Kiss me goodbye

"Dad? Dad, are you still there?" I called out again, my voice tight and trembling slightly as I stared at the glowing screen of my phone.

There was a strange, rustling sound on the other end of the line. It sounded like expensive papers shuffling, followed by the muffled, businesslike murmur of people talking in hushed tones in a high-rise office somewhere across the ocean. 

My father mumbled something very quickly,words I couldn't quite catch,about how an unexpected board meeting had just blown up, and that he would have to call me back later when things calmed down.

Before I could even ask a single question, the line went completely dead.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The call was over. He had hung up.

I sat frozen in the passenger seat of the sedan, staring blankly at the dark screen. My mind was racing a mile a minute. What on earth did he mean by that weird comment about my mother? Why did my dad sound so nervous and cagey?

"Hey, you okay?" Isabella asked softly, breaking me out of my daze. She reached out and touched my shoulder with genuine concern. "You look like you just saw a ghost. Did he say something bad?"

I forced a weak, unconvincing smile, swallowing the heavy lump in my throat. I didn't want to dump my family drama on Isabella, especially after everything we had already been through today.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I lied smoothly, blinking back the stinging tears. "Just work stuff. You know how my dad gets when he's out of the country."

Isabella didn't look totally convinced, but she didn't push it. Instead, she pressed gently on the gas pedal.

The heavy, wrought-iron security gates of my private residential estate slid open automatically, the automated motors humming softly as the sleek white sedan glided smoothly down the long, paved driveway.

The car came to a gentle stop right in front of the grand marble steps of the mansion.

I pushed the door open and stepped out into the cool afternoon air. As soon as my sneakers hit the pavement, I noticed a tall figure standing near the stone fountain.

It was Casper Rowland.

Casper was my personal driver and bodyguard, all rolled into one. He was a young, handsome man in his late twenties with sharp features, broad shoulders, and a quiet, watchful stance that gave away his military background. 

He had a fresh, disciplined posture,a fresh product of the army, as my dad proudly liked to describe him whenever he bragged about how safe I was. My dad had personally chosen Casper because he was young and capable enough to watch over me everywhere I went without raising suspicion or getting us tangled up in weird campus drama.

Casper took a few steps forward, looking relieved as he approached.

"Miss Jessica," Casper said, his deep voice polite and steady. "I've been waiting for your call. I was just about to take the car and come looking for you on campus when you pulled in. Are you alright?"

I let out a soft sigh, waving a hand dismissively in the air.

"I'm fine, Casper. Stop worrying so much," I said, brushing past him without slowing down. I wasn't in the mood to be monitored or questioned, especially not today.

I turned back toward the car where Isabella was still sitting in the driver's seat, watching me through the open window with a sad little smile.

"No goodbye kiss?" she pouted playfully, resting her chin on her hands against the steering wheel.

I couldn't help it; a real, genuine smile broke across my face again. I walked over to the driver's side window, leaning in close. Isabella leaned in too, matching my pose.

Right as Isabella closed her eyes, expecting a sweet goodbye peck on the cheek, I quickly flicked her right on the tip of her nose with my finger and burst into a sprint toward the front doors.

"Hey! You little punk!" Isabella yelled out the car window, laughing out loud. "I'll catch you in school tomorrow, and I am going to spank some manners right into your ass!"

I just laughed over my shoulder, not even bothering to look back as I bounded up the marble steps and pushed open the heavy front door of the mansion.

Even though I tried to act tough, a big, soft part of my chest knew the truth, Isabella was trying to be my calm in the middle of a very stormy sea. Having a best friend like that was the only thing keeping me from totally losing my mind today.

The moment I stepped into the grand foyer, Mrs. Cosmos, the housekeeper who had practically raised me, bustled out of the kitchen with a warm, welcoming smile.

"Welcome back, my sweet girl!" Mrs. Cosmos beamed, wiping her hands on her apron. "I made your favorite chicken pasta for lunch, and it's sitting right on the—"

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Cosmos, I'm really not hungry," I interrupted gently, giving the older woman a tired smile. "I've got a massive headache. I just need to go straight to my room and rest."

Mrs. Cosmos's face fell into a look of deep worry. "Oh, honey. Are you sure? You look as pale as a ghost."

"I'm positive. Thank you though," I said, turning away and heading straight for the grand staircase before Mrs. Cosmos could fuss over me any longer.

When I finally pushed open the heavy wooden door to my bedroom, a wave of silence hit me. The house felt entirely too empty without my dad around.

I walked over to my bed and dropped my tote bag onto the mattress. Remembering that I had frozen all my social media apps weeks ago to help us focus on our upcoming penultimate year university projects, I decided to unfreeze them. Since the house felt so dead and quiet, maybe scrolling through some mindless feeds would distract me from the absolute disaster my life had become.

