Free Secrets by Raven St. Pierre

up with Deanna and me.  What was it going to take to make him go away? 
                  With Terrell at our heels, we followed the sidewalk and soon made it a good distance away from the dorm. The road was only lit by the orange glowing streetlamps above.  The atmosphere was heavy like a storm might roll in.  Wind rushed through the trees, causing them to rustle in the background as the temperature dropped steadily. The strangest feeling came over me and I literally shivered as a chill ran down my spine.  Apparently I was the only one sensing anything.  Maybe it was just the change in the weather that made me uneasy.
                  The store came into view as soon as we rounded the corner – a huge 24-hour super-center.  We crossed the brightly lit parking lot and grabbed a stray cart before going inside.
                  “First stop, junk food aisle,” Terrell asserted.  Deanna and I followed behind him and I thought about running into his heels with the cart ‘on accident’ just because he was getting on my nerve. 
    Deanna mouthed the words, “Be nice,” as she smirked at my tense expression.  I forced a cheesy smile and turned forward.  Terrell was taking forever picking what flavor Doritos he wanted, like it was a major life decision or something.  I shifted my weight to one foot and sighed.
    “Just a sec,” he said in response to my frustration.
    ‘Why am I even here?’ I thought to myself.  Terrell could’ve done this on his own.  It was bad enough that I had to get out of my warm bed; coming to the store and waiting for him to make up his mind about some stupid chips was just irritating me further.  I folded my arms over my chest when I sighed, glancing behind me momentarily when a shadow caught my attention.  In that instant, my heart skipped a beat and my legs felt numb from shock.  My eyes focused and I quick-stepped behind Terrell and used him as a shield, peeking around him like a kid.  Lucky for me, he was impressively broad in a football player type of way.  All of a sudden, I was grateful for his presence. 
    I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.  Months had passed since I’d seen or heard from Antonio, making it difficult to grasp the idea of him standing across the aisle from us .  While I spied, he grabbed a two-liter of pop and deliberated over which one to grab second.  It was unfathomable that, after everything, he’d really moved here anyway.
    “Please, don’t move,” I pleaded in a whisper, holding onto the sleeve of Terrell’s t-shirt.  He tensed up, but did as I requested.  “Deanna, turn around this way, so he won’t recognize you,” I said quietly.  She looked confused, but turned anyway.  I cowered behind Terrell until Antonio grabbed another bottle of Pepsi and then moved on. 
    “Who was that ?”  Terrell asked.
    “He’s nobody.  Can we go now?”  I urged.  Terrell frowned up his face and continued to stare at me for a second before finally complying, walking toward the front of the store to a checkout line.  I watched over my shoulder nervously while he paid and I nearly dragged Deanna out the door as soon as the clerk dropped the change into Terrell’s hand. 
    Terrell stopped abruptly after we were back on the sidew alk and heading back toward school.  “Now will you tell me who he was?”  He inquired.
    “Why does it matter?”   I wanted to add, ‘ stay out my business’ to that, but I didn’t.
    “Because it looks like you’re scared of him or something! ”  Terrell reasoned.
    “I’m not scared of hi m; he’s my ex. I just didn’t want him to see me,” I explained.
    Terrell seemed mildly satisfied with my answer and w e started walking again.  “So…..he go to Charleston?”  Terrell pried. 
    I rolled my eyes, but answered anyway.  “No.  Blanchard.”
    Terrell made a face.  “That’s more than an hour away.”
    “ Did he tell you he was moving here?”  Deanna asked,