Mr. Elitist [ A Novel ]

06

| Isabella |

-2 weeks later-

I was a sweaty mess.

My t-shirt stuck to my back, all the fly-a-ways from my pony tail stuck out in odd places and my feet felt a bit swollen in my neon cleats.

I had just finished a particularly grueling soccer practice, and was now walking back to my car through the darkening parking lot. The practice was held in the large university stadium and by the time it was over, it was nearly 8 pm.

I felt exhausted, but it was a good tired. I was hungry too and ready to call it a night. Since it was Friday I wasn't doing anything tomorrow, but something felt terribly wrong about having to work this hard on anything the night before the weekend.

I groaned to myself, taking out the keys to my Jetta, and unlocking it. I through my bag in the backseat, got in and started up the car. I left the stadium lot and drove down the quiet night streets, stopping briefly to get some take-out and then heading home to where Racheal was probably not, seeing as she went out all the time.

I sighed to myself, turning on the radio and listening to some soft music. I had to be honest, the first couple of days after my encounter with Nathan, I had done nothing but think about him. I waited for him to call me, but I knew he was probably a very busy man, in fact I knew he was. So after a while, I was able to push him from my thoughts.

Giving him my number was a completely spur of the moment decision and I ended up wondering if I had been too forward. But it didn't matter now.

I had convinced myself I would most likely not see him again.

I parked in the parking garage, got out of my car, gathered my things, and then locked it. I walked to the elevator and rode it all the way to the 4th floor, where I got out and walked to the front door of our apartment.

The gold plated numbers read 471, and only pausing briefly to collect the newspaper outside the door from this morning, entered the place. I closed the door, locking it behind me, and dumped my school bag, soccer bag and my shoes in the front hall way.

"Hello?" I call into the seemingly silent and empty apartment. I round the corner to the kitchen.

"Hey!" says Racheal, walking from her hallway into the kitchen. She slid into one of the tall chairs behind our bar. She was grinning from ear to ear, and I knew that was a tell-tale sign she was up to something.

"What's up?" I ask, I hadn't expected her to be home.

"Well, I'm going to visit Hunter in the city this weekend, and my dad is making us go to a company social with him, so I was just packing but then I had an idea." She says slyly and I shake my head, smiling slightly, take my salad out from the take-out bag and grab a fork.

"Oh no." I mock her and she rolls her eyes.

"Do you want to hear my idea or not?" she asks indignantly.

"Yes I do." I say sitting next to her at the bar. I take a bite of my salad, and sigh, it tasted very good. Roasted Chicken Caesar would always be a favorite of mine.

"Okay, what if we moved to the city after gradation?" she asks, smiling widely at me.

I nearly choked on my food. I hadn't told her about my job there yet, dreading the idea that she might not want to move to the city. But now, as if the stars had aligned, that had changed.

"Seriously?" I ask.

"Yes!" she shrieks and I wince. "Think about it, we have the money, Hunter lives in the city and I could see him a lot more, we both had so many more job opportunities there and I can be farther from my parents."