Chapter 52 - Holding My Breath
I went back to my dorm around eleven. My head was buzzing with questions. What if Kala would date me? How serious was she with Damion? What if Kelly came back to Madison? Last I heard, her dad hadn't moved. That meant Kelly might at least come back to visit once in a while. My chest tightened at the thought.
All summer long I hadn't allowed myself more than a glimpse of my old pictures of Kelly. Even then, it led to bawling. Now that I was in a completely different setting, a different attitude towards my feelings for Kelly was developing. As I accepted that Madison was my new place in the universe, Preston was already beginning to feel like my old place. It was a different era, a different story. That might sound like a good thing, but I wondered if I was in danger of letting my unresolved issues fade until it just felt like I had dealt with them. That would be a bad thing, wouldn't it?
There was a lot more foot traffic on campus than I had seen over the weekend. It was Labor Day, and the weather was beautiful, so there was a feeling in the air like a giant community picnic was going on. People my age were everywhere on the grounds and in the halls playing frisbee, messing around on guitars, eating, etc. The smells of fast food and cut grass were comforting. Everyone was enthusiastically getting to know each other.
Except for me. I made it to my room, locked my door behind me, opened my laptop, and prepared to flagellate myself with what should have been happy memories. For the first time since Kelly left, I opened the secret gmail I had created. I took a deep breath, clicked to open the drive associated with it, then slapped my laptop shut, telling myself I'd rather shower first.
I spent more time than necessary picking out a simple outfit of white denim shorts and a blue tank top. My makeup, which was unnecessary since I wasn't planning on anyone seeing me, took another twenty minutes. I double checked my class schedule, made sure everything I could want for my first day of classes was in my backpack, and picked out an outfit to wear the next day. After I set my alarm for the morning, I finally ran out of things to do.
I looked at my laptop, sitting there on my desk waiting for me. Checking the time, I saw it was a little past noon. It couldn't hurt to get something to eat first. Stuffing some money in my pocket, I left my room.
Max and Theodore's version of "Ain't No Sunshine" greeted me. I altered my path to stop by their room. Their door was open already.
"Knock Knock."
"Analee! Hey!" The nicest thing about Theodore, so far, was that he didn't hide the fact that he was happy to see you. "Feeling better?"
"Yes. Sorry about the bad first impression. Hey, I'm starving, did you guys already eat?"
They perked up and looked at each other. "Dirty Chai?" Max asked Theodore.
"Dirty Chai," Theodore confirmed.
"Excuse me?"
"Have you been to Aldo's Cafe?" Theodore asked.
"Nope."
"It's just a short walk. We already ate, but we were just talking about Aldo's Dirty Chai lattes. Want to try it? Lots of stuff for vegans..."
* * *
"So, is it cool to talk about girls around you?"
"Maxwell! We just met her yesterday!"
"It's cool." I thought it was cute how proper Theodore wanted to be around me. They were a far cry from Timmy and Tommy.
"She was totally smiling at me. You saw that, didn't you?" Max was excited. "Think I should ask her out?"
"Um..." I laughed a little awkwardly. "Are you serious?"
YOU ARE READING
The Gods of Song and Poetry
Romance"Was that flirting? It kind of felt like flirting. No. Couldn't be. She just thinks the senior girl is cool, like all of my sister's other friends. I was just wishing it was flirting. She's the new girl, she's super cute, and she makes me feel reall...
