morning. I’d just stepped out of the bathroom and wrapped my robe around me when I heard a knock at the door. Sighing, I scolded Terrell in my head for not following directions.
“The plan was for you to call, not for you to –“ was as far as I got before I pulled the door open completely and laid eyes on Antonio standing on the other side of the threshold.
“Antonio…….w-what’re you doing here?” I stuttered, releasing my grip on the edge of the door as I made sure my robe was securely tied around my waist.
He sighed heavily and shoved his hands in his coat pockets. “Been tryna call. I need to talk to you. Did you get my messages.” His tone was clipped and dry.
“I did, but you can’t just show up at my door because I didn’t respond.” My eyes shifted down the hall toward Terrell’s door, knowing that if he stepped out into the hallway and saw Antonio standing here, he’d surely make a scene. “You can’t be here,” I added.
Antonio rolled his eyes, not bothering to hide his frustration.
“And I wouldn’t be if you picked up…or called back.”
We stared at one another silently before I snatched him inside by the arm of his coat. Pointing at the desk chair across from my bed, I ordered him to sit. “Lemme go change. We can’t talk here.”
He shrugged. “That’s fine.”
I watched him for another second before going to grab something to put on and then went into the bathroom to change. While I was alone, I wracked my brain trying to figure out where Antonio got off just showing up here like this. What if Terrell had been here? Or Dee? Or worse yet, AJ? Shaking my head, I came to the conclusion that we needed to nip this in the bud today, once and for all. We were only a couple weeks away from Christmas break and, after that, AJ would be here full-time. The last thing I needed was Antonio sniffing around my door.
When I stepped out of my bedroom, Antonio didn’t flinch. He stared at the door, unmoving and silent. My eyes were on him as I slipped into my boots and coat. Grabbing my phone and keys from the dresser, I motioned toward the door.
“Ok, I’m ready.”
The entire walk out to the car, I looked over my shoulder for Terrell. Remembering our plans to pick Maisha up for lunch, I shot him a quick text to let him know that I changed my mind, but would call him later. When I put my phone away, I glanced over at Antonio.
“How’d you find my room?” I asked.
“Wasn’t that hard,” was all he said back as I watched him from the corner of my eye.
We approached his car, I held up my keys. “I’m driving myself,” I announced. It’d be better that way – no awkward silence in the car, no suspicion from Terrell if he noticed that I was missing, but my car wasn’t. It just made sense to me.