Chapter 8

Sophia

I waited impatiently for class to finish up. I'd barely heard what the professor said the whole class because I was so excited.

Today, I finally got to meet him.

The moment class was over; I was one of the first to get up and struggle through the crowd to get outside. It was so unlike me. Usually, even when I was sitting down doing nothing, I tended to wait for the room to clear up a bit, but I was running late, and I still had something I wanted to do.

I need to go back to the room first and get ready there...

When I woke up, in my excitement, I'd just pulled on whatever clothes I got my hands on, even knowing the meeting time wouldn't be until after my second class of the day. I didn't look terrible; if anything, I was dressed the same as I was every day. But I was meeting a guy I was hoping to date, so I should dress up a bit more, right?

I hurried back to the room. I found it empty, but I did remember Dana said she had something to do. I was in jeans, t-shirt, and sneakers. I pulled them all off and found a dark blue skirt that fell to just above my knees and a white blouse. I tied a small scarf in a bow around my neck, then pulled on sandals with a bit of a heel. I took a quick glance in a mirror. I didn't use a lot of makeup, usually, so I just touched up my lipstick and ran back outside.

The meeting place was on the bench close to the main library. It sat under a tree several feet away from the library's front entrance. In the current weather, spots like that were popular with couples, where you could catch some sun and shade just moving a little bit. It was a little breezy, but not cold, and I sat down holding my cell tightly in my hands.

I waited, biting down on my lip, my heart beating fast in my chest. I looked around, wondering if the guy was someone I already knew. If I would recognize him before he came and sat beside me. There were a few people walking around, but a lot less than I would have expected. Even the number of people going in and out of the library was a lot less than there should be. I could tell because I went there frequently myself. The new testing period wasn't so far away that people would be slacking off.

"Where is everybody today?" I mused to myself. "Don't tell me they all decided to slack off."

I frowned, wondering if I'd missed something, but then dismissed it. It didn't matter. I was just distracting myself from the anxiety.

When is he going to get here?

There hadn't been any exact time given, but he had said to meet around lunch so we could eat together afterward. If my stomach weren't so full of butterflies, I probably would have been hungry, since I'd been in such a hurry in the morning I didn't even eat breakfast. I wondered what we'd eat if we'd be going off the school grounds. Maybe a restaurant in the city?

I daydreamed a little about it, imagining sitting at a restaurant with Student X across from me. He'd be tall, muscled, good-looking...blond with blue eyes and with a killer smile.

When I thought hard about it, the person I imagined sitting across from me, looked amazingly like Elijah.

Shit! Get that out of your head! I scolded myself immediately, scowling as I looked down. Instead, I imagined Student X being tall, but not too tall, just tall enough that I could wear high heels around him. He'd be slim but muscled with dark hair and dark eyes...

Or I could wait and see what the guy looks like.

I took a deep breath and decided to go with that instead, checking the time on my cell then looking around again. When I saw someone off in the distance, or coming out of the library, I would perk up. But no one came to a stop in front of me, and I would deflate, before telling myself to wait some more.

Just like that, an hour passed. The butterflies in my stomach had calmed down enough that I was starting to feel hungry now.

Maybe something came up, I thought hopefully.

I opened the dating site on my cell. It looked a little awkward on my cell since I used a mini-browser, but for my purposes, it was enough. I checked, and there was nothing. The last few messages I'd sent a while ago hadn't even been replied to. I felt disappointed but still waited.

Another hour went by. I wasn't even looking around anymore, and I kept checking back to our chat messages. I even double checked the time and date I was given, and tried sending a few messages, but nothing. It took me a while, but I could admit it to myself.

I was stood up.

"Dammit," I muttered, teeth gritted, hands squeezing the edges of the bench.

I bit down on my lip, blinking my stinging eyes, then jumped up. I put my cell away in my purse and headed toward the dorms. Before I left, I took a last look around, but the place was deserted, just like it had been a couple hours ago.

When I got back to the room, I practically kicked the door open and slammed it closed. For a long moment, I just stood there, staring at the back of the door and trying hard not to cry and be so upset.

It's not like I even know him. We've only talked online for like three weeks...

"What's wrong with you?"

I whirled around, my eyes widening in surprise. "Dana! What are you doing here?"

Her lips lifted in a sardonic smile. "This is my room, too, you know. Why wouldn't I be here?"

