Tossing uncomfortably in bed, I woke up from my deep slumber, partially drenched in sweat despite the shower I had just taken last night. My phone instantly rang, the alarm annoyingly going off. I switched it off and saw quite a lot of unread conversations on my screen. I muffled a sigh, making my way up and out of bed.

Some reminder flashed in my mind and I ran back to my bed, and reread the notification set on my phone which signalled that I hadn't prepared for the history quiz, I had today. Feeling panicked for no reason, I just decided to cram for the university test instead, narrowing my focus on making it to university intact.

I was the kind of person who didn't need to put an effort into memorising things. One glance at something and I'd remember every single bit of it. The long remembrance came so naturally to me despite the short-lived moments.  

Since it was chilly outside, I decided to stick with a pair of blue loose jeans and a cream tight-fitting turtleneck. My grumbling stomach didn't seem to allow me to put any effort into makeup, so I simply just grabbed my keys and bag and finally set out.

I usually needed to walk a long way to reach the bus stop, so I had to get out a couple of minutes earlier to make it up. The grey clouds illuminated the vast sky while I got out, indicating that they would rain anytime soon, but the day seemed pretty dull and colourless, reflecting my mood. As I lazily walked, I tried to focus on my breathing and not my paranoia.

I somewhat felt watched.

I quickened my pace a tad bit, clutching tighter onto my bag strap as the only hope for my protection.

I needed to clear my head. Slowly revolting my eyes to both sides to make my suspicions wrong and fortunately, they turned out to be. There was no one in sight in the dim alleyway. Gulping down nervously, I kept walking, stepping each foot with utter carefulness. Just in case, I shakily made a cross sign across my chest, if today was the day.

Stopping for a bit to catch my breath, I bravely turned around to search for anyone in sight but to no avail there wasn't anyone. I was only hoping he wouldn't turn out from the middle of nowhere, wanting to sabotage my existence again.

Before I could face back, I crashed into something, or someone to be exact, almost tripping myself. I composed my shaky body, ready to retract, before looking up in utter fright.

"Oh my God Edward," I wearily yelled as I watched his body reverberate from laughter.

"Did I scare you?" He chuckled silently, his eyes studying my face intently.

"Oh no you didn't. I'm so happy to see you." I rolled my eyes, still shaken from the commotion.

"That's so sweet of you. You weren't replying to my texts, so I wanted to make sure you didn't kill yourself after studying history."

"That isn't an excuse Edward," I whined. "Were you stalking me though?" I internally gasped at the thought.

Oh no.

I shouldn't have asked that. I needed to stop making everything about myself.

"I'm s-"

"Well, maybe I was." He gave me a one-sided shrug and smiled a little. "You know I live around here too."

"Yeah right." I panted, and we walked together in silence for the next few minutes and finally reached the bus stop.

We sat there in silence not knowing what to do. The slight drizzling begun, making the weather chillier. The whole situation if narrated in my head, sounded like something it shouldn't be. And Edward's next move made it all the more awkward. He pulled off his black leather jacket to drape it over my shoulders for whatever reason.

"This whole moment feels so romantic." He huskily chuckled, making his presence known beside me. 

"What are you trying to imply here?" I frowned at him, trying too hard not to give in to his contagious smile.

"Am I correct or am I correct?"

"Neither," I answered pulling my sweater sleeves further down to my icy palms, to warm them.

"So, what do you consider romantic then? Beach walking? Watching movies? Star gazing?" His eyes switched to mine, a misinterpreted emotion brimming in them.

"What are you talking about?" I dramatically looked away. "We are not having this kind of conversation."

"Come on," He pushed, making me want to disappear from the uncomfortableness of the unfavourable odds. "Or wait are you an aromantic?"

"No, I'm not an aromantic," I firmly said, gazing at my feet nervously.

"That's relieving."

"What do you want?" I exhaled, more as a statement than a question, just to let the entirety of the moment go.

"Nothing. I was just trying to make small talk." He looked away, shoulders slumping a bit in the process. His long lean arms perched across his lap as I tried to figure out his expression.

"Right." I nodded, unable to equate a coherent sentence. "I prefer-"

We heard the bus horn, intimating of its arrival, startling me in the process. I felt paranoid to think that someone might see us together and so I hurriedly shrugged off the jacket, returning it to him. He simply shook his head not taking it back, and instead waited for me to get on the bus. Feeling flushed and nervous, I stumbled inside, unsure of whether to wear the jacket or try to fit it into my tiny excuse of a bag.

The drizzling had long faded away as the bus pulled onto the parking lot, of our campus. I got out timidly, striding towards the gates, finding a happy Marilyn, grinning at me widely.

"Finally, you're here! I was waiting for you for like ages," She squealed and pulled my hand in hers, walking us somewhere.

"Hold up. Where are we going?" I quipped.

"Our former classes are cancelled. So, I thought we could just have a little fun before history starts."

"Seriously? No Calculus?" I chirped excitedly and she reflected it.

