a Piece of Heart

Moment #5

Plot twist, spoiler alert, whatever you want to call it. I obviously did notice he was gone. I had to suck it up, though. I spent the whole summer working my ass off at the store, dying in the heat of New York City. Consumed by the tourists and the general pollution. I truly hated the city during the summer, when most of the people I knew was gone and I was left in my consuming thoughts.

Is it too much to wish someone would stay?

Naomi is farther as ever. I tried to call her a week before the classes started, and I couldn't get a hold of her, although I was pretty sure she was already in town. I didn't pay attention to it, though, we would see each other in class after a few days anyway. It was okay if she didn't want to answer her phone.

As if not even a second had passed from the last time we saw each other, everything seemed to go back to normal the first day of school, when we met, like everyday in the cafeteria. The routine was so exhausting to me, but these were my friends and the cafeteria was our meet up place.

Not a word about our summers was mentioned, no story retold but she arrived a little over half past twelve. With a new girl.

Jackson and Blake arrived punctually at twelve, but that wasn't surprising.

"Hey guys!" Naomi had the tendency of always being chirpy. "Meet my new friend! Elizabeth." She pointed to the girl with fancy clothes. I wondered what was her problem, probably the first day. She seemed a little bird caught by the rain and homeless. I could easily see why Naomi's instincts triggered with her. She saw a soul in disguise and had to take them under her wing. As much as I seemed to judge it, I truly loved that about her.

After the introductions, she stayed quietly mostly. Until Jackson mentioned the contest him and Steph had that conference about and a spark seemed to lit her eyes. She seemed like a nice girl, I wished and hoped she would stay around a bit more. I could see myself being friends with her.

***

Jackson and I got back to our routine pretty soon too. His major and mine were similar so we still had classes together, and this year, we arranged to have them at the same time. It made my heart warm to know I would at least had a friend there.

We had a morning and an afternoon class together. I honestly didn't aim for more, but his friendly company already meant a lot to me. Perhaps I was setting for too little, but for now, it was okay. Everything would be too complicated otherwise and I didn't want to get my hopes up. This year I wouldn't be a sad puppy after him that always got unnoticed.

I tried to start with the right foot with Elizabeth, and offer her a job seeing she really seemed to need it, and I knew my uncle's shop needed more people. Or more likely, I needed the help managing it.

"You got the job!" I told her, jumping up and down, my blond hair messily following my movements. As soon as I mentioned it, my uncle Luke was quick to accept trusting my judgement about her.

I was almost as excited as she was, I longed for a friend, to be honest and I felt the 'Naomi-kind' part of me take place when she said she needed a job. I had a feeling this would be good for both of us.

"Oh my god, that's great!"

"You start next week. I told the owner I would help you so, to begin with, we have a similar schedule."

I don't know where it came from but I suddenly found myself hugging her. Perhaps it would really be good for us both.

***