I think I’m going to be sick. “When was this?”
“Not that long ago; in fact, it was right before you came.”
“When you say drugged, you mean….”
“Yeah, it’s usually men doing that shit to innocent women. That just goes to show the type of person she is; stay far away from her. If she shows up, find Cody or one of us, don’t tangle with her, she’s….”
He didn’t finish his statement, but he didn’t have to. This was the last thing I expected; in fact, it was nowhere on my radar. This was beyond obsession and had entered dangerous territory. The implications were mind-boggling, and it begs the question, why. Sure, Cody’s easily the hottest guy on the campus, but there were others to choose from.
His personality was such that anyone would want to get close to him, but to go to these lengths seems a bit unhinged. It also filled me with such anger that I had a hard time concentrating all through the rest of my classes, and even when Cody came to pick me up and drive me back to the dorm, I was still stuck in the fog. At the sight of him, anger gave away to compassion and a whole host of emotions that I couldn’t name.
The thought of him being taken advantage of like that broke my heart and brought me close to tears. For some odd reason, I kept seeing him the way I always imagine him when he tells stories of his childhood. An adorable little sprite with wild blonde curls and that same mischievous smile on his face.
How could someone even think of doing such a thing? He’s got so much on his plate already; with his dad close to death’s door and all the heartache that comes with that, why would someone who claims to love him put him through that? That’s the story anyway, that she’s so in love with him that she hasn’t been able to give up trying to win his heart.
I know because, after Steve’s little bombshell, I’d broken my own rule and asked a few people on my own. If they found it odd that I was asking about her, no one let on, and in fact, I was surprised at the number of people who knew about her obsession with Cody.
Unbeknownst to me, it seemed to be some sort of campus tale that even the freshmen had heard about. It’s odd that I never heard a peep until now, but that’s understandable, I guess, but it appears that you couldn’t mention Cody without her name being mentioned.
Some were only too happy to share, but I figured they were the ones who’d missed their shot and were still a bit peeved that a nobody like me had won him. The more I heard, the more dread I felt, and along with that dread was a sadness I didn’t expect.
I never actively doubted Cody or my two friends when they said he’d never been involved with anyone before I came along, but now I see it in a whole new light. It must mean more than I’d thought that he’d chosen me, and thinking that way only brought home a sense of responsibility in me.
I felt driven to protect what we have even more, and knowing that this girl had gone to the lengths she’d gone to only made me want to put my guard up, but more than that, I now felt the need to protect Cody from her. Trying to bring discord between us is one thing, but what she’d done to him was criminal and crossed all boundaries as far as I’m concerned.
She’d awakened something in me with her actions, something visceral, something that strengthened the connection between Cody and me, at least in my eyes. For the first time in my life, I was going to be the protector; I’m going to be the one to stand in her way and make sure she never hurts him again.
I couldn’t wait to get back to the dorm and share with the others to come up with some kind of plan of action because things had changed. We’d moved on from childish games to borderline stalking if the stories I’d heard were true. But as much as I wanted to get started, that evening, when he took me back to the dorm, I couldn’t bring myself to part from him. I didn’t want to let Cody out of my sight ever again.
CODY
Something’s going on. Whose turn was it to watch her today? Steve’s, I’ll have to ask him if something happened. She’s doing her best to keep her thoughts hidden, but I know her too well not to notice the signs. I may not have been sure, might have put it off as something to do with her classes, but the way she clung to me, almost close to tears, when I tried to drop her off, said differently.