I unlocked my phone, went into my settings, and uninstalled the restrictions on I*******m, TikTok, and T*****r.

Instantly, my phone began to buzz.

Bzzzt. Bzzzt. Bzzzt.

Notifications started flooding in so fast the screen froze up for a second. Mentions, tags, direct messages, and news alerts blew up my lock screen. But I didn't have time to look at any of it. My head was throbbing, and I desperately needed a hot shower to wash off the lingering nightmare of the day.

I tossed my phone onto the nightstand, stripped off my oversized hoodie and clothes, and walked into my private bathroom.

As I stepped under the steaming spray of the shower, the hot water felt amazing against my tense, aching muscles. But closing my eyes only brought back memories I didn't want to think about. Each time I bathed here lately, I found myself thinking about Wade.

Wade. My father's bestfriend that I had been tangled up with. He had taken me in the most gentle, careful way a man could ever take a woman. It had felt safe. It had felt warm. And then, the second things got messy and he got caught, he had taken off running like a coward, leaving me completely alone to face the sharks at St. Augustine University.

A heavy sigh slipped past my lips as I finished my shower, wrapped a fluffy white towel around my body, and stepped back out into my bedroom.

Almost immediately, a sharp, familiar cramp twisted deep in my lower stomach.

I stopped dead in my tracks, groaning out loud.

Oh, no. You've got to be kidding me.

I hurried over to my vanity drawer and pulled it open, frantically searching through the small baskets where I kept my supplies. I checked everywhere. Nothing. My period had decided to show up early, right in the middle of the worst day of my entire life, and I was completely out of pads.

Lord, this was so embarrassing.

I didn't have time to wait for a delivery, and I definitely didn't want to ask Mrs. Cosmos to run to the pharmacy for me. There was a small convenience store located just a two-minute walk outside the gates of my residential estate. It would be way faster to just run over there real quick and grab what I needed myself.

I quickly dried off and got dressed. To stay as invisible as possible, I pulled on a pair of dark black jeans,just in case I had any accidents before I made it back,tossed Isabella's oversized black hoodie back over my head, and pulled a black cloth face mask up over my nose and mouth.

I didn't want a single soul in this neighborhood to recognize Mr. Conway's precious daughter running around looking like a homeless ghost just to buy feminine products. It sounded mortifying.

Sneaking out of the house quietly, I slipped past the front gates while Casper was busy checking the tires of the family SUV in the garage. I kept my head down, walking briskly along the sidewalk toward the small neighborhood store.

When I pushed open the glass door of the shop, a little bell chimed cheerfully overhead.

I pulled my hoodie strings tighter around my face, thanking my lucky stars that I was wearing the mask. Because the moment I stepped inside, I realized I had walked straight into a gossip convention.

The small convenience store was packed with teenagers and local college kids standing near the counter, and they were all talking about the exact same thing.

"Bro, did you see the game?!" a guy near the soda cooler yelled excitedly to his friend. "Aaron Adams is an absolute savage! Winning the national championship and then pulling that crazy stunt on live television?"

"Dude, I know!" the girl behind the counter gasped, shaking her head while scanning a bag of chips. "I still can't believe he actually announced that random girl, Jessica Conway, as his girlfriend on national TV. Like, what even is her life? I'm so jealous I could literally cry. Why is Aaron giving all his attention to some random chick when half the campus would literally die just to breathe the same air as him?"

"Right? Poor Emilian looked like she was going to murder someone right there on the court," another customer laughed.

I stood frozen in the narrow aisle near the back of the store, my face burning hot behind my cloth mask. My heart hammered against my ribs. I was standing five feet away from people gossiping about my absolute humiliation, totally unaware that the "random chick" they were talking about was standing right there in a ratty black hoodie and sweatpants.

I quickly grabbed a pack of pads off the shelf, practically threw a twenty-dollar bill onto the counter without waiting for change, and muttered a hasty, muffled "Keep it!" to the confused store clerk before practically bolting out the glass doors.

Once I hit the sidewalk outside, I took a deep, shaky breath of fresh air.

Just walk home, Jessica. You're almost safe, I told myself, quickening my pace down the quiet residential street that led back toward my estate.

The sun was starting to dip below the horizon, casting long, spooky shadows across the pavement. The streetlights overhead hadn't flickered on yet, leaving the sidewalk mostly dim and quiet.

As I rounded the corner near the old trees, a strange, prickling sensation crawled up the back of my neck.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Footsteps.

They weren't my own. Every time I slowed my pace, the footsteps behind me slowed down too. When I sped up, the echoing steps behind me sped up to match my rhythm.

I didn't dare turn around. My blood ran cold.

I clutched the plastic bag holding my pads tightly against my chest, my fingers trembling inside the pocket of my hoodie. Someone was following me in the dark.