Still the One

I decide to get to university a little before Literature ends. I walk up the annoyingly long steps into the Liberal Arts building. I coyly sit at the bench not too far from Jacobs’ lecture hall. I could hear his lecture just feet away. He always did like to lecture with the door open. His voice echoed annoyingly off of the empty walls. I listened as he rambled on and on about the next writing assignment – I already turned in my rough draft. The only good thing about having class through emails, I could work on it ahead of time. I didn’t have to sit through the hour and twenty-minute lecture just to get the next writing prompt. The moment class is over, I stand as everyone slowly drags out. Plenty of them took the time to thank Jacobs on their way out. They adored him. A few hushed whispers fill the hall as I anxiously pace back and forth. Jacobs’ warm expression slightly fades as he notices my presence. He fiddles with the papers in his hand before turning his back to walk over to the podium. There she was. Carine. Carine was the girl who went into the conference after Jacobs attempted to hit on me. I just wanted to survey a few girls from class to see if he’s ever tried anything else. ‘Hi, Carine.’ I readjust my bag on my shoulder nervously.

‘Uh, hey Libby.’ She speaks, clearly surprised. We had never said more than twenty words to each other this entire term. ‘What’s up?’

‘I was just hoping that we could talk. About Jacobs.’ I chime, following her towards the opposite direction of my communications class. ‘I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors going around and they are ten thousand percent not true. I know this is completely uncomfortable to even think about but I wanted to see if he ever tried anything similar with you or someone you may know?’

‘Excuse me? He’s our professor. Are you actually insane?’

‘Listen, I know how it sounds. Believe me, I didn’t want to think our professor could do something like that either but something about him tells me that this wasn’t an isolated incident.’

‘I’m not sure how I can help you, Libby. I’m sorry.’ Carine comes to a stop only to dig her keys out of her backpack.

‘If you hear anything, give me a call.’ I insist, sloppily writing down my name after rummaging through the front pocket of my backpack for a pen. ‘Please.’

‘Don’t hold your breath.’ She retorts but takes the paper anyway before slipping out of the massive glass doors.

I turn on my heel with a short huff, hoping that would’ve went better but quickly rush to communications. Christopher and Max wait at the entrance as they promised. Max immediately wraps a thin arm around my shoulder while Christopher grabs my backpack to take it to my chair.

‘How are you feeling?’ Max murmurs quietly once I sit in my chair and face them.

‘Guys, I told you that I’m fine – great actually.’ I stifle out a laugh, ignoring the concerned looks on their face. ‘I talked to Harry last night and he really eased me about this entire thing.’

‘We’re just so glad you decided to come back from your trip to France. Christopher here thought that you would finish communications online like literature.’ Max points a narrow finger at his boyfriend with a small grin.

‘I mean that’s what I would’ve done!’ Christopher defends dramatically, ‘Situations like this are what sets the wonderful Libby White apart from everyone else.’

I start to write down the assignment on the board while the two of them talk about their plans for the weekend. Dr. Caldicott strolls into the room, with her usual no nonsense attitude. Communications goes by surprisingly fast even if Caldicott didn’t attempt to make the lecture fascinating. Not even pictures on the power-point. Just endless lines of definitions that would definitely show up on the exam.

‘I have to get to work,’ I chime as the three of us walk out into the parking lot, ‘See you!’

‘Bye.’ They singsong in unison before walking over to Max’s BMW.

I head to Glamour, bracing myself to ask Jackie for more writing responsibility. Harry was right – I did want to branch out and write more. Writing was like second nature. As much as I love booking celebrities for photo shoots and transcribing meetings, I feel like I could be doing so much more for the company. ‘Hi you.’ Tiffany chimes from behind her receptionist’s desk once I step off of the lift, ‘How’s your morning going?’

‘So far, so good.’ I smile leaning against her desk to steal the caramel candy she leaves out in a cute little dish, ‘You?’

