how to catch feelings

30

I was hanging out in the office before class, as one does when they get anxious about going to class and the best way to cure that is to just go early.

Like, hella early.

Anyway, I was sitting in one of the ugly blue armchairs, keeping Gilbert company while I scrolled through Instagram on my phone.

A text popped down at the top of my screen.

Amber.

"Hey, can we talk?" she asked.

"I have class in a few, but yeah, I guess. What's up?"

"Can we talk in person?"

"Um... I guess. Where are you?"

"Right outside. Not to be creepy."

Sure enough, I looked up and she was standing outside the office. She waved.

We really needed to get some curtains or something for that damn window.

With a sigh, I got up to let her in.

"I have class in ten minutes," I said.

"Okay. I'll be quick." She glanced around the office.

I wasn't sure whether to be proud or defensive of the cluttered room.

Probably a mix of both.

"What's up?"

"Oh. Right. I don't know, I saw what y'all posted on Facebook, and I guess I just... Well, we didn't really get to it last time we talked."

For God's sake, just spit it out.

I checked the time on my Fitbit. Nine minutes.

"Um... So I guess... Well, I've been seeing other guys. You know, since Dax and I broke up."

"Sure."

"He texted me, maybe a week before— you know. Before it happened. Just saying he missed me and he was sorry about how we ended things."

"Hm."

"We got to talking. We actually ended up Facetiming for a couple hours. It was nice. Strange, but really nice. Felt normal, you know?"

"Sure."

"A couple days later, he asked me if I wanted to maybe go out and get something to eat. Just as friends. Casual. And I said yeah."

One of my biggest pet peeves would always be girls getting back together with their trash exes.

Always a bad idea.

That being said, I could see where the story was going.

"So where'd you go?" I asked, not that I cared.

"Just Applebee's. Nothing fancy."

Applebee's sure as hell was fancier than McDonald's. And the latter is where I'd want to go out to eat with friends.

"Ah."

"It felt like high school again, you know? Back when everything was simpler?"

"Yeah."

"I dunno. I guess I just missed that. The familiarity."

"Mmhmm." I was running out of noncommittal responses, and fast.

Seven more minutes.

"On the drive back to campus, he asked me if I wanted to get back together. I said I'd have to think about it. So I thought about it. And then I called him. I told him I wanted to get back together. He told me he loved me. And then the next morning he was gone." She sighed, and it hit me just how close she was to tears. "He could've been the one, Nat. I really think he was the one."