Nineteen

Chapter Fifteen

After the oil change we drove a couple minutes to the pizza place. It's a small red building but there are a lot of cars parked outside.

We walk inside and sit in a booth beside the window.

"So, how are you in Miami?" I finally ask him.

"After high school I took some classes but after a while I just stopped. Recently I became interested in sports medicine, so here I am." He says.

"It's crazy to think of the timing of all of this." I say right before a young lady brings us our drinks.

"Yeah. So what are you here for?" 

"I'm an English major. I want to write, but I know it's a long shot."

The same young lady brings us the pizza we ordered earlier.

"Are you here alone, or did any of your friends get in?"

"Liah didn't get in, but Clarke is here with me. Bailey came too, but I haven't seen him much."

"Bailey?" He says.

I forgot about Bailey. My cheeks get warm.

"My boyfriend. We started dating a little while ago. It's nothing extremely serious," I say, trying to make it seem less important.

"Oh." He squeezes his eyes into an arch. "I'd like to meet him one day."

No, you wouldn't.

"Yeah, that sounds good."

We spend the next half hour making small talk and eating pizza.

During the drive back to the dorms I say, "Do you want me to drop you off at your dorm? Wait, do you live at the dorms?"

He laughs, "I live in an apartment beside the campus. You can just go back to the dorms. I'm gonna swing by the library for a few hours."

So that's what I do.

He walks me to my dorm room and we stand outside talking until my door opens.

"Link?" says Clarke.

"Hey man!"

They both grab each other for a hug, joking about how it's been 'too long'.

I walk past them into my room right as I hear one of them say "I'll see you around."

I'm sitting on the bed when Clarke says, "Does Bailey know about all these 'friends' you're making?"

I give him a look.

"it's none of his business. He's barely talking to me anyway." I stand up, "Is it even any of your business?"

He throws his hands up to defend himself, "I'm just asking. I want to know what's going on."

I have friends. Everyone does.

When I don't answer he says, "What about Collin? You don't even know him but yet he's bringing you home completely drunk."

I still don't answer, mainly because I don't know.

"Well. I have practice soon, and I just stopped to check on you. Let me know if you need me, okay?" He says as he hugs me.

"Okay." I say into his chest before he leaves me here alone.

I'm a little taken back by my first days here. I'm doing things I would have never thought about doing at home.

It's starting to get dark outside when I realize I've spent the rest of my evening thinking about all the people in my life. 

I gather my things for my first class tomorrow, take a shower, and lay down early with a book.