The Philosophy of You

Chapter 27

I stood in line, playing with the coins in hand. Today was Valentine's day and the Student Athletic Council was selling roses in the cafeteria. While I hated being in the cafeteria during lunch because of how loud it is, I wanted to buy a rose for my mum. She loves Beauty and the Beast so a rose seemed like a nice little gift to her. I had left Human Development immediately after class, hoping that I'd be there before the line grew too long. Even though it was short, I still had to wait since the person in front of me couldn't decide if two roses would be better than one for his girlfriend. 

Each rose was three dollars, which wasn't that bad. I had some extra change so I figured I might as well spend it on a rose and a cookie from the vending machine. Once the dude in front of me decided that one rose was more sincere than two, it was my turn. I walked up, greeting the person behind the table.

"Hey, would you like one rose for three bucks or three roses for five." She said, grinning sheepishly.

"Uh, I'll just have one please."

I gave her the change, in return for the rose which had been freshly cut. I held it in my hand, carefully holding the stem so I wouldn't break it. I walked up the stairs, up to the third floor where my friends were. Once there, I put the rose on the window ledge, hoping it wouldn't be hit by Mia's head since she was leaning against the window.

"Ava, wanna play Air console?" Alisha asked while setting up the program.

"No thanks, I think I might just read instead."

"Okay, well let me know if you want to join later."

I nodded, and sat cross-legged against the wall, taking out the book I was currently reading. It was Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky. The copy I had was split into two separate stories. One was Storm in June, which was a story that followed a group of Parisians as they try to flee Paris at the start of the Second World War. The second was a story about a french maiden whose husband went off to war, who has to open her home to a German soldier. I had already finished the first and was starting the second, I had seen the movie of the same title about the second story and absolutely adored it. 

I sat there reading whilst breaking off pieces of the cookie I had bought earlier. I could hear Ada and Alisha arguing with each other about who hit who in the game they were playing, while Mia's "kekeke" laugh was cutting off parts of what they were saying. I smiled to myself, my attention no longer on the book. I adored my friends, and yes, I say it too often but as the months narrowed down to graduation and my friends chose which universities to go to. I couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow knowing I wouldn't spend Mondays to Fridays with them. It had been four years where every day I saw them, hung out with them, laughed with them, and even cried with them. Four years that to some extent, would go down the drain as we headed off on separate paths. As proud as I was of them and their choices, I was worried that we would eventually fall apart. What if seeing each other every day was the glue holding our friendship together? What if when they went off to universities, they'd realize that I was better off a stranger than a friend.

Before I drowned in my thoughts, I heard someone calling my name whilst gently kicking my knee, "Ava, yoohoo, you good?"

I snap out of it,  looking up to my left, seeing Shaw crouching next to me, "Oh, hi."

He smiles brightly, "Thought I lost you there."

I frown, "How long were you standing there?"

He chuckles, whilst trying to balance himself on his heels, "Long enough to know that a minute more and you would've drowned in your thoughts."

I sat there speechless, how was it possible that he knew exactly what I was going through without having me tell him. I sucked in a breath, saying softly, "Yeah, that happens often."