Zane's POV
A single tear left my eye and slid down my cheek as I clutched at my aching chest. My breathing felt restricted as I tried to take greedy gulps of air. I only had one thought in my mind as more tears slid down my cheeks.
'Liam!' I called out only to be greeted with silence. My worst fear was coming true at this moment. A sob got stuck in my throat as reality crushed down onto me. I can't feel him.
He's gone.
*****
Melissa's POV
"Thanks for the lift, Nolan," I smiled at him as I unbunkled the seatbelt that crossed my chest and leaned down to grab my bag from the floor. I turned in my seat and faced an excited Grace who seemed to be enthralled by the pool of University students heading toward the gates to get into the grounds. "Bye Gracie Pie."
My voice brought her attention back to me and away from the window. With one million dollar smile, she waved at me. "Bye Meli! Have a good day!"
"Awe," I cooed," Thank you, you too, Sweetie Pie."
I then turned to Nolan who watched me with smiling eyes. "Have a good day."
"Thanks, you too," I smiled back," And again, thanks for the lift."
He brushed me off as I opened the door and shook his head," Don't mention it."
I gave him one last smile before jumping out of the car and closing the door behind me. There on the walkway stood a friend of mine, Melanie with what looked like surprise marring her pale features for some reason. Melanie was a gorgeous brunette with tan skin and amber coloured eyes. She was as tall as me, making her pretty short too.
I gave Nolan and Grace one last wave, before jogging over to Melanie who looked as frozen in shock as a Deer caught in headlights, she looked so confused.
"Hey there!" I greeted, hoping to snap her out of whatever she was in as she watched Nolan's car drive out of the driveway and onto the road.
"H-hi." She absentmindedly stuttered as she slowly turned her head to face me with confusion.
"Are you okay?" I asked, now feeling very confused with her strange behaviour.
She slowly nodded before mumbling a barely audible," Yeah."
A frown slowly replaced my features as a thought came to my mind. For some reason, that said 'idea' or thought didn't sit too well with me or my stomach because one minute I felt okay, and the next my stomach was painfully churning as the green alien known as jealousy peered its ugly head along with anger. I don't understand why thinking of her having liking or even having a measly crush on Nolan unsettled me so much and I didn't want to entertain the feelings, so instead, I did what anybody else would do. I forced a smile and forced myself to try and give what I would expect to be a normal and valid response.
"Do you have a crush on him?" I almost spat the words out like acid as my smile turned tight and shook uncontrollably. The words burnt at my tongue as the bitter words that I tried to make sweet left my lips, making me regret them almost immediately afterwards as I almost gritted my teeth as a way to control the boiling emotions.
"W-what?" She stuttered, suddenly coming back to reality as a light coat of pink tinted her cheeks and neck. Her red dress suddenly seeming like a complementary hue to her darkening skin. "N-no. Why would you think that? That's just ridiculous."
"Umm, you happened to be staring at the spot he parked at and drove off of for a while." I forced myself to giggle even as the forced laugh threatened to squeeze my vocal cords until they were crisp.
"No, it's not like that," She sighed, as she slowly gathered herself. "It's just that, I know that man and he's always been nice but distant. Seeing him dropping you off surprised me is all. In fact, I'd say it was a bit out of character for him, I think. I don't know."
Her words slowly calmed the beast of emotions inside of me as I took her words into perspective even though her description of him didn't quite fit him at all. Nolan is a kind man, and I guess it's normal for him not to drop people off everyday.
"Oh." I smiled a genuine smile this time.
"Yeah," She smiled as she tucked a stray and of hair behind her ear. Her long brunette curls were pulled into a beautiful, messy bun this morning and there was only a trace of mascara and eyeliner on her features. Her lips were lightly shining with lip balm and her ears were void of earrings, but she looked as beautiful as always. "Anyway, how are you feeling about out last class of the week and our first class of communication today?"
I let out an exaggerated sigh at her question but smiled at her afterwards.
"I'm a bit enthusiastic about our first lecture. I hope it's interesting though," I honestly replied as I pulled my bag in front of me and pulled out my student card so I could scan it on the card machine. With one quiet beep, I was able to push past the revolving door and walk into the campus. A few seconds later, I was joined by Melanie and before long, we were walking into the cool buildings and heading towards our lecture venue which was coincidentally at the same venue as our shared Psychology lecture.
"Do you know what you'll be majoring in yet for 3rd year?" She asked as we walked up the ramp that led to the section where our lecture hall was located.
"I'm not sure yet to be honest, I guess I'll just see with time. What about you?" I asked as we took a turn left and walked down the short flight of stairs.
"Same." She groaned as I opened the door into the quite cool room.
"How's Politics treating you?" I asked with a very curious raised eyebrow.
