20
April had described where the department would be on a text and she smiled when she found the place in less than two minutes.
"He should be somewhere here." She muttered as her eyes scanned for Dennis in the crowd.
Her eyes, however, fell on to the person she wanted to desperately avoid and she found it tear her eyes off him as he served some girls.
What was wrong with her? She had come there to look for Dennis not Demir, so why was she staring so hard at him? And why was she feeling butterflies in her stomach?
He raised his head to lock eyes with him and she was forced to turn towards Dennis, who was serving nearby.
"This is the usual serving, but I added more since you seemed like you would eat a lot."
"Dennis." She called and he lifted his head to look at her before striding over, the next minute.
"Tahti..." He called and she looked around again.
"There are so many people. Our department's the most crowded."
"Yeah. Well..Um...Are you here with anyone?" He asked and she noticed his uneasiness, right away.
"What?"
His hands trembled and she wondered what was wrong. "There are so many people. I didn't think it would get so crowded...Maybe you should just go somewhere else."
"No, I just came to see you for a moment...as I promised." She smiled.
"Okay." He replied.
"Babe."
Someone called and she whipped round to see a blonde walking towards Dennis, a smile on her face.
"Babe?" Tahti muttered under her breath as she wondered whether her ears were deceiving her or if she'd heard right.
"When are you going to get off?" She asked, sliding an arm into his. "We are thinking of getting drinks, do you want to come with us?"
Dennis' eyes dropped to his shoes and he made no attempt to remove the girl's arm. The girl, who seemed to finally acknowledged her presence when Dennis kept looking at his shoes, turned to her for a sec before returning her eyes to him
"Who is she? Your friend?"
"She's a senior that I'm close with." He replied and her heart dropped to the floor on hearing those words. She was a senior he was close with? Was that all she had been to him when he had taken her on a date?
From the corner of her eyes, she could see Demir was watching the scene and she wished the ground would open up and swallow her.
"Hi." She smiled.
"Hi." Tahti replied, without enthusiasm and Dennis turned to the girl.
"Well, why don't you go ahead first? I will join you after I finish."
"Okay. Call me when you are done."
"Alright." She replied and turned to leave before Dennis had the courage to look at her.
"I'll see you later." She said and turned to leave when Dennis reached to hold her arm.
"It's not like that." He said and she turned to listen to his explanation. "The thing is...I've liked her since I was in high school but she rejected me and she suddenly contacted me yesterday...I'm really sorry." He said and she couldn't believe her ears. So she had been nothing but a replacement all along?
"Okay." She said as coolly as she could before she turned to leave, regretting she had come.
Jennie cupped her face in her palms as she watched Herley and April spin the couple's wheel. Her mind wasn't there but on the fact that Sol hadn't told her about the exchange program.
"That looks fun. Let's try that later." Bella said as she looked towards the wheel.
"Is it only for couples?" Natasha asked.
"I don't think so."
"By the way..." Olivia asked as she leaned closer to her. "That guy has a crush on Sol, right?"
Jennie followed her eyes and realized she was referring to Herley. "How would I know?" She shrugged, not wanting to discuss anything related to Sol for the mean time.
"I'm sure of it. I told him we were Sol's friends, and he gave us so much food." Bella said.
"Sol's not that close to him." She replied. Sol didn't belong to anyone but her anyway.
"Well, since you two are close, don't you get sick of each other sometimes?"
"We don't, since we don't hang out as much as we did then, these days."
"That's true. You've been dating a lot." Natasha said and Bella turned to him.
"But I feel kind of sorry for him. If Sol goes to Paris, she'll be hanging out with hot Paris guys." She said and Jennie's eyes widened in shock. The girls knew about the exchange program too?
"Wasn't she going to England?"
"It seemed like she was going to Europe." Natasha said.
"Is she really going? When?"
"H-how do you guys know?" She stuttered.
"What do you mean?" Bella asked before turning to Tasha. "Can I have some of your juice?"
"Here."
"Thanks."
"Hey, Sol's over there." Olivia said and Jennie tried not to wear her look on her face.
"I don't think she's alone."
"She's with someone though." Her ears pricked up on hearing that and she turned to see Sol, grinning from ear to ear as she neared the canopy with a guy. On taking a closer look, see realised it was the same guy she had seen her with in front of Love's paradise QSR.
"Isn't that the guy from the cafe?" Bella asked and she picked up a cup of whiskey on the table to down it.
"I think he is."
"Quiet. They are almost here." Olivia whispered and Jennie couldn't be more pissed at the way they her friends started to compose themselves, all because of a guy.
"Hi." They beamed as they walked into the canopy and from the corner of her eyes, she could see they were all looking at the guy.
