Page 151 of Late Fees

Tilly

Oh, my God, he’s not coming.

It was 7:09. No, 7:10. And there was no sign of Wyatt. I was standing outside of his dorm, my hands freezing cold as I waited, staring at the glass doors of his building, craning my neck to see if I could see him walking through the lobby.

I couldn’t.

7:12…

Maybe I should go…no, just a little longer.

7:15…

Feeling defeated, but with no one to blame but myself, I sat down at one of the many benches that surrounded the large walkway to Langford Hall. Fighting tears, I inhaled deeply, looking up at the crystal blue, cloudless sky, ready to wave the white flag of defeat.

I felt foolish, sitting on that bench, an ice-cold Slurpee in my hand and chocolate melting in my backpack. I thought I was making this big, grand gesture, but realized I was alone. Completely alone.

Where do I go from here?

All I could think about was that episode of Friends where Rachel is determined to get closure when she’s hung up on Ross but thinks it’s going nowhere. Maybe that would be me. Maybe sitting here without Wyatt would be the closure I needed to finally heal my heart and move on.

Easier said than done, Tilly.

Exhaling loudly, I rose to my feet.

“I’m here! I’m here!” Wyatt’s voice called from a distance. I turned to face him. He was running toward me with a bouquet of flowers and a pizza box. Tears of relief and absolute joy poured from my eyes as I watched him approach the dorm. Finally, he was standing in front of me, sweat covering his forehead, cheeks, and neck.

“I—I’m sorry,” he said, out of breath, his pale cheeks as red as a fire engine. “I know I’m late. I thought I had plenty of time, but the guy in front of me paid in quarters. Can you believe that? Quarters. And he ordered three pizzas!”

“That’s crazy,” I said, my voice cracking as I laughed, studying his face.

“I know it took forever, and I had no way to contact you. I was going to ask to use their phone, but how would I call you? You weren’t at home.”

“Right,” I said, nodding and laughing at how worked up he was.

“And then I was going to call Jeremy, but I had a feeling he’d tell the wrong person and then I will have just wasted more time.”

“Wyatt, take a breath.”

“So,” he said, wiping his forehead, “I did the next best thing—I ran here as fast as I could. And now, I think I might throw up.”

“Oh, no, are you okay? What can I do?” I asked, placing my free hand on his lower back, rubbing it gently to soothe him.

“I’m fine,” he said, pressing down on his side. “Just a little cramp. All good.”

“Well, you’re here,” I said, laughing again. “And that’s all that matters.”

“These are for you,” he said, handing me the bouquet of stargazer lilies, white daisies, and baby’s breath. He placed his hands on his knees and looked down at the concrete walkway, breathing heavily.

“Seriously, Wyatt, are you all right?”

“Yeah, I must be really out of shape. Guess it’s time for me to start hitting the gym.”

“Nah,” I said, softly but confidently. “I think you’re perfect.”

He stood up, his eyes calm and sweet.

“These are beautiful,” I said, looking down at the flowers and back at him, my voice cracking as tears ran down my hot cheeks. Wyatt wiped them away with his thumb as he stepped closer to me.

---