Twilight Java

Chapter 4

Just as I'm about to leave, the door opened and in came Veronica. She looked tired but raised her eyebrows at me playfully. "On another date?"

"By myself this time," I said. "I'm going out to get material for the newspaper." My voice held a hint of pride, my excitement showing.

Veronica's mouth parted slightly, almost as though trying to look enthusiastic. "You found out how to do it," She took her shoes off, staring at the ground. "I'm happy for you."

Her tone and demeanor worried me. Veronica's usual pestering and upbeat personality seemed to vanquish. I didn't want to completely intrude, but also felt that as her roommate I had to help. "Hey, is everything alright?"

Veronica paused. "Yeah," She said stiffly then sat on the edge of her bed.

I sighed, feeling stumped. "If you don't want to talk about it it's fine, but know that I'm here to listen if you need to," I caught a glance at the clock, realizing that I had a couple minutes until the bus would arrive. "Hey, I'm going to this cafe right now so would you wanna come? I could pay for you."

Veronica seemed to consider it, but then shook her head. "It's nothing serious I need to talk about, I just sort of want to be alone," she leaned herself against the wall, looking sleepy. "But thank you for asking." She gave me a soft smile.

My heart reached out to her although not knowing, and I felt guilty that I couldn't stay to talk with her about whatever was bothering her. But if she wanted to be alone, then that was what she needed for now. "I guess it's a good thing I'm leaving then," I laughed, trying to ease up the mood. She sniffled out a laugh but didn't say anything. "I'll be back in maybe two hours," I leaned down to give her a brief hug. "See ya, and expect me to come back with food," I said while walking out the door, then realizing I ruined the surprise. "Or don't, it'll be more fun that way!" I saw her smile lightly one last time before I shut the door.

I walked briskly down the corridor, making sure my camera didn't hit the wall or anything near it. Pushing open the door, I almost began to run to the bus stop. I didn't remember exactly when it arrived when I was with Charlie so I wanted to rather be safe than sorry. Jogging towards the stop I had held my camera, feeling like I was protecting a child. Finally making it there, my throat burned from the cool air that I was inhaling. By a stroke of luck, the bus arrived just a minute after getting to the stop. Sinking into a seat, I tried to regain a regular breathing rate. I made sure to pay careful attention on when to get off the bus. Charlie told me two stops and I remember getting off in front of a music store.

After the first stop I made sure to be on the lookout for the bright blue guitar sign of the music store. Once spotted, I hopped off the bus but was soon faced with a new dilemma: I didn't know where to go on from there. My sense of victory from finding the music store quickly deflated when I didn't know where to move on from there with. I examined my surroundings, looking for any possible cue to help guide me to the cafe. Finding nothing, I felt defeated and scared. It would take a couple hours until it got dangerously dark outside, but my real issue was if I would make it to listen to the singer with the mesmerizing voice and hopefully snap his picture for the newspaper, along with the others of course.

Huffing as I sat down on a rough wooden bench, I leaned back and simply stared at passing traffic, trying to think of a solution. My hopeless romantic side hoped that a sweet city boy would come and guide me to the cafe, but my realistic side knew I had to help myself. I watched a sputtering bus come to a stop as I stared absentmindedly at its Google advertisement plastered on the side.