One Last Time (COMPLETED)

Baby, Baby

"Five minutes, Mickey. Please. Five minutes."

I intertwined my fingers and met her big, curious, misty eyes. Then, as if my prayers had been answered, the infant finally took a pacifier and drifted into a peaceful sleep. I slumped back in the hard chair, feel my cheeks flush once I realized the few other students in the dinky little office were shooting daggers at the double stroller stretched across the small pathway beside me. I couldn't blame them; a month ago that would have been me. Already irritable something had gone wrong with my schedule, and having to deal with a crying newborn at seven in the morning would have been a nasty cherry on top.

"Ms. Foster, come on." It was someone on the admin team, a small, frail elderly woman with a forced smile. I threw the kids diaper bag over my shoulder and hurriedly pushed the stroller after her. Once we reached the head of staffs room at the end of the corridor, I pushed the kids off to the side and stood behind the hard, lumpy sister chair to the one I'd sat out in the office.

"Ah, Ms. Mia Foster." President Howard's voice was harsh and lacked emotion; he reminded me of Parker and Tanner's high school football Coach. Average height, balding, and small, dark beady eyes that never quite met your own. "Please do take a seat."

The last place I thought I'd be the first day of college was in the principals office, but I guess things hadn't exactly been going as planned lately.

"First of all, I would like to give my condolences for the lost of your sister. She was such a promising student and would have been such a great addition to UT."

The lack of any emotion made his condolences sound extraordinarily robotic. Nevertheless, I nodded slowly, and whispered, "Thank you, sir."

"I see that you wanted to speak directly to me opposed to another member of our incredible staff, why is that?"

I inhaled sharply, then exhaled deeply. "I was wondering if there was any way to move a vast majority of my courses online? I know I signed up for in person, but things have t changed, unfortunately."

His eyes narrowed at the stroller over my shoulder; at least it was clear without having to be said aloud.

"Given the circumstances, I can see what we can do for you, Ms. Foster. It can take a few days to a couple weeks for everything to be changed and it would leave you behind in your coursework."

"That's alright, sir. I don't mind playing catch up. Academics are quite possibly the only thing I'm good at."

A hint of a smile was all I could in response to the self-deprecation. "I'll send an email out right now. Please feel free to come see me again if you have any further questions or concerns."

It was safe to say as soon as I was out of the building and on campus that I was able to let out a sigh of relief. That was one thing down. Even if they were only able to switch half my classes over, I could work with that. The school part of things, despite Parker's valid reasoning, had never really worried me. My head been trying harder to wrap itself around where the hell I was going to live. I knew the dormitories were a no go; the entire hall being startled awake every two hours wasn't going to go over too well. Darren had been right, I really didn't have anywhere to go, and now I didn't even have my parents house to go running back to as I always had.

"Mia, hey!" I thought about swinging at Tanner with the diaper bag, but decided resorting to violence probably wasn't the best answer right now. Especially when he was kind enough to allow us to invade his home and life. "What are you doing out here?"

I would have thought the hoards of girls fawning over Parker and Tan would have been left in high school, but admirers spilling out from either direction and gazing open mouthed and wide eyed at the football player in front of me was a very clear indication I had been wrong. I couldn't see what was so attractive about the tall oaf dripping sweat in front of me, but something about it made girls swarm to him like bees to honey.