You Again

chapter 1

~Margot~
(ten years ago)

"Don't forget me Margot!" little Sarah cried into my shoulder.

"You know I never could." I choked back my tears. I was going away to New York for college and wouldn't see Sarah for a long time. "Hey good luck on your first day of high school kiddo." I set her down and ruffled her strawberry blonde hair.

"I'm gonna miss you." She sniffed as she got into the passenger seat of her mom's car.

"I'm gonna miss you too. I'll see you real soon okay? I promise."

"Bye!" She stuck her upper body out the window. Her long hair twirled around her in the wind that carried her sweet voice to my ears. "Byeee!" She shouted again, this time reaching up into the pale blue sky with a wave of her small hand before she disappeared around the corner.

"Bye, little angel." I whispered.

~~

When I arrived in New York grey storm clouds were quickly gathering in the evening sky. The rain started to drift lightly from the sky as soon as the taxi pulled onto the highway. I watched the city begin to light up as the sun sank into beatiful pinks and oranges beneath the clouds. Before I knew it we'd pulled up in front of Columbia University.

The lights looked like fireflies dancing in the night as they flickered on and off. In the very center of the courtyard there was a massive colonial style building wrapped in olive green trim. Beautiful stone columns masked the inside, but judging from the grand staircase before them I knew it was nothing short of magnificent. A brilliant green lawn studded with shrubbery and silver walkways lay between me and the mysterious building. On either side if the lengthy lawn were deep red brick buildings with roofs that held the same captivating mint green as Lady Liberty.

My cousin Katie was racing through the courtyard, her long red hair twisting behind her in the wind. "Margot!" She screamed and tackled me to the ground. "I'm so glad you finally made it! Welcome to Columbia!"

"Glad to be here." I grunted from underneath her, "Get off."

"Come on come on come on come on!!!" She squealed as she rolled off me, "Lets go meet your roommmate!!" She ran eagerly towards a building to my right, leaving me on the ground.

"You need help?" A gruff voice asked from somewhere above me.

"No, I can manage." I grabbed my bag and slowly started filling it with the things that had fallen out.

I heard the man sigh. "Are you always this slow?" He spoke quietly, almost to himself, as he grabbed the things out of my hands and proceeded to shove everything on the ground carelessly into my bag.

"No." I retorted.

"You heard that?" He sounded shocked.

"I do have ears." I responded sarcastically as he handed my stuff back to me. A few beats of silence passed between us before I spoke again. "Well, thanks anyway."

He said nothing stood and held his hand out to me. I hestitantly grasped it with my own. His hand almost swallowed my own as he pulled me up.

"Margot!" Katie suddenly shouted from the glass door of the building she'd ran off to. "Are you coming or not?"

"Yes!" I called back.

I felt my hand fall back to my side, where it felt instantly much colder than it had previously been. When I finally turned my head and looked into the eyes of the man before me, he spoke.

"Don't mention it." His deep voice rooted itself in my core. I'd never seen a man like him before... with eyes so green they reached out to you and sucked you in like a vine. I wanted to say more but he'd already gone. Just like that. He'd disappeared into the crowd.

~~

I flopped down on my bed. It was hard and crinkly but I was all I had until I went and bought something more comfortable to put over it. All I'd wanted was to rest after my week of orientations and assemblies. Any moment I had to relax was spent hanging out or going into the city with Katie and her friends. Not that I didn't enjoy hanging out with them. It just made me miss my old friends.

By the time we'd returned from the coffee shop we'd spent the afternoon in, it was dark and the rain was still falling. Katie says when it rains, it rains for quite some time before the sun comes out again.

I sighed when my phone started ringing from across the room. I was just getting comfortable. Slowly, I made my way over to see, thankfully, that is was my mom calling and not Katie telling me she was going to drag me somewhere I didn't want to be again.

"Hi mamá." I flopped back down on my bed.

"Hi sweetie." I missed her soothing voice. "How have you settled? How's Columbia? How's New York? Is it everything you dreamed it would be?"

"It's.... stressful. This is the first moment I've had to relax all week. But I think I'm going to like it here." I smiled, although she couldn't see. I so desperately wanted to be on the recieving end of her warm, bone-crushing hugs. I never realized how much I'd miss them.

"Tell me about your week." I could almost hear her amusement. Ever since I was little I remember her telling me stories of this place, how she met my dad here and how they fell in love, the beautiful city, the shops, times square...everything. We'd both dreamed that one day I would go to school here.

"Katie and her friends took me to the coffee shop." I was smiling like a cow. "The one where you met papa....." I told her everything. I told her briefly about Katie and her friends. I spent most of the time telling her how everything was exactly as I'd imagined it, even in the rain it was as magical as she'd made it seem. I told her how my roommate was a no-show so I had the dorm to myself. I didn't tell her about the green-eyed man, I didn't want to give her false hope.

"Well it seems like Columbia has already immersed you into its culture." She muses. "It's always crazy there."

"You could say that again."

______________________

this is kinda short,
i might add more later
but this is going to be
it for now

~ez