Episode 8: Feelings We Never Planned For
1542 Words
Monday mornings at Westbridge University had a personality of their own.
The campus buzzed with students rushing to lectures, clutching takeaway coffees and half-finished assignments. Some looked awake.
Most didn't.
Bailey belonged somewhere in the middle.
She walked into her Mathematics lecture balancing a coffee in one hand and three notebooks in the other.
"You're late."
She looked up.
Cedric was already sitting in his usual seat.
"I've got three minutes."
"You've got two."
She slid into the chair beside him.
"I made it."
"Barely."
"You sound like the lecturer."
"I've been spending too much time with you."
Bailey laughed.
"I was about to say the same thing."
Cedric smiled.
It was becoming dangerous how naturally they fit into each other's routines.
Every lecture.
Every coffee.
Every sarcastic comment.
Every shared walk back to residence.
None of it felt forced anymore.
It simply...
Felt normal.
---
Halfway through the lecture, Cedric realised Bailey had somehow stolen his pen.
"Excuse me."
She looked up from her notes.
"Yes?"
"You're writing with my pen."
She glanced down.
"Oh."
"I am."
"You've committed theft."
"I borrowed it."
"You didn't ask."
"You would've said yes."
"...Probably."
She smiled.
"So we're both right."
Cedric shook his head.
"I can't argue with your logic."
"You never can."
---
After class, Bailey stayed behind to ask the lecturer a question.
Cedric waited outside the lecture hall, leaning against the wall while scrolling through his phone.
"Hey."
He looked up.
A classmate named Ethan walked over.
"You and Bailey together?"
Cedric frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"I always see you two together."
Cedric shrugged casually.
"We're friends."
"Oh."
Ethan nodded.
"I was wondering if you could give me her number."
Cedric froze.
For the first time in weeks...
He didn't have a sarcastic reply.
His mind unexpectedly filled with images.
Bailey laughing at his terrible jokes.
Bailey rolling her eyes whenever he teased her.
Bailey smiling across the coffee shop.
Bailey waiting for him after class.
Bailey.
The thought of another guy texting her...
Taking her out...
Making her laugh...
It didn't sit right.
Not at all.
"So?"
Ethan asked.
Cedric blinked.
"Oh."
"Her number."
"Yeah..."
He scratched the back of his neck.
"I actually..."
"...don't think she'd like me giving it out."
That wasn't entirely a lie.
"But you could ask her yourself."
Ethan shrugged.
"Fair enough."
"No worries."
As Ethan walked away, Cedric stared after him.
His heart was beating much faster than it should have been.
"...Oh."
The realisation hit him all at once.
"I like her."
Not as a friend.
Not as his favourite person to annoy.
He genuinely...
Liked Bailey.
He let out a long sigh.
"This is a disaster."
---
Bailey finally walked outside.
"What are you sighing about?"
Cedric looked at her.
"You."
She blinked.
"Me?"
"I mean..."
He quickly recovered.
"...you took forever."
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"I don't believe you."
"Good."
"I wasn't telling the truth."
She laughed.
"There you are."
"What?"
"The sarcasm."
"I was worried you'd lost it."
"I'd never recover."
They started walking.
After a few moments, Cedric spoke again.
"So..."
"What?"
"Some guy asked me for your number."
Bailey nearly laughed.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"What did you say?"
"I told him to ask you himself."
She smiled.
"That's surprisingly mature."
"I have my moments."
"You do."
She bumped his shoulder playfully.
"So..."
She smirked.
"...are you denying me opportunities to find love now?"
Cedric nearly choked on his coffee.
"What?"
"You heard me."
She grinned mischievously.
"What if he was my soulmate?"
Cedric looked away dramatically.
"Highly unlikely."
"You don't know that."
"I've met him."
"You met him for thirty seconds."
"Exactly."
"And?"
"I wasn't impressed."
Bailey burst into laughter.
"Oh my goodness..."
She nudged him.
"You're impossible."
"So I've been told."
She smiled warmly.
"Well..."
"If another handsome guy asks for my number..."
"I'll expect you to do better."
Cedric raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?"
"At least interview him first."
He laughed.
"I'll prepare a questionnaire."
"Excellent."
Neither of them noticed the tiny smile lingering on Cedric's face long after the conversation ended.
---
That evening...
Cedric sat on the football field with Blake and Maverick after practice.
The sun was beginning to set over Westbridge University.
Blake looked at him.
"You've been weird."
"I've always been weird."
"No."
"Weirder."
Cedric sighed.
"I think..."
He hesitated.
"...I like Bailey."
Silence.
Blake looked at Maverick.
Maverick looked back at Blake.
Then both of them laughed.
Cedric frowned.
"Why are you laughing?"
"You've only just realised?"
Blake asked.
