Six: Alex’s POV (Guess who)

The lunch area, well one of the various lunch areas at Heldon was designed elegantly with comfortable seating arrangements.

The walls are adorned with artwork that cost quite a lot of money thus creating an atmosphere of inspiration and sophistication.

The place was well-lit, with large windows offering a view of the beautifully manicured college campus.

Several students interacted with one another, majority of these interactions based on networking and connections.

Sometimes, it was sort of sad to see people not develop any real relationship.

It was one of the few things that I was grateful for when it came to Nico and Rita. They genuinely cared for me and the smiles on their faces as I took my seat at their table showed that.

However, no amount of smiling could ease my tension. I had slept with Rita’s sister’s ex husband and now I find out that he’s going to be lecturing me from now on.

How was I going to face this? There was already no way in hell that I was going to tell them about it. Rita would kill me and even if she didn’t, I was not willing to take that chance.

“Well, hello to you, Mr lost and found,” Rita said to me and took a sip of her iced tea, “Where did you run off to last night?” She asked.

“You mean while you two,” I pointed at her and Nico, “were busy locking lips and forgot that you brought me outside to cheer me up?”

“It did work out for you in the end didn’t it?” She asked and leaned forward making sure to lower her voice, “Was he any good?”

“Was Nico any good?”

She smirked. “I could give you some juicy details if you’d like”

“Hell no!” Nico immediately protested, his face turning red, “Let’s not go ahead and do any of that please”

Rita and I laughed. She loved to always get him like this and I, for one thought it was cute.

“But seriously though,” Rita persisted, “Was he any good?”

Tristan was good alright. Good enough to make me horny each time I think about the things that he did to me; things he said that I wouldn’t let anyone else say to me.

But I needed to remember that his family ties to Rita and the entire situation in general, including him being my professor meant that he was now off limits.

“He was okay, I guess” I tried to cooly play it off.

“Was he big?”

“Rita!” Nico scolded.

“What? It’s not like we’re talking about some cursed object. Besides,” she glanced down at his pants, “You’ve got one too”

Nico sighed and shook his head.

“Why do I even bother with the both of you?”

She leaned her head on his shoulder and looked up at him.

“Cause you love us”

He snatched her iced tea and began to drink. When she protested, he playfully raised the cup above her reach and laughed as she tried to get it back.

“Whatever happened to love in sharing?” He asked.

“It only works when I intend to share” she replied and snatched back her beverage.

“Yo, check it out” Nico drew I and Rita’s attention to the door.

Julius and Sophia had just walked in, hand in hand with fingers intertwined. My heart skipped a beat.

I still loved this guy.

Yes, I had slept with someone else to get over the breakup but I was still yet to recover.

How did he go from being an absolute sweetheart to being a piece of shit with a mean attitude. He even said that he didn’t want people to know that he liked boys.

Did that mean that he was truly just using Sophia as a cover and did he really mean it when he said that what we had was nothing?

I watched Rita glare at them and then proceed to show them her middle finger. All without breaking eye contact.

“Riri, don’t be like that” I said.

God, why was I still defending this guy?

“What’s he gonna about it?” She asked, “Try to start a fight?”

“I’d love to see him try” Nico added, his tone serious.

He was always ready for a chance to throw hands at Julius and I was sure that Rita wanted nothing more than to drag Sophia by her extensions.

“It’s fine, you guys,” I said, “There’s no point pouring all that energy into something that isn’t even worth it”

“I can’t believe that he settled for someone like her,” Rita said, “Are we really dating bullies in the 21st century? That’s who he chose? Gross”

“Julius isn’t any angel himself” Nico said.

“Oh my goodness, I know right. Such a royal asshole”

I shook my head and laughed. I didn’t know what else to do.

I was heartbroken, confused, possibly in trouble and I still had to find a way to navigate that while keeping my Gpa above water and attending class with a professor that makes my leg turn to jelly.

All I really wanted to do was head back to the dorm and get some sleep. It was definitely a very overwhelmingly surprising day and it hasn’t even ended yet.

“You good, baby?” Rita asked and touched my hand.

I nodded. “Yeah, I’m cool. It’s just a little weird that’s all”

“It is”

“I think that I should maybe head back to the dorm and get some proper rest” I said.

“You’re not going to go cry over that jerk are you?” Nico asked.

“And that’s fine if he does” Rita said, giving Nico a small, nasty look.

He looked away in defeat. He did not like to annoy her. Rita turned her attention back to me and gave me her most reassuring smile.

“Hey, it’s fine to feel whatever you’re feeling right now. Take your time until you’re doing much better”

“And in the meantime, we’ll be here cussing out your ex until you do”

I chucked and began to gather my things.

“You guys are the best.”

“Yeah, we know” Nico said with a smug grin.

“Whatever, while I’m gone, you two need to figure out child support payment plans with all that humping you get into”

Rita grinned. “I always wanted a little boy”

“I pick baby girl” I said.

“We could totally name her Belle”

“Isn’t that the chick that married a beast?”

“At least he was rich,” she turned to Nico, “You wouldn’t mind our little girl marrying a wealthy but ugly dude do you?”

“And fuck up my beautiful gene pool? God forbid it”

“Aww, he wants to be my baby daddy”

“Such a great pick, Rita” I teased.

Nico groaned in frustration.

“Don’t you have a dorm to go to?” He asked.

“Fine, fine, fine,” I got to my feet, “See you later babies”

I rushed out of the lunch area as fast as my legs could carry me. Today was really one hell of a day.