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Chapter 14<br />
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!<br />
Tears welled up in Ross’s eyes as he frantically ran up the stairs toward Julia’s apartment. He<br />
was overtaken by fear, mixed with anger, as he swung the door open, barged inside, and started<br />
yelling at her. “I can’t believe what you’ve done!” he shrieked, jolting the door closed behind him.<br />
“I’m done!”<br />
“What are you talking about?” Julia stammered, looking up from her laptop, shocked by the<br />
abrupt intrusion and then even more astonished by the very visible look of terror on Ross’s face.<br />
“You betrayed my trust!” Ross screamed as he wiped tears from his eyes. “I can’t believe you<br />
told someone.” Panic grabbed and shook him as he tried to figure out what to do. In his entire life he<br />
had never been this angry. Never this afraid.<br />
In that moment Julia knew exactly what had happened, though it would be another few minutes<br />
before she knew exactly how it had happened. It dawned on her very quickly that this had to have<br />
something to do with Erica. But how did Ross know about it now? And why was he so frightened?<br />
Julia played the events of the past few weeks over in her mind as Ross stood in front of her seething.<br />
After Julia had returned from New York City in the early fall, she had decided to break up with<br />
Ross, telling him that if he wanted to continue running his site, he would have to do it elsewhere; she<br />
wouldn’t allow it in her apartment any longer. He had chosen to do just that and rented his own place<br />
across town in Austin.<br />
Though resentment had driven them apart, love (and sex) kept them in each other’s lives and they<br />
continued to date sporadically.<br />
Soon after Ross moved out, Julia had convinced her friend Erica to move from New York City to<br />
Austin, renting the spare bedroom in Julia’s studio. Everything was moving along just fine until one<br />
evening, while partying, Erica had a bad acid trip from drugs purchased on the Silk Road and ended<br />
up in the hospital. When she returned, a fight erupted between her and Julia. Ross, who just happened<br />
to be there, tried to break up the brawl. This only exacerbated Erica’s and Julia’s tempers, and the<br />
fight grew so raucous that the police were called. Ross, who at first was trying to be helpful, soon<br />
lost his patience and pushed Erica out of the apartment. As Erica left in a taxi to the airport to return<br />
to New York City, Ross and Julia assumed that was the end of it. Good riddance, Erica; thanks for<br />
the story we’ll get to tell our friends tomorrow.
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