It's Always You

Chapter 2

“Good morning, Ala!!” Mia greeted warmly while filing her nails. They were waiting for Alana in the open lawn where they usually met every morning.

Mia was an absolute beauty with sandy blonde hair, grey eyes and a body like that of Barbie’s. Boys were dying to date her but Alana always made sure no one dared to approach her. Mia was very fragile and her heart was prone to heartaches. She knew her friend wouldn’t be able to deal pain like she does and so vowed to protect her from guys who looked like they were about to shatter her heart.

“Hey pretty!!” Chirped in Audrey, their only male friend. They became friends recently but both Mia and Alana could feel an instant connection with him, like he was their long lost sister or something. He had a lean body, raven black hair and blue eyes but the most striking feature on his glass like face was his goatee. He also had one of his ears pierced with a diamond stud. Most of the girls in their college drooled over him but he was least interest in any of them.

“Morning dudes.. Aren’t we late for our classes?” Alana snatched the filer from Mia’s hands and threw it into her bag.

“Hey, why would you do that?” Mia exclaimed over the top of her lungs.

“We don’t want morsels of your nail dust flying around in the air..” Alana hauled Mia’s hands and poured a few drops of sanitizer on them.

“Seriously? Bitch..” She groaned and rubbed her palms together, making Alana grin at her childishness.

“We still have fifteen minutes before the classes begin..” Audrey informed glancing at his wrist watch.

“Great!!” Anala sat with them and grabbed a bite of Audrey’s sausages.

“Look at this..” Audrey showed them their university’s social media feed, “Melanie broke up with Drake after finding out he was cheating on her with her best friend..”

“Really? He did that to her?” Mia’s jaw hung low in shock.

“Good that it happened sooner than I expected..” Alana shrugged. “What?” She asked when she noticed her friends staring back at her as if she had crown two horns.

Melanie and Drake were the most talked about couple in their whole university. They were setting high couple goals for everyone but little did they all know what a cheap piece of s**t Drake was.

“They were like the best couple in the whole campus and you still expected them to break up?” Mia whisper yelled at her friend.

“What else would you expect when you caught that Moron naked with Melanie’s friend Tesa, in the locker room?”

“You saw him cheat over Melanie but you still didn’t think of telling us?” Mia shrieked once again in disbelief.

“Don’t all the boys do that? Break a girl’s heart in some or the other way? Sorry bud didn’t mean any offence to you.” She apologized to Audrey who was nothing like the other guys.

“None taken..” He mumbled.

“What’s there to discuss about something that’s so inevitable, Mia? I just didn’t want to go around bitching about someone whom I hardly knew and waited for her to find out herself..” Alana added. Mia stared at her for a couple of seconds before she calmed down. She knew Alana well enough to not judge her.

“I didn’t expect him to turn out to be such a douchebag..” Mia commented when she absorbed Alana’s words.

“May be all hot guys are douchebags after all..” Audrey interposed his personal thoughts.

“He has a rat's face.. He isn’t hot, Audrey..” Mia opposed.

“He is.. You should have seen his perfectly chiseled body..” He sighed deeply, mentally drooling over him.

“When did you get to ogle at his naked body?” Alana asked him with a frown.

“Perks of being a gay, babe. You can follow the hotties to the gym and the locker room..” He wriggled his eyebrows up and down proudly.

“Lucky you..” Mia threw a small rock which he grabbed just in time from hitting his skull.

“Come on guys, let’s not forget that we have classes to attend in five minutes..”  Alana stood up dusting her back before they walked together into the building.

“Meet you at two..” Audrey waved as he went on to attend his drama class.

Alana and Mia had Engineering Dynamics as their first subject. Mr.Hekkins was lecturing about the key forces affecting the aerodynamics of a plane. Alana wondered why she was even sitting here. This was not what she wanted to do. She wanted to pursue music and start her own band someday but just as always, her mother had convinced her father and they together, forced their decision on Alana.

They said, she needed to get an Engineering degree to run the family business of designing cars and that it was the best for her life. There was nothing Alana could do but silently agree to them. They never bothered about what she wanted and only cared about what they thought was better for her. When she was a small girl, she used to protest but later she realized that there was no point in it since she always ended up doing things according to her parents’ will.

