All This Time // H.S. // A.U.

Chapter Fifty-Six

This is the second chapter of a double update. Make sure you read chapter 55 first. Enjoy!

Freshman Year of College

HARRY

College was much more fast paced than high school, even though I went to one of the top rated prep schools in the country. My professors got straight into it here. Instead of syllabus week, they handed it out and told us to read it on our own time. I had spent nearly every night working on homework or at work.

The job at the restaurant was okay. Being a busboy wasn't what I really wanted, but I had zero experience serving so I expected to start at the bottom. The tips were decent, though, and I had already saved a few hundred bucks over the past few weeks. Hopefully, I could pick up some shifts from the other busboys and be able to buy that ticket at the end of October to visit Riley.

We've talked at least twice a day on FaceTime and spend most of the day texting in between classes and work, but I definitely felt her absence. I find myself craving her touch, and most nights I toss and turn without her next to me. I knew it would be hard to be away from her, but I didn't know this level of hard existed. I now understood why she was so leery about this decision.

Riley was flourishing at Stanford, though. Her roommate was quickly becoming one of her best friends, and she had made connections with people in her dorm and from her classes. I could tell she loved it there.

Columbia was a great school, but I hadn't exactly made any friends. I only really talked to Riley and Jeff, sometimes Baylor to see how he's doing, but it was hard to hear him talk about soccer. I missed that almost as much as I missed Riley. Two years ago, I never would've guessed how important the sport was to my life and livelihood. Without it, there was a void, like I didn't know what to do with myself. I had so much pent up energy in my body that I wasn't getting out anymore, and my knee was a reminder every day.

I hadn't found a physical therapist here in New York, yet. If I was being honest with myself, I probably wouldn't even try. I did my stretches and exercises that my old PT gave me, but I just didn't have the money. Every bit of money I earned went towards saving up to visit Riley, and the money I would get when Micah finally sold my boat would go towards the bills from the last PT.

I sighed, rubbing my face roughly. I wasn't really paying that much attention to the work in front of me; a ten page essay about the novel Sula written by Toni Morrison. I was supposed to pick a theme or quote from the book and dissect it, but my brain didn't want to work tonight. It was fried.

My attention was stolen once again by my dorm room door opening, my roommate, Michael, walking in. He was a tall guy with not a lot of muscle. He kind of looked like the quintessential skater kid.

Michael nods his head, "Hey."

"Hey." I reply, and turn back to my work. In the past month, we have barely spoken. Our schedules were different, so we usually just ended up in our room together at night to sleep. He was out partying most weekend nights, while I either worked, did homework, or watch Netflix.

"You doing anything tonight?" He asked.

I turned around, confused. "Uh, just some homework?"

Michael raised an eyebrow, "You must be super serious about school. I don't think I've seen you do anything but sleep and write essays."

I just shrug. To be fair, that was almost all I was doing.

He continues, "There's a party tonight, if you want to come. Just a little off campus."

I was taken aback by his offer. This was the longest conversation we've had since we first met a month ago, and this was also the first party invitation I have gotten since I got here. "Uh, yeah, sure."