Milestones: Commitment

Michelle let a plume of smoke escape from her lips as she lurked outside the entrance to the lecture center, finishing up a cigarette quickly before she had to rush inside to her Caribbean History class that was just about to begin. Her thoughts quickly drifted toward the fact that the spring semester was only a few weeks away from its closure, with finals to soon follow. But she wasn't worried - more excited than anything else. She was finishing her sophomore year at Cal State Long Beach, and was really starting to feel like she was accomplishing something. Only two more years to go, and she would have a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration. The only downfall - she wasn't quite sure what she wanted to do after that.

The other reason for her excitement was the act that once she returned home for the summer break, she would get to see Valary and Matt again, along with the others in Matt's band, for the first time in months. She hadn't seen her sister or Matt since the Christmas break, and hadn't seen Zack, Jimmy, or Brian for over a year - not since the Christmas break from the previous year, when Brian landed himself in the hospital.

An entire year. She hadn't seen or heard from him in over an entire year. When Michelle had come home the previous summer, her sister and the band were right in the middle of a summer tour, and they hadn't returned until right after she had gone back to Long Beach for the fall semester.

It was all very weird to Michelle. She could understand how she hadn't seen Brian in over a year - they both were very busy - but he hadn't even bothered to call. He was so worried about things ending between them the way they had that Michelle figured he would call her night and day, just to say hi or to make sure she hadn't found someone new. But as soon as Michelle left Brian's hospital room that day, it was as if all ties between the two had been severed.

Valary hadn't even mentioned Brian or told Michelle how he was doing when they would talk on the phone, but then again, Michelle never asked about him either. She had begun to think that maybe Brian had done the thinking she had requested from him, and realized that maybe he didn't want her after all. Michelle didn't really know what to think of that. But she'd be damned if she called him first. After their year and a half of separation, Michelle wasn't even sure she and Brian had a friendship anymore.

The only problem in the whole situation was this: Michelle's feelings for Brian weren't gone. When she had told him that maybe they could work something out and see how it went after his tour, she had meant it, and had honestly believed that she and Brian would get back together again. Now, she just wasn't so sure.

Glancing down at her watch, Michelle saw that she had just under a minute to get inside the lecture center and get to the right hall before the class would begin. She quickly stomped out the rest of her cigarette under her black stiletto boots and passed through the doors, hurrying down the large hall toward Lecture Center 21. Once she was seated in a chair along one of the bench tables near the middle of the lecture hall, the class began.

Caribbean History was only a General Education class that Michelle had to take to fill a requirement, but she found the class to be rather enjoyable. She thought the history of the Caribbean islands was intriguing, learning that there was so much more to it than swash-buckling pirate lore. Sometimes she'd get dawn in deeply to the lecture being given, jotting down shorthand notes to look back on later, that any sudden noise or movement would startle her.

Which explained why she nearly jumped in her seat when she felt her phone vibrating in her back pocket.

Slowly she reached behind her and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, hiding the device under the table, thankful that she had set the phone to 'Vibrate Only'. Glancing down at the Caller ID, Michelle suddenly lost track of where she was and what her purpose at the moment was, her heart skipping a beat in her chest as her stomach nearly flipped.

It was Brian.

She couldn't very well answer it there in the middle of class, so she let the call go through until the phone notified her she had missed it. Baffled, she went to the list of missed calls, just to make sure she hadn't misread the ID. There at the top of the screen was Brian's name, his number scrolling underneath it. Even after so long, Michelle had memorized his cell number - it was Brian all right.

Feeling the nerves in her stomach tighten into a knot, Michelle didn't know what to think. After a year and a half of silence, Brian had finally called her. Why had he waited so long? He could have called her sooner if he had really wanted to. Why now?

Briefly, Michelle wondered if maybe there was an emergency, but after a few minutes had passed and he hadn't called again, nor had he left a voice message, she figured it couldn't have been. Besides, if there was anything dire going on, Val would have called her, or maybe even Matt. But not Brian.

Michelle could have sworn Brian would have moved on from her by then, which again prompted the question: Why had he called her?

Figuring she wouldn't be able to figure anything out or even think of calling Brian back until she was in her dorm room, Michelle let her thoughts settle, concentrating on her professor again. She would have to talk to Brianna when she got back to her room. Brianna would know what to do.

"So he called you in the middle of class?" Brianna asked, making sure she had heard Michelle right as they sat on their beds, facing each other. Upon creating such a strong friendship their freshman year, Michelle and Brianna had decided to room together the following year, which was a relief to Michelle - Brianna always seemed to know how to make things right.

Michelle nodded, confirming the answer to Brianna's question.

"But... that's just so weird. He doesn't call you or even try to communicate with you for a year and a half, and he decides to call you now?"

Brianna had been filled in on the breakup between Michelle and Brian upon their return for the past spring semester, so she completely understood how weird it was for such a thing to occur.

"Yeah, I don't get it either. It's just so out of the blue. If he wanted to talk to me, why did he wait so long? I really wanted to see how things turned out between us, but any chance of us getting back together disappeared awhile ago, or so I thought," Michelle answered, her gaze fixed on the pattern of her comforter.

"So, are you going to call him back?" Brianna finally asked, and Michelle shrugged.

"I don't know... A part of me wants to but the other part tells me not to even bother with him anymore. He obviously wanted nothing to do with me before."

"But what if it was a friendly call? Just to catch up after so long?" Brianna asked, trying to stay hopeful for her friend. Michelle smiled sadly.

"if he wanted to call to just shoot the breeze and catch up, he'd have done it a long time ago."