"Nora how long do you plan on ignoring him?" Tina said looking over her shoulder at Luke who just passed by them.
"I don't know." Was all Nora could reply.
"Don't know? Nora it's been freaking five days you're treating that guy like nothing. Respect his feelings!" Tina shouted.
"I don't know what to do, I can't even face him properly. All I do is turn away or walk right past him. I know what I'm doing is not right, but what am I supposed to do?"
"Go and answer him. Do you know how heart breaking it is when someone doesn't reply to your confession? No you don't. But I do. So go tell him, it's already been five days."
"But,"
"No buts. Go right now, I think he is done with his lectures too and don't you dare come back without giving an answer."
Tina had the final say in this situation, Nora got up half heartedly and went back to the university.
Reaching there she roamed around aimlessly. Students were still on the campus even though the classes ended hours ago. She went straight to the cafeteria and ran into the person, she wanted to avoid the most. "Nora." George smiled at her, Luke stood beside him, he looked at her, then looked away.
"Hi George." She said, "actually I wanted to talk.."
"I understand, I have to be somewhere." He said and hurried away.
"I don't think this place is convenient. We should move out." Luke was already on his heels, Nora followed him out. He came to a halt at the parking lot and turned to face her, "What is it?"
Nora took a deep breath, "I owe you an answer. I'm sorry–" before she could complete herself, Luke's hand was on her mouth, "I don't need an answer, I never asked for it. I told you how I felt about you and I was done. I don't expect you to answer me. I know I can't ask you to forget everything, it's not possible. But I request you to stop running away from me, just stop that. I can't take it." She looked at him wide eyed, he took a moment, "It might sound stupid but could we just start anew, from the beginning?"
Nora held his hand with her's and pulled it down, smiling, "I'm Nora. Nice to meet you." He sighed in relief, "Thank heavens."
"Do you have any idea how freaked out I was? I couldn't face you, and here we are. You managed everything, I am proud of you." Nora said almost jumping.
"Well I'll take that. But I hope the things go back to normal?" He asked.
"Go back? They're already back to normal. Everything's back to the beginning, you're still a jerk."
He raised his eyebrows but then shook his head, "I see. Anyway I'm in a hurry. I'll speak to you later." He was already by his car, getting into it.
"Bye." Nora waved at him and watched the car exit.
She grabbed her phone and called Tina, she had to tell her everything now.
"Don't talk. Big Joe's, in ten. I'll meet you there. Tell me everything face to face." Tina hung up. Without any delay, Nora was on her way to Big Joe's.
Tina was seated at their usual table, it was stacked up with food, their regulars. She hurried and sat down across her. "Talk." Tina said. Telling her everything, without missing a detail, Nora dug into the food. "It's nice right, I didn't have to do anything."
"Sure it is. You're one lucky brat." She pointed out. Nora grinned.
"Okay, so now that everything is fine I want to talk about something. It is very important." Tina leaned in.
"What is it?" Nora asked leaning against her.
"Nick's going to graduate within a matter of two months, so he wanted a trip, you know last trip of university, kinda thing. He called me and I obviously said yes. So, I want you to come with us." She finished.
"You want me to be the third wheel?" She asked sipping her drink.
"No. George and Luke are joining in too. We will have a blast. Please Nora just say yes. It all depends on you. You know my parents, right?" Tina pleaded.
"And you know mine. They will not allow me." Nora shrugged.
"Oh I talked to them. They're happy you're mixing up others and they said yes. It all depends on you now."
Nora looked at Tina's bright eyes and sighed, "Okay."
"Yes!" Tina stood up abruptly, her chair fell down with a thud. Nora looked at her with amazement, "dude, don't end up injuring yourself. You don't want to cancel the trip. Do you?"
"No." She picked up the chair and sat down obediently.
"So where are we going?"
"The Blue hills, we'll do rock climbing. Three days, two nights. We leave on Friday, which is tomorrow."
"That is why you forced me to talk things over huh?" Nora smirked.
"Got me. But you're already in, you can't back out. Now hurry we have tons of packing to do. Now finish up your food fast." Tina nearly shouted.
Nora looked at her excitement only to stifle a laughter.