Like A Wildfire

From wedding bells to private hells...

For any college kid, finals week was like a harbinger of death, waiting to claim the life of any sleep deprived, inexperienced adult running solely on coffee and some old bagels. Each test result would either be the guillotine ending the poor soul's life or a free pass to the next stage of the game. Either outcome felt like a death sentence of either having no future or having to start the whole process over again in just a few short weeks. These worries, though valid to most, were never something Levi trifled with. He was never exactly the perfect student, nor did he see himself as very intelligent, but he considered himself the master of faking it. Even during his third semester in college, he attributed his decent success to his "fake it til you make it" motto he had had nearly his whole life. Somehow, it had worked out for him, and he wasn't about to change it up yet.

By the time his first semester as a sophomore had neared its end, Levi was tired of faking it and ready for his winter break. His last final was scheduled for an early Friday morning, and immediately after, he was off to the bus station to head home for two weeks. Home wasn't necessarily his favorite place to be, but he wanted a break from pretending. Even the so called "master" was easily drained and could only keep up appearances for so long. As soon as he set his pencil down after his last test, Levi hopped out of his chair, grabbing his papers and handing them to the instructor. He uttered a brief but gracious thank you for the semester, but was quick to dip out of the room as quietly as possible.

When the cold air hit him, Levi felt a wave of relief wash over him. He slipped his coat onto his shoulders, already beginning to walk toward his apartment to grab his suitcases. His apartment was just off campus and only a short walk away, so he kept his headphones in his pocket, virtually undisturbed. He turned his phone back on as he walked, humming to himself as he waited for the screen to flash to life. Immediately, he was bombarded with the number of notifications flooding his screen, and he tried to scroll through all of them. Most of them were from a mass group chat with his friends, but some others caught his eye. A message from his overbearing mother. A Tinder match notification. A Facebook notification from Reina.

Levi stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the name appear on his screen. It had been awhile since he had seen that name, and he had almost forgotten about it. Quickly, he tried to shake off his initial surprise, but he couldn't stop staring at the name, followed by its brief greeting.

Reina Michelle Ryan: Hey! :)

Of course she had all three of her damn names in her profile. The girl practically had three first names, for God's sake. Once upon a time, he had every letter memorized and knew how each sounded when she spoke them aloud, but now seeing the name felt like a kiss goodbye from the ghost of some rich, great aunt you had only ever met in passing. Snapping out of his reverie, Levi shoved his phone back into his pocket and kicked back into motion, following the familiar path home absentmindedly. His thoughts were flooded with the name, the girl, and all the memories associated with her, so his body continued on auto pilot.

The pair hadn't talked in well over a year, and Levi had tried to erase the girl with three first names from his memories, but to no avail. It had taken him most of that year to suppress the need to smash his phone at the sight of her picture, and he had only recently been able to hear any of her names without cringing. He was finally on the mend, but she was back. He didn't know what the hell she could have wanted, but he wasn't ready to face her yet. He didn't want to take any steps in the opposite direction. He had worked too hard to forget her to let it all go to waste.

Once at his apartment, he quickly packed any remaining items left out, double checking that everything on his list was in his bags. He bypassed all the notifications on his phone to call an Uber before finally taking a moment to sit down and relax. This, however, was almost immediately interrupted by the little red number by his Facebook messenger app. He ran a hand through his blonde hair nervously, taking a deep breath. His finger hovered over the icon, but he couldn't bring himself to press it.