Page 24 of Clichés & Curses

‘Yeah, I didn’t think it was worth the trip today, since I won’t be home until later tonight, so I didn’t feel like carrying them around. It might also be a bit weird bringing flowers into the library,’ I added the last part jokingly. ‘I might get them this Friday though; I love having them in my apartment and so does my roommate Nina. Just not getting them today.’

Colton just nodded.

‘As much as I would love to just sit here and admire the view, I think we have some ASL to practice,’ I said, turning my whole body to face him and crossing my legs.

‘Yes, we do.’ He turned to me doing the same, and thus began our practice session under the tree.

I tapped my phone to check the time and saw that the track team would be finishing up their training in half an hour, plus some additional time or so for them to shower and get ready before we went out for the night. I still had one question left to finish for my class tomorrow, and I mentally calculated what time I should leave the library so I could be there before they got out of the locker rooms.

Thinking I had enough time to finish up that one final question, and knowing that I wouldn’t have to worry about it during dinner later, I opted to continue with my work.

After twenty minutes of searching for answers, paraphrasing, and adding thoughts of my own, I could finally turn off my laptop with a peaceful mind and call it quits for the night.

I checked the time once again and saw I still had some time left to spare. The walk from the library to the track field was short, so I took my time to gather up my things, rechecking that I hadn’t left anything before leaving the building.

I took the steps down from the library to the pavement and was greeted by the golden hour. A smile made its way to my face as I took in the beautiful skies and the multitude of colours filling it. I took out my phone to capture the moment into a forever memory.

As the sky started to get dark, I fastened my steps toward the direction of the track field.

Our college’s athletic centre took up a huge area of campus ground. All the fields and stadiums were built close to one another: the track field was located right next to the baseball stadium, and the two shared a huge parking lot which stretched from one end of the track field to the other end of the baseball stadium. In the middle, there stood a covered walkway that connected to the intersection between the two buildings.

Usually, I waited for Nina at the entrance of the track field. However, she had texted me earlier, saying that she parked onthe baseball stadium side of the parking lot. So, I decided to just wait for her at the intersection instead.

I looked around the parking lot to see if I knew any of the cars that were still left. I recognized quite a few of them, including Lucy’s car, which meant the track team was yet to come out of the locker room.

My eyes then traitorously drifted off to where Colton’s car was parked. Since we were already on campus, our ASL practice session had run a bit later than usual, with Colton not having to drive me home and back here. When the time was cutting close to him arriving late to practice, we finally headed our separate ways. I couldn’t stop that disappointed feeling in my chest when we had to say goodbye.

And that’s when I noticed his car was still there, which meant …

‘Clara!’ a familiar voice called out to me.

I turned to where I heard the sound coming from, and was met with Colton walking up to me.

‘Colton, hey,’ I greeted him. ‘Did you guys just finish practice?’

‘Yup,’ he said, popping the ‘p’. ‘Were you waiting for your friends?’

‘Yeah, they should be out by now. And then we’re heading out for dinner.’

‘Cool,’ Colton replied, running his hand through his hair. That’s when I noticed, he lookednervous. ‘I wanted to ask you something. I thought I would text you about it, but since you’re here, are you—’ But before he could finish, I heard footsteps coming towards us.

‘Clara!’ It was Nina, walking hurriedly to me in her excitement.

I could see the exact moment she registered who I was talking to as she started to slow down her steps. Her face was in disbelief as she stared at Colton.

‘Nina,’ I said in a slightly louder voice, bringing her eyes back to me.

She finally snapped out of her daze and turned to me. ‘Clara, hey.’

This was getting awkward real fast.

But I barely had the time to come up with something when I heard someone call out Colton’s name.

It was Miles.

I could hear the sharp intake of breath Nina took as he made his way to us.

With Colton covering us from Miles’s point of view, he hadn’t noticed me and Nina standing next to Colton until he reached us.

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