Yes. It was certain. I hated Beatrice with every fiber of my being. She was nothing but a thorn in my flesh. This was exactly why I didn't particularly appreciate dreaming of my happiness. Something always destroyed it. I had dreamt of the moment when Daniel and I would finally have time to ourselves and talk but, miss pretty had to dive in and capture his heart. The fact that they have known each other since childhood caused me pain. Why does it have to be Beatrice?
She was perfect with her banging body, perfectly arranged teeth, and dainty feet. She was nothing short of an epitome of beauty. To top it off, she knew the right way to seduce. Her eyes are like traps-they lure you in and drown you.
Or maybe I was overthinking things, and Daniel had no feelings for her. Joker. My inner mind scoffed. How he looked at her and his hand placements betrayed any hint of platonic friendship. Stupidity felt like my closest friend at the moment. I was just too foolish. Perhaps, his mother likes her and wants them to date. The voice in my head whispered a second time.
I was convinced that whatever was between them was more than it appeared, and I would be setting myself up for serious heartbreak if I didn't wake up. Yet, I knew that no matter how much I decided to ignore him, my mind would not let me. If he called this minute, I would pick it up happily and smile like the fool that I was. There is something he does to me-something I couldn't place.
Much of the weekend passed on a peaceful note. Most of my time was spent in the library, reading my ass away. I entered this school with one goal, and it was to graduate with first-class honors. I wanted to do it for my parents-especially father. It would make them proud, and my mother would have something to brag about to her friends. It also gave me something to take my mind off Daniel and Beatrice. On a brighter note, however, Juliet was hours away from arriving. She was the only friend I had, and we had vowed to do everything together. Hell, we planned our lives up to raising our kids together. A somewhat bright future I hoped. Since the relationship with my ex-friend turned sour, I hoped that my friendship with Julie would last the test of time.
The blare of my alarm clock at six thirty A.M sent me jumping from the bed with a thumping heart. Still feeling groggy, I made my way to the community bathroom at the end of the corridor. Waiting to use the ensuite bathroom in my room would result in me running behind my schedule as I had selfish roommates who enjoyed taking up most of my time. Plus, the community bathrooms were always neat, and they had bigger mirrors and more space.
After sending a polite smile to the girl standing before the mirror, I proceeded to brush my teeth in the sink, all the while wondering if the water levels of the ocean would reduce if I left the water running for too long. A couple more girls came to use the bathroom, occupying a few of the fifteen bathroom stalls. When I was done with my pre-shower routine, I went in for a warm shower.
Tightening my bathrobe around my body, I first dropped my shower kit in my room before making my way to the dining hall downstairs to grab breakfast. Though Timi had wanted us to grab breakfast together at the cafeteria, I preferred the morning food served in the hostel. I made up my mind to sit with him as he ate instead.
On the night before, I had received an email from my media ethics lecturer informing me of his indisposition. That left me with about two hours of freedom before my next lecture. I had decided to use the free time to catch up on the reading I could not do over the weekend and to help Julie with moving in if she arrived within that time frame, so I wouldn't have to miss my next lecture.
My yellow sun dress made me feel like the early morning sun as I walked in calm strides to the cafeteria. No doubt, Timi would have been waiting, murmuring something along the lines of ladies who don't stick to the agreed time. Finding out that you have already eaten breakfast would piss him off even more. I took in multiple deep breaths as I continued walking. Something felt lighter about the air and I got this nostalgic feeling.
It would be a great day. A smile crept up to my face as I put on my headphones.
But it disappeared just as quickly as it came. The reason? Beatrice. She stood on the sidewalk with her arms folded, huffing and puffing in annoyance. I knew she was waiting for her minions.
"Evelyn" She smiled as she approached me intending to block my way, so I did not step past her.
"Hi." my smile did not reach my eyes.
"It is a beautiful morning. Don't you agree" Beatrice reached out to tuck a stray braid behind my ears. I had decided to wear my braids down. Holding it in place with a black headband gifted to me by my cousin.
"Yeah. It is" Your face has taken the beauty from my morning though. I murmured this last piece under my breath.
"Headed to the cafeteria for breakfast?" She eyed me up and down, the mean girl part of her coming to the surface
Looking around, I contemplated lying but since I was standing on the road leading to the food court, I might as well not be a coward and tell the truth.
"Yes. why?"
" Why don't we walk together? The girls are running late. If I waited for a second more, I would explode" As always she flashed me that fake sweet smile, whenever she wanted to manipulate you into doing her bidding. I rolled my eyes.
