Running Out of Time

Chapter Sixteen

I went back to the hotel afterwards. Then, I made my way up to my room, sat down on the bed, and began to laugh. I wasn't exactly sure why. But I think the whole impossibility of the whole thing, the fact that I'd been able to find Lia during a school field trip, out of all things, and that I'd gotten her to agree to meet me halfway once more.

Sophia gave me a weird look and hesitated, almost as if she didn't want to ask as I fell back onto my bed, a hand on my stomach as I convulsed with pure laughter.

"Are you okay?"

I snorted with mirth. "Yeah. Totally. Not hallucinating an entire encounter with Lia at all."

Her eyes went wide. "You saw Lia again?"

I sighed. "Totally beside the point."

"What happened?" She scrambled over and sat beside me.

"I stalked her to her campus, found her at her favorite coffee shop, and sat down to talk." I answered. "She agreed..."

I trailed off. What exactly had she agreed to?

"She agreed to try again." I concluded. Sophia beamed widely.

"I'm so happy for you!" She exclaimed.

I smiled wryly. "I guess we can only see with time how this will turn out."

Her eyes seemed to dim and her enthusiasm waned. Her shoulders slumped forward, and she sighed. "You should feel excited. Why are you not?"

I pressed my lips together. "She and I have changed. I'm not so sure we're compatible anymore." I told the ceiling with a bland tone.

She patted my shoulder awkwardly, then gave me a weird squeeze. I think that now I had a girlfriend, she felt uncomfortable being around me, and I felt my stomach drop. Could I lose both Lia and Sophia if this all fell apart?

"I'm sorry." She told me, unsure of what to say.

"It's okay. It's not your fault. It's none of our faults. Things change, and we change with it. It's not a bad thing, necessarily. It's just a way of life." I reassured her, but even to me the words sounded dull and rehearsed.

She smiled sadly, and then stood. "I'm going to go grab some snacks. What was that grocery store you went to yesterday? We need some cheering up."

A flicker of a smile passed over my face, and I told her the address before nuzzling into my pillow, feeling apprehensive and worried. I closed my eyes, and fell asleep shortly.

Sophia nudged me awake the next morning, looming over me with a bag of chips.

"You're a goddess." I mumbled when she offered them to me. "Give me a sec. I've got to brush my teeth first."

However, when I slipped out of bed, my phone caught my attention, sitting there meekly with a couple of new texts. I snatched it up and read them all. They were from Lia.

She'd texted: "Do you want to meet me again where you first saw me at the pride parade?"

Then, after a pause, she'd added: "You don't have to if you don't want to."

The last text read: "Sorry I bothered you so early, but the offer still stands."

I immediately replied back the calmest and coolest "yes" I could muster, and went about changing into clothes. I tore downstairs before having any of the chips and found Lia lounging in a chair at one of the restaurants.

She smiled at me. I noticed that she was wearing a little less makeup. Had she listened to what I'd said? Or was it merely because this was a Saturday morning?