Tease

Twenty-Five

Twenty-Five

When we returned from Winter Break in January, I let my mind become absorbed in my midterm studies.

There was nothing I wanted more than to allow myself to be absorbed in the concepts of my textbooks, and Dylan's deep brown eyes; fading from the real world and drifting into a state of nirvana that kept me from anything else.

Sitting down at one of the tables in the library, I took a sip from my coffee and allowed the warmth the defrost my frozen veins. Setting down the cup, I flipped open my Chemistry Book and tried to being absorbing the information.

"Shhh, shh!"

Letting my eyes drift up, I saw a boy who looked around my age. He was laughing and holding a girl's hand, whose face I couldn't currently see. Annoyed by their ignorance that this was a library, I went back to my book and continued copying notes.

"Tina, Tina! You have to stop laughing or she'll kick us out."

Her blonde hair was coming into focus now, her thin face bubbling with happiness. Through all of it though, her eyes looked foggy; even from my seated position. She walked and steadied herself up against the bookshelf.

She was drunk.

I wanted to stand up; rescue her like I had when we were younger and tell her that I would take her home and make everything okay. Like I usually did, because I was always there to fix her, and make it better, no matter how often she shut me out and explained how second rate I was.

My eyes wandered back to my textbook and I heard the sound of a shelf of books toppling over.