P. M. | Completed

4 # snowballs on my face

Chapter 4:- Snowballs on my face

The next morning, wasn't all good. I felt rather incomplete. I mixed my bowl of cereal with exaggerated disinterest and sat eating on the bed. Having nothing to do, I called Alex, idly wondering if he had had his breakfast. He hardly did. That man survived on caffeinated drinks and a random snack or two anywhere in the middle of the day.

He picked up on three rings.

"Hello?" a sleepy voice greeted me.

"Hey. You still sleeping?" I asked, knowing his answer already.

"The fuck you think?" Ah. It's probably not the best time to disturb him.

"It's late. Get your ass off that bed and watch your tone, mister." I retorted back.

"What time is it?" I could hear some scuffling.

"7:47, which gives you exactly 13 minutes to get to your class on the other side of the campus."

"Fuck. I've gotta run. I've a quiz. This one's gonna go into the final grades." Well, that got him up.

"Sure. See you later. Best of luck." I smiled into the phone, imagining him running around the dorm, struggling to find clothes.

"Thanks for calling...."

"Please get something to eat after the quiz." I cut him off.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll call, okay?" I heard him curse lowly before I got a chance to reply. Most probably, he was not finding his keys, or his jacket.

"Yeah. Bye, Alex." I left him with his daily morning routine. Alexander had many superpowers. But the one that impressed me the most was the one where he got ready within 5 minutes to do anything. Quiz, class, race, apocalypse...anything.

"Bye." he muttered, distracted.

I hung up. My first class was later in the morning. Having time to kill, I started completing yesterday's work that had remained due to Lizza's call and my inability to think about anything after it.

Lizza. She didn't particularly seem to like the fact that I was dating someone. Maybe it was just some 'big sister' thing that she'd overcome.

Or maybe, Lizza didn't like the fact that I was dating Alexander. I could swear on the awkward six second pause, I really thought she had known Alex before.

She may have, my subconscious whispered. As much as I'd like to shove that annoying voice away again, I had to admit. She actually may have.

Not many knew the story of Elizabeth Carter. Actually, scratch that. Nobody knew the story of Elizabeth Carter. Not even me. However, I might as well be the one who knew more of it than anyone else.

Before joining the State University, Lizza had been a student here. Right where I was studying. It was our dream. Two years, there was no sign of any discomfort in here from Lizza. She often told me how much she loved it here, and how excited she was for me to get here, so we could spend all our days together.

But slowly her phone calls decreased. All of us back home thought it was just the usual university stress. But, one night, Lizza unexpectedly arrived home. From the looks of it, she was very sick. Red blotched face, clumsily packed luggage, hollowed cheeks, wild black hair in a tangled mess, she looked like she'd been thorough hell.

We all hid our countless questions beneath our concern and didn't ask her anything initially. My parents, however, lost it and demanded an explanation for her appearance and an unexpected arrival. For the first and last time ever, Lizza didn't say shit. She gave no reasons and didn't care about Mom who was yelling at her for throwing away her education.