Beautifully Broken

Java Induced Dance Parties

Just then Call me Maybe comes on and I hear Emma's squeal echo from the bathroom. I can't help but laugh for the hundredth time this morning as I make my way back to my vanity to finish my make-up.

"Hey I just met you... and this is crazy, but here's my number... so call me maybe!" Emma appears in the doorway singing with her brush as I apply mascara. I look up at her and shake my head in despair.

"Remind me to never let you drink two pots of coffee ever again," I say as a breath of laughter escapes me.

"You helped." She points at me before she continues to skip down the hall, the volume rising on the stereo as she turns it up.

I look at my mascara wand in my shaking hand, she has a point...

Finishing with my simple eye makeup and realizing that no amount of foundation is going to cover the bags under my eyes so I might as well not even bother, I grab my books off the end of my bed and shove them all into my messenger bag. I grab my black peacoat off the back of my bedroom door as I wrap a Burberry scarf around my neck. It's nine forty and I'm going to be impressively late to class. Where the hell did they time go?!

"You might want gloves, the temp is supposed to continue dropping through the day," Casen yells in a protective way through the door as he passes.

Always looking out for me... I smile as I yank a pair of tan leather gloves that match my scarf out of the accessories bin in my closet and put them on before buttoning up my coat. I look at the mess that is my room and decide I will have to tackle that another time before slinging my messenger bag over my shoulder and gliding quickly out of the room. As an after thought I realized I didn't say my usual pep talk, but then again, there wasn't much time... and I'd already had it at three o'clock this morning.

I quickly skip down the hallway to find Emma packing a lunch in sweats and UGG boots. Casen reaches out of the Kitchen and hands me a to-go mug full of coffee and a protein bar.

"Thanks dah-ling," I say, giving him a quick peck on the cheek and he winks at me as I pull away.

"Have a good day guys!" I say as I chassé quickly out the front door.

"You too," I hear their unison-ed response as I close the door and traverse down the stairs and out the front door of our building. I look at my watch. It reads nine forty-five. Shit this is going to be a close call...

After running to the train, only to miss it, I wait in the frigid cold for the next one. By the time it arrives, my fingers are frozen despite my gloves and I step on to find there's only standing room. Great. I hold on to my mug begging for warmth with one hand and grab a railing with the other as the door closes behind me.

When I finally arrive on campus and tumble off the T at my stop I take a moment to gather myself and look at my watch again. Ten ten stares back at me from the dial tauntingly, shit. I can only hope that everyone else is also late because of the weather as snowflakes begin to waltz down to the ground around me. Quickly making my way to the English Department and to Lecture hall three, I quietly slide through the back door of the room.

"Ms Anglesey, so nice of you to join us." A stern albeit smooth voice says immediately and I freeze looking down towards the front of the room. I must look frazzled because the expression in the eyes that meet mine soften minutely. "Please, take your seat quickly," Professor Davenport says motioning to the middle of the room where I normally sit.

Embarrassed at the attention he's drawn to me and aware of the multiple sets of eyes on me, including some male observers whose eyes are most definitely not on my face, I quickly walk to my seat by Deanne. She scoots over to my normal seat, giving me the outside and I place my messenger bag on the floor and sit, totally out of breath.