Chapter Forty

Elowen wasn't one to party with a bunch of strangers, but when Charlie said it was one of the ways he got good grades, she gave in. Vernon, of course, went with her since most of the people attending would be white and that wasn't a safe space for a black girl. They followed behind the scrawny red head as he greeted everyone he walked by and even kissed the cheek of some random girl.

"As you can tell, I'm well known." He smirked at Elowen who rolled her eyes in return. "There are your people over there."

Elowen looked at Vernon who was looking back at her. Both seemed more than happy to leave Charlie's side. He grabbed Elowen's hand and led her to the small area of black college kids. "Hey, Venny!" A soft voice called out. This girl was about Elowen's height but with a lot more blessings on her body that Elowen could ever have. Elowen looked her up and down as Vernon gave her a side hug. "What are you doing here?"

"My girl and I needed a break from school stuff." Elowen waved with a bright smile on her face. "Uhm. Elowen, this is Vicky. Vicky, meet my girlfriend, Elowen."

"Vernon and Vicky. How cute." Elowen thought to herself while pouting. "What are you majoring in, Vicky?"

"Political science."

Vernon gave her a high-five since he was going for that degree too. Elowen came to realize she truly didn't know who her boyfriend's friends were and she also didn't know they looked so amazing. Vicky's body made Elowen feel so insecure since it was everything she was lacking since she lost weight.

"What? Do you want to be the next Shirley Chisholm of Oklahoma?" Elowen rolled her eyes at Vicky who immediately put her hands on her wide hips.

Vicky scoffed. "Is there an issue you have?" Vernon waved his hands in attempt to cool the mood. Elowen simply stepped past him in case Vicky didn't hear the next words dying to come out of her mouth. "Come on!"

"No!" Vernon shouted as he snatched Elowen back from the group of girls who would most likely jump in if it came to blows. He literally dragged her as far away from them as he could until they were a safe distance. "What has gotten in to you?"

"She called you Venny? You both have nicknames now?" He slapped a hand on his face as she asked such a stupid question to him. "I've been through a lot of shit in my life. I lost someone I love to war and I am not about to lose you to some girl who is probably dying to sit next to you at the next open seat in the capital."

Vernon blinked a few times as he processed what just came out of her mouth. "Someone you love? You told me you didn't love him anymore. That's what you told me."

Elowen's shoulders dropped. "You know what I meant. He's the father of my kid. I can't just... I can't."

"Vicky isn't the problem. Your past is." He then walked off from her leaving Elowen in the crowd of dancing bodies and alcohol breaths.

Charlie found her within seconds of her deciding she should just go back to her dorm. "You haven't broken a sweat! You need to dance, Elowen. Standing here sulking isn't doing anything."

Instead of agreeing with him, she started sobbing in her hands. "Vernon is mad at me! He can't be mad at me!" Charlie stopped jumping in place as the moment became serious. "He's going to dump me and I'll have no one!"

The red head man grabbed her wrist and pulled them away from her face. Her eyes already swollen from the salty tears. "Where is all of this coming from? You and Vernon are the strongest couple I know."

"But I- I told him that I- love someone else." She started sobbing again but this time out in the open because Charlie was still holding her hands down. "He met my family and everything. I can't lose him. That's humiliating."

"Look at me." Charlie grabbed her wet cheeks and forced her eyes on him. "Did he say it was over?" Elowen shook her head slowly. "Then it isn't over. Why are you really crying?"

She hiccuped when she tried to sigh. Her mind reminded her how snobby and such a know-it-all Charlie could be but he was also the person she had serious talks with about anything. They both had a loved one in the war which is how they became friends in the first place.

"I told him I don't care about Philip but every time I get a newspaper, I'm checking if he's alive. This weeks newspaper had a picture of him with a few other survivors. He's alive and for months... I thought he was dead. My Philip is alive and when he comes home... I don't know what I'm going to do. I love him and I love Vernon."

Charlie nodded once and pulled Elowen in for a hug. "Who's Philip? Is he the guy you refuse to tell me the name of?"

"Yeah. I thought if I didn't say his name then it would be like he never existed. It just made it worse, Charlie."

"Does his last name happen to be Hill?" They pulled away from each other slowly. Elowen almost broke down at the thought of Charlie knowing anything about him outside of what she's told him. "Philip Hill came up a lot in my brother's letters. He said he saved his life and tried to save many others. Philip is a hero."

Elowen cracked a smile through the dried tears. Her attempt to hold in a laugh was pointless. She cackled in Charlie's face. He was actually happy to see her smiling.

"Philip is no fucking hero."