when we collided [e.s.]

Two

I wake to the sound of furniture moving. My eyes aren't opened yet, and I don't remember having a dream or a nightmare. "Cass," I groan, rolling over and stretching out my arms. When I open my eyes, instead of seeing typical early bird Cassie, I see Andrew. "What the hell!" I scream. Did I mention I took off my shirt in the middle of the night and I'm only wearing a sports bra and some athletic shorts? "What are you doing here?" I shriek. Wrapping the covers around me like a dress. "I spent the night on the couch. Cassie told me I could stay if I wanted to help you guys out today," He says calmly. "I dont even know your last name, why would you think that I would be okay with that?" I say, gathering my covers and moving to my open suitcase on the ground. "I should probably go..." He says, walking backwards and out the door. "You're damn right!" I scream, fishing a bra, underwear, a black and white striped tee shirt that goes to just below the waist out of my suitcase. I put all my jeans in Cassie's suitcase because she wanted to iron all of them for me or something. But I cant find her suitcase so I just hobble over to the bathroom and take the quickest shower of my life because class starts in thirty minutes and there's going to be traffic. "Audrey? I'm leaving!" I hear Cassie yell from the other side of the door. Son of a bitch. I turn the water off and wrap a towel around my torso quickly before Cassie leaves. I hear the front door open and run to catch her. "Cassie!" I yell. "Audrey?" "What the hell Cassie! Why did you let Andrew stay last night are you crazy?" I scream. "Relax. He slept on the couch. He just wants to help Audrey," she says, completely mellow. "Just go. I'll be there soon."

I get to the campus two minutes late and it makes me want to shoot myself. My first day and I'm late. I swear I could ring Cassie's neck for letting a complete stranger stay in our apartment that we JUST moved in to ourselves. As I enter the building I see that class has already started. It's enormous, which makes my unexcused enterance even more embarassing. It's my literature and free lance writing class. At least it's not serious. Every single pair of eyes is fixed on me as I take a seat on the end of an aisle near the bottom. The teacher keeps talking thankfully but I have a feeling this isn't the end of my back luck as he eyes me for a good 30 seconds. Thanks, Cass.

I finish my first day with less enthusiasm for college then at first anticipated. Me and Cassie find each other at the end of the day, our minds full. "Audrey, I'm going to tell you something but you have to promise me you won't freak," she says as we get in to a cab. "What happened?" I ask, fearing the worst. "Our first bill came in, and, well, I can't pay it," she confesses. "How is that possible? We moved in yesterday," I say, almost enraged by how awful this day has been. "I have to tell you something," she says, looking guilty and tomato faced. I give her the just-lay-it-on-me look and she spills. "I didn't just meet Andrew yesterday," she confesses. Ugh. Cassie drama is hard not to get sucked in to. "I met him on a dating website three months ago. That's why I wanted to pick a campus here. And I just-" she stops when she sees me fishing the apartment key out of my bag and handing it to her. "What are you doing?" She asks, looking really hurt. "You need to get a copy of the key. You can do it yourself. I'm broke too, so one of us is going to have to get a job, and your a flake so I guess it's going to have to be me. I was a waitress in junior year I can pick up a job," I say, my voice lacking emotion. "Audrey, I'm sorry," she says, sympathy in her eyes. "Whatever. I'll look for jobs tommorow," I say, leaning my head against the cold window. The driver looks back at me, a look of understanding on his face. Maybe he had a roommate who couldn't pay the rent, either.

It's still weird for Cassie and I, the way people drive on the other side of the road. It's very confusing.

I ask the driver to drop me at the apartment, mostly because it's been a long day and it's starting to rain. It may be the first day, but I have a lot of work to do. But when I get to the door, I realize Cassie has the key because she needs to get it copied. Ugh. And with all the traffic, it'll be at most an hour and a half before she gets back. Okay, think. What would Cassie do? Cassie would go for coffee. Okay. Problem solved. I put my textbooks and folders through the mail slot at the bottom of the door, and leave my backpack at the end of the hallway behind a plant. Thankfully, I brought a seperate shoulder bag to hold lip gloss, my phone, etc. The apartment is in the middle of a busy plaza, shops and resturants litter the streets just in front of our building. Very convenient. As i'm roaming the different streets, I come across a pretty looking flower shop. "Maybe I could work here," I think to myself. I decide to walk in and ask. An older, busty lady wearing a bright pink dress is sitting at the counter. "Um, hi," I say with a smile. Time to sell it Audrey. She doesnt respond. "Sorry, I was just asked if you had any open job offers?" I say, still plastering a smile. "Sorry honey," she says, pointing to a sign in the window. "Mandatory Eviction, effective October 3rd," I read out loud unintentionally. "Thanks anyway," I walk out and a bell rings. As I walk down the same street, nothing looks promising. I don't see a single help wanted sign. Maybe that's just an american thing. As I turn the corner, I see it. A quaint little coffee shop, with a help wanted sign waiting patiently in the window, collecting dust. I can do coffee and biscuits, easy. When I walk inside, the very first thing I see is a flash of red hair. A boy, looking at about 21, stands behind the counter making a cup of coffee for the one other customer in here. His arms have tattoos climbing all over them, no inch of arm visible on his left. They're not macho tattoos though, they're colorful. They're more art than anything else. When he looks up at me, I see a flicker of surprise in his eyes. They're blue green, just like the ocean. Damn. "H-hi," I say, a stutter in my voice. I walk up to him, an orange jacket over my striped shirt and partially covering my black tights. (In case you were wondering, this morning I wore a skirt and tights instead of jeans) "I have a feeling you want to apply for a job," He says, writing a name on a plastic cup and setting in on the counter. The old man retrieves it then leaves, clearly bored with the lack of population. "How did you guess?" I ask with a smile. "You have a certain twinkle in your eyes," He says with a smirk.