𝓂𝒶𝑔𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓁 | 𝓁.𝑔.

twenty-six

The summer comes to an end, and Lip prepares to go back to campus for fall semester. 

His application to be a Resident Advisor was approved, so he arrives early to oversee move-in day for his floor. 

From the minute Lip steps onto campus, he pays attention to every person he sees. 

His eyes are always darting among crowds trying to find April.

After a few days, he hasn't seen her but isn't surprised. 

He assumes April moved to off-campus housing like many of the upperclassmen. 

He'll have to wait to see her in a class. 

As seniors, they work on senior design projects for their different specialties, but he should still have at least one class with her.

 He gets up the first day of classes eager to finally see April after the long summer.

When Lip arrives at his afternoon lab, he sees Robert. 

Since he and Robert are both specializing in Robotics, they'll spend the year in the same lab working on their projects.

"Hey man," Robert says when he sees Lip. "How was your summer?"

"Decent. You?"

"Not bad. I worked for a company out of Boston. Did a little traveling, learned some stuff, hung out with some babes. You know, the usual." Robert tries to be upbeat. 

He's glad to see Lip but knows his summer probably sucked.

"Good. I got a couple of classes out of the way, so I'm on track to graduate in May if everything goes well." Lip tries to avoid the subject of April, but it's killing him. "So, I haven't seen April around. Have you?" 

He tries to sound casual.

Robert braces himself to tell Lip what he knows. He knew Lip would ask him almost immediately. 

Clearly, Lip didn't get over April during the summer. 

"She's not here. She transferred. She called me last week to let me know."

"She transferred?" Lip knew it was a possibility but never wanted to acknowledge it himself. He wanted to believe he would see April when classes started back. It was too hard to deal with the fact that he might not. "Where?"

"She didn't tell me. I know you don't believe me, but she really didn't."

Lip believes him. He is just now realizing the extent of April's hurt. 

She truly planned to never see him again. She cut her losses and moved on. 

Lip is equally empathetic and angry. He can't blame her, but he does.

"How did she sound?" Lip still cares for her so much. 

He at least wants to know if she's doing well.

"Fine. We didn't talk for very long. She was just checking in."

That explains nothing to Lip. There is no telling how April is. She would keep it all to herself. 

"Did she mention dating anyone?"

"No. I don't think she would make time for a relationship. I think school and work keep her pretty busy."

"Yeah, but she made time for me." Lip thinks to himself.

After lab, Lip returns to the dorm. He has a list of requests from the students on the floor. 

Many of the requests are from girls that say they'll try to come by again later. 

A few of the co-eds come by for every minuscule thing. He guesses they are more interested in him than whatever inconsequential complaints they have. 

He can hardly give them a second look.

Lip sits to begin his lab report. 

Before he can focus on it, he pulls out one of the spiral notebooks that he's continued to write in. 

He tells April how disappointed he is not to see her in class. He talks about how he can't imagine the coming year without studying with her. He reminisces about the beginning of the year before. 

It seems there is always something to share with her. 

Writing to her helps Lip process the different feelings that creep up regularly, and makes him feel like he's still connected to her. 

It has become almost a daily ritual.