"The lecturer is so strict I'm scared for my life," She dramatically shivered as we walked down the stairs and got into the second row at the bottom and sat down. "But the content seems very promising." She happily squealed.
"I'm glad to hear that." I smiled, just as the person I assume to be the lecturer stopped connected his laptop to the system and projected the slides on the projector. I enthusiastically pulled out my notebook and pen and faced the front just as Melanie did the same thing.
Before long, slides appeared in front of us from the projector as we looked at the middle aged woman who wore a warm smile.
"Good Morning, Everyone! My name is Prof Peterson and I will be your lecturer for this cours....." She began.
My mind however decided to not focus on her for a second as an unsettling feeling settled into my being. A feeling that made me worry. It felt like something was wrong at this exact moment. Something I couldn't pinpoint, but something nonetheless.
"Hey!" Melanie's whisper yell filled my ears, making me absentmindedly hum in response as I turned to her. "You okay? You seem out of it."
"Yeah yeah," I whispered, forcing a small smile onto my features," I'm fine. Just thinking about what to cook for dinner tonight." I whispered.
"Sure?" She slowly said with a look and tone that said she didn't believe me.
"Trust me, I'm fine." I smiled reassuringly before facing the lecturer, but again, my mind decided to drift off to its own thoughts as I thought about Nolan's response about Zane.
It was very vague, but had me feeling like he wasn't being quite honest and something in my stomach tells me he wasn't. I just hope Zane is okay.
I quietly sighed and pushed my thoughts to the back of my head and tried to focus on the ongoing lecture instead. Trust me when I say, it was easier said than done.
~~~~~
The loud sound of my cellphone ringing had me groaning and wildly searching for it with my hand until I landed on the shaking device. I grabbed it and barely looked at the screen before swiping and putting it on loud speaker so I could place it on the pillow next to me.
"Hello." I groggily greeted.
"Hey Sweetie." Mom's warm voice filled the speaker, making me sleep even more.
"Hey Mom, what's up?" I yawned as I closed my eyes and focused on not falling asleep and listening to what my mom was saying.
"Well, I decided to drop by at the grocery store to buy some groceries. I noticed that we only have noodles left in the pantry and considering that Damian is coming tomorrow, I don't think we can feed him that nor can we have that for dinner." She explained.
"Okay?" I respond with confusion as I opened my eyes to look at the screen to see that it was only 1pm. I got back at 10h30 and had some actual breakfast while scrolling through the TV before switching it off and coming to my bedroom instead. Waking up at 6am is no joke people. It's not for the weak, like myself.
"What should I get for tomorrow's dessert and dinner? Should I get extra steak and some pork sausages which we can grill or should I get some ingredients for lasagne? And for dessert, does custard sound fine? Or maybe ice-cream? I don't know." She sighed.
"Mom, calm down, okay? We'll figure it out. For starters, you can get the extra steak and sausages. We can grill them along with some fries and you could get some ingredients for a salad and some buns. You can get ice-cream and some ingredients for malva pudding, too. The combination never disappoints." I finished.
"Thanks Honey." She sighed in relief. I could even hear the faint smile that was obviously marring her features from her tone.
"Anytime Mom." I yawned.
"Okay, I'll leave you to your nap. We can buy pizza for dinner and I think I'll get some drinks for tonight and tomorrow while I'm here." She said in thought.
"Okay, bye Mom. I love you." I said as I pushed my blankets off me and got off of my comfy bed, but I would be back after I relieve my poor bladder.
"I love you too, Sweetie. See you when I get back." She said, sending me a Bluetooth kiss before hanging up. I merely chuckled and shook my head as I slipped on my fluffy morning shoes and trudged towards the bathroom in the hall. I know, thank the heavens for the bathroom in the far distance, right?
I got into the bathroom and quickly did what I had to do there before washing my hands while looking at myself in the mirror. I had my pain black bonnet to keep my hair neat. Aside that, I had changed into a mid-thigh length, yellow summer dress for comfortability's sake. My face looked shiny with sleep and some sweat, but considering that I would be returning to bed, it didn't bother me.
Certain people should never see me looking like this.
I lightly smiled and shook my head and the vague thought that had an actual target that I didn't want to mention.
I stepped out of the bathroom just to have my hand clutch at the wall as a sudden, strong wave of dizziness and nausea poured over my body. I tightly closed my eyes and slid down the wall in case I fell. I could hear my heart in my head and my vision was blurry and spinning like a CD in a CD player. I slowly took a few deep breaths in and out, hoping that it would calm my raging heart and nerves and to my surprise, after a few more seconds of excruciating dizziness, it all disappeared as thought it had never happened.
I felt completely normal again which for some reason, didn't feel normal to me.
What was that?