Late nights

VII

Emily was woken up by a banging on the door. She lived on campus, which was a lot emptier during summer break. 

After the banging stopped for a second, Emily struggled out of bed and slightly opened the door. Tom was standing right outside in the dorm hallway.

- What the hell are you doing here? - She said in a raspy morning voice.

- We're going jogging, get ready.

- Tom, it's literally dark outside, what time is it?

- It's not dark, it's a civil twilight. It's currently 5:34 am. Get ready, we don't have all day.

- You're actually insane, that's all I gotta say. I want to sleep, the last thing I want to do is run right now.

Tom kept trying to convince her to go. After a lot of negotiation, Emily caved in:

- Fine, give me like ten minutes. Come in, I guess. - Emily fully opened the door.

It was Tom's first time visiting her dorm. A tiny room, a window, two beds, two closets, some clothes, pins, and other random things laying on the floor. While Emily was taking a quick shower, Tom looked around the room. It was obvious that Emily's roommate hadn't been in the room for some time. The bookshelf was surprisingly halfway filled. He looked through some of the books but didn't find anything particularly interesting. The room smelled like cinnamon buns, despite the room not having any. 

Emily took a shower, got dressed, and got ready for the jog.

- Alright, let's go, you maniac. - Emily stretched.

- Perfect. - Tom let Emily go through the door first.

The sun was shyly coming up. The campus was empty, Tom and Emily were the only ones to wake up that early. 

They started slowly jogging with some chatter in between breaths.

- Why are we doing this? - Emily was breathing heavily.

- A strong body is a strong mind. Also, it's wonderful outside.

- Stupid. - Emily continued running. 

After an hour of running, they finally stopped on a hill, overlooking a lake.

- Tell me that this isn't all worth it. - Tom looked out into the sunrise.

- Sure, it's not a bad place to look at. It would be even better if I wasn't dying right now.

- That's a bit dramatic. Actually, you did very well, we ran kinda far. 

They sat down on the hill to enjoy the sunset and get ready for a fresh new day. 

- Fun fact, since the light travels a longer length during sunrise and sunset, the blue light pretty much gets removed, so sunsets and sunrises are red.

- I'm not sure if I got all that, but it sounds interesting. My pants keep falling.

- Just wear a belt.

- They're leggings, genius.

- Suspenders then.

- They also don't work. What if I want to wear something that shows my shoulders? Anyway, why do you like science?

- Science explains everything, that's why I love it. If there's something science can't explain - it will, in the future.

- So, - Emily drank her water, - the sky's the limit, right?

- Don't you dare tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon. - Tom laughed and laid down. 

After the sun had come up, they calmly walked home. Tom accompanied Emily to her dorm. The whole walk was extremely relaxing for both of them.

- This is peculiar, isn't it? - Tom thought out loud.

- What is?

- I just never thought I would be jogging with anyone, especially you. No offense, for the longest time I didn't have that good of an opinion about you.

- What do you mean?

- Well, you know, a majority of our class won't succeed in life and that's just a fact. Like Harry, for example. Statistically, your relationship would've failed. People like Harry will peak in high school, grow up miserable and when they're thirty, they'll still be telling the same story of some random party.

- I don't know, maybe you're right.

- I try to be, - Tom looked at the trees around, - that's a cool bird.

- Oh yeah, it's pretty. Anyway, you know, not every person who is bad at school is stupid.

- I don't think school shows your intelligence, but your actions do.

- Ok but like, I'm skilled at other things that aren't school.

- I believe that. We're here, - the dorm was in front of them, - alright, see you tomorrow?

- Sure, just not this early. - Emily chuckled.

- But look at the positive side. You did so much work and you have so much time in the day.

- Whatever. - She closed the door.