"Hi, I'm Ralph." He smiled.
"Hi."
"Is he your boyfriend, Sol?" Bella was quick to ask and Jennie turned to glare daggers at her, wondering why she wanted to know so badly.
"No." Sol replied.
"Have you guys been seeing each other since then?"
"I had business nearby and I asked her to show me around school."
"Let's go play a couple game." Olivia said as she rose alongside Tasha and started to push them towards April and Herley.
"Sol." Herley called on sighting her.
"Sol, come and play."
"Are you guys...a couple?" He asked, noticing the guy beside her.
"Don't they look good together?" Bella asked.
"Let me through." Jennie said pushed her towards the other seat to get a better view of what was about to happen.
"Throw the dart and play the game it lands on
that's all you have to do." April said as she handed a dart over to him.
"You can try it." Ralph said as he veered to hand the dart to Sol.
"Me?"
"Yes."
"You should give up. You're no match for him." April whispered to a down-casted Herley, who wore his heart on his face.
"Okay." Sol said and received the dart.
"Alright. Herley spin the wheel." April ordered and Herley slowly trod over to the dartboard to give the wheel a reluctant spin and Jennie watched as Sol threw the dart.
The dartboard started to slow down and everyone looked towards it to see what game it had landed on.
"Oh...It's pop the balloon.The most exciting game."
"The most exciting game? And what is it?" Sol asked and April walked over to direct them.
"I can't believe Sol's finally hanging out with a guy. He's so handsome, isn't he?" Bella gushed and Jennie watched April get a balloon.
"I'll put a balloon in between you guys." She was saying and Sol turned to her. It was obvious she'd never done something like that before.
"What?"
"All you need to do is stick together and pop it with your bodies.You succeed if you pop it in five seconds." She said.
"What sort of game is that?" Jennie asked.
Tahti kept rolling forth and back on her bed that night, finding it difficult to sleep thanks to her persistent cough and the heartbreak.
She coughed as she reached to switch on the lights. She had exhausted her drugs for fever so she had to go outside to get drugs.
So she was just a replacement.
"The thing is...I've liked her since I was in high school but she rejected me and she suddenly contacted me yesterday...I'm really sorry."
Whatever. She didn't care anymore. She'd probably call it quits with falling in love or going on dates for the mean time. The embarrassment she'd received that night was enough to last her for a lifetime.
Her mind drifted back to the look on Demir's face when she had gotten humiliated and she raised her hands to cover her face.It had been so embarrassing.
There had been that unreadable look on his face as usual but she was sure that he wanted to laugh at her for being a fool.
She had been a fool too when she'd met him for the first time. Her ex boyfriend had cheated on her, she'd gotten involved with a guy with whom she didn't even know how their relationship was and she had gotten rejected by a junior. She probably didn't have good luck when it came to guys.
Her phone rang and she stretched out her hand to get it, feeling lazy and tired to crawl out of bed. The ID bore an unknown number instead of a name on her directory, which meant it was an unknown number.
Who could be calling her? She thought. She was sure it couldn't be Dennis. He had to at least leave her alone for a while before talking to her again, she thought before answering the call.
"Hello."
"What are you doing?" The somehow familiar voice at the other end asked and she frowned. There was no way it was...
"Demir?" She called, with hesitation boldly written in her voice.
"Wait. Did you delete my number?"
"Well..." She was saying when she went into a fit of coughing. She regretted not getting drugs earlier, she would probably not be in that state if she had.
"Why did you call?" She asked, a couple of minutes later after her cough had gone down.
"What's wrong with your voice?...Are you sick?"
"I'm...I'm not feeling well." She responded.
"I'm near your house right now."
"So?" She asked as she forced herself to sit up, doubting he had come to see her, especially after she had chosen a junior over him. "Why would you come here?"
"A friend of mine lives nearby." He replied and she sank back into the bed. She had been right. Demir was still the jerk she thought him to be.
"Okay. Have fun." She said and was about to hang up when he called.
"Hold up, Tahti."
What else did he have to say? She thought. She needed to get drugs ASAP, otherwise she wouldn't be able to make it to school the following day.
"Yes?"
"Do you want us to meet right now?" He asked, to her surprise.
"Right now?" She repeated, not expecting the question and her phone went off. She pulled it from her ear to look at it, wondering why it suddenly gone off before she realized she hadn't charged it for days as there had been a power outage in her street.
"Crap." She swore as she forced herself out of bed.The probability of being able to walk on her feet if she didn't use drugs that night was zero.
She reached out to pick her wallet and before she trod out of the house, raising her arms to her shoulders.
It was only summer but yet it felt like winter had already set in as she stepped outside, heading for the pharmaceutical store down the street.
