As the Spring was saying goodbye, we were all giddy with prospects of our last high school summer that was quickly approaching. But, before we could enjoy it's beautiful bounty of fun, we needed to clear the final exams obstacle first. This was second to last set of finals, which would be looked at in the early applications. Essentially, making them even more important than the next year's, since if you were really looking to get into a particular school these would give you an extra chance or even speed up your admission.
With the beautiful weather outside, cramming the world's knowledge into our minds was like a new kind of torture. The dreamy laziness carried on the freshly warmed-up air saturated with scents of the blooming flowers made you want to do anything else but study. I did well with literature, reading and retention was as natural as breathing since I used it to escape sad days of reality. However, physics and chemistry required work, loads of effort went into memorizing and applying the rules in practice. It could always be worse I told myself, since Mary probably needed to memorize a ton of extra levels of information on bending those laws with her energy. Rarely did anyone have a particular gifted affinity for magic, and majority of mages spent lifetimes studying and perfecting their arts.
On the last day of finals Lana was queued last of the three of us to pick her question. The process was fairly simple, you come to the teacher's desk, pick a note card that is facing down with the surprise question written on it. Go back to you seat, and in the same order we went to the board to answer the question you chose.
After answering the question, you get your grade and have to leave the room. Ira and I were waiting outside for Lana to emerge; when she did with the good news that she passed as well, all of us breathed collective sigh of relief that we all did well in the second year of high school. With one more year to go, we will graduate at seventeen and go seek our futures.
This essentially made this the last Summer we had before we will go our separate ways, applying to secondary institutions or looking for employment. So, we decided we were going to go out and celebrate tonight, despite all of us being tired from an all-nighter studying.
Since it was Saturday, we could go dancing as well so we needed some stamina. The plan was to go home, rest a bit, and after our dresses and make up were in order meet up and try out the bar.
After about two hours of dead zombie sleep, I splashed ice cold water on my face to regain some alertness. I have decided to wear one of the new dresses my mom sent me. She recently got promoted with bonus salary, and moving in with her new fiancée saved up considerably on rent which amounted to a ton of presents to be sent to her kiddos. I hoped she spent something on herself too.
Even I had little to complain about my looks today, it's amazing how good looking you feel wearing clothing that properly fits you. With my self-esteem buffed by ten levels I took confident, bouncy strides towards the town square where my friends were waiting. Turns out more people had same idea as us, as the town was teeming with excited youth. As more girls joined our little gathering, we decided to go to the bar for some ice-cream and beers as a big group.
After a few hours of merry chilling, we were all tipsy and loud. Suddenly I got this eerie feeling on the back of my nape, and before I even realized it, like prey's head jerking up to check for a predator, I turned in the direction and met a gaze. Few tables behind us, across the hall, he was sitting in a company of few guys and older girls, with one of the girls talking in his ear while he continued to stare. I haven't seen him since that shit night, so a chill dropped in my stomach upon recognition.
I gave him a quick smile and turned back around. Thankfully, by now I was really good at ignoring things that bother me. Pretty soon I was back in the groove, not even bothered when I saw him passing by to get yet another bottle of liquor.
Eventually, beers that went in urgently needed to come out, so I headed downstairs to use the restroom facilities. On the way up I followed people on right side of the stairs watching where I stepped due to tipsy legs; we were all going in this single file, since there were others coming down on the other side. As I turned the corner, I ran into a hand holding on to the railing. Internally swearing at the fool that was not being able to follow the flow I made to turn and go around as I found another hand on the other side of the V corner of the railing. I looked up at the prankster with few choice words in mind, but was left speechless.
Victor was leaning over me while resting his upper body on the railing. The trap was loose enough that there was no actual touching, but without a way out either.
"What?" I barked defiantly.
"Mmm, don't know, it bothers me…" he murmured into my ear. Shiver ran down my spine. He sounded dangerous. But I haven't done anything for him to be upset about, so I began trying to pry one of his claw grips out of the railings to get out.
"Well, then don't look at me!" I probably sounded more pathetic than tough saying this while miserably failing at my de-gripping attempt.
"Can't, with you prancing around all available like this." He replied with a dead set look in his eyes.
"You better go back to your table, and pay attention to you date!" I snapped, getting angry "That should distract you, better yet, take her home and stay out of my business!"
"You need to go home. Now." He wasn't yelling, but this sounded like a threat.
"Can't, my friends aren't leaving yet." I wasn't going to budge for this drunk insanity he had started.
"I'll walk you home." He grabbed my hand and begun heading to the exit. We ran in to Lana who was looking for me now.
"What's going on?" She asked with a mild concern.
"Nothing to worry about." I answered "Victor is going to take me home. Him and I need to talk."
"Are you alright?" She asked as I was leaving, being pulled by the unstoppable train.
"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow." I waved her goodbye.
To be honest with myself, I was a little bit curios and giddy with anticipation. Maybe we still had a chance? It was amazing how much I was willing to forgive him, just for another chance at happiness. I was cautiously hoping to see some of that romantic side Vera was bragging about.
After a while of walking he broke the silence with something that was apparently weighting on his mind.
"Why'd you call me Victor?"
"It's your name. Isn't it? Nicknames are meant for people you are close with." Meaning you are far from trusted status buddy.
"We can be close." He answered.
"Do you mean you want us to try dating?" I just had to have clarity this time, the only reason I was on this awkward walk.
"No… You need to date someone else, anyone else…" He mused, not even looking back at me as he kept on leading.
"Why?"
"I'm not ready to get married." He dropped the load which made no sense. Do I have 'LOOKING FOR HUSBAND' tag on my back I'm not aware of? Did he eat a funny mushroom?
"You need to elaborate more buddy, what does that have to do with us dating?" This talk was the opposite of clarifying.
"I just got out of the army; I want to live a little before getting serious about someone. Last time I wished we met few years later. So, I hope you could date someone else in the meantime." I stopped walking, making him spin around by inertia.
'ARE YOU INSANE?' I barely stopped myself from screaming that while throwing punches. My heart and innocent love was trampled for this? Maybe I should follow my first instinct? You have caused me so much pain for such an idiotic reason! I think time stopped while I was drowning in fury. Who said I didn't want to have fun too? As I was beginning to see red through the rising bloodlust, I begun taking deep breaths forcing myself to be adult about this.
"So the whole thing with Vera?" I asked fuming.
"I got cold feet that day, so it was the only excuse I could think of to get out of getting closer to you." I heard of getting cold feet before wedding night, but this was a whole new concept. So much pain could have been avoided, so much fun could have been had, I groaned internally at the stupidity of this.
"Could have just written me a letter like you did for her." I said to no one in particular while pushing my hair back gripping the top of my forehead mulling things over.
"What letter?" He asked.
"Exactly…"
He looked confused, as I was considering best way to trip him, and plaster his drunk face into the pavement. Adulting was hard. No, let's just beat him with logic, it would hurt longer; and realistically I would probably be barely able to leave a scratch on the guy otherwise.
"First of all, if I was to develop a good relationship with someone else, you are too arrogant to assume I would leave him for a jerk who already broke my heart once." Yeah, I said it. Realize the damage you've already done.
"Second of all, I'm not planning to get married anytime soon either." I'm too wary of giving anyone too much power over me.
"Lastly, I can't bear to look at you right now, so don't follow me. And stay out of my business in the future."
I said as I spun around and begun walking. As I made it to an intersection, I sneaked a peek and he was still standing where I left him.