Maybe In Another Life

Chapter 24

The ticking of the clock was the only sound in the room, darkening as the last of the sun vanished behind the city's skyline.

Buried under the covers, Mavis traced her scars, her mind blank.

The storm that boiled outside all day had finally settled, but the cold was still strong enough the seep into her bones.

After days of insomnia, Mavis had finally gotten a solid 4 hours of sleep that Sunday afternoon.

The door to the room rattled over Persephone's distant voice:

"See you tomorrow dumbass".

The lights flickered on and Mavis ducked under the covers.

"Hey girl." Persephone shuffled around the room. "I got what you asked for."

Something landed on Mavis's body, which finally made her come out of her cocoon.

"Woah, you look tired." Her roommate observed her.

Mavis was still trying to figure out what time it was, where she was, and what year it was after her nap.

"How was your gig?" Mavis deters the conversation from herself as she climbed out of bed, squinting.

"It was awesome, you're coming with next time!" Persephone twirled, landing on her bed.

Mavis observed her as she took the cigarette box her roommate bought her, and lit herself one by the cracked open window. A frigid air leaked through the crack, numbing Mavis's once warm fingers.

"Is there someone who caught your eye little miss dream girl?" Mavis speculated.

Persephone twisted on her bed so she lay just as she did the day they first met; head dangling off the edge while her legs stuck up.

"How'd you know?" Her blue sparkling eyes widened.

"You're all giddy and twirly I don't know. It was mostly just a hunch." Mavis shrugged as she blew a cloud of smoke out the window.

"There was this groovy guy who came up to us after our performance and gifted me some of his picks. He said he was also a guitarist and was impressed by my solo. God his man bun was hot! He even had his nails painted!"

Mavis laughed, the image of her starstruck roommate an entirely new view to her. She found it amusing how much of a welcoming open book she was.

"He sounds cool." Mavis said for lack of better comments.

"He was. How about you? I've heard you've been running around with Mr. Strong and Silent..."

*
Monday came around too soon, neither was Mavis's homework done, nor had she done any research for the biology project.

Soren navigated the cafeteria towards a frowning Mavis, who glared down at a yogurt cup before her. She twirled a spoon around in it, grimacing as she sniffed it.

"You don't like peaches?" Soren chuckled as he sat across her at the table.

She glanced up at him, the childish scowl still prominent on her face as she vigorously shook her head no.

He laughed once again, offering her his own yogurt cup, which happened to be strawberry flavored today.

She cocked her head to one side, slightly narrowing her eyes as she studied him.

"Go ahead, I'll have yours." He encouraged, reaching for the peach yogurt and eating a spoonful.

"You took my spoon!" Mavis protested, snatching it out of his grip and shoving it into her new strawberry yogurt.

A silence settled over the table, as Soren watched Mavis struggle to eat her first breakfast in a while.

"So..." Soren cautiously probed. "Are we going to talk about the ki-"

"No." She interrupted, aggressively sticking her spoon into the yogurt.

"No?"

"No. I don't think there's anything to talk about. Is there?" She raised a skeptical eyebrow at him, licking the spoon.

He watched her tongue run over the plastic, licking it clean.

"I-I guess not." He snapped out of his overawe.

She smiled at him, a smile far from innocent.

"Where-uh, have you done any research for our project?" He shifted the conversation only to be met with a guilty face.

"Ahaha... about that." She bit the inside of her cheek.

"I'm honestly not surprised." He smugly remarked, licking the yogurt lid seductively on his turn.

Mavis scoffed, her eyes trained on his bobbing adam's apple. "What do you mean?" She feigned insult.

"You're just stretching this project as much as possible so you can spend more time with me." Soren teased.

"Mmmmm, suurree. You've caught me red handed. I'll meet you in your room after classes I guess, so we can..." she paused, standing up and leaning over the table to whisper, "continue where we dropped off."

A with a self assured smirk, she left for class.