Cold Water

- 3 -

Nora ran and ran and ran. She felt her chest ache and her lungs sting but she didn't care. She had to find her SD card no matter what. Her whole body was drenched in sweat but it wasn't from the running. Nora's feet ached and every time her feet pushed against the forest's muddy ground she could feel little stones scraping against her feet.

Arriving at her destination Nora sunk to her knees, not caring about dirtying her clothes, and looked around the area where she had dropped her camera. The light in one hand Nora pressed her other hand on the ground and touching every single stone and bottle cap, thinking she would find the SD card faster that way.

But after 10 minutes passed no SD card was found.

"Fuck!" Nora threw the flashlight to the ground and sat on the dirt hopelessly.

If she couldn't find the SD card she didn't know what to do next. There were so many pictures on that card that Nora had to cut an arm and leg off to get. So many pictures she hadn't exported to her computer. So many new pictures lost. If She didn't find it today she will never find the card. Who knows who had found it or if she did find it, there were no promises that it would still work.

Nora's hung her head low and gripped her head with her hands. Losing her SD card did not only mean losing all the pictures but it also meant losing the capability to take pictures until she got a new one. She would miss so many opportunities to take some amazing pictures of Vin. So many...

***

"Alexander asked about you, you know?"

Nora groaned and pushed her empty cola glass away from her, annoyed, "No I don't and I don't want to."

"Nora, please," Eliza begged, "Just one day. One day let's hang out the four of us. Alexander has a car, we can drive around, get something to eat and then watch a movie at Marcus' place."

Nora tapped her fingers against the table and looked out of the window. She watched random people pass by the cafe, trying to stall answering Eliza.

Nora knew how the night would unfold: Marcus and Eliza would try their hardest to set them up, leaving them alone and making them sit together, the night would be just plain awkward for Nora. She didn't want to talk with Alexander or hang out with him but Nora thought that sacrificing one day would get them off her back. So she agreed.

"Oh my god that's great? Thank you. I promise you that he is a really nice guy."

"How old is he anyways?"

Eliza immediately averted her eyes away from Nora's questioning face, "Uhhh..." She coughed loudly, "Thirty."

Nora's eyes bulged, "Thirty! Are you fucking kidding me?"

"What's wrong?" Eliza felt a little agitated,"You told me that you liked older men. He is older!"

"Jesus fucking christ," Nora muttered to herself, massaging her temple,"I meant a few years not te-"

Eliza cut her off, "You have said yourself that age is just a number."

"My step-father is thirty-six. He's closer to his age than mine. Sorry that it isn't too appealing for me."