A Day Unlike Yesterday

Prologue: Implausible...

"Our communication techniques have developed and changed over time. One of the biggest and fastest changing forms of communication is through the use of social media."

I glance down from the lecture slide to my phone screen as my attention wavers. It isn't that I have heard all this before and it is therefore mundane, but rather that the lecture content today seems pretty straight forward. I thumb up the screen and down my Facebook wall.

"Here is a diagram of different types of social media over the years."

My head has drifted forward a little in the process of looking at the phone in my lap, so I correct my posture and lean back as I lift my head up. I see the symbols for Twitter and Facebook on the slide and then I blink. There is darkness for a half second before two mossy green eyes appear in front of my face. 

I try to blink them away. I squint a few times and then blink rapidly, wondering where my brain has wandered off to this time. I know I daydream and fantasize a lot, but my fantasies are never usually this realistic. I cock my head slightly. The eyes and the face they are attached to don't disappear, hard as I try to make them.

"So I'll meet you at the car when you get off?" He asks.

I zoom out my field of vision so I take in his entire face instead of staring completely dumbstruck into his eyes.

"Uh... " I shake my head.

What is he talking about? More importantly, who is he?

"When I 'get off' what?"

He quirks an eyebrow and says, "Work." 

I must still look confused because he sardonically adds, "You know, that thing you go do to make money so you can buy food and pay rent and whatnot."

"I know what work is." I snap, offended. "Why am I meeting you at the car?"

He narrows his eyes. Apparently we have somehow already had this conversation. I greatly doubt that.

"Because we're meeting Jen and Cole tonight for drinks."

I cannot stop my laugh at the absurdity of what he just said.

"I don't drink. I'm not old enough." That is the first thing that pops out of my mouth.

He did say Jen, though. Jen... like Jenna? My best friend, Jenna? How does he know her? Is this some practical joke by her? She has been trying to set me up with a guy for ages now. I cannot believe she would stoop so low as to set up and entire date with some random guy without telling me. And to make him believe I could even go to a bar... There's still at least another two years before I'm old enough. What is she hoping to achieve? My humiliation and embarrassment as I try to explain her practical joke?

"Are you trying to be funny?" He asks with a hint of incredulity.

"Are you trying to be funny?" I throw back. 

I look around. 

"Alright. Very funny, Jenna. I'm totally laughing. You can give up the charade now."

I stop talking when my eyes finally see what the unease in the pit of my stomach has been trying to alert me. I have no idea where I am. Yeah, sure, there are giant letters on a building that say, COSTCO, but I don't actually recognize my surroundings. I have never seen this COSTCO before in my life. 

Jenna definitely is not hiding somewhere in the practically empty parking lot that I'm positive I have never set foot in before. And I most definitely did not walk from my lecture to wherever the hell I am and not remember! Fear wriggles in the deep recesses of my brain. I've never been more terrified in my life. Well... there was this one time when I was four or five and I went hiking with my dad and came across a bear while I was trying to find somewhere far enough away to pee alone... but that falls a bit short of what I'm feeling now.

"Okay. What is going on?" Gorgeous eyes asks with a no-nonsense tone.

"I--I... uh... "

What do I tell him? I don't even know myself. 

"Look, I know you've been stressed out with semester exams coming up, but Jenna and I really think going for drinks will help you relax. We talked about this," He says, unsure. "I'm not going to let you start studying until after tonight. We're going."

I stare at him, numb and screaming infinitely inside my head, unable to say anything.

He glances at the entrance to COSTCO. "I better get going. I don't want you to be late."

I vaguely register whilst trying to wrap my brain around what the fuck is going on that his face is getting progressively closer to mine. Is he--no--wait. Oh, shit!