Aden sighed, looking down at her fifth grade yearbook. Her fingers brushed over the face of the boy she had liked, loved even, for years and years. She was heading off to college at the New York Institute of Technology . This has been her dream for years, to go to college in New York and major in architecture. But now, as she was cleaning out the room she shared with her twin sister, she felt waves of nostalgia washing over her. She knew she would miss everyone so much, especially her best friend Klara who was heading off to Princeton, and much as she hated to admit it, her childhood crush Jonathan who she hadn't really talked to for almost 6 years.
Taking a deep breath, she hugged her dad, who had driven her up to New York, and stepped out of the car. She slowly walked towards the dorm rooms, her backpack slung over her thin shoulder, and 3 large cardboard boxes holding her belongings in hand. Slowly turning the door knob on dorm 624, she pushed the door open with her hip and stepped into the small, sparsely furnished room. As she saw the tall, lanky figure sprawled out on the bed on the left she promptly dropped her moving boxes and squealed his name, "Johnny!" As he heard the loud thump her boxes made, he turned, revealing the adorable, freckled face she remembered. "Aden!" he exclaimed in surprise. Secretly elated that he remembered her, she blushed and managed to stutter "H-hey"
"So you go to NYIT?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck, awkwardly. "Yeah, I'm majoring in architecture, you?" Aden managed, nervously. "Actually, I don't go here, this is my girlfriend's dorm, she's majoring in interior design." As soon as she heard the word girlfriend, Aden's heart hit rock bottom. All her initial happiness and excitement at seeing Jonathan disappeared. "Oh, ok, cool." she muttered,
bending down to pick up her boxes, letting her hair fall over her shoulder and block her view of Jonathan. "Well, umm, Melissa went to get us coffee but she's been gone a while so I'm going to go check...." he trailed off. Yeah, ok" Aden murmured. He walked out the door, still rubbing his neck. The second he was out the door, Aden let the tears fall. Wrapping her arms around her stomach, she began to really sob. She knew that it was a ridiculous hope, especially since she hadn't seen Jonathan in years, but when she saw him in her dorm, she thought that maybe, just maybe, he would feel the seem about her the way she felt about him. She knew it was stupid but she had still held onto her feelings for him for so many years and was going to be hard to stop liking him. Wiping the last of the salty tears off her face, Aden started unpacking her boxes and started putting things away, but every now and then fresh tears would course down her hollow cheeks.
A few hours later, after she had finished unpacking, and was sitting on her bed reviewing her schedule, she heard the sound of keys turning. "Bye babe" she heard a feminine voice say. "Bye" she then heard Jonathan say. The door swung open and a pretty, brunette girl walked in. The girl was fairly tall, around 5'5. She was wearing a too large basketball sweatshirt that was probably Jonathan's, skinny jeans, and flip flops. Kicking off the flip flops and shutting the door behind her, the girl smiled at Aden and introduced herself. "Hey, I'm Melissa, you must be Aden." "Yeah, I am, nice to meet you." Aden said, even though she didn't mean it. Melissa flopped onto her bed. "Do you have any idea how exhausting it is to drive from Miami to New York?" she yawned. "I do actually" Aden said, "I just did the same thing." "Really?" Melissa asked, "you're from Miami?" "Yep" Aden said, already returning to her schedule. "Ohh that's right," Melissa replied, "Johnny told me that he knew you." As she heard Melissa call Jonathan Johnny, a pang went through her heart. Johnny was her nickname for him. "Yeah, we went to elementary together." "Oh that's cool" Melissa said, still sounding friendly and happy. Aden felt the opposite of that. "Yeah, I guess" she sighed. "You okay?" Melissa asked, sounding concerned. "Just tired" Aden replied. It wasn't a complete lie, having your heart broken was exhausting. "Oh ok, I am too." Aden didn't respond. Instead she just grabbed her pajamas and went to the bathroom she shared with Melissa to get ready for bed.
There was still a week before classes started and since Jonathan was going to Syracuse University, which a while away, Aden was stuck with Melissa. Even though she was determined to hate Melissa, she just couldn't hate someone who was so friendly. Melissa was just so enthusiastic about everything and wouldn't take no for an answer. That's how instead of moping in the dorm, which was Aden would rather be doing, Melissa managed to drag Aden to the Central Park Zoo, the Museum of Modern Art, and to Central Park. Aden actually grew quite fond of Melissa, even there was still some jealousy and resentment.
It was easier to forget about her heartache once classes started. Aden completely immersed herself in all her classes. She had never been so interested in anything in her entire life, but she had also never been so tired and busy. She loved learning more about blueprints and structure. The first semester passed by in a blur. The worst part was at night when Melissa talked on the phone with Jonathan. Every time she heard him tell Melissa 'I love you' her heart seemed to die a little.
