In the Wings

t w o

Sonal felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Hmmm?"

"You've fallen asleep," she heard a whisper. With her eyes still closed, Sonal struggled to match a face to a voice.

"Sonal." the same voice jolted her out of her sleep. The warm smile of Ms. Thatcher greeted her. As much as Sonal would have liked to believe it, this was not her first encounter with the young librarian during the late hours of the night.

"Tough day?" Ms. Thatcher asked as she began to collect the books that Sonal had been using.

Sonal simply nodded, too stunned to comprehend that she had fallen asleep in the library after almost 7 cups of coffee.

"Here sweetie," the kind librarian handed Sonal the books. "Get some rest."

"Thank you so much, Ms. Thatcher."

"Of course," she said, returning to her post at her desk.

Sonal's hand shakily reached for her coffee mug and she took a long sip while checking her obnoxiously large phone, only to choke on the cold coffee when she realized she had slept until midnight. The library was surprisingly full, but luckily, Sonal had managed to keep her table all to herself. That is, until she felt a soft tap on her shoulder. Turning around, she spotted her hair first. The same wild midnight she saw four days a week in freshman year lecture.

"Hey," Astrid said as she sat down in the chair next to her.

"I was lonely at home and I knew I would find you here," Astrid said, "I hate studying alone."

What Sonal found strange was that everything that was just waiting on the tip of her tongue to be said, that she was the opposite and hated studying with friends because she found it distracting, didn't come out. And it wouldn't ever come out. Astrid Yang was too special to her. They had met last year in Early Political Thought and had found each other in several other classes throughout the semester. This year, when Sonal decided she had enough of cramped dorms and overpriced food, she turned to Astrid who happened to be looking for a roommate.

"So what have you been up to today?" Sonal asked, "How was your date?"

Astrid's full lips spread into a wide smile, her pearl teeth drawing Sonal's eyes with envy. It seemed that her own teeth would permanently retain a slight yellow-ness.

"Everything was going great, you know. My econ exam went amazing, I had the best lunch, and it was sunny outside today. But then, I met Josh for our date and that's when things started to get shitty," she said.

As she spoke, Sonal observed Astrid. Her dark eyes were endless, with the constellations in them gleaming from the excitement of the night. Raven hair astray, her honey-soaked smile is what drew Sonal in a year ago. And it's also what drew in the continuous stream of boys she always seemed to be seeing.

Tonight's guy, Josh, topped the list of shitty boys Astrid had dated.

"So he picks me up, right, and the first thing he wants to do is fuck. In his car!" Astrid continues.

Sonal peered down at her outfit and understood Josh's perspective. Even in an oversized crew neck and a pair of mom jeans, Astrid still looked sexy. Much sexier than Sonal could ever hope to be. Astrid's smooth curves beat Sonal's chicken legs any day. But that was still no justification to treat a girl like that.

"And of course, I dumped his ass right then and there. If a man can't take me out on a nice date like he said he would, then he doesn't deserve me," Astrid finished.

Sonal smiled, half to Astrid and half to herself. Wild as a fire, Astrid spread her flames with every step she took. It had scared her freshman year, but under her wrath lay a golden heart, with an unmatchable desire to share the florets of love she never seemed to run out of.