"Watch it!" someone yelled as Alice diverted out of the way barely in time.

She was quite careless that day, nothing able to shake her mood. It wasn't just that day, though. The entire week had gone by with some sort of fantastical ease. She felt like everything was pink and fluffy, but she'd never say it out loud to her friends, knowing too well she'd be mocked.

Perhaps Alice was considered the most childish, someone who lived within the false belief that the world was a sweet place and life was worth all the trouble, but wasn't that what made her also the happiest? There had to be a reason she was the only one who never hit rock bottom.

"Ali!" a voice called somewhere on her left.

She stopped mid-stairs and turned to the girl sitting on the stone rail at the side of the stairs, sunglasses on top of her blonde curls.

"Nicole!" she smiled, joining the girl and dropping her bag by her feet. "Don't you have classes now?"

"Just had my last morning class. The next starts at three. I'm going to work now."

Alice frowned. "But your shift is later."

"I know. I'm covering for Oliver," she said. "Are you having lunch alone?"

She didn't realise Nicole was only asking because she was alone too; she assumed Nicole was just concerned about her.

"I was going to ask Andy to have lunch with me. We have the same lunch time most days."

Nicole scrunched her nose. "Andy?"

"Yes. You've met Andrew before. He has French with us."

The girl blinked, but Alice didn't elaborate, knowing she was playing dumb on purpose. She didn't understand the need, but accepted that there were some things about Nicole she would never understand.

"So you're... having lunch with him?"

"Yupe. I just need to call him. He's always available, he hasn't made many friends so far."

"So you're clawing at him so he doesn't meet anyone more interesting?" Nicole asked.

"Are you saying I'm not interesting enough?"

Nicole laughed at the girl's sudden preoccupation. To her, the only problem with Alice was caring too much about other people's opinion.

"Of course you are," she jumped, landing on a step of the irregular stair in her black heels. "Is he interesting, though? He looks boring."

"Can you not? You don't need to bash down every single man you encounter in your life. Besides, I think he might be the one."

A shy smile grew on Alice's lips when the words came out, and her cheeks tinted a bright pink as Nicole's scrutinising eyes stared at her, fighting herself not to roll them. She crossed her arms over her chest, trying to look like she was hoping for a congratulation that would never come.

"You've known him for two weeks," Nicole said.

"I think I'm in love."

"Two weeks." She repeated.

Alice shook her head, feeling bad for Nicole and her lack of faith. She should've known the blonde would never understand. Nicole had never been in love. She always thought it was a feeling of fools. The only time she might've been in love ended abruptly and she never spoke about it.

"I know you don't understand, but what I feel for him is too strong to be ignored."

"Whatever you say, Ali," she shrugged, "I just don't want to see you get hurt."

"I won't. He's not that kind of guy."

Nicole nodded and hugged her tight, not for a second believing what she was hearing.

"I'm going to work. See you later."

"Bye" she mumbled.

She started looking for Andrew's name on her contact list, which wasn't hard since he was the exact first. She pressed the green button and waited for him to answer, counting the beats.

"Hello." At last, his voice was heard on the other side.

"Hi!" she perked up. "Have you had lunch already? 'Cause I was thinking we could have lunch together. I know a cool cafe near campus."

"Sure. I just got out of class."

"Oh, okay, lovely. Meet you by the stairs?"

"On my way."

They hung up, and she sighed in relief. The window served as a mirror for her to fix her blue hair, and then she tried to lean against the wall as she waited, acting cool. Unbothered like Nicole, knowing she was a real catch like Miguel.

From the corner of the stairs, it was easy to avoid the incomings rushing towards the enormous double doors or anyone who was leaving. Twice did she find people she knew and waved at them, almost having a proper chat, yet it didn't take long for Andrew to show up.

His class had been on the other side of campus, delaying his arrival. He worried little about getting on time since both of them had a long time before next classes started, but he didn't want to keep her waiting.

"Hello, beautiful." He cheered.

Alice turned bright red. It would take a while until she got used to so many compliments or the way he just offered them casually.

"Hi." She smiled, taking his hand in hers. His were almost twice the size of hers. "Shall we get going?"

He nodded and let her take him to the cafe she had mentioned. The walk was short; they were having lunch near next to the university. It was so close, no wonder almost the entirety of its clientele were students.

"I've never been here before," He noted, sitting at a table with Alice. "I thought we were going to that one with the books. On the other side of campus."

Alice shook her head. But he was taking in the place's darkness, from the lack of light to the brown and black furniture.

"That's The Bookmark. They're more of a bookstore than an actual cafe, but it's a cool place to hang out when you need to study and you don't want to go to the library. I didn't feel like going there right now because Nicole is working and I don't need her peering at us. Have you been there already?"

So that's why she was there. Andrew connected the dots, realising she wasn't just another customer leaving the place.

"No, I haven't- I mean, I almost did once, but I ended up going straight to class."

"Don't go there in the morning." Alice scrunched her nose. "Jenny does the morning shift and Miguel says she is awful."

"Both Jenny and Nicole do the morning shift?" He asked, grabbing the menu and giving it a once over.

"No. Jenny and some other girl do, but Nicole covers for them sometimes. Now she is covering again. I don't know how she does it," she explained, "But let's not talk about them. How was your day so far?"

He put down the menu and gave it to her, leaning against the chair.

"It was alright, I guess. Just the usual boring classes."

"Made friends already?" she asked before signalling the waiter to register their order.

He shook his head. "That's not what I'm worried about right now. School is a priority. I need to adapt to this whole new reality before I can even think about socialising."

Alice nodded, sucking on her cheek. Her stomach turned into mush, and she made a quick decision.

Grow up, Alice. Stop being a baby and just talk to him. She breathed out.

Her hand found his, and their eyes met.

"I get that, but... what about a girlfriend?"

Andrew stared at her, hiding the surprise as best as he could. Wasn't it all too early? He liked Alice, he really did, but they barely knew each other.

Her hopeful eyes looked at him, and he swallowed.

"Look..."

"I don't like how that sounds."

"I wasn't expecting it. I like you too, I just..."

The smile beaming on her face made him shut up. He really liked that smile and he wouldn't dare ruin it.

"I'm so happy right now!" she said.

"I know. I am too" he entangled their fingers..

Perhaps they didn't know each other that well, but he didn't mind getting to know her in a relationship.

Hello!

Was this a boring chapter? Yes, you don't need to answer, I know already. I said I would write smaller chapters but this ain't it. This was way too small but I'm trying to write without caring for the word count.

Alice really is in a rush. Thought on her?

Please vote and comment

Thank you for reading ;)