Surrender the Night

It was close to 7:00am when I heard the first rumble from thunder, followed by a terrifying crack of lightning. The burst of light startled me as I shrugged on my hoodie, and I walked over to the window, pulling back the shade. I saw Leah down below, opening her purple umbrella as she crossed the next street over. I wasn't exactly in a bad mood, but I'd be lying if I said the weather wasn't putting a damper on things.

I took a quick look in the mirror, pulling back my long hair into the hood of my gray sweatshirt. Being the end of August, it was still a little too warm to wear long sleeves, but I had no choice. I had never met another individual who had a problem walking in the rain as much as I did. I'd say it was a phobia, but that'd be pushing it.

Before heading to Neville Hall for class, I decided to stop for breakfast at a small cafe close by the building. Beginning to feel the sprinkle coming down, I hesitated outside the glass door, before rushing inside, stomach growling. A group of five students were seated at a booth farthest away from the entrance, being obnoxiously loud and throwing napkins at each other. I recognized Austin (how could you not being as buff as he was?) and slowly walked over.

"Hey again," I interjected. He glanced over, attempting to shove a dripping napkin down his friend's shirt. Nobody else seemed to stop what they were doing to check me out, which was fine by me. I figured I'd try and make friends with Austin, since he and Leah already had a bond formed. It would only make it easier for me to find buddies if I didn't have to try so hard.

"What's up?" He greeted me and moved himself over, pushing this poor nerdy looking student into the wall. The smaller boy didn't say anything to compromise the situation, but he definitely looked like he wanted to. I would honestly fear for his life if he spoke up to Austin.

I plopped myself down to the newly empty seat and dropped my bag on the table. Looking around I realized that none of these students ordered any food. Or if they did, it'd been long gone by now. I clutched my stomach, feeling the sharp pain get a little worse. "You were the only one I recognized from the group. Sorry for butting in."

"It's not a big deal," he replied, waving me off. "We're not like, an exclusive group of friends. Great thing about college is that a lot more people are willing to be a lot more open about new connections."

"Did you just meet these people?" I grabbed my wallet from my bag, picking out some ones from beneath the zipper.

"Nah. Known these kids since middle school."

"Oh, wow," I grinned, snapping my backpack up and folding the dollar bills in my hand. I watched as the only other girl there reached for another student's collar, both laughing hysterically as they continued making a mess along the table.

"Yeah, right? Long time friends. Good shit," he seemed pleased, watching the fiasco. I thought about how many friends I kept after high school ended, but it appeared like I lost a bunch much too quickly. There's a space where we all get separated, doing our own things and learning about ourselves. But that space usually doesn't end up destroying relationships as soon as summer hits. For me, it felt like it did. I knew that just by how many people I remained in contact with over break. At least in college everyone gave off a vibe like they knew what kind of person they were, finally. Who they wanted to hang around with. Makes it harder for people to fake it.

"I'm gonna grab something to eat," I said, getting up from my spot and tossing my bag over my shoulder. As I made my way to the counter, my attention was hooked on a feud happening between the cashier and a customer. From what I could see, the cashier looked rather young, probably another classmate working a part-time job. She was aggressively keeping captive a beverage in a styrofoam cup. My guess it was full of coffee. People have problems when they don't get their coffee in the morning...

"Listen," the boy seethed, standing up straight after having been leaning towards the unfortunate woman. I watched his black hair swing in tune with the shaking of his head. "I gotta have my coffee or I'm gonna lose it."

I snorted, way too loud, and received intimidating looks from the both of them. Striking hazel eyes met my own lackluster version, burning a hole through my skull. He was not much taller than myself, casually dressed as if it were the end of Fall and not the end of Summer. He swiped his long hair off to the side, waiting for me to say something. Why not join in on the fun?

"What's the problem?" I asked innocently, darting my eyes between the two of them. She opened her mouth to speak first, but the man cut her off.

"I'm short seventy-five cents," he declared, making a point to show that he had paid in change. He flicked the quarters on the counter, one of them smacking right into the cashier's stomach. She glared at him before offering her counterargument.

"I'd let it go if it were a few cents, but my register can't be short almost a dollar. I'm sorry," she told him, clearly irritated and over it. I had worked retail in my past, so this situation wasn't news to me. The customer was wrong most of the time, and extremely stubborn. All it would take is a request to see the manager, and everything they wanted fell like gold droppings in their hands. It was disgusting.

"Can I pay for the rest of it?" I asked him, watching his expression change into something much more stable.

"Be my guest," he replied, raising his thick eyebrows as I handed a one dollar bill over to the lady. She bit her lip, looking even more bothered than before, and then handed me back a quarter. Thought it'd make everyone feel better but I guess not.

The guy snatched the coffee right off the counter and began sipping away. He didn't offer an apology but instead, remained by my side quietly as I ordered a bagel with cream cheese. The cashier eyed the both of us suspiciously, probably wondering if we had planned this all out to make her first morning working a living hell. Maybe he did, but I was on the fence. I quickly grabbed my food and turned right into his back by accident.

"Watch it," he mumbled, looking over his shoulder down at me, black coffee dribbling towards the bottom of his chin.

I watched as he used his sleeve to wipe it clean, and then I said, "what happened wasn't a big deal but I'm still waiting for a thank you."

"Thank you for grabbing the difference. And I don't overreact much, but when it comes to coffee... That's another story."

"Well, next time you should be more prepared. Bring more cash, er, change, in your case." I smirked, peeling the lid off of the cream cheese.

"Yeah, yeah. I won't make a habit of it," he muttered, embarrassment marking it's own across his cheeks. "I'm Gerard, by the way."

"Roxy."

"Interesting name," he pointed out.

"Almost as interesting as Gerard?"

He chuckled, giving me a crooked smile. "Don't hear it often huh?"

"Nope," I said, mouth full of bagel. He sighed, looking out towards the window. It was down pouring now, and I had class at 8:00am. It was no more than a few minutes from the cafe, but I wanted to make sure I had enough time to settle in.

"Well Gerard, it was nice meeting you I guess," I laughed, once again hauling my bag tightly over my shoulder. He nodded, a nice, neutral expression on his face. Looking like some sort of dark angel. "I'll probably see you around campus at some point. Later."

I smiled and then I directed my attention over to the booth where I had been with Austin earlier. To my surprise, he was actually looking this way, glowering. I waved to him, faltering slightly, and he returned it, half-assed. Eh, whatever. There were only so many negative emotions I could handle this early in the morning. I took a deep breath and braced myself to be enveloped by the rain. It was going to the longest five minutes of my life, to be honest.