Page 83 of Clichés & Curses

I opened my mouth to say something, yet nothing came out. I don’t think anything I could say would soften the blow of whatever I had just said.

‘I think we’re done practicing for the day. Don’t you?’ Colton said, putting a smile on his face—though it was nothing like his usual, but a tight-lipped one, that didn’t reach his eyes.

I didn’t know what else I could do in this situation, so I just went along with it. ‘Yeah. You should probably go if you don’t want to be late for practice.’

We started packing up our things and cleared up the space. Colton stood up first, his hand holding out to help me get up. But he quickly clenched it into a fist and dropped it to his side. He probably thought I didn’t see it, trying to play it off as being nonchalant.

But I did see it. And I don’t know why I felt a painful tug in my heart at something so small.

‘I should get going,’ he said, his backpack strapped to his shoulders as he nudged his head to the baseball stadium. ‘I’ll see you next Wednesday then.’

I gave him a nod. ‘See you next Wednesday.’

Colton waved me goodbye before heading his way. I decided to give him a head start, thinking we would be better off walking separately this time.

Once I couldn’t see his outline any more, I started my walk to the library, carrying my heavy heart with me.

Chapter Seventeen

The next couple of days were filled with dark clouds and heavy rain.

Normally, I would have welcomed the rainfall with open arms and be happy to have it accompany me as I finish up my work in the apartment, rewarding myself afterward with some reading time.

But this time, the weather was only amplifying my already sad mood.

With the heaviest of rain falling on Thursday—the one day of my week that was filled with classes—I opted to hitch a ride with Nina to go to campus, extremely thankful for not setting an alarm for a later time that morning.

Being on the track team meant Nina had a 9 a.m. class every weekday. On days that I had one too, she would be happy to give me a ride. On Thursdays, however, I would go to campus on my own, wanting to enjoy an hour of the morning to myself, since my first class started at 10 a.m. But with the heavy rain, arriving an hour earlier than I would have liked was a much better option than having to do my normal commute on buses and walk through this stormy weather.

Throughout the day, there seemed to be a dull ache in me that I simply couldn’t shake. My spirits were lower than normal, but I simply dismissed them by blaming it on the moody weather, along with the fact that I was stuck on campus ground, instead of the comfort of my own room to fully appreciate the atmosphere.

On Friday, I woke up to the sound of heavy rainfall hitting the ground and splashing against my window. The sweet scent of coffee Nina had made before she left greeted me as I made my way to the kitchen to make my breakfast, before locking myself in my room to get started with my assignment. Thankfully, I didn’t have much left, and decided to finish it off, adding a few final touches and submitting it right away—way before the 11.59 p.m. deadline that night.

After completing my main priority of the day, it was time to reward myself as I picked upBringing Down the Dukeand made my way to the living room, curling up on the couch. The sound of rain outside and the smell of the candle I just lit, slowly filled the living room.

It sounded like just what I needed to lift my dampened spirits, but it seemed even reading about a broody duke wooing a commoner wasn’t enough to cheer me up.

Deciding to go with a different approach, I reached over to the coffee table to pick up the remote. That’s when my eyes settled on the vase filled with pink flowers I had put in the centre. I knew that no books, movies, or television shows could help me soothe the slight ache in my heart.

After going our separate ways at ‘the spot’ a couple of days ago, Colton and I were yet to see each other, and hadn’t texted one another since. I wouldn’t consider it to be a big deal, since we had started our semester by only seeing each other once a week and only recently did we start texting. But with how we left things off on Wednesday—at the place where he found the most comfort—I couldn’t help but worry.

I thought about texting him the day before, just to see where we stood after that conversation—that is, if we were still okay. But every time I did so, the memory of the hurt on his face put on by my words never failed to remind me of its existence.

I locked my phone immediately before even typing a single word.

It had been a week since Colton got me these flowers, which meant it was about time to get fresh new ones. But the weather didn’t seem to be providing me with that option, and I was not looking forward to walking in this heavy rain just to get some flowers.

As I drowned myself in my melancholia, the sounds of keys jamming in the lock brought my attention to the front door. I turned my head and saw Nina come into the apartment.

‘Hey,’ she greeted me when she entered the kitchen, dropping her backpack on one of the stools at the kitchen island, along with a bag of what I assumed was groceries.

‘Hey,’ I greeted her back. Standing up from my couch, I went over to the counter and took out the items from the bag, while Nina put them away. It was then I noticed that a bunch of sunflowers sellotaped together by the stem propped on the side. ‘You got flowers?’

‘Yeah, I know you said you’d get them today but since I was already at the store, I figured I would just get them there,’ she shrugged. ‘I didn’t know which ones to get, so I just went ahead and got sunflowers.’

‘They’re beautiful,’ I told her. ‘And thank you for getting them.’

‘No problem.’

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