‘Charlotte has started this really cute thing where she sleeps all day and stays awake all night – it is slowly driving Paul and I crazy. I miss sleep so much that I actually started to nod off in my closet while looking for something to wear this morning.’ She groans, pressing her forehead against the keyboard.

‘You can sleep in my office during lunch,’ I whisper quietly, ‘I have a nice, warm blanket in my desk for such occasion.’

‘I love you.’ She breathes, ‘even if you do still all of the candy meant for visitors.’

‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’ I murmur, hurrying into my office, not bothering to look back.

As Jackie is making her usual rounds, she comes to a stop in my doorway. ‘How’s it going this morning, Libby?’ She folds her arms across her chest with a smile, ‘I’m killing time before a conference call. Well I am technically avoiding it but I am the boss so anything exciting happen lately?’

‘There’s not much to tell,’ I shrug, eyeing the stack of assignments that I’ve already finished, ‘I was hoping that I could talk to you sometime today about my role here. There’s no rush honestly, just whenever you’re not busy or have a second to talk.’

‘Libby, I am always busy.’ She stifles out an amused laugh as she takes a few long strides into my office and leans against the desk, ‘That’s really cute.’ Jackie chimes, pointing to a new picture of Harry and I from France on my desktop background. ‘What can I do for you?’

‘First off, I just want to say that I appreciate the wonderful opportunity you have given me here. Really, you and the company have exceeded my wildest dreams but I feel like I can offer so much more. I just wanted to see if there was any space within the writing department.’

‘You want to transfer departments?’ Jackie inquires folding her legs over one another, ‘How about you get a writing sample on my desk by tomorrow afternoon and I will definitely think about it?’

‘Thank you, thank you.’ I chime excitedly, ‘Is there anything specific that I should write about in my sample?’

‘Just make it something that will knock me out of my Jimmy Choo’s.’ Jackie speaks with an encouraging smile before walking onto the next office.

I couldn’t wait to get home to FaceTime Harry to bounce some of my ideas off of him.

Harry’s Point of View

‘Hi there.’ Libby smiles brightly into the camera.

I sigh while shaking my head in amazement. I know that she only left a mere few days ago but I missed her already. ‘Hi.’ I couldn’t even try to hide the school-boy grin on my face – it was impossible. ‘How was it going back to uni?’

‘It was different but it was nothing that I couldn’t handle. Communications was okay, no one seemed to care at least in that class. But, that was the least interesting part of my day,’ Libby pauses, intertwining her fingers together. ‘Do you want to hear?’

‘Do you even have to ask?’ I let my head hit the hotel’s pillow with a genuine laugh, ‘lay it on me.’

‘I talked to Jackie about going over to the writing department and she told me to get a writing sample on her desk tomorrow afternoon and that she’d consider it.’

‘That is amazing, baby! I told you. What are you going to write about?’

I lay there in bed, listening to Libby go into great detail about the variety of writing options she had in mind. I loved watching her talk about writing. There was this sparkle in her eye the way she talked about something simple like story construction. I swallowed every word that fell from her lips, never losing interest.

‘Enough about my boring day, how was filming?’ She inquires leaning forward into the camera after propping her chin up with her hands. ‘Any treacherous water today?’ Libby teases with a scrunch of her nose.

‘Not today. I got sit back and watch for majority of it so it wasn’t too bad. Definitely boring in comparison to becoming Glamour’s newest writer.’

‘Nothing’s set in stone just yet, bub.’

‘Yeah, yeah, yeah – I know you. You got this.’

Libby and I talk for a while longer before I let her go to bed after counting her continuous yawns. I go over my lines for in the morning before letting my eyes finally close.

Libby’s Point of View

I decide to take a shower after getting off the phone with Harry, to save time in the morning. I needed to get to work early to finish up on my writing sample. The moment that I close my eyes, my phone lets out its usual ringtone. I study the unfamiliar number before swiping at the screen. ‘Hello?’

‘Libby, it’s Carine. Is it too late to have that talk?’