Cedric blinked.
"What?"
"You've liked her for weeks."
"I have not."
"You absolutely have," Maverick said.
Cedric looked genuinely confused.
"I thought we were just friends."
Blake laughed again.
"Mate..."
"You spend more time with Bailey than you do with us."
"That's because she studies."
"So do we."
"You've voluntarily gone to the library."
Cedric looked down.
"...That's true."
"You hate libraries," Blake continued.
"You remember tiny details about her."
"You smile every time she texts."
"You walk her back to Willow House."
"And today..."
"You refused to give another guy her number."
Cedric buried his face in his hands.
"...I'm finished."
"No," Maverick smiled.
"You're just in love."
Cedric immediately looked up.
"Let's not get carried away."
Blake laughed.
"Fine."
"You really, really like her."
Cedric leaned back against the grass.
"What if she doesn't feel the same?"
Blake looked at him as though he'd asked the world's easiest question.
"Cedric."
"What?"
"What girl willingly spends hours listening to your sarcasm if she doesn't like you?"
Maverick nodded.
"She laughs at jokes that aren't even funny."
"They're funny."
"They're terrible."
Cedric smiled despite himself.
"So..."
"What do I do?"
Blake answered immediately.
"Go after her."
Maverick nodded.
"Before someone else does."
Cedric looked towards the campus buildings.
For the first time...
He wasn't afraid of admitting it.
He wanted Bailey.
He just hoped...
She wanted him too.
---
Across campus...
Chloe's phone buzzed again.
She didn't even have to check the screen.
She already knew.
Skylar.
Another message.
Another apology.
Another request to meet.
Another reminder of the mistake she'd been trying to escape.
She locked her phone without reading it.
A voice interrupted her thoughts.
"You okay?"
She looked up.
Maverick.
He was carrying two coffees.
"Thought you might need one."
She accepted it quietly.
"Thanks."
They found an empty bench beneath the jacaranda trees.
For several minutes...
Neither of them spoke.
Finally...
Chloe sighed.
"I need to tell you something."
Maverick nodded.
"I'm listening."
She unlocked her phone and handed it to him.
He scrolled through the messages.
His expression slowly changed.
Concern.
Confusion.
Then frustration.
"He's still doing this?"
She nodded.
"Every day."
"He won't stop."
"He even threatened to tell Bianca."
Maverick looked at her carefully.
"Why hasn't he?"
"I don't know."
"I think..."
She swallowed.
"...he still wants me to choose him."
Maverick stared at the screen for another moment before handing the phone back.
"This isn't healthy."
"I know."
"You shouldn't have to keep looking over your shoulder every time your phone vibrates."
Chloe's eyes filled with tears.
"I've ruined everything."
"No."
She looked at him.
"You made a mistake."
"There's a difference."
She shook her head.
"It doesn't feel like it."
Maverick leaned forward slightly.
"Chloe."
"You've punished yourself every single day since it happened."
"You've cried."
"You've hidden."
"You've carried guilt that nobody else can even see."
"But this..."
He gestured towards the phone.
"...this has gone too far."
She wiped away a tear.
"I don't know what to do anymore."
Maverick's voice was gentle.
"I think you already know."
She lowered her gaze.
"I have to tell Bianca."
"You do."
"I was hoping there'd be another answer."
"So was I."
Silence settled between them.
"I don't want to lose her."
Maverick looked at Chloe for a long moment.
"The truth might hurt her."
He spoke softly.
"But hearing it from her best friend..."
"...will always hurt less than hearing it from someone who kept it from her."
Those words settled heavily in Chloe's heart.
Because she knew...
He was right.
---
That evening, the girls gathered in their room after dinner.
Bailey was laughing over something Stella had said.
Stella was dramatically complaining about another impossible law assignment.
For the first time in weeks...
Bianca laughed.
A real laugh.
Not the polite smile she'd been forcing.
A genuine, carefree laugh.
Bailey smiled proudly.
"There she is."
Bianca shook her head.
"What?"
"We've missed that laugh."
"I guess..."
She smiled softly.
"...I'm finally moving on."
Chloe felt something inside her break.
She looked at Bianca.
At the happiness slowly returning to her face.
At the peace she had fought so hard to rebuild.
And all Chloe could think was...
"I'm about to destroy it."
Bailey caught Chloe's eye from across the room.
She didn't need to say anything.
The message was already there.
It's time.
Chloe looked down at her hands.
Tomorrow.
She would tell Bianca.
She had to.
Because if she waited any longer...
She might lose her best friend forever.
Outside, the lights of Westbridge University shimmered against the dark evening sky.
Inside Willow House...
One friendship was beginning.
Another was quietly growing.
One heart was healing.
And one devastating truth was only a single conversation away from changing everything.
- Writer
