Cold Hard Hugs

#3 _ Movie Night

Things went by almost normally after this, which is to say there were no earth-shattering changes. I wasn't sure what I expected, really, but waking up the next day everything went pretty much as it always did on any given weekday. No bad thing.

Given that it was a day of early lectures – Nine AM! Such barbarity! – I did actually had to wake up, which was bad. I went through the motions of washing and eating breakfast that were so practised they were more automatic gestures and muscle memory than anything else. It was only as I headed towards the front door that something different happened.

Typically though not always Tillie was up and around to say good morning and see me off (somehow she never had any early lectures; damn her) but this morning it did not appear so and her door was closed. I shrugged this off – I couldn't blame her – but failed to hear it open once I moved past it. The first indication I had was when, suddenly, she slithered up behind me quick as a flash and grabbed me around the waist.

"Morning!" She squeaked, squeezing the breath out of me as I waved my arms in surprise. Her grip was such I couldn't even turn around so I just sort of stood there accepting it for a few seconds until she let go. When I did manage to turn around – trying not to wheeze as I was able to draw air back into my lungs again – I saw her sheepishly clutching her hands in front of her, tail doing the nervous flicking thing again. Guess it was unconscious then. Maybe?

"Sorry. Was that okay? Is it too early? Should I ask first?" She asked.

"You worry too much, and it is adorable," I said, gesturing for her to come in at me again, which she did. This one was a lot less painful and awkward, though I still winced a little as she squeezed in the exact same place as last time and I was beginning to get a little tender. Pleasant enough anyway. It was the thought that mattered most, and my thoughts at least were suddenly a fair bit more warm and fuzzy.

"Have a good day!" She said as I opened the front door.

"You too!" I said in return, and l left for uni actually feeling pretty good about, well, everything really.

Other than the unusual beginning the day was utterly, utterly mundane. It is impossible to overstate just how routine it was, and how everything it contained was completely within the bounds of what I had come to expect. Learning, mostly, with lots of walking around and staring into space mixed in. The only possibly slightly new thing was that my sides hurt through most all of it.

Pausing to have a look at why this might be I was somewhat surprised to find myself the proud owner of two new and quite livid bruises on my sides. Tillie hugged hard, apparently. And naturally now that I'd noticed and seen them they hurt a lot more, but worse things had happened. Pain don't hurt, as they say.

After a cup of far too expensive and completely foul coffee to stop me from keeling over on the way back I went home again in time for lunch and also in time to find that Tillie was out. No bad thing, as lovely as she was, a quiet house every now and then was a blessing.

I made the most of this bonus quiet by making the house as noisy as possible. Music went on and went on at a volume enough that I could hear it all the way from my room while in the kitchen. I think the house next door is empty. I hope it is. If it isn't, they're very patient with us. And especially me, since I am in many ways the exact things you do not want in a student living next to you. Mea culpa.

I should, of course, have been working. I wasn't though. I was a bad influence on myself. On the walk back I was filled with motivation, thinking to myself about all the things I could – and would – do once I got back and parcelling up all the time nicely in my head. The moment I got in I would eat, and that would last for exactly forty-five minutes (inclusive of preparation), after which I would sit for fifteen, then I would do work for an hour etcetera etcetera.