Georgia's Last Words

Chapter Six

Miles holds out a coffee in one hand and grabs my hand with the other. He showed up this morning to walk with me to today’s class, which we share. His grip is light and he rubs his along the back of my hand as we walk. 

“Thanks for the coffee.”

“My pleasure.” He flashes me a grin. “So, you want to go out tonight?”

“Yeah, of course.”  

We’ve been dating for two months and truthfully, nothing has really happened. We’ve gone to the movies, I’ve watched him play at the coffee shop, he even taught me a bit of basic chords on the guitar. Miles is so sweet. A couple of times he even tried to take me someone to see the stars, but it hasn’t worked out quite yet. Everywhere we go is always a bit too bright. 

“Good. How about we go somewhere a bit dark, see if we can see some stars?” His voice is sincere, but I find myself not in the mood for a small letdown.

“Maybe…not tonight? Can we just order some takeout and maybe chill in my room?” I’m sure he can hear the slight desperate plea in my voice. 

Miles’s face drops a little, but he’s quick to putting a smile on his face. “Yeah, that sounds great. I’ll bring over a movie and we can just watch it and pig out on some food.”

I smile back at him. “Miles, that sounds great.”

As the words drop from my mouth, we enter the classroom. I quickly fall silent for the teacher is already in the front of the class, waiting for the last of us to trickle in. We hurry to our sits and settle in for the hour and a half lecture.

Class ends and Miles heads off for the coffee shop. He’s scheduled to play until later and our last class was canceled due to our professor being sick. He kisses me goodbye and I feel the fluttering butterflies in my stomach. Yes, cliché, but true. I say my goodbyes and head for my next class. 

Less than a minute later, Cooper has joined me on my walk. He happens to share the same math class as me and always walks with me. He starts to tell me some story about this girl he sat next to last class. Supposedly she was accepted to Harvard and Princeton, but she turned them both down so that she could stay close to her family and friends in New York. Basically his story was telling me how stupid she really was and how there’s no way she got into those Ivy League schools on her own. Obviously the only reason is money. Her last name seemed familiar, like it was the name of one of the Columbia buildings. 

“Was she pretty?” The question comes out before I can stop it. 

“No, why would you even ask that?”

I look at Cooper and then let my eyes wander off. “I don’t know, thought you might want to go out with her.”

He laughs. “Sorry, you can’t get rid of me that easily.”

“Dang,” I say with sarcasm. 

We continue to walk until we get to our class. We always sit next to each other and pass notes back and forth. Today though, I can’t seem to keep my mind on anything. I watch Cooper from the corner of my eye to see if he’s looking at any of the other girls in the room, but he seems fixated on the lesson for the day. 

I find myself worrying about the other girls and their effect on Cooper. He’s been here for two months, yet it is only now do I realize that anyone could come along and snatch him up. However, I like Miles. Yes, I like Miles and Cooper is just my friend. 

Or so I thought. 

“Hey, you okay over there?” Cooper’s voice is low in my ear. 

I look over to him. His face is close to mine. “Yeah, I’m perfect.”