Engineering was definitely not her thing, it was for people like Mia and.. Martin. She couldn't help but remember Marty making a wooden aeroplane when they were kids. He had made it so perfectly using scraps found in her father’s old garage and the smile on his face when it finally took off the ground was just priceless.

He was a genius even when he was just six.

Where is he now?

What would he be doing?

Does he think about me once in a while?

Did he find someone and fall in love?

The wheels at her head began to work, resulting in torturous thoughts. Her heart felt like being squeezed and bled at her chest. How stupid of her to think of that!

She didn’t know where he lived or if he was still alive but somehow her stomach turned into knots to think of him with some other girl who was not her. The air around her suddenly became unbreathable and suffocating.

She randomly grabbed her things from the table and began to rush out of the lecture hall. While she was about to run out, she bumped on to one of the stairs and before she could realize it, she was lying on all fours. Her books and stationery supplies were scattered all over the place. The room was soon filled with loud giggles and chortles that made her face red with embarrassment. If she had a choice, she would have buried herself deep into the ground.

Mia was shocked but she couldn’t run behind her friend in the middle of a lecture to check she was doing okay.

After a few seconds Alana felt someone crouch beside her, “Are you okay?” Alana could feel concern in the person’s voice but she didn’t dare to look up. She thought she would die of embarrassment if she did.

“I g-guess..” Alana’s eyes were starting to pool with a combination of tears and shame.

“Didn’t you notice the stairs? What were you thinking about?” His voice was as sweet as a honey bee’s flutter. He gathered her things from the floor and offered his other hand to help her stand up.

“About a certain jerk..” She spat angrily.

“Sorry?” He c****d his thick black brows at her.

“Nothing..” She mumbled before she harshly grabbed her books from his hold and didn’t spare another look at him. She walked out of the hall leaving everyone fully entertained for the day.

She kept walking as if her legs had a mind of their own and stopped only when she reached their usual spot under the tree. Finally her legs gave in and she slumped down on the lawn, tossing her bag and books carelessly on the ground.

“Stupid, Stupid Alana.. Keep thinking about him and ruin your life..” She reprimanded herself. She wanted to add a hard smack across her face if possible, for acting so weird in front of the whole class.

She dragged both her palms over her face slowly and deliberately as if she wanted to hide her face behind them.

“Alana..” She heard Mia call her from behind before she came jogging towards her. “What happened? Are you alright?”

‘Yeah, yeah, I’m good..” She wiped her face and faked a laugh. “I just didn’t see the stairs..”

“Alana, it’s about him, isn’t it? Are you still thinking of your childhood crush?” Mia held  her shoulder firmly and questioned her.

“He isn’t my crush, Mia..” Alana refuted angrily.

“Then what? Your first love?”

Alana bit her lips when she fell in short of words. She didn’t know what to call him, her friend, crush or first love? She was sure she didn’t consider him just as a friend but at the same time she didn’t know about what he thought of her.

“I have no idea. We were too young to discuss those things but all I know is that I miss him, really bad.” Her eyes were beginning to twinkle with tears.

“If you miss him so much, why don’t you go back to Sovana to look for him? There is a possibility that he is back there.” Mia suggested.

“I don’t think so, Mia. I went there every year in the past but his family had completely moved out of Sovana. I don’t think they are ever coming back..”

“Alana, then you really should stop thinking so much about someone with whom you lost touch so many years back. You were merely kids and I don’t think he would still be keeping his promise. I agree he might have been a good friend to you but now, you must just be a distant memory to him. I say you should just forget about him.”

“Yeah, you are right, Mia. I should totally forget him..” She nodded but did not entirely agree with her friend. The last time Alana tried to forget Marty, she ended up in a hospital. It took several months for her to recover. It was after that she met Mia. So, there were certain things that she didn’t what to discuss even with the closest of her friends.

“Good, let’s go to the canteen.” Mia pulled at her wrist to help her stand up on her feet, then they sauntered to the canteen together. “By the way, did you see the guy who helped you in the lecture hall?”