I rubbed my eyes and frowned at her. "I figured you'd be out with Logan or something."

"Yeah, no," she said with a sneer. "He's busy at the moment, I just left him to it."

I moved to sit down on my bed, kicking off the strappy sandals and setting my purse down. I glanced over at my desk, where my computer still sat and made a decision. I got up and went over there, sitting down. Then I turned my computer on and logged into the site.

Still nothing.

I expected it, but it was still a heavy blow. I hesitated a little, but it wasn't like it mattered. No one else had ever reached out to me, even the few that I sent messages to, and the one guy I did ask to meet then stood me up.

"Seriously," Dana said from behind me. "What's up? You look upset."

I let out a bitter laugh. "Don't tell me you care that I'm upset now?"

She sighed. "Sophia, I never stopped caring. I know I've been acting a bit like a bitch recently, but I'm, sorry, okay?"

I turned around slowly to look at her. She was frowning, looking genuinely apologetic, and I sighed as my shoulders slumped.

"Well, it's not like I have anyone else I could tell," I muttered. "I went out to meet a guy today."

Her eyebrows shot up. "That was unexpected. So, what? Did you not like the guy? Date went wrong?"

I laughed bitterly. "He never fucking showed up."

"So, call him," she said with a shrug.

I sighed. "It's not that simple. I don't have his cell number or anything."

She tilted her head to the side. "I think you better explain."

I pursed my lips but decided there was nothing wrong with confiding in Dana. When she wasn't an ass, she was a good friend. I remembered Jennifer's words and wondered if this relationship with Logan was finally losing its shine. I hoped so because I would love to have my friend back.

"Do you...remember a while back when someone at the dorm told us about a campus dating site?"

Recognition flashed across her face, and also something else, but it was gone before I could look at it too closely.

"Yeah."

I sighed. "I know I act like I'm okay not dating, but I do want to. But I don't want some guy that wants to get in my pants. I want someone that's going to care about how my day went, about what I'm interested in, and if it's someone with similar interests, then better. I guess you could say I'm trying to find love. Especially once you started hanging out with Logan, I just realized how alone I really was then."

I bit my lip and looked down, wondering if she would call me lame or whatever. At this point, I didn't even care. But, she surprised me.

"I'm sorry," she said, and when I met her eyes, she looked completely sincere.

"It's fine," I said with a sigh. "I did meet someone, and we've been chatting. We were supposed to meet today, but he never showed up."

She pursed her lips. "Is that so..."

"Mh-hm. I waited a couple of hours then I gave up. I guess it was pointless."

"No, it wasn't," she said, peering up. "If a guy gives a promise to you and takes it back, without telling you a thing no less, then he's just a jerk, okay? I downloaded a new romance movie on my computer and I have some snacks I bought yesterday. Do you want to watch with me?"

I pursed my lips. "What about Logan?"

"What about Logan?" she countered. As if on cue, her cell vibrated. She picked it up and read her text, then froze. After a second, though, she put her cell aside and turned to me. "It's fine. He was busy when I had free time, and I wanna stay with you today so that he can deal. Come on; I think you'll like this one."

I watched as she jumped off her bed to get the snacks and her computer, moving them all to her bed. Then, she closed the curtains and scooted over to make space for me, patting the space beside her.

My lips tiled in a smile as I remembered why Dana and I were such good friends before Logan. She was even blowing off her boyfriend to spend time with me, and with how clingy she'd been acting toward him, I couldn't help but feel a bit touched. I turned back to my computer. I was still on my profile page on the dating site. I hesitated for a moment, then made a decision.

A minute later, I closed my computer and let it shut down as I moved to sit with Dana on her bed. The movie was already starting, and she handed me an open bag of chips as we settled back into the pillow. She even let me use most of the pillow so I wouldn't be uncomfortable, and I couldn't help smiling as I bit down on a chip.

My eyes stung a bit, and my throat felt irritated from my upset earlier, but I ignored it. Because I realized that the day wasn't so bad. Maybe Dana and I could reconnect, the way that we used to. As they say nothing should come between friends. I let her off the hook a little too easy, but then I suppose I should have talked to her instead of just biting her head off all the time. All I know is that I don't want to be alone right now and Dana's the only friend that I have, even if things haven't been that great between us lately. I was just hoping that it really was a thing of the past.