Back in my room, I sink down on my chair. A thousand questions go through my mind. I just know Meg was talking about me, although she didn't say my name. I'm not crying, there's just this big lump in my throat that won't go away. I force myself to eat my toast, but it's cold and dry and I almost throw up when I try to swallow it. My carefully prepared lunch ends up in my waste bin. Just being in the same building as she is, makes me feel like I'm choking. I can't stay here and I grab my bag and take the most important books with me. It feels like I flee from my own room, but I don't want to see Meg any time soon.

The air is grey and a slight drizzle is slowly drenching my clothes. I walk to the library, I need to clear my mind. I try to avoid the puddles as much as I can, but I don't really pay attention to my surroundings. All the people I pass, are just some grey blurs, like I'm walking through a city full of ghosts. Megan's hateful words are haunting me. She was the one who made me go to that party, telling me he was all over me, why can't she believe that Dan had asked me on a date? Meg had been my friend since forever, she knows everything about me. How many times did she have a laugh about me behind my back? And what scares me the most, what did she tell to other people?

The library is crowded for once when I get there. I have a hard time finding a spot where I can spread out my notes and my books. As if concentrating wasn't hard enough when only Dan tried to invade my thoughts every now and then, it's even worse now. But I manage to work through a couple of chapters before they close and throw me out.

And then I feel lost, I don't want to go home yet, but I don't have anywhere to go. I don't want to go to a random friend. I can't bear the thought that Meg maybe was talking to one of them, laughing behind my back.

I just keep walking around, the city is a perfect place to hide my loneliness until I come across the lunchroom. The shop itself is closed, but there are lights burning. Jerry isn't really a friend, but at least he's someone I know, so I knock on the window. After a couple of seconds, Jerry's head appears around the kitchen door. His eyes look surprised, and he walks to the door. "Hey Elise, what are you doing here? Come in, it's terrible weather." He beckons me in.

"Thanks. Sorry for ruining your clean floor." My clothes are soaked, waterdrops fall from my hair on the floor and muddy footprints appear where I walk.

Jerry smiles. "Don't worry about it. I still owe you for that delivery last Saturday. Did Dan give you any trouble?" He looks at me with some kind of faint smile around his mouth.

I feel my cheeks burn. "Nope, everything went fine."

He keeps looking intently at me. "The importer of my beans was a bit surprised. I thought he had called me, but he kept telling me he didn't. Do you know anything about it?"

I shake my head. "Sorry Jerry, no clue."

"What about your redhead trouble friend?" Why does he keep prodding? I keep my mouth shut, looking at my shoes.

"I thought so. I suspected she was behind it all, but when she didn't turn up to work today, I knew enough. So what are you doing here?"

I sigh, partly because I don't really want to talk about what happened. I just want to put the memory away and make everything again as it was before I heard Meg talk. But what Jerry said about her not turning up for work might explain the whole situation. This is what she does if she has some semi-serious lover, she kicks everything aside for him, ruthlessly pushing people away, forgetting about her life before she met her new knight in shining armor.

"Okay, this looks serious," Jerry says. "Just sit down, you obviously need some chocolate." He walks off to the kitchen. I grab one of the colorful chairs and sit down to a table. Whenever I come here I just feel a bit happier because of how it looks. Jerry painted all the chairs in different colors. The walls are painted in a summer sky blue, the desk is lemon green and the curtains are bright pink. Just to see this color mashup, makes me feel better already. When Jerry comes back with a steaming cup of his best chocolate I even manage to produce a smile. "Thanks, Jerry."

"No problem." He says when he hands me the mug. "Now spill it, Eli. I know you're not really a talkative person, but you look troubled and you look like you can use some help."

"I don't know where to start," I say. The chocolate smells good, but it is still too hot to drink.

"Something obviously upset you, just start there." Jerry grabs a chair and waits expectantly.

I stare into the distance, trying to find the right words. "I accidentally heard someone say something about me." I finally say.

Jerry looks at me and shrugs. "People are talking all the time, so why does this upset you so much?"

"The person I'm talking about is Meg." I stare at my chocolate.

He looks concerned. "What did she say? Did you talk with her about it?"

I shake my head. "It just happened this afternoon. She was on the phone, I think, I accidentally heard her talking. She was making fun of me with whoever she was talking to. I walked away, she doesn't know I heard it."

