ROSE

22. Spy

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"Here you go, your coffee and," she placed the coffee cup in front of me along with the other bag in her hand "a bagel for you." She smiled.

Not wanting to be alone and think, I decided to make Rita sleep over at my house and since she's such a morning person, when I woke up she wasn't there. I called her and she told me that she was getting breakfast so I waited for her.

My class today isn't early so I had time to spend with her. And decided to push all my thoughts away and only concentrate on the presence. I will not wait for him anymore, when he wants me, he will find me and when he comes, that's when I'm going to ask.

"Thank you, Rita." I smiled, warmly and sat down across from her and held the cup closer to my hand.

"Are you ready for your exam?" She asked and took a bite of her bagel then a sip of her coffee.

"Yeah, I stayed up all night to study for it. I'm confident." I said. I hopefully am right. I want to have a good work in the future. Until now, I'm doing good.

"Okay, nerdy." She rolled her eyes and kept eating.

I shook my head and waited to swallow the bite I took of the bagel then said "I'm not a nerd! I am just someone that is trying to have a good future."

"And I don't?" She asked. "I dropped off college and now my mother owns a restaurant that one day will be mine." She flipped her way. "That's how you win."

"We'll I don't have that so I have to work hard to have good grades and make my own thing." I told her and took another bite.

I looked at the phone on the counter next to me to make sure no one called or texted me. I huffed and kept eating. Last time, he was gone for one day. Now it's been two days. I am going to get worried but I don't want to.

"Bella, you worry a lot." She scrolled down her phone screen.

"What?"

"He will come around soon. Stop trying to find him." She looked up at me then back at her phone.

"I know he will."

I tried to convince myself that he will come back and that I have to not worry and that he will appear just like he did last time. Which is why I tried to look for him in college when I arrived but didn't find him.

I blocked every thought as I walked in class for my exam and decided that it was not a good idea to think about him in exams and thankfully, I didn't think about him at all and my exam went good. Maybe I don't think about him when I have important stuff to do.

"How was it?" Dylan told me as we walked out of the class.

"It was good. It was just way too long. How was yours?" I asked as we walked to my locker.

"It was also long for me. What teacher gives a five pages exam?" He pushed his hair back.

"Apparently ours." I giggled. "Without your notes I would have been dead by now." I told him.

"Your welcome!" He tapped my shoulder. I turned around to smile at him but my eyes caught a pair of eyes spying on me from far. I frowned and looked at Cameron, Anthony's friend whom even when he saw that I saw that he was looking at me, he didn't break his gaze. "Are you good?"

"That's so weird." I whispered as if he was close enough to hear me even if I yelled.

"What?" He confusedly asked and looked behind to see where I'm looking. When he saw him, he frowned just like I was. "Who's that?"

Cameron smirked and turned around and walked away. He knew what he was doing and he wanted me to see him looking.

"That's...Anthony's friend." I frowned.

"Why was he watching you like that?"

"I have no clue." I shook my head. "Anyways, what are you up to right now?" Maybe it was the best if I just didn't think about the creepy moment that just happened.

"Nothing, I will just go home and watch a movie or something." He said. "What about you?" He asked.

"I have to pass by Rita and go to work." The whole routine was killing me and I needed a break.

"Don't worry. We have winter break soon."

"Yeah, I really can't wait." I said.

"You have my phone anyway, if you need me, I will be happy to help you with whatever." He said and I gave him a small smile.

And the night passed and the situation of Cameron passed along. It didn't cross my mind again at all just because it wasn't important to me. The only thing that bothered me was Anthony's absence and I had nothing else to do other than just wait for him to come back.

Every morning, I woke up with a hope that he will appear one day but three days later, I heard nothing about him and didn't see him in college at all. I was a little worried but mostly curious about where he goes and why he can't call me. The more the time goes and I hear nothing new about him, the more angry I get for how he doesn't care about me at all which builds a high barrier each and everyday that passes. The more he stays away, the more unattached I get and as much as I hated it as much as I knew that it was good for me.

Today we had a birthday of someone that rented the restaurant to make it and we were all working on getting it ready. Rita said that it was really bad when they do this because now we will go home late and work so much more than we usually do but all I wanted to do was go home and study.

But somehow, this birthday turned out to be a really good luck for me. I met the birthday's boy's father that ended up knowing my father, I remember seeing him a couple time at our house. He told me that he knows my father very well and that he used to be in the same high school. And surprisingly, he owns a small magazine that is just starting and I told him how my hobby was to write articles when I was little so he insisted, after a lot of refuses from me that I have to come meet him at the magazine Monday morning. I told him that I have class so he allowed me to come right after I finish my class and I obviously agreed.

I told Rita right away but she was sad more than happy because I was going to leave the restaurant if I get the the place in the magazine but I told her that I will still work with her on Saturdays if I get the job.

I was so excited for Monday and didn't know what will happen after this interview with Clifford Jones who just caught me out of nowhere and wanted me to work for him in his new magazine.

And the days passed and Monday arrived finally and Anthony didn't appear yet but somehow, that wasn't bothering me anymore. I stopped looking at my phone for new calls or messages and I stopped looking for him in the corridors and stopped waiting in front of my locker for him to come talk to me if he sees me. I hated waiting.

I got dressed and was ready to leave but then I got a text from Rita that she was going to arrive in only a few minutes to drive me. I texted back that she didn't have to and that it was fine and I will just take the bus but she insisted.

I need to save and buy a car. Thankfully, I got my licenses a few months before my parents death. If I didn't I would have never thought about even learning to drive.

Rita finally arrived and I got in the car. She asked me for the address so I typed in what Clifford told me to, in her phone. It was fifteen minutes with the car and I hated that. If I actually work there, I am going to take the bus on the come and go and that wasn't something I was used to.

Walking in the magazine and watching everyone walking everywhere with nice outfits and heels for the women and suits and nice shoes for the men, I was fascinated and wanted to work here more than never. This was my dream since I was a little girl and when my parents died, the dream got buried along with them. My mother was always encouraging me to run after what I wanted but my father once told me "you'll never escape your destiny. What is meant for you to happen will happen."

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