Cynthia laid awake on her bed as she thought about Nick.
Why does he care about me so much? Why does he act like he is my friend? Why can't he treat me just the way every other client treats me?
Cynthia had left the light behind long back. Now her world resides inside the sphere of darkness. There was barely any room for hope, for happiness, for a bright future. All that surrounded her was pitch black darkness. And Nick was like a candle who illuminated her world as the only source of light.
Nick gave her hope. Nick made her happy. But was she allowed to have them?
Why me? Cynthia kept asking herself.
Does he like me? Is he one of those nice guys who's kind to everyone he comes across? Or maybe he's just trying to get into my pants?
Isn't that how guys are supposed to be nowadays? Isn't the only thing they care about a girl is her body? Why does he care if I go to an art college or not!
These thoughts were keeping her from sleeping.
What about her? Did she like him? Did she have feelings for him?
She had asked those questions to herself several times, and every time the answer was 'How does it matter!'.
Even if she did have feelings for him, how would that change anything in her life, in this world? The world would still go round the sun, Nick would still be a student of a prestigious college and she would remain the same 'uncivilized' drug dealer.
Her feelings did not matter. They were meaningless, valueless, just like her dream. It was not enough to have feelings for someone to win his heart. The socio-economic status determined who was allowed to love whom. There were boundaries that she could not ignore. There were chains that she could not break out of.
But Nick was right. I need money right now. Money can fix anything. If I can get hold of some money and run away from this place, I will have an opportunity to start over, to live a different life, a better life, a life that would give me the luxury I can only dream of now. Luxuries like a spacious apartment, a personal car, a respectable social status and the freedom to love.
With those thoughts in mind, she eventually fell asleep at the end of the night. She dreamed of being rich like she did for the last couple of years. In her dreams, she was rich. In her dreams, she was a world-famous artist. In her dreams, she was with Nick in a huge, costly apartment, happily ever after.
Only in her dreams.
The alarm clock failed to wake Nick up the following morning. When he woke up, he was running ten minutes late for college. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. The traces of marijuana from last night was still flowing in his blood. His head felt too heavy to move. His eyes were red. Even after sleeping for more than eight hours, he was sleepy and exhausted. He lazily looked at the bedside clock and jumped off the bed.
"Oh shit!" he cried and ran towards the washroom.
He got ready for college as fast as he could. Usually, he preferred walking to the college, but not today. He didn't have the time to walk. But then again, the 10 o'clock bus had already left the nearest bus stop. The next bus would take another twenty minutes to come. And even if it came, what good would it do? The traffic jam at this time would be terrible. The traffic control was way better in the main city areas. But at his place, it was a nightmare!
So he grabbed his college bag and ran. He ran like a Madman along the pavement, barely avoiding collisions with strangers and other obstacles appearing in his path. He bumped into a few men and women in the process and showered them with too many apologies. He even stumbled upon a bump on the pavement and fell on his face. A passer-by came to his aid.
"I am fine," Nick said and got up.
"But your nose is bleeding!" the man said.
"That's nothing. I will be fine. And thank you."
Then he ran again.
It took him fifteen minutes to reach the college. By then he was twenty minutes late for his first lecture.
As he stood before the school gate, breathing heavily, leaning on his knees, he noticed a huge lock hanging on the front gate. He looked inside and could not find a single living soul.
He checked his mobile phone for the time, confused, and out of breath. He was still hungover from last night's smoking, and then he ran for two miles. His body did not like that!
He sat down in front of the locked gate and called his best friend.
"Hey Tony, why is the college gate locked from the outside?"
"It's because today's a holiday, dummy!" Tony replied and yawned.
"Great, I love my life!"
"Good morning, Nick. Gotta go to sleep." Tony hung up the phone.
How could that slip his mind? It was a frigging holiday and there he was, lying in front of his college, heavily panting, his shirt soaked in sweat.
Am I so big of an idiot? he thought. No, I am just still high, I guess.
He decided to visit his mom as he had nothing much to do for the rest of the day. When he reached the hospital, the nurse told him that his mother was finally sleeping after a sleepless night. So he told her that he would come back later in the afternoon.
On his way back home, he entered a cafe to eat something. He felt like he hadn't eaten anything for a week. A heightened sense of hunger is one of the side effects of marijuana. His mouth also felt dry as if he had swallowed a handful of sand.
He ordered a coffee and a hefty breakfast. He needed to get rid of that godawful feeling and energize himself for the rest of the day, although he had nothing much to do to be energized for.
As he took a sip from the cup of coffee, he remembered the message he received last night.
Julia Ambrose was his partner for the next test of the contest. He wanted to know if it was the same girl whom he knew from middle school.
He visited the profile of her on the contest website they had shared with him Just one look at her profile picture and he could tell it was the same girl even though he had not seen her since they left middle school.
She had almost the same facial features she had during the 7th grade, only now she was prettier.
Also, how could he forget his first-ever crush! It's hard to forget the first crush, isn't it?