Maybe another day?

College wasn't at all as bad as people were saying. Of course, it was hard at first, and trying to figure out the routine, the classes, and how to be liked by the teachers was a difficult process of growing up, but Nyxie lived into the part with a few weeks. She still didn't know how to make friends but had been able to talk to a few of her course mates that she had most of the classes with.

By the beginning of October, the girl had started missing her family a lot more than she would've ever thought. They called twice a week and texted almost every day, but it wasn't the same. She missed their presence. She missed the way she could wake up and the breakfast would already be waiting for her. She missed the noise in the house.

Living in a small apartment all by herself was lonelier than she had thought.

But it was okay.

Having a part-time job in a coffee shop on the campus was making everything a lot easier, too. Nyxie could communicate with people, and even if she didn't like men, it felt nice when some flirted with her occasionally. She didn't feel as invisible as she had a month ago. She felt like she was growing into a young woman who simply had bad communication skills but was able to take care of herself.

Well, the part where she had to do her laundry was hard. She had figured out the washing machine with a few weeks, but it still felt weird to be doing it herself. Other than that, everything was going as planned.

Until the first Tuesday of the month.

The morning passed as per usual; she ate eggs and toast, made a few slices of bacon with it, and after getting ready and dressed, walked to the campus. The walk lasted a little longer than usual because even if she didn't live far from the university, it was raining and she found it difficult to hold the umbrella in that kind of weather. The girl rolled her eyes at the number of people whining about the rain and the wind. They definitely had never lived on the east coast.

When she got to her first class of the day, she sat somewhere at the back of the lecture hall, close to the door, placing her laptop to rest on her knees, and just in case, pulling a notebook out of the bag as well. The class started shortly after, and it was amusing to watch how everyone was late because of the weather, bringing excuses such as the busses were late, their umbrellas broke, etc. But weirdly, everyone seemed to understand. Nyxie wanted to ask them if they had ever been somewhere other than LA but bit her tongue with a smirk instead when another person entered the class and made the professor stop the lecture, again.

It was just a second though, and then he continued, not even caring anymore if people stepped through the door later than usual. Nyxie eyed the girl for a moment, looking at how she sat a few rows down, and turned back to the teacher, typing a note to her laptop.

And that's when she understood.

She froze, eyes widening as her head whipped back to stare at the last girl that had entered the room. Curly black hair. Dark brown eyes. A dress and a leather jacket. That voice, oh that voice. "What's the topic?" it whispered to a boy next to her.

"Same as yesterday," the guy's low voice said, not even bothering to whisper. The girl nodded and took out a thick blue notebook with a single pen. She wrote something down and focused on the teacher, cutting off the view of her face from Nyxie. The only thing she could now see was the back of her head and the amazingly curly black hair she had. But even a thing as simple as that was making her heart thump.

Same as yesterday, the boy's words echoed in her head. Same as yesterday? She had been there yesterday? How long had they sat in the same room and not noticed each other? Or, fuck it, maybe Garciela had, but had never dreamed of Nyxie before and didn't think anything of it? Cursing under her breath, the blonde tore her eyes off her soulmate and tried to concentrate on the class.

She failed miserably.

#

Nyxie's heart was flying in her chest, the wings flapping against her ribs, and she felt sick. The class had just ended, and some people had already left in a hurry, while most were still packing up their things. She couldn't move. Her eyes stayed on the girl a few rows forward in the tiered seat.

The brunette was almost ready to go, laughing at something her friend (or boyfriend) had said, and Nyxie's breathing got heavier by every passing second. The guy was finally done packing, so the two stepped into the aisle and started climbing the few stairs towards the door.

It was her. The dimples on her cheeks and the soft look in her eyes made Nyxie's heart stop. When the two were about to pass her, for whatever reason it was, Garciela looked to her left, locking eyes with her. The previous heavy breathing abruptly stopped as did the girl, staring at one another. A plastic bag was suppressing her air income. She couldn't breathe.

Nyxie was melting in her seat. The eyes looking back at her were so dark but had this lightness in them that she noticed even twenty feet away. As much as she wanted to check her out normally, or focus on any other aspect of her, she couldn't. Her eyes were glued to hers. And there was no way she was going to be the one to break the contact.

"G?" the guy asked, stopping a few steps later, frowning at his friend. He moved his head to the same direction hers was and looked at the pretty blonde girl still sitting there, looking flushed. "Everything okay?" he frowned at Garciela who shot her head up the next second and gave him a tight-lipped smile.

"Yeah, fine. Let's go," she said and hurried out of the door.

