To Paris With Love

Ch 16

The years went by, and soon the due date for Diane's thesis had already arrived. She stood in front of the admission's office window, staring at her reflection and studying herself. It seemed like only yesterday she was a young, naive, college freshman and now she was going to graduate from college in about a week or so. In her reflection, she studied the change of wardrobe she'd had ever since she came into campus for the first time, dressed in pastel dresses, same white sandals, and natural, somewhat tamed, hair. And now, she was leaving campus with a well-tailored blazer, fitted black pants, and black pumps.

But Diane hadn't only changed on the outside, she changed who she was on the inside as well. After deciding to start all over the summer after her sophomore year, she began dating that fall. She first dated a guy who was in the same college, but studied in the Business facility; they lasted for six months before she broke it off after coming to realize she didn't have much in common with him. After him, came Mr. Latino. It was a Spanish transfer student in a friend's college, who she came to met one night after being invited for drinks by such friend and ended up as a set-up. She dated him for much of her junior year, but they both decided on breaking up and ending up as friends after his time in Florida came to a close. As for the rest of her career, she stayed single and focused on her work; she did go on dates here and there, but backed away from the search soon after realizing that she couldn't rush into things if she didn't want things to end up like the last time.

As she continued to study her reflection, someone else's popped next to hers; it was a person she hadn't seen in years. She tried on convincing herself that she was only seeing things, and to prove her point, she turned around and noticed him standing behind her.

Nick had changed in the last three years: his hair had gotten longer, he didn't shave anymore, his eyes didn't wear that gleeful shine they used to. His eyes were locked on hers from the moment she turned around.

After struggling with getting the words out, he spoke. "Hi."

She smiled kindly at him. "Hi."

"It's nice to see you again."

She nodded. "You too- I mean, it's nice to see you again, too."

He smiled down at her. "How have you been?"

"I'm good, thank you. Everything's going pretty well. How about you?'

He nodded. "Not bad, everything's good, too. I actually just finished giving my thesis."

"So, how was it? Nervewracking or easy?"

"At first, it was intimidating, but then as time went by and you focused on your subject, as for me, you lose the nerves and begin enthusing about the subject and it just becomes easy."

She nodded. "Wow, well hopefully mine will run as smoothly."

He smiled. "I'm sure it will."

"Thank you." She smiled at him. And just as quick as she smiled, the memories of the last time they met ran through her mind, but the one that stood out the most was all those moments before when they'd smile and stare at each other for what seemed like forever. If she would've let go, they'd share one of those moments in that instant; however, she didn't give in.

"I should go now, don't want to be late for my thesis." She nervously laughed.

"Yeah." He nodded. "Well, it was nice to see you." He kindly gestured.

She nodded. "It was nice to see you too." She smiled.

Just as she was walking away towards the auditorium, he called her. She turned around and stopped walking as he ran to catch her.