Cheryl POV
The entire dining hall is buzzing about a certain incident that happened at the lake in the early hours of this morning. No one really has any details yet apart from a couple of students spotting a large crowd of police around the lake. In the absence of official information, the rumours are flying. Rather than stay and listen to wilder and wilder speculation, I scoop my lunch into the Tupperware I keep in my bag and retreat outside, where it may be hot and humid, but at least there's a certain level of escape from the loud chatter. I sit down on a nearby bench, about to take the first bite of my food when my phone rings.
Groaning, I put down both my bowl and fork to dig out my phone. "Betty?"
"Officer Topaz just came by the dorm," her roommate says. "She's hoping to speak with you if you have a moment."
I'm a little confused on why she didn't just text me; she has my number. Unless she's asking in a professional capacity. "Is she still there?"
"Yeah. Do you need her to meet you somewhere?"
"No, I'll grab something from the fridge in the room. My lunch looks gross anyway."
There's another muffled female voice in the background, and when Betty speaks again, she sounds rather amused.
"She's promised to feed you in exchange for her taking up some of your time."
"I accept," I say happily. "I'll be there in a few minutes."
I feel guilty about wasting food for the approximately 7 seconds it takes me to empty the contents of the Tupperware into the nearest trash can. The thought is then put out of my mind and swiftly replaced with the thought of Toni. I hadn't seen her since that night, but we'd be texting back and forth for the past couple of days. I couldn't wait to see her again.
Settling my backpack more comfortably on my shoulders, I jog around the campus heading for my dorm building. I promptly regret it, but that's what jogging in the middle of the day in a Florida April will do.
I see Toni standing outside of my dorm building. She's out of her uniform today, and is instead in black denim shorts and a grey crop top. It's the first time i've seen her in her own clothes, and despite how much I love her in uniform, she looks fucking hot.
I take a moment to admire the view before shoving that admiration, and its constant companion of general appreciation, into a locked corner of my mind, where it hopefully can't come out in conversation and embarrass me.
She laughs when she sees me, her eyes hidden behind her sunglasses.
"Why are you running in this?" she calls.
"Because you promised me food!"
She laughs again and strolls away from the shaded area to join me. "How do you feel about subs?"
"I could eat a sub," I reply, slowing to a walk. There's a decent place just across Miller Avenue, so we wouldn't have to go too far. As an added bonus, it isn't exactly a date destination, so my imagination should have less to run away with. "Oh, I should have gone up to the room," i realise abruptly. "I still have your hoodie."
"Nope remember what I said? It's yours to keep. No stress." she said, looking over at me and smiling. My stomach swarms with butterflies.
Stupid. Fucking. Crush. I thought to myself.
"I'm assuming you heard about this morning's excitement," she says.
I nod. "It's all anyone can talk about, it seems. No one even knows what happened, but everyone's trying to come up with a crazy story." I explain, my hand briefly brushing against hers. I see her smile slightly as I pull away. This was gonna be harder than I thought.
