Shifting uncomfortably, I answered, “I was planning on watching the recorded Group A presentations this afternoon. I’ll send you and everyone else my notes this weekend, okay?”
“Or maybe you could come over to my place and watch it with me. We’ll order takeout, and you could give me feedback. You know how much I value your opinion, Dawn.”
He took another step forward and touched my wrist. In a way that could have been friendly but felt way too intimate.
Victor and I were pretending, just pretending. But my stomach rolled at Asher’s touch, and I snatched my arm away. “You know, I am so behind on this project that I’m a little scared I won’t be ready for the soft presentation if I don’t jam on it. I’ve gotta go.”
The intimate look fell off of Asher’s face.
“Dawn…” he started to say. Then suddenly, he stopped, his eyes refocusing on something over my shoulder.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. And I almost wasn’t surprised to see who he was looking at when I turned to follow the direction of his gaze.
Victor. Victor stood at the place where the paths to our grad building and the one that led to the parking lot intersected.
Without another word to Asher, I rushed away from him and towards Victor.
“Hey, Victor!” I called out, waving at him happily as I approached. He was dressed in the same suit as this morning. Black-on-black. It made me feel like a raven had just set down on our arty campus.
A very serious raven.
“What were you talking to that guy about?” he asked without smiling or waving back.
“I’m hosting the Group B soft thesis presentations this Sunday,” I answered, the lie seamlessly flowing from my hands and mouth. “He needed the address since he’s never been over to the house.”
Victor paused, looking somewhat mollified. “He’s never been to the house?”
“No, never,” I answered quickly, so happy to be able to tell him the truth for once. “I was actually planning to ask you about Sunday. I don’t know what your situation is with big groups. And I didn’t want to surprise you with everyone from my grad program suddenly showing up on Sunday at 1 PM., for like, six hours’ worth of presentations.”
He considered my words, then signed. “I will remain upstairs while your group is at the house. I have a few things I can do for my import/export business.”
I laughed at his reference to his fake career and started us walking. In the opposite direction of Asher, thank goodness. But then it occurred to me to ask, “Wait, what are you doing here?”
“I want to take you somewhere,” he said.
“Where?” I asked. “Grocery shopping?”
“No,” he answered with a smug smile. “It’s a surprise.”
27
VICTOR
“Does this surprise include bathroom breaks?” Dawn asked Victor after the third hour of driving.
A fair request. They had been on the road a while, and he needed gas anyway. He pulled into a station. However, Dawn didn’t immediately get out.
“So I know we’re going south. The highway signs told me that much,” she said, turning to face him in her seat. “But how close are we to our final destination?”
“Another couple of hours of driving,” he answered.
Dawn squirmed, and he didn’t think it was because of her need to use the facilities.
“What?” he asked.
“It’s just…that soft presentation I mentioned earlier is, like I said, on Sunday. And this surprise of yours is really far away. I just want to make sure this isn’t….”
She cut her eyes to the side and trailed off, not finishing. And Victor suddenly understood why she was acting so wary and hesitant.
She thought he was sabotaging her. That this surprise was actually another punishment in disguise.
Guilt hit him like a gut punch. Hard and without warning. So it felt like he was choking a little when he rushed to assure her, “I’ll have you back home by tomorrow. You won’t miss anything. I promise.”
The word promise brought up an old memory. And without thinking about it, he added, “no cheat.”
Her eyes widened, and she let out a surprised laugh. But then a suspicious look came over her face as she signed-asked, “Is the surprise fruit?”
He’d forgotten this about her. How much she made him laugh.
“It’s not fruit,” he vowed, his shoulders shaking.
“It had better not be,” she mock-threatened before finally getting out of the car and heading into the station to use the restroom.
As soon as she left, the smile disappeared from Victor’s face, however. And his eyes went to the oversized tote she’d dumped in the backseat. It had a cartoon red panda on it. And she’d used it over the last few months as most would a school backpack.
He made a big show of getting out of the car, grabbing the gas nozzle, and jamming it into the Audi’s tank. But as soon as she was out of eyesight, he opened the car’s back door and rummaged through her tote.
