Five Years

Chapter Two: Barely Made It

Across campus, I had just barely made it to class on time. I could tell my cheeks were red from the cool October air. I plopped into a seat at a table by myself. A boy at the table beside me appeared from behind the pages of a book. He had cocoa brown eyes and mess of hair the same color. He glanced over at me, as I pulled my notebook out of my bag.

“Excuse me,” the boy with the messy hair turned toward me. “Do you happen to have a pen I could borrow?”

“Of course,” I replied, smiling. I reached into my bag, pulled out a pen, and handed it to the boy. “If that one doesn’t work, let me know and I’ll find you another one. I can never remember which ones are dead... I just sort of toss them back in here,” I smiled again.

The boy drew a few test-circles, and the pen glided across the page, “All set!” He flashed a smile, “Nico,” he said holding out his hand. “And, you are?”

“Sarah,” I giggled, “Sarah Williams.” I reached out to shake his hand. The gesture seemed a little formal for classmates, but I was still amused by it, and by Nico in general: his hair, his smile, the handshake. “What book is that you’re reading?”

“War and Peace,” Nico started.

“Tolstoy,” I interrupted by accident. “I read Anna Karenina my senior year of high school,” I giggled.

Nico seemed impressed, “Tolstoy is a brilliant writer. I haven’t read that myself, but I would suggest you read this one if you have some spare time.”

We seemed to hit it off pretty well. By the end of class, Nico had moved over to the seat next to me, and we exchanged numbers.

“If you’re ever in need of a good book, let me know. I can hook you up,” Nico winked.

“Good thing that didn’t sound sketchy or anything.If you ever need a new band to check out, or are just desperately craving new music, you know where to find me!” I joked.

“And if I were looking for someone to take to a movie this weekend,” Nico raised his brow.

I smiled, “Like I said. You know where to find me.” I picked up my notebooks and slung my bag over my shoulder. I turned back briefly to look at Nico, who nodded his head, and then I walked out of the classroom.

As I walked down the hall, I giggled and smiled a little to myself. Usually, I’m not so smooth in those types of situations. My mind started racing as I wondered what on earth I was going to wear.

The walk back to my dorm didn’t take too long, it was about 8 minutes across campus and another few minutes to get to my actual room. I tossed my bag on the floor, and climbed up on to my bed. I pulled the slip of paper with Liam’s number out of my pocket; punching the numbers into a new message, I tried to figure out what the plan for writing the script was, “Hey Liam, it’s Sarah. Are you free? I just got out of class if you wanted to work on the script.”

I saved his number to my contacts before I tossed it onto my desk with a loud thud. Realizing that my bag was on the floor, I hung off the side of my bed to reach it. I nearly fell off trying to pick it up, but I fished through it to find the notebook we’d been working from. Once I found it, I opened it up and began reading over the ideas we’d come up with so far.

My phone buzzed. “New Message: Liam” flashed across the screen, so I opened it.

“Busy right now. Meet at Biggby’s in an hour?”

My thumbs moved like rapid fire over the keys in response, “Sure, I’ll see you then.”

I jumped down, and pulled open my dresser drawers at the foot of my bed. I changed into a cozy sweater, and threw my hair up into a ponytail. I grabbed the notebook off my bed, my laptop off my desk, and put them both into my bag. I grabbed my keys and wallet, and decided to head to Biggby’s early to save a table.

The walk from my dorm to the coffee shop we were meeting at took about 15 minutes; it wasn’t too far of a walk to really any place around. I ordered my favorite- the carmel marvel- and found a table not too close to the door, but somewhere he could easily find me; the place wasn’t big, so it’s not like it would be hard, but I tried not to go too far back. 

To my surprise, it wasn’t too crowded, which was great. It wouldn’t leave much to distract us from our work. I pulled out my notebook once more, and jotted down a few more ideas: details about the weather, the scenery, and a few potential character names. I didn’t even notice Liam come in until he pulled out the chair across from me, and set down his coffee cup. I looked up at him as he pulled out his laptop and smiled, but he didn’t smile back. 

It would figure that I got stuck with someone so rude; I’m sure I’ll end up doing most of the script by myself too, and then get the honor of sharing the credit with someone who was less than helpful. It was the story of my life, so why should I expect college to be any different?