Jerry sighs. "O Eli, that sucks. I always thought you two were the best friends ever. I have to admit you're a weird couple, as you're so completely different. She just blurts out everything that comes to her mind and you go over every possible outcome before you even manage to greet someone. I don't know why you two became friends, but as far as I know, you've been together for a long time. Didn't she date your brother or something?"

A chill runs down my spine. "She did, but we were friends long before that." The thought of my brother makes me nauseous, but Jerry doesn't notice my distress and he continues. "Maybe she didn't mean it, maybe she was just goofing around, who knows? Megan doesn't overthink her words as carefully as you do. That's how she is. It may get her in trouble, but I bet it has its good sides as well, or else you two wouldn't be friends."

"Yeah, you're right." I think of how I met Megan. It was one of the first days at school. Some bully took my lunch box and was teasing me with it. I was crying my eyes out, until Meg intruded, hit the bully on the head, and gave me my lunch box back. Since that day we were friends. She didn't think that day, she just jumped in, as she always does. She sometimes makes me think of one of those terriers. I would be scared if she ever turned against me.

"Of course I'm right." Jerry interrupts my thoughts. "And now you're going home and talk to your best friend. She probably can explain everything."

"Thanks, Jerry, I feel better now. I mean, in a couple of weeks I will leave for my internship. And then the whole date stuff happened..." I take a sip from my chocolate. It's nice, Jerry put a pinch of cinnamon in it.

"You have a date, Eli? Who's the lucky guy?" Jerry looks expectantly at me.

"Dan," I say.

Jerry laughs. "So you finally listened to me?"

I grin. "Maybe."

"Well, have fun anyway. You deserve it."

"I guess I go home now," I say while leaving my empty mug at the table. "Thanks, Jerry."

"You're welcome." He hugs me. "And tell Meg she better shows up tomorrow!"

I walk home and I really feel a bit better. I don't like the idea of talking to Meg, but I guess I don't really have a choice. We live in the same house, I can't ignore her for the next four weeks. Besides, we're friends, we should be able to talk about this, right?

But when I come home, it's deserted. Meg's room is empty. She left no note where she might be. When I check my phone I don't see any missed calls or texts. Earlier today I would have been relieved to find the house empty, but now I just feel sad and confused. What's going on with Meg? Where's my friend?

I eventually send her a text message, but she doesn't respond. Maybe I should be worried, but she just has this new boyfriend, and my guess is that she's with him. I'm not going to disturb her with my nagging, I just wait until she shows up again. It's past dinner time and I order some pizza. I just log in to my favorite game, play a few battlegrounds, and chat with my friends about some recent changes the developers just made to the game.

The next day I study until my brain hurts and my eyes scream for mercy. When I check around noon if Megan might have shown her face, I find her room still locked. Meg hasn't come home during the night. I know it's the talk I'm worried about. It feels awkward that she chose this moment to disappear.

I remember the first time when she did this. We were freshmen and we lived for three months in this apartment. One night she went to a party. I didn't join her, because the next day I would have some class in the dissecting room and I wanted to take all precautions possible to make sure I wouldn't puke all over the place, like one of my fellow students once did.

When I woke up the next day, I found her room empty. At first, I didn't think too much about it, but I was concerned when she didn't show up for dinner that evening. She didn't respond to my calls or my text messages and I started to worry more and more. I called all our friends, but no one had seen her after that night. Someone saw her with some guy, but nobody knew who he was or where she had gone. It was getting later and later and I was just about to call her parents when Megan came home. She was clearly intoxicated and didn't want to talk about where she had been, she just wanted to sleep. When I told her I was about to call her parents, she threw a hissy fit. 

"Don't you dare to call them. Ever!" She said and she walked off. She never told me where she spent the night, only that she met some guy and they had fun. Since then she disappeared every now and then. It was unnerving the first few times, but now I'm almost used to her disappearances.

It's getting dark when my phone finally buzzes, but it's not the message I've been waiting for the whole day. It's the one I almost forgot about.

It reads: "Hey doc, I'll pick you up tomorrow at seven if that's still okay. Good luck tomorrow. Sweet dreams, Dan."

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AN: Thanks for reading! If you liked the chapter, please vote for it by pressing the little star :)