FOREVER AND ALWAYS

“ No, no, I’m gonna be late again!” Julie was frantically looking for her ID, she had a physiology test scheduled for 8 that morning and it was already a few minutes past 8. She finally saw it in the pocket of the the jeans she wore the night before. Hurriedly locking her dorm room, she headed for class. “You have fifteen minutes left, go over your work and check for any mistakes” she could hear Dr. Vikram saying as she all but jumped into the class. There was indistinct whispering as she hurriedly found a seat beside her friend Ashely. “Why are you late, I texted so many times” Ashley whispered as Julie sat next to her. “Sorry, we’ll talk when I’m done, flip over so I can see wh.......” “No talking!!l Mr Vikram hollered as he shook a finger in their direction. Julie had barely answered three questions when the timer went off, Dr. Vikram always used a timer, even for classes. She hurriedly ticked some more answers before he got to her line. Walking out of the class with Ashely, she felt downcast, she didn’t know what was happening to her, her grades had been slipping, she could barely concentrate in class, not to mention things at home. “Hey, check this out, the next class just got cancelled, should we go check out that new place by the basketball court “ Ashley said as she went through her phone. Looking up, she noticed Julie wasn’t listening, “Hey! Earth to Jules!!!, are you even listening?” “Yeah, I am, I just... I think I’m gonna go back to my room, I really don’t want to go anywhere else” Her voice already breaking off “ Are you okay? Is it about the test? Don’t worry, you can make up for it during the exams, okay?” Ashley consoled “ Or we can go to my place, my roommates won’t be around” she continued “No, it’s okay, I’ll be fine. I just need some alone time, I’ll text you in the evening, maybe we can go grab pizza or something” Julie answered. On her way back to her dorm, Julie was deep in thoughts, this wasn’t how she had pictured her year going, she felt like she had made a complete mess of her life, not going for the degree her father wanted, coming to this school, maybe it was all a mistake. Was it too late to drop out? No, that’ll kill her father, even if he wasn’t happy with her, at least a degree was a degree, better than nothing. She was about crossing over to the lawn outside her dorm when somebody bumped into her, interrupting her train of thoughts... “ Hey! Watch it kid” the guy snapped Kid? kid?? “You were the one that bumped into me” she almost screamed, looking up to see the guy that just destroyed her phone. His eyes, there was something about those eyes, the way they drooped at the ends. She quickly bent over to pick her phone. “How about you watch where YOU’RE going” she snapped as she walked away. Alone in her room, she kept thinking about his face. No, she was supposed to be worrying about her academics, her impounding problems, not some arrogant dude that just smashed her phone. Of course, her phone, she stared at the broken screen as she tried to turn it on, it remained blank. Add that to the list of her problems, she had to get a new one now, with the money she didn’t have. Taking off her clothes, she propped down on the bed, hoping to get some shut eye before she went off to work that evening. But those eyes, the way he stared down at her, menacingly, he just had to be tall, she couldn’t keep his gaze so she had to pick her phone. Even as she thought about it now, she felt the hairs at the back of her neck stand. She slowly drifted off to sleep, his face still in clear in her mind. ***** The alarm rang, Julie slowly rolled over to turn it off. It was 3:30pm. She took her bath and headed for the diner. Work was slow, she was taking coffee to table four, when she saw him. He walked in with some people, two girls and a guy, their eyes met, for a brief second. He looked away. She returned to the counter, Layla, her coworker, was on her break , so she had to attend to the customers. “I need coffee, black, no sugar, and a muffin” his voice sounded the same, deep, rough, bland. “Coming right up” she met his eyes, he didn’t seem to remember her, or maybe he was pretending? “You really can’t remember?”, she asked as she was filling the cup. “What?”, he looked irritated “You bumped into me yesterday, outside sunny house, broke my phone?” She put the muffin and coffee on the tray and handed it to him “Okay? And?” He smirked, his friends were staring at them from across their table now. Maybe she shouldn’t have said anything, “And, you should apologize, for ruining my phone” She met his gaze squarely. “My apologies won’t fix it, now will it?” He walked away before she could answer. She had never felt so stupid, why did she even bother asking. She didn’t realize she had been standing in the same position until Layla walked in. “Cute right?” Layla nodded in his direction “What? No, I don’t know” she wasn’t going to comment on his looks “Okay girl, but I see you staring, all right shoo, I gotta get back to work” she stepped away from the register and went into the back. The rest of the day was uneventful. On her way back home she got a text from her sister, sandy. Her dad came back drunk again, and he had a fight with the neighbor. Sandy was asking if she could come stay with her for a few days. This was the second time this month he was doing this.