~Olivia’s POV~
I won over my ceramics professor and my final ceramics project, The Many Faces Of Chip is approved with my first three teacups glazing in the oven right now. I’ve spent so much time drawing Chip in different poses that I’ve become better at it. I can’t wait to show Andy, he’s going to be so proud of me.

I’m going to avoid him until my teacups are done. Instead of signing my initials on the bottom I etched “O&A”. Andy gave me the idea to base my project around Beauty and the Beast so he gets partial credit on my work.

I went for a long walk while waiting for my Chips to finish and ran into Amelia. I didn’t notice Chris anywhere in sight so I had to investigate. “Lee, hai!” I shouted and waved.

“Oh. Uh. Hey. Uh.” She reacted.

I’m fine with her squirming. But something is definitely up. “Guess what?!” I beamed. She was still muttering a string of two letter pauses. “I am the queen of ceramics.”

“That’s great Ollie!” She finally smiled.

“Where’s uh, what’s his face?” I cut to the chase.

“Chris.” She tilted her head like a puppy. “He’s storm chasing.”

I looked up at the bright cloudless sky. “Really.” I said, folding my arms. “You believe that?”

She clicked her tongue. “Out of town.” She rolled her eyes. “Obviously.”

I laughed. “Hey that’s awesome.” I ignored her sass. “Let’s get something to eat off campus later. I’m starting to wear out my meal card.”

“Okay.” She didn’t sound sure. She’s hiding something.

“It’s been forever since we’ve hung out together.” I put my hand on her arm. Her skin was clammy and she was nervous.

“I kind of had plans.” She started making some excuse.

“Awesome! See you later.” I ignored her and walked away, she’s not getting out of this one. She hasn’t been able to hide anything from me since ballet.


~Andy’s POV~
Chris and I were driving in his old Chev on a dusty highway and he had the windows rolled all the way down. A weird mist had begun to gather on the sides of the highway and when it started to obscure the road ahead he didn’t slow down. The song we were singing kept blasting, and the fog was blocking the view.

He glanced at me and took his foot off the gas. “What’s up with this fog bro?”

“It’s freezing can we close the windows?” I rubbed my hands over the muscle of my arms for effect.

“You could stop being pansy.” He said, rolling the windows up at the press of a button.

“Dude you always have the windows down, maybe you should ride a motorbike.” I stated.

He raised an eyebrow and looked at me, “Oh yeah?” He teased. “You want to sit behind me? Wrap your arms around my waist, be my biker bitch?” He laughed.

“Dude.” I shook my head and looked out the window.

“Seriously man.” He put his hand on my shoulder. “We could make this happen.” He looked into my eyes.

I punched his side. “Yeah right.” I rolled my eyes.

He laughed and put both hands back on the wheel. I started laughing with him, closing my eyes. I laughed until a sharp pain in my stomach forced my eyes open and I exhaled a loud gasp. The room wasn’t lit in blinding white fluorescence anymore, the dark green curtain was open just enough for me to see an empty triage desk cast in the only light around. I sat up a little bit and felt a wave of nausea push me back down again. I’m still alone in the Hospital.

~Emily’s POV~
‘Andy, I know you don’t have your phone but Chris is bringing me to see you.’ I texted the words as soon as I got off the phone with him. I stared at the text now as I sat on the floor in my room. I decided to wear a black and white dress to meet him and celebrate that he’d survived. I’ve been sitting on the same spot on the floor wearing a dress for two and a half hours, my floor covered in an array of jeans, band tees and bottles of nail polish. I’d been creating texts and deleting them without sending them.

I’ve never felt this nervous in my life. I called Chris. “I can’t do it.” I said as soon as I heard wind and music answer the phone.

“I know.” He was chewing gum.

I was confused. “This is Emily?” The words came out as a question.

“I know.” He repeated.

“Okayyyyy.” My voice trailed off, still confused. “I’m scared to meet him.”

“No worries.” He said dismissively. “But you’ve seen him in bad shape before.”

“Yeah.” I shrugged. But I wasn’t in love with him then. Or maybe I was always in love with him.

“So you’re in university right?” He perked up.

“Yeah.” I couldn’t seem to speak anymore. I was afraid I’d say too much again.

“I’ll tell him that you had to work on a big project, and that you send your love.” He said, I could hear the smile in his voice.

“I do.” I said quickly. “Sociology. We’re doing a project on revolution and Ashley wants us to meet for an hour every day to work on it.”

“Ashley huh.” He sounded like he was smirking.

“He’s this guy that’s sort of leading the project. He has a girlfriend.” I blurted out and pressed my palm into my forehead. Why do I always do this? He was silent. I tried to focus on his music in the background to keep the words inside my head this time. He can break the silence.

A minute passed. Did he forget we were on the phone? A minute and a half passed. “I never see him with his girlfriend.” I thought out loud. Did I just say that?

“Maybe he doesn’t have one.” He replied.

“He didn’t seem to notice me until he started teasing me when I was writing Mrs. Biersack on my book in sociology.” I sighed when the words started again. How does his silence get me to talk like this? Why can’t I shut up?

He laughed when I said Mrs. Biersack. “Just friends.” He replied.

“I was daydreaming.” The words seemed like a good cover-up until I said them out loud. “Not about Andy.” I quickly tried to save myself. “About.” Shut up Emily. Just stop talking.

“About not-Andy?” He said.

“No.” I snapped. I’m hopeless. “About.” Stop saying about.

“It’s okay.” He said confidently. “I daydream about him too.”

I laughed hard enough to stop feeling like a love sick fan girl who couldn’t control her mouth. “Thanks Chris.” I sighed.

“No worries.” He became silent again.

“How far away are you?” I wondered.

“Well.” He sighed loudly. “I counted on you not wanting to come along so I’m almost at the Hospital.”

“Wow.” I was surprised. “It’s like you know me.”

“I feel like I do. Andy used to talk about you all the time.”

Uh oh, he used to talk about me? Why did he stop? Should I ask him?

“We sort of grew apart when he moved.” His voice trailed off. I’m not breaking the silence again. “I hardly hear from him now. I thought he was okay.” He added.

“He was okay.” I offered. “Something bad must’ve happened. Maybe he had a fight with Olivia.”

“When are they not fighting?” He laughed. “They fight, they make up, that’s all they do.”

“Yeah.” I shook my head, the moment Andy said we were just friends stabbed me again. The pain of that night returned.

“They’re no good for each other.” He said.

“I know, right?!” The words escaped my mouth a little too excitedly.

“He’ll see that soon enough.” He said, the wind and music stopped in the silence that followed.

A cross between the words why, what, and how is what I said next. “Whu-how?”

“Hey listen, I’m at the Hospital. Let me talk to him, I’ll text you later.” He hung up.

Notes