The Girl He Wanted Was The Girl He Dumped Chapter 03
The next morning, one of my roommates took one look at me and freaked out.
“Audrey, what happened to your face?”
I grabbed a mirror.
Red. Puffy. Swollen all over.
Another allergic reaction.
Except I hadn’t been anywhere near peaches.
I took an antihistamine, but over the next few days, the swelling kept coming back.
It would disappear one day, then I’d wake up puffy again the next.
Had I developed a new allergy?
I finally decided to go to the Student Health Center.
As I was leaving, I heard Sophie behind me, barely hiding the nasty amusement in her voice.
“Doesn’t she kind of look like a balloon like that?”
The other two immediately frowned.
“Sophie, she’s having an allergic reaction.”
“How is that funny?”
Sophie went quiet.
The Student Health Center was packed.
I sat outside in sunglasses and a mask, waiting for my turn, when someone dropped into the seat beside me.
“Hey, mind letting me go ahead of you?”
I looked up at the familiar voice.
Carter Ashford.
He clearly didn’t recognize me.
“My girlfriend’s having really bad cramps. I’m just here to grab something for her.”
He flashed me a smile.
“Name your price.”
“Carter.”
He froze.
A few seconds later, recognition clicked.
His smile vanished. “You?”
Technically, this was the first time we’d ever met face-to-face.
A month ago, we’d been planning our first date.
Now all I felt looking at him was disgust.
Carter stared at me for two seconds, then suddenly reached over and pulled off my sunglasses.
My face was still swollen.
Disappointment flickered across his eyes.
Then he scoffed.
“You look even worse in person than you did on FaceTime.”
I snatched my sunglasses back.
“I’m having an allergic reaction.”
“Right. It was an allergic reaction the first time too.”
His mouth twisted, “What are the odds?”
I couldn’t be bothered to argue.
Carter looked almost satisfied, like I’d just confirmed something for him.
“I was wondering why Julian suddenly seemed so interested in you.”
He gave me another once-over.
“Guess he has some pretty unique taste.”
I got up and walked into my appointment.
When I came back out with my medication, Carter was still there.
He held out a box of painkillers and some heating patches.
“Take these back to Sophie.”
“She keeps refusing to come see me.”
I didn’t take them.
“Take them to her yourself.”
“I’m not your delivery service.”
I’d been going to bed early lately because of the allergies.
That night, though, I couldn’t sleep.
Sometime after midnight, I heard a faint noise near my desk.
In the glow from my phone screen, I saw someone standing there.
Holding my hairbrush. Rubbing something onto it.
I switched on my flashlight, “What are you doing?”
Sophie whipped around. Half a peach was still in her hand.
I went completely still.
“All these allergic reactions…”
I stared at her, “That was you?”
The noise woke our other roommates.
Sophie’s face went pale.
“I just heard about exposure therapy. I thought maybe if you came into contact with tiny amounts, your allergy might eventually get better…”
I stared at her in disbelief.
“So you decided to experiment on me without telling me?”
Our roommates were wide awake now.
“Sophie, are you insane?”
“What did Audrey ever do to you?”
I kept my eyes on her, “Is this because of Carter?”
Her eyes filled almost instantly.
“I wasn’t trying to hurt you.”
One of our roommates let out a bitter laugh.
“You’re jealous of her.”
“You literally made fun of her face the last time she had a reaction.”
Tears started sliding down Sophie’s cheeks.
“I didn’t mean to hurt her.”
She kept repeating it.
I was done listening.
“I’m reporting this to our RA and Residence Life.”
Her expression changed.
She grabbed her phone and made a call.
The second it connected, her voice turned shaky.
“I already explained, but they won’t listen to me.”
“I seriously can’t stay here anymore.”
Carter’s voice came through the phone.
“Put me on speaker.”
“I want to talk to that ugly bitch.”
Sophie immediately covered the phone.
“No… don’t. That’s not a good idea.”
Carter kept going, “Then get out of there tonight.”
“I’ll pay for a hotel.”
Sophie’s tears stopped almost immediately, “Okay.”
She started packing.
One of our roommates finally snapped.
“You deliberately triggered Audrey’s allergy.”
“Why do you keep making it sound like we’re the ones bullying you?”
Sophie paused.
Then she looked at me.
“Think whatever you want.”
She lifted her chin slightly, a smug little smile tugging at her lips.
“Carter said my personality matters more to him than looks.”
The next day, Julian suddenly sent me a screenshot.
A few seconds later, he unsent it.
“Sorry. Wrong person.”
Too late. I’d already seen it.
It was from a group chat between Carter and a few guys from the hockey team.
Carter:
“Audrey’s obviously jealous of Sophie.”
“Sophie can’t even stay in her own dorm now.”
“Even if Sophie did something, Audrey probably pushed her into it.”
A couple of guys piled on.
“Girls’ dorm drama.”
“It was an allergic reaction. She didn’t even end up in the ER. Why is she making it such a huge deal?”
Julian was the only one who pushed back.
“You guys don’t even know what happened.”
“I’ve actually spent time with Audrey. She’s not like that.”
Carter replied immediately:
“Whose side are you on?”
By morning, Sophie had dragged her suitcase out of the suite.
She’d already filed a complaint with Residence Life claiming we were bullying her and requested a room change.
When I’d first met Sophie, I’d thought she was quiet and sweet.
Apparently I’d been wrong.
That evening, Julian texted me.
“It’s raining.”
“I don’t have an umbrella. Any chance you could come get me?”
He sent the address of a restaurant right by the hockey arena—a place the team hung out at all the time.
My first instinct was to say no. Going there meant I might run into people I had no desire to see.
Then I thought about the screenshot.
He had defended me when no one else in that group did.
So I grabbed an umbrella. “Fine.”
By the time I got there, a group of guys from the hockey team were standing under the awning.
Carter and Julian were both there.
I slowed as I caught part of their conversation.
“So Carter called that gorgeous girlfriend of his to come pick him up?”
“And Julian called Carter’s ex to come get him?”
Someone laughed.
“The catfish?”
“I heard she’s hideous in person.”
“Since when is Julian into that?”
“Bet on who’s getting here first?”
My steps faltered.
The second I came into view, the whole group went quiet.
Every head turned toward me.
Including Carter’s.
And then he froze. The lazy amusement vanished from his face.
His eyes locked on me and stayed there.
One of the guys recovered first and bumped Carter’s shoulder.
“Damn, Carter. No wonder you’ve been hiding her from us!”
“Your girlfriend looks like that?”
Carter couldn’t hide his smile.
He held out a hand toward me. “Baby.”
I walked straight past him without even looking his way.
His hand stayed suspended in midair.
I stopped in front of Julian.
“Let’s go.”