The boy I admired from afar

IX. Early midday talk about nonsense

From: Mr Julia Weber

Object: On sick leave

Dear student, I regret to inform you that the course is suspended for the next fortnight due to my broken foot. I will let you know a precise date of my return.

Best regards

'Is this a joke?'

It was twelve o'clock when Luna, Lia and Cassy were taking a little coffee break after their two-hour history class: they needed a strong booster to kill the time until their German's language and translation class. A class that was supposed to be at four o'clock. Or at least it used to be like that few minutes ago.

'I wish Luna' Cassy showed her the professor's notice 'Guess we can all go home now.'

Lia took a sip of her coffee and looked with curiosity at the message 'Really? We were supposed to do a simulation this week.'

'And now we are clearly not' Luna wasn't handling it well. The news was like a bolt out of the blue. Just when she was willing to clarify whatever relationship there was between her and Enea, Destiny wasn't going to cooperate with her.

My dear Destiny, am I your laughingstock?

But as Luna was about to complain even more loudly about the situation they were in, Lidia joined their party.

'There you are, you wonderful ladies' Lidia greeted the girls with a big smile on her face 'How was the lesson?'

Cassy shrugged her shoulders 'The usual. Boring as ever' she then paused for a second 'By the way, did you hear that our next class is cancelled?'

'What?' Lidia looked quite shocked 'Are you for real?'

'Yes' Lia continued 'And not just for today, but for two whole weeks at that.' Luna just nodded. There was nothing more to add.

'Oh please! This mean I came here for nothing?!' she pulled out her phone 'Let me phone Lorenzo real quick before he come here too' so she run away towards the nearest exit, without forgetting to shout, 'See you tomorrow!'

The three of them watched as Lidia disappeared in the crowd of students. On their mind just a single thought: why go out of her way to call him when she could have simply texted him?

'Any bets he knew it already?'

'Of course'

'There's not even need to bet it.'

They exchanged knowing glances and laughed out loud, thinking about that curious pair. After they calmed down, Lia was the first one to spoke 'So ... shell we go out too?' Cassy and Luna nodded in agreement.

To be honest, despite being initially annoyed by the cancelled lesson, they had to admit that returning home at lunchtime after a tedious lesson was a welcome change.

'See you tomorrow then!'

'Yeah, have a good lunch!' wished Luna to Lia, then turned towards Cassy 'Are you taking the bus?'

'Is it Monday today, right? Then yes.'

During the whole ride on the bus, the two girls talked about this and that: the new tv-series that just came out; that annoying professor of their history class; the crazy behaviours of cats. In other words, the classic small talk you can have on a bus, with a friend you are comfortable with.

'Look, it really hurt my feeling when my cat ignored me yesterday'

Luna rolled her eyes 'Sure it did, Cassy. Sure it did'

'Hey, I'm for real here!' she made a pause and assumed a more theatrical tone 'My cat doesn't appreciate me enough! Who does she think buy her favourite snack and clean her litter...' she stopped mid-sentence after seeing a notification on her phone 'Luna just give me a sec.'

The notification was probably a text, because Cassy began fastly typing on her phone. There was nothing wrong with it on the surface, however Luna couldn't help but observe as Cassy's face brightened while responding to that text. Not to mention the smile that was involuntarily spreading across her lips.

Could it be what I think it is?

'Cassy' Luna called her 'Who is it?'

At first, she didn't seem to have fully understood what Luna had asked, responding with an absentminded 'Mmh?' while still glued to her phone's screen. 'What did you say?'

Luna sighted and got closer 'I said, who are you texting?'

This time her words immediately hit Cassy, who in an instant became flustered and put away her phone 'Me? Nobody of importance'

'Really?'

'Yeah ... It's just a random person with whom I sometimes talk.'

I don't think you would smile like that for just anyone.

That was what Luna would have wanted to point out to her, but she decided to turn a blind eye on the topic. Cassy intention to cut short that conversion was pretty clear, and Luna wasn't going to force it. However, that didn't mean she would forget about it.

'I see ...' she trailed off and gazed over the bus's window 'I think the next one is our stop.'

'Already? Let's go then.'

They both got out of the bus and went on their own separate ways. As Luna walked towards home, she started to give some thoughts to the situation with Enea, wondering if this two-week-break was to be interpreted as a sign.

Maybe I was going to make a mistake today.

When she finally made it at home and couldn't wait to get satisfy her hunger, her phone lit up and buzzed with a new notification.

'Who dares to disturb my lunch?'

It was a group chat, the one with her two best friends since middle school. 'I guess I can forgive them this time' Luna unlocked her phone and read the following message:

So, when are we going to grab an aperitivo together?

Luna suddenly remembered that the previous week they had discussed meeting up to catch up on their lives, since they didn't see each other as often lately. She reflected on a day to propose 'If the class is cancelled for two weeks ... that mean I have Friday afternoon free mmh ...'

How about Friday at six p.m.?

Sound good to me

Same here!

'Then it's set' she put the phone aside and took some bite from her long-awaited lunch 'Now that I think about it, I could use the opportunity to talk about that Enea guy with them.'