Plan B

Chapter One
"Has Patrick called you yet " Taylor asked me for what seemed like the tenth time today.

"He just left on Wednesday," I reminded her, flipping through my Let's Go Europe. "Besides, he's only had a day to settle in and meet his new roommate. I'm sure there are tons of things incoming freshman have to take care of," I added, not sure whether I was trying to answer Taylor or convince myself.

Taylor shrugged and sat up, swinging her legs around until she was sitting Indian style on the sunken cushion of the armchair we'd staked out in the language section of Barnes & Noble. The girl had become amazingly limber since she read about Madonna's addiction to Bikram yoga and decided to replicate the same conditions in her bedroom with a space heater, an electric blanket, and a DVD she bought off some swami's website. "Still, I would have thought you'd hear from him by now. He has a cellphone, you know."

"He'll call," I assured her, repeating the silent mantra I'd been reciting to myself for the past two days.

"Aren't you afraid of cheating " Taylor asked, not even looking up from the book in her lap as she traced a map of Germany with her finger.

I shook my head and dismissed her absurd suggestion. "No way. I'd never cheat on Patrick."

This time she looked up. "I meant, aren't you afraid of him cheating on you "

"Nope." I touched the small gold heart charm hanging around my neck, a birthday present from Patrick. I rubbed it for good luck and then discreetly checked my fingers to see if the gold came off. He'd said it was fourteen carat, but you never knew.

Taylor wasn't as convinced. She wasn't exactly Patrick's biggest fan and I knew she was glad to finally be rid of him. "I don't know. Last year when Courtney Maxwell and Brian Bonham left for college he cheated on her in less than two weeks with some girl who had a barbell through her tongue."

"Brian Bonham was a prick."

Taylor frowned at me as if to say, aren't they all

"Can we please not talk about this now " I asked.

"Sure. I didn't mean to imply that Pat ' I mean Patrick ' will cheat on you." She shrugged. "Just that, well, you know."

Yeah, I knew. The look on Taylor's face was the same look everyone gave me when I told them Patrick and I were going to still date after he left for Yale. A look that said, who are you kidding

"Ich brauche ein Abf ' hrmittel," Taylor slowly mouthed, trying out a line from the book in her lap. "That means, 'I need a laxative.' "