Frowning to herself, Nyxie shot up from her seat. She didn't understand anything that had just happened, only knowing she needed to talk to the girl now. Faster than ever, her things were pushed into the backpack and she was out of the room, running to catch up with the two.

The rain was still pouring from the sky, but it could've just as well been an earthquake and she wouldn't have noticed. The umbrella in her hand didn't matter either, and so, after running through the metaphorical shower, she finally reached the two friends again, hair and clothes dripping wet.

What they were talking about didn't matter. Nothing else mattered at this point, the only need she had was to touch her. Anything of her. Even just her jacket would've been fine.

But, walking there behind the girl she had dreamed about for months, she wasn't sure she could even move. Not knowing how, her hand reached out and she placed it on the girl's shoulder. A strange weight dropped to her hand the moment she touched her, and she couldn't understand what it was or why it had happened.

Garciela knew who it was. From her dreams, she had gathered much information about the girl she always called Nay.

Stopping at the next step, she grasped her friend's arm and quietly told him to go ahead and wait in the car. The guy nodded, giving a weird look to the soaking wet blonde behind them, and went.

Nyxie was wheezing a bit, the warm raindrops falling on her more and more every second she stood there. By the time Garciela finally turned around slowly, she wondered the choking for air wasn't much because of the running. It was because of her.

Eyes widening at her face finally in front of her, Nyxie's lips didn't move. She wished they did. She wished she could tell her everything that had been building up in her body and mind for the last few months, but suddenly, even a small smile didn't escape her lips.

There was a knowing look on the older girl's face. She was stood under an umbrella but wasn't surprised to find Nyxie there without one. The blonde had no idea why, but the soft look from Gracie's face disappeared within a few seconds, replaced by a small scowl.

"Yes?" her annoyed voice asked.

A small frown appeared on Nyxie's face. She knew she knew. The black-haired girl had obviously recognized who she was. But then... Why did she look so mad?

Only a short sound escaped her mouth before taking a deep breath, telling herself not to be an idiot or a coward, and straightforwardly ask her. "You know who I am, right?"

Making a face at her own words, she raised her shoulders unnoticeably, fingers fiddling with the hem of her shirt subconsciously.

"I know who I am," the girl answered with a hard voice, not giving her a direct answer. "What do you want?"

Nyxie frowned, oblivious to the few pairs of eyes watching them at a distance. Many soulmates met in college. People knew it. So, every time someone seemed to hug one another too happily or run after each other, people seemed to be watching, waiting for the happy first encounter.

Usually, the girl would've cowered away from their eyes, especially since it was a girl in front of her and not a boy as most seemed to expect, but at that moment, it didn't matter. She couldn't even think about it.

"I'm Nyxie," she breathed. Earning a small nod from the shorter girl in front of her made her relax a bit. "Am I... Have you seen me?"

"Seen you? In class?"

"Um... I mean like. In your dreams," she mumbled the last sentence, dropping her eyes for a moment before returning them to her beautiful face.

"Yeah, so?"

Chuckling from amazement—or annoyance, because she wasn't sure of her feelings—Nyxie raised an eyebrow. "So. Can we... talk?"

"I'm actually busy right now," the girl told her. "Maybe another day?"

Her face dropped when the girl started to turn around. "Wait," she grabbed ahold of her shoulder again. "I've seen you. A lot. I think you owe me your name and age at least... I've been dreaming about you for months."

Garciela quirked her eyebrow similar to the way the blonde had earlier. "I don't owe you anything. Standing here in front of me, shoulders slump, telling me we're soulmates doesn't make me love you. There has to be more than that between two people. Those dreams are just stupid reminders of fantasies we have. That's not how love is, and since nothing ever works out, soulmates or not, I suggest you release my arm right now."

Taken by shock, Nyxie let go of her, and the girl walked away, towards the parking lot a few hundred feet away. She watched how her blue dress under the leather jacket moved in the wind, and suddenly, realizing what was happening, the world came back to her.

The rain splattered against the asphalt around her, and she was soaking in it. Opening her umbrella wouldn't have mattered anymore, so she simply took a small breath and walked in the direction of her home.

It was a miracle she didn't get hit by a car considering her mental state and confusion at that particular moment. Only then, safely in her apartment, she understood the presence of the laptop in her bag, and cursing herself, pulled it out from the damp cloth backpack. Everything was drenched, and suddenly it was the first time in months that she got Garciela out of her head, simply focusing on checking if she had taken every item that belonged to her or left something in the lecture hall.

Nyxie made herself a warm bath and grabbed a bag of candy from a kitchen cabinet, deciding that since she had already accidentally gone home and not to her next lecture ten minutes from now, she would skip the day. After all, there was a lot for her to think about.