Tears of love

1. The crush. [Part2]

"Here we are" Jeremy says, pulling me out of my reverie.

I fake a smile and wait for him to open the door for me to get out of the car.

"The university is huge," I tell him as I look around.

It's not the first time I've come to the university, but it's the first time I've noticed its size, the first time I feel dwarfed by its enormity, but also excited to know that my professional life will begin to be formed here.

He nods as he walks beside me, leading me to the admissions section.

We pass a huge hallway that leads to several offices and he points to the last one on the right hand side.

"That's it, butterfly."

I nod and start walking towards where he has pointed me, but stop when I realize he is not following me.

"Aren't you coming?" I ask, confused.

He denies as he pulls his phone out of his pocket.

"I have to call Sabrina," he says distractedly, not taking his eyes off his phone.

I nod with a fake smile and prepare to enter the office. Just before I enter, I hear his voice as he greets Sabrina with an affectionate "love".

I am her butterfly, she is his love.

I let out a long sigh and shake my head to focus on what I need to focus on, my college enrollment. I look at the woman sitting at the desk and walk over to hand her my paperwork, concentrating on what's important in an attempt to forget the affection with which Jer speaks to Sabrina.

"Good morning," I say with a smile.

"Good morning," she says politely, "Are you here to bring the admission papers?"

I nod and focus my attention on her and try to ignore the background voice, the softness of Jer's tone of voice as he talks to his girlfriend.

I answer all the questions the kind woman asks me, while she types concentrating on the computer.

"After filling out this form" she hands me a document, "everything would be ready."

"Can I borrow a pen?" I ask her.

She nods, but just before she hands me one, I hear a voice behind me: "I'll lend you one."

I turn to that voice to find a boy with black eyes and hair, he is very handsome, but what catches my attention the most is his kind smile. His presence startled me a little because I didn't notice at what moment he arrived, which causes him to chuckle in amusement.

"Thank you" I tell him with a smile and take the pen from his hand.

I start to fill out the form and in the meantime, he takes a seat next to me to, like me, do the registration.

When I finish, I hand the boy the pencil and the woman in front of me the form.

"It's all ready" she looks at my name on the document. "Miss Carson, in a few days you will receive in the mail the users and passwords to access the university's portals. Remember the day you start your classes and keep in mind the induction week."

"Thank you very much" I say with a smile as I stand up.

I take one last look at the pencil boy who is now filling out the form and smile shyly at him as he lifts his face to look at me, he smiles back. Then, I turn to leave in search of Jeremy. When I'm outside, I find him sitting in the waiting chairs.

"We're all set! I'm going to be a college girl soon," I tell him excitedly, eliciting a laugh from him. "Are you going to show me around campus?" I ask excited to spend more time with him.

His eyebrows drop and I know I'm not going to like what's coming.

"Butterfly, I have to go look for Sabrina" he looks uncomfortable and I feel a little hurt because it's the first time he cancels plans with me. "What do you say we take a rain check?"

I bite my lip and finally decide to do what I always do when it comes to him: fake a smile.

"Don't worry, I'll look around by myself."

"I can show you around the campus" says someone behind me and when I turn to look, I see it's the same guy from the office. "I'm sorry, but it was impossible for me not to listen and..."

"Wait..." I look at him, confused, "But aren't you new like me? How do you know the campus?"

He gives me a smile that shows a set of lined white teeth.

"My mother teaches here, it's not my first time on campus."

I look at him, not knowing what to say, but Jeremy beats me to it.

"Perfect, butterfly" he looks at me and gives me what I know is a fake smile as he speaks: "That's how you make new friends."

"Jeremy..."

"Here" he takes some bills out of his wallet and hands them to me. "Pay for the cab home with it."

I make a thin line on my lips as I concentrate on not showing pain in my eyes.

"Thank you" I whisper, but I don't know if he has heard me because he is already walking at full speed towards the exit.

I stare at him and when I don't see him anymore, I turn to look at the guy from the office.

"I'm Ryan" he says with a friendly smile.

"Aurora" I smile back even though the last thing I want to do is smile and I feel stupid for feeling so hurt by little things like this.

Ryan stares at me for several seconds and I'm forced to avert my eyes to the floor because I feel like he's reading me like I'm an open book.

Can he see my unrequited love?

"You can just refuse my offer if you don't want to," he finally murmurs, sounding sympathetic.

"No," I deny, "show me the campus."

He smiles and soon we are doing the tour I thought I would do with Jeremy.

Again, perhaps a little used to it by now, I ignore the tight feeling I feel in my chest because of Jeremy.