That's why when Melissa burst into the dorm room ecstatically with the news that Jonathan was coming to visit, Aden could only stare at her in dismay. Just when she had finally convinced her heart that she was over him, he was going to come and she would have to deal with the pain of seeing him with another girl.
Saturday morning arrived and with it came Jonathan. Aden woke up early, in hopes that she could get out of the dorm early enough so that she wouldn't have to see Jonathan. Jonathan was driving and was scheduled to arrive at around 11. Aden woke up at 8, showered, dressed and headed to the mess hall for breakfast. Even though she had been at NYIT for over a semester she hadn't really made any friends other than Melissa and a girl from her Architecture class named Penny. So, in hopes of distracting herself from Jonathan's impending arrival, she had asked Klara to drive up from New Jersey. Klara had happily agreed. The drive from Princeton to New York took about an hour and a half, so Klara and her boyfriend Romeo who she was bringing along so that Aden could meet him, would arrive at 10. After finishing breakfast, Aden went outside and sat on the steps of the main building on campus, waiting for Klara and Romeo to show up. Finally, finally, she saw Klara's black BMW pull up. But it wasn't Klara who got out of the driver's seat. It was a good looking guy who she assumed was Romeo. He walked around the front of the car and opened the door for Klara. "My lady" he said, offering her his hand. "Why thank you good sir" she replied, barely suppressing a laugh. Aden was overjoyed to see her friend, who she hadn't seen for months, but it still hurt to see such a happy couple. "Aden!" Klara yelled happily and ran up to greet her best friend with a hug. "Hey" Aden said with a smile, returning the hug. Romeo followed Klara and when he arrived at the steps, he smiled warmly at Aden and introduced himself. "I'm Romeo" he said with an adorable accent, "and you must be Aden. I've heard so much about you." Aden laughed, happy to have a distraction from her gloomy thoughts, and looking forward to a day spent with her best friend.
They had a great morning. They went for a walk in Central Park, explored Times Square, and then headed to a cafe for lunch. It was great to talk to Klara, since they had only spoken on the phone and that wasn't the same, and Romeo was a very sweet and interesting person but Aden was still sad whenever she saw Klara and Romeo holding hands because she would always picture Johnny holding her hand like that. After eating lunch, they decided to go to the Statue of Liberty and the New York Museum of Natural History. They had a wonderful time and Aden couldn't remember the last time she'd had this much fun. For a while she forgot all about the stress of college and her broken heart but then she would see Romeo looking at Klara with amazed and love filled eyes and wonder if Jonathan would ever look at her that way. Unfortunately, it was getting late and Klara and Romeo still had a long drive ahead of them. They all returned to the campus. After a tearful good bye and promises to visit again soon, Klara and Romeo took off into the night and Aden headed back to her dorm room. Just as she turned the corner to their hallway, she ran into the last person she wanted to see. "Oh, I'm so sorry" she stuttered, trying to move around him, so she could get to the dorm room. "No, it's my fault" he said blocking her path, "Hey, I was going to ask you, I need some help in Algebra and was wondering if you would be willing to tutor me. I could drive up her every Saturday, or whenever it's convenient for you." "Umm sure, I guess but isn't it a long drive." she responded nervously. "It's not that bad, only about an hour and half." " Well I mean if you want to spend 3 hours in your car every Saturday then okay, let's do it." "Ok, great" Jonathan said sounding relieved. "See you then" Aden said, raising her hand in an awkward wave. "Great" he grinned and walked off, "See you then he called out."
Finishing the short walk down the hall to her dorm, Aden was already regretting agreeing to tutoring Jonathan. Now she would have to see him every Saturday, have time alone with him, then have to watch him kiss Melissa good bye. That last part would be like a cruel reminder that he wasn't hers and probably never would be. Sighing, she unlocked the door to her dorm. Melissa was already asleep, so Aden went to change, already knowing that she wouldn't get any sleep that night from all the tossing and turning she would be doing.
The weekend was over and classes started again. Again, Aden was happy to get lost in the piles of blue prints she had to look over and the book she had to read for Russian Literature. All the work her professors piled on her was simply a distraction from the upcoming Saturday. But no matter how much work she did would not keep Saturday from coming. It eventually arrived and so did Jonathan's car at exactly 10:00. Aden was already outside waiting for him, her messenger bag slung over her shoulder and two textbooks in hand. "Hey" he said somewhat shyly, which was very unlike him. "Hi" Aden said tartly, "Do you want to head to the library?" she asked. "Sure, lead the way," he replied jokingly. So off they went to the library. It was a fairly uneventful morning. Aden explained a few concepts that he couldn't quite grasp to him and then gave him a worksheet to do while she re-read her favorite book, As Small As An Elephant. The only incident was when Aden leaned over to erase an exponent that he had placed incorrectly and their hands brushed. Aden could feel electricity shooting up her arm just from that microscopic touch. Little, did she know that Jonathan felt the same thing.
