“I told Nolan I’d wait. She’s just getting over you, but she and I make sense, and you know it,” he said, his words flaming the fire in my chest, forcing me to my feet. He stood when I did this, moving around his chair so we were now standing face to face. My mouth went flat, a straight and angry line. I was going to put this ass**le in his place.

“Here’s what I see, Gavin. When Nolan needed a friend, she leaned on you. And then your warped f**king mind took that shit and ran with it. You took more from her than she wanted to give, more than she wanted you to have. You wormed your way in when she was at her lowest. And that’s not making sense together, dude…that’s f**ked up mind games and selfishness,” I said, putting a finger in his chest to knock him off balance.

He stared at me blankly, breathing slowly. I was satisfied, and I was ready to leave. I walked to his door and put my hand on the handle, turning to give him one last warning. “Gavin, it’s time for you to end this shit. You don’t get to be Nolan’s friend now; you’ve lost the privilege, understood?” I asked, waiting for his nod. I didn’t expect the ass**le to put up a fight, nor did I expect the words he said next.

“You sure about that, ass**le? I’m not the one who knocked her up, and left her alone to figure shit out on her own. I mean, who abandons his own baby? You’re f**king weak, man,” he said, barely getting the end of his sentence out before I had him pressed with his back flat against the wall, my nostrils flaring, and my eyes fighting against angry tears.

“You. Don’t. Get. To. Talk. About. That!” I gritted through my teeth, inches from his face, my forearm pinning him still. “You got me? That’s not yours to talk about. Ever. Not a word.”

I could feel his breathing change; he wasn’t as sure of himself as he’d been minutes before. I waited for him to nod in understanding before I let up on his shirt, shoving him once more into the wall. “You leave Nolan the f**k alone. Or I swear to God, I will rip your pretty f**king teeth from your mouth, and you can use them to strum your f**king guitar, understood?” I waited again, and again he nodded.

One more shove, and I let my hands fall back to my side. I left his room without turning around to see his face again. I was done with Gavin. My blood was pumping through my entire body, and I wanted to scream, but I reminded myself that my message was heard. And I was pretty sure Gavin understood me loud and clear.

It was seriously a good thing I had more than an hour to calm myself down after dealing with Gavin. I drove up to a nearby corner market to get a Gatorade and just reset my thinking. He had me so angry, and I didn’t want any of that flowing over into the night I had planned. Tonight was important, and I had to be very careful. I pulled onto a neighborhood side road and propped my leg up on my seat, popping my headphones in one ear and thumbing through my phone to make sure I knew where everything was. I found myself obsessively checking the time, recalculating how long it would take me to get back to Nolan’s campus. Finally, unable to stand it any longer, I pushed my keys back into the ignition and revved my engine.

I was 20 minutes early, but I could hear Nolan in her room getting ready. I paused at the door to listen in to her phone conversation a little. It was either Sarah or Sienna on the other line, I was sure.

“He said to wear something nice…but I don’t have anything nice! And I don’t know what to do with my hair. Oh my God! He’s going to be here any minute…are you sure? Yeah, that’s what I’m wearing. Do you think it’s nice enough?”

There was a long pause in her conversation, and I bit my lip to keep myself from laughing outside her door. She was nervous, and it was the cutest thing in the whole damn world. I was starting to think she had hung up when I heard her start talking again.

“Okay, if you promise me that it looks good and everything’s okay. You swear he’s not going to give me awful news and just smash my heart to pieces? Because I can’t take that…not again,” she said. Her words broke my f**king heart. She was worried that this was some trick, or that I was taking her out to end our relationship, for closure. I leaned against the wall, listening to her finish getting ready for another few minutes, my mind heavy with the thought of Nolan staying awake at night worrying about us. I wanted to fix everything, but I knew it would also take time. We’d both lost trust in one another, and we were going to need to get it back for us to be whole again.

I took a deep breath, and finally rapped on her door, my forehead flat on it as I listened to her approach. I straightened my posture and readied the mixed bouquet of wildflowers I’d gotten for her at the store, when I heard the lock twisting.