What The Heart Wants (gxg)

Part 15

I was glad to go back to Crossroads, to see my friends. But I knew something would be missing without Blaze.

I took the train back with Samantha. And when we got back to our room, there was an emptiness seeing Blaze not there.

Another roommate wasn't there too. Danica. We learned that she requested to switch rooms over break. She was now in the dormitories.

Juliette, Violetta, Samantha, and I unpacked the few belongings we had brought home. We wondered if we would be getting even one new roommate.

Juliette was telling us about the wild New Year's party she attended when Emilio came to our door with a girl next to him. He had her luggage in hand.

She was petite and had long, curly dark hair and light brown skin. She was wearing a uniform skirt and sweater.

"Hello," Emilio said, and I saw him glance at Juliette. "This is Carrington, your new roommate."

Carrington gave us a small wave and said, "Hello. I'm very excited to meet you all."

"Come in, Carrington." Juliette said, "You can either have Danica's old bed, in the middle here. Or Blaze's old bed-, right on the end here next to mine."

Carrington thought for a moment. "I'll take the middle bed," she said, and Emilio brought her luggage over.

"Thank you," she said to him.

We all introduced ourselves to Carrington. She seemed sweet- a little bit shy- but kind.

"What brings you to Crossroads?" Violetta asked her.

"I was at Raya University. But I was struggling with my classes. My professors suggested I do a term here before coming back." Carrington said.

"No shame in that." Samantha gave her a welcoming smile, "We will make you feel at home here."

Carrington smiled back at Samantha, "Thank you."

"Where do you come from, Carrington?" I asked her, "Are you from Raya?"

"No, I am from Valoria." she said, "I actually know...your former roommate."

"Danica? I thought she was from Lusovio." Violetta said.

"Not Danica, I know Blaze." Carrington said, "I went to Prep school with her."

I felt myself get chills when I heard Blaze's name.

"Oh." Juliette said, "Did you like her?"

"I didn't know her too well." Carrington said, "She missed a lot of her last year of Prep though. I don't know why. Why did she get expelled from here?"

"None of us know." Samantha said, "Sorry."

"It's okay, I was just curious," Carrington said, with a shrug.

Samantha and I showed Carrington around the campus. She seemed a little bit sad to be at Crossroads, but she also seemed like she would make the best of it.

As we walked down the path toward the learning buildings, I saw Melina walking. She smiled and gave me a wave.

I immediately felt a pang of guilt. She had told me about her ex but I couldn't tell her about Blaze.

"I'll be right back, okay? You can keep walking. I'm just going to say hello to Melina." I said, breaking away from Samantha and Carrington.

"Sure." Samantha nodded at me.

Melina stopped and moved to the grass when she saw me walking toward her.

"Hey." I said to her, "It's good to see you."

"It's good to see you too, Natasha." she said to me, "How was your break?"

"It was okay." I said, "I'm glad it's over, to be honest."

"For me, I wish I were still home." Melina chuckled, and then she said, "I didn't sleep with my ex this time."

That caught me slightly off guard. "It would have been okay even if you did," I said back.

"I would like to pick up where we left off, hanging out and everything," Melina said, looking at me. "If you want, of course."

No. I want Blaze.

"Sure." I nodded and forced myself to smile at her, "We can plan something soon."

She smiled back and then pulled me in for a hug. She smelled of patchouli.

"I am about to meet a couple of my friends in the dining hall." she said, "But I will see you later."

"See you," I said back.

I felt like I should've left that interaction feeling better. But instead, I just felt even more empty.

Later on, I was in my room, reading. Tomorrow would be the start of the new term. New classes. I was feeling very apprehensive about it all.

The only other person in the room with me was Juliette. Samantha and Carrington were grabbing an after-dinner tea, and Violetta was in the commons room. She had a hobby of making jewelry, and she was doing so. She had even given all of my roommates and me bracelets to wear with different stones and crystals. I had noticed before break, that Blaze even wore a bracelet she made that had black tourmaline. 

She poked her head into the room though and said, "Natasha. Someone called for you on the phone in the commons room. She said that she's your cousin. She has a strange accent."

I stared at Violetta, dumbfounded. "My cousin?"

I only had two cousins. My mother's sister's children. My father is an only sibling. They live in Rockwell, they don't have a strange accent.

Violetta nodded. I got up and followed her to the commons room. I was nervous to pick up the phone. Was it some kind of prank?

Violetta said, "I'll give you some privacy. I wanted to grab an ice cream from the dining hall anyway."

She then walked off.

I picked up the phone, my heart pounding.

"Hello?" I said, hesitant.

"Natasha? Are you alone?"

My heart started pounding even faster when I heard the voice on the other end.

"Blaze? Is that you?" I asked, feeling like my heart was going to beat out of my chest.

"Yes." Blaze said back, and she then paused for a second before saying, "I can't stop thinking about you."

I just about melted when she said those words to me.

"I can't stop thinking about you too, Blaze," I said, quietly. Then I asked, "Where are you?"

"I'm at Valoria Upright Academy." she said, "I wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"Would you like to meet me at Badwicks Tavern on Friday at 8 PM? My roommate here has a car. I know it's walking distance from you and barely any Crossroads students go there." Blaze said, "I need to see you."

"Yes. I will be there." I said.

"Good. I really look forward to it." Blaze said, "I have to go. But I will see you on Friday."

"I'll see you then, Blaze," I said. And then she hung up.

I miss you.

I stood there for a moment, in disbelief. This wasn't over.

Violetta came back into the room with a vanilla ode cream cone. "What did your cousin want?" she asked me.

I snapped back to reality. "Oh. She wanted Maxwell's contact information." I lied.

"Oh. Okay." Violetta said, with a shrug. She then sat down and continued making her jewelry.

I walked back to my room- in a trance caused by Blaze.