I pulled my coat from his grip. “You haven’t given me space! You’re everywhere.”

“I thought maybe you’d break down and talk to me. This has to stop, Nina,” he said, working to stay calm.

“You’re right. This has to stop. You can do your job without being in my life. You’ve done it before.”

Jared pulled up my hand, viewing his ring still firmly in place. “If you don’t care about me, then why are you so adamant in keeping your promise?”

“It’s still a promise…no matter who it’s to,” I said, pulling my hand away. My wrist ached at the remaining warmth from his grip.

“That ring will be slightly inconvenient when you get married one of these days, don’t you think?”

“I can take it off if you’d like,” I shrugged.

Jared’s shoulders relaxed and the exhaustion set in. “Don’t act like you’re not hurting over this.”

“I…,” I should have lied to him and told him I was fine, but I couldn’t. The grief in his eyes was unbearable, so I retreated to the Ratty.

Jared’s hand shot out and grabbed the sleeve of my coat again, but this time I turned and jerked my arm down and away, and then yanked the door open. Beth and Kim quickly followed.

I sat between Ryan and Tucker, quietly picking at my food.

“Nina, you don’t eat much anymore,” Ryan said. “You look like you’ve lost some weight. I’m starting to worry about you.”

“I’m fine,” I mumbled.

He rolled his eyes and threw his french fry to his plate. “I know you’re fine. You’ve been fine for a month.”

“I’m fine!” All eyes in the room seemed to dart in my direction, looking for the source of the commotion. I stood and walked out, leaving my tray on the table.

I stormed past Jared and walked straight to my dorm, deciding to skip my afternoon class. Concentrating so hard on being void of any emotion took up so much of my energy that I tended to take naps more often than not. I rolled into a ball under my blanket and cleared my mind. Before long, I drifted off.

I woke to a knock at the door. It was dark; I had been asleep for hours. My muscles felt heavy and congealed, so I waited for Beth to answer.

“Hey, what’s up?” she asked the visitor in a hushed voice.

“Is Nina here?” Ryan asked, peering around her.

“She’s sleeping,” Beth whispered.

“No, I’m up. Come in, Ryan,” I said.

Ryan stepped across the room, and I bounced when he plopped onto my bed. “You need to pull yourself together.”

“Shut up, Ryan,” I said, wiping the inevitably smeared mascara from my eyes.