#3 Lost in You (fan fic - in progress)

Chapter Eight

The campus was a complete ghost town after most of the student body left for Thanksgiving break. The loneliness of the large empty buildings felt like a heavy weight pressing down on my shoulders reminding me that the holidays were never actually holidays for me. I was starting to rethink Tika and Kayla's offers to go home with one of them.  Neither one was too far away... but I really needed to use this time to study and work the extra hours at Mr Theo's.  

I rolled out of the bed the day before thanksgiving feeling extraordinarily unmotivated.  It was 6am and I had to force myself to get up to work out and then study for a few hours before it was time to go to work, while I was sure everyone else was sleeping in at home enjoying the time off with their family. Not to mention the ice cold goodbye I received the night before from my roommate Ashley when she came back to get her suitcase for her trip home.  I noted Lo's hellcat parked out infront of the dorm waiting for her, but he was nowhere in sight when she came up to the room.

After I worked out, I took a shower in the women's locker room. On the way out I ran into Kev coming out of the boys locker rooms.

"What's good Jay?" Kev greeted me unusually friendly. This seemed to be a thing for him and his friends, to act different when no one else was around.  Kev had been acting strange anyway... friendlier, ever since we went with him and Lo to that club party.

"Hey Kev." I shifted my bag. "You ain't in Houston?"

"Nah. Me and my dad are hanging here." He shrugged. Then he eyed me. "You here for the holiday?"

"Yea."

"Umm." He grunted looking suspicious. "Well there are few others around too. So I'm sure you won't be too lonely."

I don't know what he was trying to get at but I could tell he was trying to hint at something. "What's that mean?"

Kev chuckled and shrugged. "I'm just saying have a nice holiday."

"Ok. You too."

I watched him walk off swinging his head and then I headed the other direction back to my dorm for another short nap.  The athletic facilities were still open and a fair amount of the football team remained on campus.  I spotted most of them around that morning as I worked out. That was likely who Kev meant. But I only talked to him and Lo, off of the team. And Lo was still nowhere in sight. I figured he went home.

Around 10am, I snapped a couple of selfies of myself on the empty campus before making my way to Mr Theo's. He let me study at one of the open tables until my shift since the library was closed today.

It was a nice morning, so I walked the few blocks to the restaurant and picked a place outside on the small patio. I studied out here a few times before. It was quiet. And students rarely sat and ate at the restaurant so I wouldn't get interrupted like in the library.  Mr Theo brought me some sweet tea and told me for the fiftieth time how proud he was with all the work I was putting into school.

Over the next hour I got a whole lot of love on my pic from earlier. Kyla commented that she could come back and scoop me tomorrow morning after my shift. Tika commented she was bored without us in Houston with her mom.  Deyvon left a wagging tongue from Cali.  I had a few more comments from classmates and some of the skater boys. And then I was notified that I had another follow.

Lo Beckham was now following me. And he immediately left a like under my most recent photo. I responded to Tika and Kyla and liked Deyvons comment before closing the app on my phone and returning to my study notes.

About thirty minutes later I got a notification for a new DM. I opened the app to find a message from Lo.

"What you doin still on campus?"