with her blissful exhaustion. She could sit down and pull an all-nighter to finish the paper. It wouldn’t be an excellent paper but at least it would be finished. She sat down on her bed and pulled her shoes off. A long yawn interrupted her intentions. What if she set her alarm for five and got up then to work on it? Three hours sleep would at least give her a clearer mind to work with.
Right now, all she wanted to do was curl under her covers and dream about Carter’s hand on her, his lips, his toxic touch. She crawled the little distance to her pillow and dropped her head onto it. She reached for her storm trooper alarm clock and changed the alarm from its usual seven wake up to five. She rolled over, too tired to care about changing her clothes or even brushing her teeth.
She knew she was smiling as she drifted off. Who wouldn’t smile after kissing hot Carter?
Rain drummed annoyingly against the windowpane in her room. Jani buried her head under her pillow and shut her eyes tight. At least rain meant dark skies. She could sleep a bit longer and never know if it were day or night.
Her eyes popped open under the pillow. She froze a moment before jumping out of bed and twirling around in a confused not-fully-awake-not-sure-what-to-do moment. She grabbed the storm trooper digital alarm clock.
9:20!
Why didn’t it go off? She double-checked the alarm. She remembered setting it for five. “Shit!” She’d bloody set it for five PM! “Crap! Crap! Crappity-crap!!” Now she had no essay, she had missed her weight workout and was already late for her first class – the one with the paper due.
She dashed out of her room and called out, “Aileen! You still here?” She stopped by the tikka bar where a note hung from the one side where the two of them always left messages for each other.
Jani,
I tried waking you up to lift weights, but you were out.
You were like a bear in hibernation. Lol.
I’ve got classes all day so I’ll see ya at practice at 3:00.
Later, Aileen.
Both of Jani’s hands flew to her head. She was so screwed. If she showed up late for class, the professor would single her out and ask for her paper. She shouldn’t have left it till last minute. Next time she needed to start as soon as she had the project in her hands. Today her best bet was to just skip class and show up tomorrow, fake a bad cold or the flu or something. Then she could hand it in tomorrow.
She yawned, tempted to crawl back in bed but decided against it. Probably not the best idea. She would be better off jumping in the shower to wake up and then sit down for half an hour and work on her paper till she had to head to her next class at ten thirty. She forced herself to ignore the tightness in her chest that hinted at the anxiety of things to come. “This isn’t going to snowball,” she scolded herself as she headed to the bathroom.
A quick shower and a bowl of cereal after, she sat down and wrote a page of the essay before grabbing her raincoat and backpack for her next class. She packed her laptop and slipped the case under her raincoat. She would have preferred to drive the two blocks to school and park by Wavertree Fieldhouse, but with the rain and now the time, there was no way she would find a parking spot.
Her kinesiology major put most of her classes right beside Wavertree. She planned most of her last classes of the day to end up close by. She had a nutrition class closer to home first where she sat at the back of the class, pretending to take notes but spent most of it staring out the window and thinking about Carter.
It tore at her insides that he had a lousy childhood. It wasn’t terrible, but he obviously didn’t get along with his dad. Carter was soft on the inside but had an edge to him. He didn’t care about ticking people off. She couldn’t figure out if he was a player. He seemed to genuinely like her, but then again, he could also just be trying to get in her pants. She giggled out loud at
Right now, all she wanted to do was curl under her covers and dream about Carter’s hand on her, his lips, his toxic touch. She crawled the little distance to her pillow and dropped her head onto it. She reached for her storm trooper alarm clock and changed the alarm from its usual seven wake up to five. She rolled over, too tired to care about changing her clothes or even brushing her teeth.
She knew she was smiling as she drifted off. Who wouldn’t smile after kissing hot Carter?
Rain drummed annoyingly against the windowpane in her room. Jani buried her head under her pillow and shut her eyes tight. At least rain meant dark skies. She could sleep a bit longer and never know if it were day or night.
Her eyes popped open under the pillow. She froze a moment before jumping out of bed and twirling around in a confused not-fully-awake-not-sure-what-to-do moment. She grabbed the storm trooper digital alarm clock.
9:20!
Why didn’t it go off? She double-checked the alarm. She remembered setting it for five. “Shit!” She’d bloody set it for five PM! “Crap! Crap! Crappity-crap!!” Now she had no essay, she had missed her weight workout and was already late for her first class – the one with the paper due.
She dashed out of her room and called out, “Aileen! You still here?” She stopped by the tikka bar where a note hung from the one side where the two of them always left messages for each other.
Jani,
I tried waking you up to lift weights, but you were out.
You were like a bear in hibernation. Lol.
I’ve got classes all day so I’ll see ya at practice at 3:00.
Later, Aileen.
Both of Jani’s hands flew to her head. She was so screwed. If she showed up late for class, the professor would single her out and ask for her paper. She shouldn’t have left it till last minute. Next time she needed to start as soon as she had the project in her hands. Today her best bet was to just skip class and show up tomorrow, fake a bad cold or the flu or something. Then she could hand it in tomorrow.
She yawned, tempted to crawl back in bed but decided against it. Probably not the best idea. She would be better off jumping in the shower to wake up and then sit down for half an hour and work on her paper till she had to head to her next class at ten thirty. She forced herself to ignore the tightness in her chest that hinted at the anxiety of things to come. “This isn’t going to snowball,” she scolded herself as she headed to the bathroom.
A quick shower and a bowl of cereal after, she sat down and wrote a page of the essay before grabbing her raincoat and backpack for her next class. She packed her laptop and slipped the case under her raincoat. She would have preferred to drive the two blocks to school and park by Wavertree Fieldhouse, but with the rain and now the time, there was no way she would find a parking spot.
Her kinesiology major put most of her classes right beside Wavertree. She planned most of her last classes of the day to end up close by. She had a nutrition class closer to home first where she sat at the back of the class, pretending to take notes but spent most of it staring out the window and thinking about Carter.
It tore at her insides that he had a lousy childhood. It wasn’t terrible, but he obviously didn’t get along with his dad. Carter was soft on the inside but had an edge to him. He didn’t care about ticking people off. She couldn’t figure out if he was a player. He seemed to genuinely like her, but then again, he could also just be trying to get in her pants. She giggled out loud at
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