Painted Sky

I looked up at the sky, and groaned at he sight of the swirling grey storm clouds.

I hated weather like this, mainly because it made it feel like something horrible was happening somewhere. It made the whole mood of the day feel melancholy, and I was feeling far from that today.

I pulled my jacket around my body tighter, as I felt the wind pick up. I knew I only had a few more minutes before the rain started to fall, and I needed to get back to my dorm.

The rain had just started to fall, when I got to the door, and I smiled as I pulled the door open. I flashed my ID to the front desk worker, and he signaled that it was fine for me to keep going. I smiled at him, and went to the elevator, waiting for it to get on the bottom floor.

Once the elevator got to me, I decided to stop at the student store, instead of going straight to my dorm. I almost ran into the group of people getting off of the elevator, but was able to slide by them and into the small store.

“Heather!” I heard my friend, Andrew say from his spot at the checkout counter.

“Hey Andrew!” I said smiling at him, “What’s up?”

“Eh, not much. I’m just really bored in here,” he said laughing, “What about you? You never come here during these hours.”

“My Lit class got canceled,” I said shrugging, “And I have some homework to do, and decided that I needed something to drink.”

“Oh you’re lucky,” he said nodding, “Hey, we should hang out later!”

“Yeah that would be awesome!” I said finally grabbing a bottle of Smart Water, “Come by at 8?”

“Sounds good,” he said ringing up my water on my meal card, “See you then.”

He got up and gave me a quick hug, causing a small blush to creep it’s way onto my face.
“Alright, by Andrew,” I said hiding my face.

He just waved, and I made my way back to the elevator. I was lucky, and it was already on the third floor, so I hopped right in and hit the button for my floor. Once I got to my floor, I went to my door, which was convieniently located next to the elevator, twisted the handle.

“We should really lock that,” I heard Kerri, my room mate, say as she sat in the kitchen.

“Probably,” I said shrugging and walking into my room, “But we’re still safe.”

“So true,” she said coming in and plopping on her bed, “So, any plans for tonight?”

“I have to write this paper,” I said sighing, “But Andrew’s coming over in about 6 hours.”

“Ooh! Is this the Andrew you are absolutely smitten with?” she said looking at me expectantly.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said hiding my blushing cheeks, “Now if you’ll excuse me I have a paper to write.”

“You can say what you want, but you can’t hide the blush on your cheeks,” she said laughing, “And good luck with the paper.”

I just looked down once more, and pulled all of my research papers out of my bag.
I opened a new Word Document, as well as a game of Solitaire, before starting on my desperate journey to write my paper.

xxx

I clicked my final King of Spades into place, and smiled when the fireworks saying “Congratulations” popped up on my screen.

I looked down at the clock and realized that it was only a quarter until 8. I quickly quit my game of Solitaire, and shut my laptop, before shoving my papers back into my backpack.

I went into the bathroom, and ran a comb through my hair, before making sure my make up was still okay. I smiled, realizing I didn’t have to redo it, and tidied the space up.

I then went into my bedroom, making sure that I had everything put away. I was glad I did check, because I had a few bra’s hung on my bedpost to dry. I quickly shoved them into my dresser, and just before I heard a knock at the door.

I almost skipped to the door, and composed myself, before opening the door.

“Hey Heather!” Andrew said as he pulled me into the second hug of the day.

“Hi Andrew,” I said returning his hug, “How are you?”

“Just glad to be off work,” he said smiling, “Oh, and happy to be hanging with you!”

“Same here,” I said as I felt my cheeks heat up a bit, “So, what should we do?”

“We could stay here and watch a movie,” he said still smiling, “Or we could walk down to the diner and get some dinner.”

“I say dinner, I didn’t eat yet,” I said laughing, “Just let me grab my coat.”

“I’m going to dinner with Andrew, I’ll be back later,” I said to Kerri as I grabbed my coat.

“Bye, have fun with lover boy,” she said only loud enough so I could hear.

I just shot her a look, before walking out to find Andrew studying our collage wall.

“Alright let’s go,” I said smiling.

“After you,” he said opening the door and holding it for me.

I just shot him a smile for thanks, and we quietly waited for the elevator.

“So how did the paper writing go?” he asked as we stepped into the elevator.

“Well, I didn’t exactly write a word in the past six hours,” I said sheepishly, “But I did win 7 of my 245 games of Solitaire.”

He just laughed at me, and I couldn’t help but to laugh with him.

When we got to the bottom floor, we walked onto the cold streets, and towards the small Diner.
I felt his hand brush mine every few seconds, and I could tell he was hesitating to grab it. I decided to be brave and grabbed his hand.

He looked over and smiled at me, and I couldn’t help but to return his smile.

I looked up at the star filled sky, and smiled.

Although the sky was painted in melancholy earlier, it was now painted with perfection.

Which is exactly how I felt the moment I was in to be.