Alana suddenly felt bad for not thanking him for helping her from falling into further embarrassments. “I was in a hurry..” She whispered.

“Oh God, he looked so damn hot. I was instantly attracted to him. That’s the kind of guy I was waiting for my whole life..” Mia spoke dreamily.

“Mia I’m telling you, boys bring along heartbreaks. Believe me you don’t want to go through that. You better save your heart right from the beginning..” Alana warned her with seriousness lingering in her words.

“Oh come on Alana, what’s love without some heartbreak and not everyone is the same. There are still some gem left over in this world for you and me. We wouldn’t know until we try..” Mia spoke in her extra sweet tone.

“Mia, you are saying as though the pain is nothing. You wouldn’t know unless you really go through it..” Alana reacted back annoyed.

“Hey ladies..” Their talk was interrupted by Audrey’s sudden arrival behind them.

“Hey you..” Mia pulled out a chair for him and patted on it.

“Did you guys hear that there is a party being held at the Rony’s lakehouse this Saturday night? How about we all go there and have some real fun?” Audrey proposed staring at his text message.

“Not interested..” Alana rolled her eyes and turned away.

Mia threw a knowing look at him which said, ‘See, I told you..’

“But why? We will have fun there…” Audrey tried to persuade her. “Come on Alana, let’s go.. Don’t be a killjoy..”

“Good luck trying to persuade her Audrey. She wouldn’t go. She is too scared that someone would steal her precious little heart.” Mia poked her in an attempt to make her go with them.

“What? No.. Where did you even get that from?” She negated her friend’s claims.

“You are a coward, Ala. Accept it.” Mia taunted her back. “You are scared of getting hurt..”

“I’m not..” Alana unknowingly was taking the bait that her friends had laid for her.

“Then prove us wrong and go with us..” Audrey challenged her with his chin raised.

“Alright, let’s go. Anyways I’m just going to sit around and watch you guys getting bored with that lame excuse of a party..”

“Let’s see..” Audrey and Mia smirked at each other victoriously.

They spent a good one hour in the canteen laughing and gossiping before they left the campus.

“Do you have to work in the evening?” Mia asked walking to the parking lot. Audrey had basketball practice till late evening so, it was just she and Alana.

“Yeah, this time around the year, it’s really busy in the store. Mrs.Dawson needs my help until closing time.” Answered Alana.

“Oh I thought we could watch a movie together, just you and me.”

“Can we postpone it to Friday night? It’s been a long time since we binge watched..” Alana asked.

“Awesome. Can’t wait for Friday night..” She did a slight hip shake making her friend laugh.

“Bye..”

“Bubye bitch..” Mia shouted back.

Alana was at the book store, wiping the book shelves when her phone vibrated in her pocket.

“Mrs.Dawson, I really need to get this. Can you manage for five minute?”

“Sure honey. Take your time..” Mrs.Dawson was a sweet old lady who reminded Alana of her late gramma.

“Thanks..” She mumbled and walked out of the store.

“Papa, how are you?”

“I’m good. How’s my little angel..”

“I’m not little anymore..” She groaned.

“Hahaha, you are always little to me. Anyways what are you doing, honey?”

“Ahh.. Studying..” She lied since her parents didn’t know she was working after college. Her mama would go berserk if she got to know about it. According to her, Alana had so much bank balance that not only her, but also three of her future generations didn't have the necessity to work.

Alana didn’t want to spend her parents’ hard earned money like water. In her opinion, it was her parents parents who were rich, not her. She wanted to make her own savings by working hard like any other teenager of her age would do.

“How’s mama?” She quickly diverted him from asking anymore questions about her whereabouts. She knew she was bad at lying and would spill out the bean if grilled any further.

“Mama’s at a charity function. She misses you..” He added.

“Sure she does..” Her mama was so busy in the last two months that she hadn’t called her even ones. “Tell her I miss her too, papa..”

“Sure.. Take care, baby girl. Papa loves you.”

“Love you too. Bye..”

 A/N: 

I'm really bad at writing these college scenes but I hope I have to learn doing it for this book. 

Anyways, please tell me if you liked this chapter. 

~SwaRam~