Finding You

Chapter 7

Trying to push my hazed hangover to the back of my mind, my brain is too full of information. After I slept in till almost noon, I laid in bed for another two hours not wanting to get up. I forced myself out of bed and to the science building. Final projects, exams, and presentations coming up in the next week gave me a distraction for the rest of the day. When I start on a case for a project, sometimes I get so invested in it I can't stop till it's done. Three large iced coffees later, I check my phone to realize it's one in the morning. Considering I have no work left to do, I pack up my things, throw on my jacket and head back to my room.

The cold air of the night hits me and makes me realize how much time passed without me noticing. It's about a fifteen-minute walk back to my building and seeing how dark and empty campus is, nerves itch inside me to get back quickly. A tall, lean male figure walks a few yards ahead of me and those nerves start itching even more. Except they're quickly relieved when I realize who that figure belongs to.

"Sebastian?" I call out. Turning around towards me, I ask "What are you doing out this late?"

"Oh I, uh, I don't get much sleep at night so walking around usually helps. Uh, what about you?"

"Homework, studying, more homework," I respond.

"Fun. Oh hey, I like the hair. Let me walk you back to your building, it's late and dark as shit," he says, and I nod. I completely forgot that I chopped off almost eight inches of my hair less than twenty-four hours ago until he said something. The cold air chills my cheeks and my hands, shoving my hands deeper into the pockets on my jacket in an attempt to warm them. It's quiet for a bit until my empty stomach interrupts abruptly. Sebastian clearly noticed and looked over my way.

"Sorry, I haven't eaten much today. Too much on my mind with work, and I have a slight coffee problem."

He chuckles softly and then suddenly gets a little excited and says, "Hey, do you want to go get some waffles? Unless you're not a waffle girl, then I'm afraid after I walk you back to your building that's the end of the line for us."

"Oh, I'm definitely a waffle girl." Smiling, we take a turn and head to the open-twenty-four-seven diner down the street from campus. There are some places where you walk in and you just know the food is good, this diner is one of those. Old red leather booth seating lines the walls with light baby blue-tiled tabletops. Cream-leathered dining chairs with dark grey tiled tabletops fill the middle of the diner. The walls are covered in original artwork by the owner, Mr. Hayes, but he insists we call him Sam. Along with his artwork, are photos of people who have eaten at his diner, all of them smiling with full bellies. The top of the walls is rimmed with neon pink and light blue lights. This place has the best food and the best people.

"So you're just going to ruin that perfectly good waffle by smothering it in peanut butter?"

"No, I'm making it even better. This is how my Grams raised me to eat my waffles. Either try it or leave my waffle alone," I say as we both laugh.

"So is it just you and your Grams?" He asks.

"Yep, just me and Grams. My dad died before I was born, and my mother never wanted me so she left me with Grams who took me in as her own daughter."

"I'm sorry about your parents."

"It's okay. I've accepted what happened with them, plus I wouldn't trade Grams for the world," I say, and it's true. That woman means everything to me, she's taught me everything I know. "What about you, what's your family like?"

The lights in his eyes dim a little, and I can tell I've asked about something he doesn't want to talk about just yet. He lowers his brown eyes back down to his food, and he responds but with hesitation, "Oh it's... um, just my parents and I. Nothing special, anymore." The latter part he almost whispered but I could still hear him.

I can tell he's uncomfortable so I decide to change the subject, "So what's your plan after school? Big graphic designer and all." The light in his eyes reappears as he lifts his head back up and his eyes meet mine, glad of the subject change.

"Well, there's a huge firm in New York City that partners with multiple major advertising and magazine companies. So I'm hoping I can snag a junior-level position there after graduation," he says and shoves his last large bite of waffle into his mouth. "What about you? What's the plan for my favorite badass crime scene brainiac?"

A smile appears on my face as I say "My brain and I are planning for Los Angeles, there's a major crime scene investigation lab there that has phenomenal forensic scientists and analysts."

"I don't know much about science or crime scenes but that sounds fucking amazing," he says.

We finish out the night around two-thirty in the morning, Sebastian walks me back to my building and we say goodnight. He waited until I was inside to leave, and then after getting upstairs to my room, I watched him out of my window walk down the sidewalk to his building that's across the lawn from mine, realizing that I'm so glad he spilled that beer on me a few months ago.