Closing her books Kathryn raised her head and watched as people started navigating there way out of the classroom. She felt her body ache in response to standing up finally and looked at her notes. There were words tied together and some of it made sense but not a lot of it was good. She hadn’t managed to focus on any of it.
“Wow,” Owen said. “Is it just me or was that longer than normal?”
“You’re not wrong,” She said and looked at her notes one more time before closing them. “That man has talked at me for the past few months. I still can barely understand him. And my notes suck.”
“I can let you borrow mine,” Owen offered sliding his notebook over to her.
“You sure? You may not get this back until the next time we meet up.”
He nodded quickly, “That’s fine by me. I’ll be okay until the next time we have class anyway.”
“You’re a life saver,” Kathryn said finally. Checking her phone, she sighed and a wry smile touched her cheeks. “And looks like I don’t have to take the train this time.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because my boyfriend is coming to pick me up,” She slid her phone into her pocket.
They left the classroom roaming down the hallway together. She gingerly shoved Owen’s notebook into her new bag. It was smaller than her old one and only fit on one of her shoulders. She couldn’t carry as much as she had before either. Just having a few notebooks and her school book. Today was lighter but she’d need something bigger on heavier days.
Walking out of the lecture hall she and Owen both fumbled with their coats before finally accepting they have to set their bags down to make it function. It was very warm inside the building but the moment they were outside it was fair game and open season with the cold.
Fixing her hat Kathryn glanced back at him, “Where you heading?”
“Food,” Owen replied. “And then home. And probably work even later.”
“Probably?”
“Yeah. I don’t know if I have that many hours today. I have to check the schedule. It’s been kinda thrown outta whack because of yesterday.”
“You mean the train thing or the huge thing at the airport?”
“Both,” and again his face fell slightly. “Just lots of trouble everywhere.”
“I hope we don’t have another invasion on the way,” she said as a joke but as she looked at Owen she felt like she’d kicked a puppy. “Sorry. I said something messed up didn’t I?”
He shook his head and rubbed the back of his hand against his face quickly. “No. Yeah but no. It’s not your fault. Uh. Last year. My mom died. Killed during the invasion.”
Kathryn froze staring at him, shaking her head quickly. “Crap. I’m so sorry Owen.”
“No it’s not your fault. You didn’t know. I haven’t really talked much about it,” he forced a laugh and smiled at her. “But I’m working through it.”
Kathryn made a face and finally walked over and just hugged him surprising Owen entirely. But he appreciated it looking down. He hugged her back and felt the stinging in his eyes and sniffed. She took a step back after a few more seconds and gave him a small smile. He smiled back rubbing his eyes. “Thanks for that.”
“No problem,” she bent down and picked up her bag and slid it over her shoulder. “I hate to run like this but I have to get going. I’d rather meet him before he gets here because he’s going to bitch.”
Owen nodded, “I’ll just see you next week right?”
“Hey if a robot attack couldn’t stop me from getting into class nothing will.”
She waved one more time to him and walked out. Bristling at the cold she made a face but kept going. Tugging her hat tighter onto her head she trudged through it. Looking up at the sky it was grey and cloudy but she was just wondering if it would hurry up and snow or if it was just going to remain this way.
She got partway down the street, going to the nearest intersection. A car honked near the street and she turned to the old Sedan. She looked over and recognized the dent in the door, and the faded paint job. Pulling the door open she slid into the passenger side door dropping her bag between her legs.
The car smelled like heat from the vents and she held both hands in front of the one in the center of the console. Blowing on her hands she finally took her hat off and grinned at him. Seth looked at her tiredly but he flashed her a smile. Leaning over she kissed him lightly and sighed leaning back in her chair. “Hey Violet.”
“Hey Kat.”
“You know you didn’t have to come pick me up. I was going to take the bus this time.”
“Yeah yeah. I know. But now you’re riding with me so here we are.”
“Well I can’t say I don’t appreciate it. Riding the public transit in the cold didn’t sound all that great.”
Turning the car into reverse and he pulled out of the spot to the tune of a car horn and him ignoring it. Pulling out he asked, “You check the group chat recently?”
Pulling onto the street he turned onto the main street. “The group chat? No. I didn’t even look at my phone during the class. Too busy trying to take notes and pay attention. You know, like a good student.”
“A good student? What’s that?” Seth looked over his glasses at her grinning but she pointed at the road sternly. “Yeah yeah.”
“What happened in the chat?” she asked but she was already scrolling through it but there were at least sixty messages and after a bit of reading back and forth from Jack and Cal she lost interest fast. “I’m not reading through this.”
“I don’t blame you. Anyway, buried in there is Marco saying we should meet up. Get some lunch the six of us. Talk. Make sure we’re all alive and well. And then figure things out. Everyone’s in mostly except you.”
“I’m in. I have to copy some notes but I have time to get it done. Especially if we don’t run late.”
“Copying notes? What happened to the good student?”
She turned and glared at him but he was just continuing to grin. “You know I don’t have to stay at your place tonight. I can do my work from my place easily. Less distractions at home.”
When he made a sour face that made her finally break out into a laugh and she reached over poking his cheeks. “Yeah not so fun is it Violet?”
The Harlequin Library 