"Alright. Let's keep it moving then. Someone is expecting me." I adjusted my big tote bag and pushed past her. She hurried a few steps to keep up with me and linked her hand in the crook of my arm.
"as a perk, Daniel would be there. He's waiting for me. why don't we all have breakfast together?" She looked at me expectantly, no doubt to gauge how I felt at the mention of Daniel.
No doubt, my heart quickened at the mention of his name but I quickly masked the emotions turning in the depths of my stomach.
"I have already eaten," I stated a little too loudly.
"Then, why are you headed there? Are you meeting up with him too?"
Daniel and I had not spoken since he left me on the bleachers- a fact that I did not want to be reminded of.
"I have someone waiting for me and he is not Daniel."
"Ouuuuu. I see you've got yourself a new love interest, eh?" Beatrice playfully nudged my side, and anger suddenly rose in my throat. I resisted the urge to push her into the mouth of the oncoming car just as it zoomed past us.
"Timi is a very good friend," I said as I took a deep breath.
Beatrice sneered but said nothing more. She put on her headphones and started humming to whatever she was listening to. A sigh of relief escaped my lips, and I returned to my thoughts. What would happen if Daniel saw me? Would he apologize and ask for forgiveness? Would he ignore me? Should I say hi or should go straight to Timi? These and many more thoughts ran through my head. To be on the safer side, I decided to ignore him and save myself the embarrassment of him not acknowledging me first.
However, he sat too close to the entrance of the busy hall and his eyes were the first thing I saw. A nervous smile appeared on my lips. Daniel threw a smirk my way and turned his full attention on Beatrice. Saving myself further humiliation, I took a quick turn to the right and went off to find Timi who was furiously typing on his laptop.
"Missed the 11.59 deadline?" I asked as I shoved a pack of my favorite chocolate cookies his way- a snack that he had come to love.
"Not exactly. It needs to get to his email before 9 AM. Thanks for the cookie." he blew me a kissed the air before me.
"I will not be giving you any of it anymore. You're lucky you managed to get a pack from me. " My phone screen buzzed with a text from Julie. "30 minutes away, Hun" I excitedly checked my watch. It was 45 minutes before 9, meaning Julie would be arriving 15 minutes before the top of the hour. "You might want to grab breakfast now. Jule is arriving soon. I'm guessing you might want to see her too."
"Yeah, we would just have to meet up later. I need to get this submitted. As for breakfast, what would you like?"
"I have had breakfast."
"traitor" Timi feigned annoyance. "I wonder what is great about dormitory food. It is yuck."
"Well, the problem could be the chef in your dormitory. The food in mine is just perfect."
"Yeah, whatever." Timi rolled his eyes and swaggered up to the line ahead. I took a peek at the screen of his device, and he was writing an essay on something about the poetry of the Elizabethan era. Poetry. Something I had tried to understand over and over again without headway. Guess it was just made to express deep human emotions. At least someone knew how to convey how he felt while I couldn't. Deep emotions were kept bottled up in me and each time I tried to express them, Misunderstanding would creep in and bite me in my ass.
Students in groups kept trudging in, some for coffee, and others to meet up with friends and coursemates before their various lectures. While I waited for Timi to get back, I took to completing the murder podcast I was invested in a few days back. Something piqued my curiosity about crime and aliens. I had always wanted to understand the driving factor behind unaliving someone else because it never made sense to me. Most times, it was greed. Other times, scorned love. Humans are twisted in ways I did not know. Perhaps, I was twisted too. After all, those podcasts helped me fall into a peaceful sleep. the perfect sleep I could not achieve on my own. I found them calm and relaxing too.
Suddenly, a bar of chocolate appeared dangerously close to my eyes just as the soothing voice of the podcaster drained into the background. I pulled my headphones down to my neck and took the bar.
"For you," Timi said as he took his seat. Steam wafted from the cup of coffee in his right hand.
"Is it not too early to have chocolate?" I smiled. Funny how he always knew what I liked. How he does is what I could not figure out.
"Give it back, you ungrateful soul" he made a move to snatch the brown packaging from my hand but I quickly shoved it inside my chest. He followed my movement, swallowed hard, and went back to eating his breakfast.
"You can't get it back now, can you?" A taunting smile took over my lips.
"If I wanted to, I would." he didn't look at me as he said those words.
"Hmm, not so gentlemanly of you." I taunted him again.
"You know, I am the most gentlemanly man you will ever come across." This time, he made eye contact and I wasn't sure where to look anymore.
"Sounds like a curse" Looking away from him, I glanced at Daniel who was still sitting in the company of Beatrice and two others.
"It is simply the truth, baby girl. People like to deny the truth."