"Yeah," She dragged the word. "We can spend some time in the library, what do you think?"

"Amazing."

We walked around, passing through crowds of busy students here and there, and finally squeezing our way towards the enormous wooden gates. We quietly entered, tiptoeing our way towards a cornered table, away from too many people. I and Marilyn had become accustomed to staying away from too many crowded places that were obnoxious enough to the extent of choosing libraries as enjoyable spots.

Before we could take a seat, I saw Drake already seated there, busied in some work, piles and stacks of notes spread widely over the table, surrounding his laptop. 

Marilyn didn't mind his presence much, already exchanging hellos. I mouthed him a hi awkwardly and perched down on a chair opposite.

He released a small smile, voicing a hi back, as he eyed the jacket around me, his suspicions growing. "Where's Edward?"

"I... I don't know. Must be in the canteen," I responded unsurely.

Drake didn't reply, his unusual behaviour giving me mixed signals. Perhaps, I was only overthinking the whole ordeal and making a big deal out of nothing.

I turned back towards Marilyn to see her giving me a knowing look that spoke lengths of 'I know what's up', paired with a smug smile.

A distant memory of Iris flashed in my mind, and I blinked it away, my heartbeat stepping up a notch. Several minutes went by with my mind focused on the undone assignments.

A phone beeping interrupted us, and I noticed it was mine, and my ex-father to be exact. 

I excused Marilyn and Drake and made my way out of the library to pick up before a couple of hesitant breaths. I swiped my trembling finger across the screen, placing the phone against my ear, which felt hot.

"How's my best daughter in the world doing?" He inquired quite softly to my surprise. "How's university treating you?"

"Everything's fine," I answered back curtly.

"Can't I speak to you other than just monetary terms? I can't ask how you're doing at university. How long has it been since we met?"

"I don't even need your money; I am so much better off. Even mum." Although I wasn't. That was something I failed to recover. No one knew how many times I tried, despite the constant advice on how I needed to start making ends meet before I hit eighteen -- something I should have, instead of dwelling on could have.  But I knew for a fact that there was this fateful difference between trying and doing. It was happenstance. And that was all in the twist of fate.

"She has a job?" He asked tersely. "Where does she work now? Is there any chance that we can meet? She never really picks up my calls."

"Maybe she doesn't want to. And yes, she has a wonderful job. A very good one at that." Which left us barely making ends meet.

"Okay, I'm happy for her. But you don't have to worry about the money still. I'll always be there for you for your college fees." He tried confronting me, but it only made me all the more upset and hollow-hearted.

"Okay."

"As long as you'd stick with me and let your mum and I be together. We can be happy and start over..." If it wasn't for the eighth time, not even exaggeratedly, eight times of on and off between Mum and Dad's marriage, I definitely would've fallen for this one.

"Okay." But we had no choice since mom didn't have a stable job either, so that left me with having to go through all the trouble of argue-conversing with my dad just so that he could provide for us.

I looked past the tall skyscrapers of buildings, standing erect as my vision got blurry. I hated giving people the satisfaction of accurately pushing my vulnerability buttons and that man knew that all so perfectly.

"So, when do you want to meet?" He proposed, but I couldn't produce a coherent answer.

"I'll talk to Mum about it." My voice shook, holding back the bile, as I hung up, feeling like an emotional mess already. I looked up and blinked hard to fight the tears and thankfully, after some time, they disappeared.

Sighing heavily, I made my way back quietly, trying hard to keep myself together. I entered and took a seat, my body in a fearful posture.

"Everything good?" Marilyn asked casually, concern etched over her thin face, and I faked a smile.

"Yeah."

I shifted my chair a little closer to the table, taking out a couple of books from my bag, to keep my mind off from any knotty thoughts. After a couple of minutes, when I finally relaxed a bit, I stretched my shoulders back, leaning in the chair more.

My eyes lifted from my English book to find a pair of brown eyes staring at me, seemingly lost and for quite some time now, by the looks of it. I frowned a smile at Drake who visibly got out of his daydream, blinking nervously.

The day somehow reached its end, shifting to a typical university's Friday night.

I was invited to some frat party which I kindly declined. All credits went to all the horrendous Wattpad teen fiction I had read which prepared me enough, that not even a protective best friend, a possessive boyfriend or your beloved pepper spray helped in certain situations.

It was early evening as the sky grew a subtle shade of purple, the chilly wind biting my skin. Perched on one of the benches again, I lowered my head to try to clear my blackened vision from the sudden movement of trying to get up for my bus. I heard some footsteps approach me, and I squinted my eyes to make out who it was, unmistakably Edward, with his starry eyes glimmering with concern. "You alright?"

And I had half a mind to tell him to let me be, but I couldn't muster the energy. And instead chose the one thing I shouldn't have done. Getting up to remove his jacket to return him. I slowly stood up, my hand grasping at the handle of the bench, and the next thing I knew everything blacked out.