Things That Blind Us

Chapter 3

I stare at Harry's door for a moment and return into my apartment. Well, that didn't go exactly how I suspected. I don't really know what I was suspecting exactly, maybe he'd try to be pleasant. I don't know. Right now I have bigger problems. First day of college is on Monday so I only have tomorrow to get everything ready. I would leave it for the last minute. I have to take this year seriously though, I'm going to be studying law and psychology and that's no walk in the park. In high school, I was in the law program so I do have an advantage this year, but if there's anything I learned from all the extra work I did, its that there's no easy way out. My mom was never one of those parents who freaked out when I got a bad grade or made sure I always did my homework. I just always did it and always got a decent grade. And no, I'm not one of those highly intelligent people that live to study. I actually don't really know how to study. I just do the work assigned and move on with my life. I don't know why people make it out to be a big whoop.

It's now a quarter to one. I decide to call Carol and see if she wants to go out for lunch. I hesistate before I dial her number on my phone. After a few rings, she answers.

“Hello?”

“Hey Carol, you wanna go out for lunch?” I say rather fast.

“Uh sure. Regular place?” She asks, talking about this nice little italian restaurant we discovered a while back.

“Yeah, I'll meet you there in about 20 minutes”

“Alright, bye.” She says and hangs up the phone.

Her voice sounded tired and worn. She's usually always so ecstatic and happy. Wonder what's wrong? I go to my room and debate whether I should change or stay in the clothes I am currently wearing. Its just Carol so I decide to keep it on. I do iron my hair a bit though. The humidity outside can be brutal and with the amount of hair I have, who knows what can happen to it while I'm out there. After the reflection in the mirror is one I approve of, I head on out. I take the bus this time and get to the italian restaurant in 10 minutes time. After I look around, I find Carol getting out of her car and walking towards me. She is wearing a very flattering sundress and her short brown hair is loose. She has bags under her eyes, must have not gotten a good sleep last night.

“Hey” I say while opening the door to the restaurant and signaling for her to walk in.

“Hey Mels” She says and we sit at a table.

A kind waitress gives us our menus and we both order our usuals. I get raviolis with marinara sauce and Carol gets a crispy slice of pizza. As we wait for our food to come, I ask her what she did yesterday to build up to a conclusion of why she's so tired. She takes a sip of water and responds.

“I went out last night and got a bit wasted”

“A bit?” I respond sarcastically.

“Well.. more like a lot a bit but tomatoe tomato” She says while balancing her hands.

I laugh and I see our food approaching. The waitress accidentally gives me the pizza and gives Carol the raviolis but we don't say anything. As soon as the waitress was out of sight we switched our plates. We spent the rest of lunch talking about her drunken night but it seems she can't remember everything. I feel like she purposely doesn't wanna tell me something, but I could be wrong.

When we both had finished our meals, we asked for the check and each payed what we owed. We thanked the waitress for her service and left. Carol offered me a ride home and I gladly accepted it. I really hate public transportation. She still doesn't know where I live now. I had told her I moved out but as to where, didn't occur to me to tell her. As we pull out of the parking space I give her directions to the apartment building. When we neared the large building, I noticed Carols eyes widen in panic.