Miles away from shore

Residual Feelings

"Do you remember who you were to me...cause I do," - Jhene Aiko

"You're cute."

Lacey looked up from her desk and frowned. Her hair fell down into her face and she groaned, almost forgetting that she'd flat ironed it the night before. The guy she looked up at was tall. He almost blocked the light. He was a shade lighter than her with a narrow face but his smile was gorgeous. His goatee was clean and his lips were full.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry, I just been seeing you around campus and I had to come tell you that."

Lacey couldn't do anything but laugh. The guy took that as his cue to sit down next to her. He pulled his bag from his shoulder and smiled at her.

"I'm new," he said. "We have the same media writing class."

"Okay new guy. I'm Lacey."

"Carson."

"Never met a guy named Carson," Lacey said with a smirk, looking back down at her notes.

"Never met a girl name Lacey."

"It's short for Lacole."

"Still different."

Lacey laughed and Carson smiled.

"I like you, new guy."

Lacey blushed when Carson licked his lips.

"Can I ask you a question?" he asked, leaning in a little closer. Lacey figured he was about to ask for her number.

"Have at it."

"Please tell me you're studying for tomorrow's test," he said, with an exhausted smile. "I need a tutor."

Lacey laughed loud before someone in the library eyed her.

"Your laugh is cute, but I'm serious."

"I am," Lacey said. Carson nodded.

"Cool."

Lacey saw the status on her screen, but wasn't sure how to process it. She'd actually been sitting for at least five minutes, looking at his engagement pictures on Facebook, being careful not to like anything on accident. She sighed before calling Nikki.

"You saw huh?" Nikki said.

"You weren't going to tell me?"

"He just proposed to her last night."

"You were there?"

"Lacole..." Nikki sighed. "He invited us all to dinner for her birthday."

Lacey sat still for a moment, trying to process her feelings. She looked at picture again before closing the Facebook app. "She's cute."

"No best friend, don't do that."

"Do what?"

"You chose a different path. You can't go down this road of second guessing."

Lacey frowned. "Yeah but look how that turned out. That would..."

"Nope!" Nikki said. "No!"

Lacey sighed. "Okay."

"I'm serious, Lacole. It's been years."

"You friends with her?"

"I mean it ain't like I'ma bridesmaid, but we have casual convo when we're around each other."