In Another Life

8 - "Our life ahead of us and nothing to fear of."

8 - "Our life ahead of us and nothing to fear of."

It was just after the holidays that it hit Ava that perhaps she had fallen too hard, too fast for Adam. Sure, she'd known him forever and she'd always liked him but this thing of feeling like 'if not him then no one else' was a bit extreme. At least that was what Nina said.

So when Mak asked if she'd texted Jace, she decided to give it a go. It would just be texting and getting to know someone new. Nothing serious.

"Study session tonight at seven. Dinner's at six so don't be late," Rada called, knocking on everyone's door as she passed.

Once a week they had a group study session. Mostly just to make sure that everyone put in some work while they were there. Most of them preferred to study and work on their own but the group session allowed them to compare notes if any of them shared classes or to ask for help with anything they were struggling with. Sometimes it meant proof-reading each other's assignments, reading notes out to Ayeleen where she'd marked off things she didn't understand or just making sure they started off assignments they'd been procrastinating for ages.

"Who's cooking tonight?" Amy called down the hall, her music pouring from her open door.

"We are!" Tina shouted back, appearing in Ava's doorway. "Ava, is it okay if I use your mum's lasagna recipe? Jess said she really liked it when your mum brought it that time and she wants us to try it out today."

Ava nodded towards her phone. "Pass that to me, will you? I'll call my mum quickly and tell her to text it to me. Then you can see if you have everything."

Tina tossed her phone and passed her thanks before disappearing out the door and shouting for Jess. At that moment Hailey came out of the bathroom, steam billowing out the door as she wrapped a towel around her hair.

"My shampoo bottle dropped, the bottom cracked and most of my shampoo went down the drain," she said, mournfully. "Remind me to buy another one, please."

"You can use mine until you do."

Haley nodded in thanks before walking to her closet. "Is Vania awake?"

Ava laughed. "I don't think so. I'm the last one to ask, you know. The fact that I'm awake right now is a miracle in itself."

Haley paused and turned to face her. "Yeah, yeah you're right. Why are you up so early anyway?"

Ava had a terribly bad habit of sleeping in until the last moment needed for her to be up and in the shower. Most of the time she skipped breakfast unless someone deigned to make toast for her and she usually just poured hot coffee into her flask before running out. If she remembered, she'd grab a yoghurt to eat on the go but most of the time she'd get something to eat on campus. Vania was just the same and the two of them would always be the last ones getting done but their simple philosophy was that there was no need to be early if you could be just on time and still get everything done.

Ava paused in brushing her hair and stared at herself in the mirror before starting again. "I'm meeting someone for coffee."

Haley whipped around, flashing Ava who politely averted her eyes. "Who, what, when, where, how? And why is this the first I'm hearing about this? Is it Adam? Oh Ava, goddamn finally."

Ava sighed heavily. "Okay, first of all, this reaction is perhaps the reason I didn't tell you."

Haley huffed and turned to pull her underwear on before saying, "Fine, just tell me."

"His name is Jace and he said he'd be in the area today so he'd like to meet for coffee.'

Haley was silent for a minute. "You must like him to wake up early just to see him."