Moving In With The Enemy

Chapter 9 ~ "Your Secret's Safe With Me"

The start of school has been incredibly welcome, it's been a bit of a balance getting everything going again but I liked the distraction. It means less time at the apartment and less chances of accidentally bumping into Walker.

My course load was heavy this semester, I did have less physical work in the sense that wasn't doing presentations, group projects or labs, but arts degrees were demanding in different ways. Like course readings, class discussions, participation and attendance. It's all fun and games until you need to read three forty-page articles for one class.

I was also in seminars this year, I needed them to graduate and they were upper level, small and intimidating classes. There was pressure to create your own thoughts and opinions and says something enlightening in a class discussion. It didn't really benefit my more quiet and anxious approach to school

On top of that there was work, my honours thesis, the history society and now I was living alone and that presented things I wasn't in the routine of doing when I was living at home. Cooking was the one I hated the most, mom and dad always made dinner when I was at home and it was tough to persuade myself to cook something at the end of a long day.

I was trying to make sure I was budgeting properly too and paying off my credit cards. It was insanely stressful in a new way.

But I embraced the distractions, embraced being busy and feeling like I had something to do. Unfortunately, when I was home I was still always cleaning everything. Most frequently, the kitchen which always seemed to be filled with Walker's dishes. I almost wondered if he did it intentionally to piss me off.

I'm sure he did, because that was just the type of shitty thing he did.

"Hey Annie." I hear and I perk my head up to see Chase standing in the campus coffee shop. I liked working outside of my room, I found it helped me be more productive and I was growing fond of The Grind.

"Oh hey." I say kindly, putting my pen down.

I haven't seen him since the party at his house, but he had texted me. Only a few times just to say hello or if I was in a class that he had.

"I haven't seen you in two weeks, how's it going?" He asks and I shrug.

"It's alright." I admit, even if that didn't feel like the truth. I hated school work. "Do you wanna sit down?" I ask and he nods with a grin.

"Sure, just let me go grab a coffee." He says, looking happy and I smile back.

I go back to my reading for the week, staring at my laptop and making notes as I go when my phone starts to vibrate on the table. The words 'mom is calling' run across the screen and I pick it up, answering the call.

"Hey mom." I sigh.

"Hi honey, how's your day?" She asks and I shrug to myself.

"It's alright so far, just doing some school work." I tell her and then wait a beat for her to say something else. "Did you call for something in particular?" I ask, trying not to be too mean by accident.

"No, I-um.....I just wanted to see how you're doing."

"Mom, I called three days ago." I remind her with a smile and she sighs.

"I know." She admits. "I just miss you, the house is so empty with you gone."

That made me smile, I knew mom missed me and I missed her too. I loved being home and getting to tell her about my day, but now I had friends, other people to talk to.

"I miss you too." I tell her, knowing I did and also that she needed to hear it. "I could come home for dinner this weekend?" I shrug, opening my agenda on my laptop.