Yours Truly

2. Stay Driven

Sera realized after a few days, and after the giddiness had worn off, that she had absolutely no way of contacting that forest man, and she didn't know if she was gonna see him again. Therefore, her excitement and giggles were short-lived and she was left with disappointment. He was on her mind constantly for the week following that, she thought of his green eyes (and biceps even though she wouldn't admit it) as she showered, as she ate, in class. His face would pop up in her mind at such odd and random moments of her day and it was always followed with a soft silly giggle. She felt like a teenage schoolgirl who couldn't stop fantasizing about her crush.

But what was wrong with that?

Was the thought that followed every time she caught herself being silly. She probably wouldn't see him again, and she was finally okay with that idea, so there was no harm in thinking about him every now and then. Besides, she had absolutely nothing going on in her life right now.

"I am on the verge of tears." Her friend Wes stated calmly and the friend group turned to look at him.

"I've been working on the slides for two hours now, I'm getting hungry, my back hurts from sitting, and the fucking lines on here won't fucking align together the way I want them to!" He dropped his hands on the table tirelessly and sighed.

Sera wanted to laugh but stopped herself before she did.

"I think we could take a break." Allison suggested.

"Better yet, I think we should just call it a night and go home." Marvin sarcastically responded.

"Mar, I'm not joking-..." Ally started to whine but was quickly cut off by Mar and Wes.

"Ally, we're all tired, we haven't eaten anything since we five except these shitty oreos, and the quality of the work is so bad because we just wanna get it over with." Mar argued, "What do you think is better, continuing tomorrow when we're fully rested and concentrated, or continuing now and end up with bad work?"

They stared at each other, Sera and Wes also stared at each other while holding in their smiles. Marvin was the only person on this earth who could reason with Ally this way, if it was up to Sera and Wes, they'd continue working than dare suggest stopping and picking up tomorrow to Ally. Academic validation was too important to her.

"Fine." Ally groaned, "But we're meeting up tomorrow right after classes, okay?" She glared at them.

"Don't worry, Ally, we're acing this presentation!" Sera tried to comfort her but Ally only grumbled back incoherent words as she picked up her laptop and stationery. Wes snorted from beside Sera.

"I want coffee, do you guys wanna go to the cafe near the corner?" Wes asked.

Sera perked up at that, "Yes!"

Their friend group was comforting, there was something warm about it in Sera's eyes. She first met Wes in her second year of college, they shared three courses together in the first semester that year forcing them to spend more time together. By the time second semester rolled around, they found themselves texting each other in their breaks and meeting up. He matched her silly energy and laughed at her jokes, their sense of humor was the same which was what drew her to him at first. Now nearing the end of their fourth year, Wes meant a lot to Sera and she couldn't go a day without texting him.

Marvin and Allison were in and out of the picture a lot. They would sometimes meet up with them and sometimes they would disappear. Allison was too focused on her studies, grades meant everything to her to the point where she would lock herself up in her apartment during finals and not talk to anyone until she'd finish. Marvin disappeared a lot. His friendship was casual, slow. Sera wouldn't consider the two of them best friends but they were close to her in a way that gave her comfort and made her warm inside. Even if they were annoying sometimes, she knew they couldn't be as annoying as her and Wes.

"Last one to get there their mom's a hoe!" She yelled as soon as she had her shoes on and ran down the stairs of her dorm, hearing her friends' shoes squeaking behind her as they ran.

The cafe wasn't too full of people but it wasn't empty too. The group went to the counter to order while they still made fun of Marvin for arriving last.

"I'm still kinda stressed about the internship thing." Sera was talking as they made their way to a table after ordering. She passed by a young man and almost bumped into him if she hadn't stepped away at the last minute.

"Still hadn't found a place that needs interns?" Marvin asked.

"Nope." She was playing with a sugar packet and she laughed softly looking at it between her hands.

"Almost everyone had already found a place, but I don't know. I just can't find something I'm passionate about." She mumbled.

"Passionate about? It's marketing, Sera." Allison furrowed her brows.

"I know, I just..." Why was she suddenly nervous?

Sera let go of the sugar packet and wiped her sweaty hands on her jeans as she looked at the table. "I studied something I'm not passionate about so I don't wanna train somewhere I don't care about too. I wanna at least enjoy my training period since I couldn't enjoy studying my major." Sighing, she looked at Wes. Her comfort person.

"It's silly..."

"No, It's not. I get you." Wes was about to go on but was interrupted by the shadow of a man who stood over him.

"Hey, I hope you don't mind," The mad started, Sera looked at him and knew he was the same one she was about to bump into before. His hair was tossed, long and messy, the color of sand. His brown eyes bright and crinkly as he smiled, and his hand in his pockets casually while the other held a plastic coffee cup.

"But I accidentally heard you say you're looking for a place to train?" He asked but Sera felt like it wasn't really a question from his tone.

"Yeah."

"My company happens to be looking for interns currently, what is your major?" Why was his smile getting bigger and bugger by the second?

"Marketing." Sera's throat was suddenly dry.

"Perfect, we're looking someone to enhance our social media presence, you know, manage posts and respond to messages. Promote our company while adding a touch of creativity. Would you be interested?" Sera was now eager to seize the opportunity, this was the perfect laidback yet interesting internship work.

"May I ask what will I be promoting?" She asked.

"Have you ever heard of Stay Driven?" The man asked.

"Oh my gosh, are you kidding? I love your videos!" Wes exclaimed and immediately started doing the intro for Stay Driven youtube videos. The man laughed at that, clearly amused.

"What's that?" Allison asked.

"It's a gym slash physical health center, they offer self defense courses, karate, boxing, the list goes on. They're really popular, they opened up their second branch in Mexico not long ago." Wes looked at the man as if asking for confirmation and the man nodded proudly.

"Our social media person is currently on vacation and we need someone until he's able to get back. Do you think you can do that? We'll give you all the credit you need." His smile was warm, and Sera felt a friendly vibe roll off of him. She knew who Stay Driven were and even watched a couple of their videos but never signed up in any of their courses or even their gym, but how hard can promoting them on social media be?

"Sure." She finally nodded. The man smiled brightly. Dimples.

"Here's my card, how about you come by our center on Monday to discuss details?" He handed her a white card. Sera nodded and scanned the card in her hands.

Jamie Kolt.

"I didn't catch your name?" Jamie asked.

"Sera Wynn."

"Sera. I'll be expecting you."