“Sure, El. I’m here for you. If one day you decide to tell me what changed since you left Amanda Black’s party, I’m all ears,”
he said, “without any judg ment.”
I knew Liam well enough to know he was telling the truth. He never judged anyone for anything, for that matter. He was a good
-h earted person, always willing to listen and find a solution.
But there was no solution this time. Of course, I could trust Liam with my life. I could tell him anything—we always told each other everything. That’s what he was finding so difficult to understand. But he respected my wishes and knew to leave it alone until I was ready to confide in him.
Only, I wasn’t sure if I ever would. I was concerned about sharing it with one more person. It would only mean one more person feeling sorry for me, and that’s not what I wanted. I had asked my family not to tell anyone else—it was already driving me crazy the way they were all treating me like I was about to break. They had promised me that, aside from Logan, since he and my sister share everything with each other, no one else would know about that n ight.
Liam and I remained quiet until we both turned to look inside the cottage living room. We chuckled to see Philip passed out on the couch with one leg and one arm dangling to the f loor.
January 2019
I wake up thinking about her, the girl in the alley. Four and a half years later, and I can’t get her out of my mind. Still lying in bed, I shake my head, returning to the pre sent.
Today is the first day back to university after the Christmas holidays. I woke earlier to the sound of my alarm. It’s a grey winter day in Vancouver, the clouds covering the sky, and I’ve snoozed the alarm several times. Rolling over, face down into my pillow, I swiftly pull the blanket over my head, not ready to get out of bed and start this new term. Reminding myself how close I am to my bachelor of science in bio logy.
My phone starts buzzing on my nightstand, and I reach over, taking it in my hand to see who could be calling me this e arly.
“Oh, crap!” I clear my throat and slide the answer button on my iP hone.
“Hey, Liam,” I answer, trying to sound wide awake and ready for the day.
“You sound awake. Good!” Liam says in a surprised tone. I look at the clock. 7:2 5 am .
“Yes, I am.” I lie. “I’ll be there in half an hour.” I hang up without another word.
I don’t even give him a chance to say bye. He must know I was lying, but I can make it close to being on time if I speed things up. Although my friends and I have different schedules and times, when we have classes on the same days, we tend to drive together and wait on the last person to finish for that day.
I fly off my bed, land on my feet, and speed to the bathroom.
First, a shower. I make sure I’m out in minutes, then I dress in whatever I see first: blue jeans and a red long -s leeved shirt.
I run my fingers through my wild brown hair with a touch of gel in my hands, barely looking in the mirror again to see the
results. I make my way down the stairs and out the front doors.
There doesn’t seem to be anyone at home—they must have all left alr eady.
I step outside and key the code to my garage door for it to automatically roll open. My brand -n ew white Lexus LC 500 is sitting there, like the beauty that she is. Snow White—fairest of them all. I open the door and hop into the driver’s seat. My finger touches the start button, and she roars to life.
Liam lives less than ten minutes away, around the hills of West Vancouver. I can never get over the amazing view from these hills, surrounded by enormous mountains, the beautiful greenery of all the trees, and the blue water in the centre of it all. I arrive at Liam’s house in four and a half minutes. The dashboard clock reads 7:53 am . I give myself a smile and a little nod.
Made it two minutes early. Nice work, Elvis. I honk for Liam to come out of his house and wait.
Liam walks out dressed as casually as I am. He opens the passenger door and gets into the car. His ashy blond hair is gelled perfectly, as usual. He reaches his fist out my way, mine meets his with a bump.
“Impressive,” he says, looking pointedly at the time.
“I’m disappointed you doubted me,” I say, lifting my eyebrows a little with a s mirk.
Liam laughs, shaking his head. “I’m just glad Phil is losing the bet. He owes me fifty big ones.”
“I’m happy to be of help with your savings plan,” I say sharing the laug hter.
We pull up in front of Philip’s house to find him already standing outside on his large stone porch. He climbs into the back seat of the Lexus, once Liam pulls his seat forward to give him room to make his way in. Philip is the shortest of us and always gets the back seat in our sports cars, unless he’s the one driving, then Liam and I usually race to the front passenger to see who gets it f irst.
“You just couldn’t be five minutes late, could you, El?” Philip asks as he’s still making his way to the back, rolling his dark eyes a t me.
I chuckle his way, shrugging my shoulders as Liam puts his hand out with an open palm.
“Pay up, my friend,” he demands with a big smile, showing all his t eeth.
Philip makes a growling sound and slams a fifty -d ollar bill in Liam’s hand.
“I’ll double that one next time,” Philip says, grinning, and all three of us burst into laug hter.
We arrive at the University of British Columbia campus and find a perfect parking spot in one of the lots. The three of us get out to go our separate ways. We tap fists goodbye and head off to class. We all have new schedules this term. I check to see what my first class is: Advanced Organic Chemistry for the Life Scie nces.
I find my classroom in no time and make my way to an empty seat in the back. The professor isn’t at his desk but must have arrived earlier since I notice a briefcase lying on it, and some of the desks around me are still unoccupied. I glance at my phone. 8:22 am . I should thank my friends for making sure I’m always on time for school. I’m early, in fact.
I keep my head down, reading messages on my phone until it’s time to start. I can hear students’ footsteps walking in, the chatting steadily getting a little louder. My eyes travel away from my screen, up to the doorway, and at that second, I see a small -f ramed brunette slowly walking in. She has her head down, eyes looking at the floor in front of her feet. Then she stops, looking ahead of her to find a seat. Her searching eyes catch my stare, and I can’t look away. She has the most beautiful milk -c hocolate brown eyes. The girl freezes on the spot for a few seconds while our eyes lock. I haven’t analyzed her face yet. I’m fixated on her eyes. Then she blinks and looks away to find a desk. I blink too, coming back down to earth. Suddenly I realize how long I’ve been staring at her and instantly feel embarrassed that she noticed. I hope she doesn’t think much o f it.
There are two seats left for her to choose from, one next to me, and the other one two rows down. I look away from her—wanting to hide under my desk—and focus my eyes back on my phone screen.
Without making it obvious, I listen out for her steps, curious as to where she will choose to sit. I take a notepad out of my backpack and pretend to write something with my pen, but out of the corner of my eye, I follow her every move. She walks straight to the desk that’s two rows away from me and takes her seat. This has never happened before; I’ve always been like a magnet to girls. There are times I find it a bit too overwhelming to even appreciate it. Now this is something new.