Nina |18+|

06

THEO

Staring down at the screen of my phone, my thumb hovered over the name I had saved as Nina.

I wanted to call her, or text—anything to find out how her tattoo was healing. That was the excuse I told myself while knowing damn well that I just wanted to talk to her. I wanted to know how her days had been.

Did she pass the Chemistry test she was supposed to study for? Did she enjoy her decaf latte from Sally's after I had been the biggest fucking asshole in the world? Was he ex bothering her?

If I wanted to know so badly, why couldn't I bring myself to talk to her?

It was frustrating and borderline confusing. I regretted leaving the way I did, especially because her ex-boyfriend had undoubtedly upset her.

I thought about it every day since, and I was never one to overthink or have second thoughts. But seeing the type of guy she dated fucked with my head, in the worst and most irrational way possible.

Her ex was on the opposite end of the spectrum in comparison to me, and the very idea that that was what she wanted left me frowning at work the entire next day.

Brian had a field day with that, and of course he had figured out why by just looking at me.

I inhaled through my nose, trying to figure out if it was too late to contact her.

At what point does the prolonging become weird? Possible five days ago, and that was one of the reasons why I couldn't do it.

I was terrified that she'd answer and her response was something along the lines of, 'I'm sorry, who is this?'

God—

I tapped my fingers against the back of my phone while I sat on one of the benches on campus. It was my first day as a third year student, and I was already starting to hate everything about it.

If it was up to me, I wouldn't have done the transfer but my previous university swore up and down that I had no other choice. Something about staff shortages, or lack of funds, or lack of facilities.

It was a shitty place to begin with, but I had spent two years there and I was expecting to graduate there.

Now, it was going to take longer and it was partially the reason I had been annoyed at everything the past few days.

Partially.

I glanced down at my phone again and without another thought, I tapped Nina's name. The call went through, and I didn't bother lifting it to my ear while I watched it ring.

It rang, and rang—all while I watched and listened.

Until eventually, it reached her voicemail. I sighed, ending the call and I turned my phone face down onto my lap.

Try again.

I did and...nothing.

Finally, I decided on sending a text.

'Hey, Nina. Call me when you can, please?'

The second I pressed send, I shoved my phone into my pocket and attempted to forget that I had sent that.

I leaned back onto the bench, letting the greenery view of the campus distract me.

It was a beautiful place but quite a distance from my home, and that's why I opted for using my motorcycle instead of my car. I wasn't an early riser, and one of my main issues was being on time to class. The bike helped with that.