Fake Billionaire Friends

Chapter 15

Ava P.O.V.

On Tuesday, I walked into work with butterflies in my stomach. I was even a little before 8 and enjoyed the silence in the office. The door to my office was slightly ajar. At 8 Jake stuck his head in and seeing that I was already in he went inside closing the door behind him. He came to my desk with a very serious look on his face that put a smile on my face.

- Did you know that your friend is spying on you?

- What? - I furrowed my eyebrows and stood up so as not to be below him.

- Yesterday when we broke up he was outside your apartment building.

- Probably a coincidence.

- that he was on broklyn at midnight on your street even though he lives in manhattan?

- I don't know... maybe?

- Ava, this is serious - he scowled at my desk and leaned back slightly, then rapped me to him - This is not normal. Be careful with him.

- Maybe he's just really worried that I'm dating one of the divine four - I shrugged my shoulders.

- Maybe. I'm just asking you to watch out for him, Okey?

- Okey, I said.

Jake reached out and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear and then he moved closer to me and kissed me hard on the lips. When he leaned back I took a deep breath and looked into his eyes:

- That probably wasn't very professional.

- Maybe not, but I felt like it - he straightened up and walked to the door - he is expecting his coffee at 9 as usual. Remember, the report was due today.

- It's already on your desk, Chief.

- Preliminary presentation?

- Also.

- Meeting with Anderson?

- He's scheduled for 12. She'd booked a table for lunch at his favorite place anyway.

 He nodded and left without thanking me. I smiled, "Asshole".

I hadn't spoken to Ralph all week. In the evenings, when I turned out the light, I checked to see if anyone was standing in the street, and I often saw a man with a silhouette that resembled my friend. It made me nervous and fearful. Jake was right it was intensely disturbing. Even if he was worried about me, standing under someone's window was not normal. I started thinking hard about our friendship over the years, whether there had been signs that something was wrong before. The most suspicious was when we met. The more I thought about it the more confused I became. I had to find out the truth.

Saturday morning I called Jake. We agreed to have breakfast at a nearby coffee shop. I asked him to be the car.

As we ate our pancakes with maple syrup Jake leaned back in his chair looking at me curiously:

- So? What is the real reason why we are here?

- I tried to remember when I actually met Ralph.

- You said between freshman and sophomore year - he looked at me carefully.

- I thought so. But now that I've tried to remember, I think I met him at my family's funeral. He introduced himself and said that we had an economics class together. I was a mess and he helped me get through therapy and get myself together, so I didn't think about it anymore. But which fourth-year student still has a first- or second-year class?I knew him from college, but I don't think we really know each other. 

Jake looked at me thoughtfully and took a sip of coffee.

-We can go to the university and check it out. I'm sure there's a list of who's taking each class in each year.

-That's right. -Yeah. I thought you could help me with that.

-Sure. I'd love to - he smiled at me.

The road took us 5 hours but it passed very quickly. I could hardly believe that Jake had agreed to this trip. I thought that he would refuse but he immediately agreed to it. Plus he was a great conversationalist and listener. I told him about Victoria and my parents, and he told me about his family. I felt important because of his attentiveness. He asked good questions, not too nosy or too trivial, which made me feel that I was really being listened to.

When we arrived I felt better than I had after the session with my therapist.

It was strange to look at the university building again. It wasn't that long ago that I was peeling my diploma off of it, and here I was standing again. Jake seeing my uncertainty grabbed my hand and led me towards the administration building. After 30 minutes we managed to get to the lady from the former students' service.

I greeted her politely and told her some story that we had to find out what classes I took with Ralph Miller because it was our anniversary and I wanted to make him a present. The lady looked at me skeptically and refused, explaining that it was confidential information and if I wanted to know, I had to come with him or his power of attorney. I was nervous and didn't know what to do next, luckily Jake stepped in with his dazzling smile:

-Mrs. Smith - he looked at her badge still smiling coquettishly - Couldn't anything really be done? This crazy girl made me travel 5 hours to surprise her boyfriend and my friend. Please, please. I know you can help us. If we don't find out she will surely come up with something equally crazy and start pestering me again.

The administrator looked at him and then reluctantly at me.

-Okey. Which years are you talking about?

After we settled on 3 years, a few minutes later we got printouts of the classes Ralph and I had taken during my 1st and 2nd years. I squealed with excitement and threw my arms around Jak's neck, to which the woman shook her head in disapproval.

We moved away quickly finding a quiet coffee shop and started examining the letters. It appeared from them that we had no activities in common.

- You know Jake - I said hesitantly - Maybe this doesn't mean anything? Maybe we met at some party or he just liked me in the hallway and decided to talk to me?

- At your family's funeral and lying about it?

I let out a loud breath.

- I know, it's weird, but he's been helping me these past few years. I just find it hard to believe that there could be something wrong with him.

- I see - he looked at his watch - It's almost 6 p.m. We should look for a hotel.

- A hotel? I thought we would come back today.

- I can't drive anymore. We'll come back tomorrow. Don't worry, we can take separate rooms. I'm not going to take advantage of the situation.

- For a man who wants to have an affair with me, you're being incredibly decent," I said raising my eyebrows in surprise.

- Are you regretting it? - He laughed defiantly looking into my eyes.

- Maybe a little - I answered jokingly.