Liz had no idea yet that in a few minutes she would feel like a hormone-driven teenager again.
Poor Liz.
The hard sounds of the electric guitar were still pounding in her head, even though the music had long since stopped and Liz had just taken a seat on the uncomfortable wooden chairs in the large lecture hall of the university. The song by Three Days Grace was her favourite at the moment and spoke directly to her soul.
“I feel so much better… Now that you’re gone forever…” she kept singing to herself softly and unpacked her notebook and pens. Any colours but red pens! She had an aversion – a fear almost – of them. Especially when she had to write red numbers. Blue was much nicer. Blue – the colour of the sea or like Alec’s eyes. Son of a bitch.
“Well, someone’s in a good mood!” Sue rejoiced, throwing herself down on the vacant chair next to Liz. Her new friend was beaming to rival any light bulb.
Liz’s eyebrow went up with a smirk. “That’s just the thing to say.” She tapped her finger against her neck, pointing her chin at Sue as she did so. “You’ve got something there.”
Instantly a cute blush coloured the small, shy blonde’s cheeks and she cleared her throat sheepishly. “I don’t have any makeup to cover it and it’s way too warm to wear a scarf.” They were in Miami here, after all.
“Who cares, every other girl here is running around with a hickey. Don’t worry about it.”
Liz wanted to, yes she really wanted to! She wanted to imagine Sue as a witch, a slut or a man-eating vampire. Maybe they should both just fight over Alec like two bears fighting over honey?!
But Sue was simply impossible to be angry at. The blonde was a mix between a baby dolphin and a helpless tortoise turned on its back. Combined with her helpful nature, her cuteness and her fawn eyes, she would make a great doctor once she would finish her medical studies. No one could be mad at someone like that, even if Sue had been busy swapping germs with Liz’s ex lately.
“He’s great, you know,” Sue continued, sighing. Oh dear, the little girl seemed to really have fallen for Alec. Well, Liz had been that stupid.
“Enjoy it while it lasts, but watch out for that much too soft heart of yours. One could cut that even with a dull butter knife,” Liz warned her friend.
“Yeah, I know. It’s just a nice snog yet. I don’t even know where it goes from here if he’s even looking for anything serious… or… I don’t know.” She wrung her hands a little helplessly. “Sometimes I feel like he’s retreating from me. Almost like he’s afraid of being too close.” Oh, that was an understatement.
It had taken Liz a damn year to convince Alec to commit to a relationship with her back then. If only she hadn’t been so stubborn then, her heart would still be whole now.
“But I’m telling you, his kisses…”, Sue continued with a dreamy sigh.
Energetically Liz waved it off. “Please spare me the details.” She knew them all too well herself.
No one knew yet that Liz and Alec knew each other or even that they had been a couple, and it should stay that way! Liz simply wanted to put it behind her. On the very day of their hasty break-up, she had packed her things and moved in with her aunt in Miami.
Actually, she had wanted to spend the summer holidays with her family and Alec before starting her studies, but everything had turned out differently.
Now Liz and Alec had been separated for two months and for a month now Chris was her new boyfriend. Perhaps a little hasty considering her long relationship with Alec, but she had desperately needed a distraction. After all, in her early twenties, she had no time to waste!
“Oh there’s Chris up ahead, I’ll have a seat with him. See you later!”, Sue then said goodbye and hurried down the stairs. She really ought to get herself a sports bra. The blonde’s proud rack rivalled any bouncy castle and attracted many a glance.
Finally, the bouncing had come to an end and she had reached her medical colleagues and Chris. Chris, as always surrounded by his many friends, then waved to Liz and sent her an air kiss.
Oh God, how embarrassing!
She sank into her chair and only waved back briefly. He too would have it easy later in life, his charm and charisma opened every door for him. He would become as good a doctor as Sue.
Chris was actually a real stroke of luck for Liz. Actually. He was good-looking, a surfer, with blond hair, green eyes and an athletic body. Not usually her type, but at least nothing about him reminded her of her ex.
The medical nerds always sat extra close to the front to make an impression on the lecturers.
Liz herself had opted for the back row to have her peace and quiet. She didn’t particularly like humans, instead clearly preferred water-dwellers. Perhaps this was one of the reasons she had chosen to study oceanography.
Without admitting it, she missed the silence she had often comfortably shared with Alec. Just sitting side by side and observing the world without having to be actively involved all the time.
“That’s new.” A pleasant, all too familiar voice behind Liz demanded her full attention out of nowhere. Simultaneously with the voice, she felt the touch of gentle fingers on the back of her head.
Carefully they traced the shaved wave in her undercut and she could do absolutely nothing about the goosebumps that immediately took over her body. Heat welled up inside her – sweet, familiar and seductive. Fuck.
She shouldn’t have chosen to wear a braid. Then this detail wouldn’t even have been noticable at all beyond her long, dark hair.
How good these touches felt, how much she had missed them!
“A tribute to your beloved sea?” her very own nemesis asked, leaping over the banister with enviable nonchalance to land in the last row of chairs where Liz was sitting.
“Maybe, maybe not. Not your concern.” she hissed at him and took the precaution of sliding her backpack onto the now vacant chair next to her.
Yes, Alec was very different from Chris. His black, always messy hair gave him that sexy freshly fucked look. His sea-blue eyes shone with intelligence and mischievousness. His half-slanted smile told of humour and his dark aura spoke of depth and unexplored secrets.
Alec was like the sea – sometimes wild and stormy, then calm and gentle. She loved the sea. Double bastard!
“What are you doing here anyway?!” she asked him then, almost growling as she spoke. Any feline predator would have been proud of her.
Playfully considering, he looked around. “Right now, I’m waiting for the university’s general introductory course to start. And you like this?” His provocative calm annoyed her.
“I know that too!” It wasn’t as if she was stupid. Otherwise all these first-year students from different fields of studies wouldn’t be sharing a common lecture hall.
“I mean in general. I thought you wanted to wait another year before you started as a star whisperer.” she mocked his astronomy studies.
His year off had always been one of their points of contention, after all, it would have meant a year of long distance relationship. Well, now at least that was irrelevant anyway.
With a challenging gleam in his ocean eyes, he leaned down to Liz, propping his arms on the table and the back of her chair. Why was it that she felt so deliciously cornered by him?
“I’m here to win you back, my star.” Oh shit, the familiar nickname went down like oil. “And any means will do.” He knew all too well of her jealousy and played it mercilessly against her with Sue. Poor Sue.
“I’m afraid you’ll burn your paws on that one,” she retorted coolly. “I’m not your star anymore, nor anything else. You’re wasting your time and should just leave us alone.” The past two months of summer holidays had brought Chris, Sue and herself very close together. Alec had no place in their new lives!
He straightened up again and selfish as Liz was, she wanted to keep the warmth his closeness had given her.
“We’ll see, Lizzy.” He winked cheekily at her and then sat down a few rows below, just so that she had a good view of him. Triple bastard!
Liz gave him a nasty glare before finally tearing her eyes away from him and staring at her college notebook.
Suddenly there was a folded, longish piece of paper here and she looked again at Alec in surprise. He must have just placed it here when she had been busy cursing him!
Of course curiosity prevailed and she quickly opened it, only to press her lips together tightly to keep from laughing in surprise.
Do you want to go with me?
Yes No Maybe
Who else would write this cliché question?! Were they suddenly years younger and nothing more than stupid teenagers not yet scarred by life? And who the hell used a cash register receipt for that?!
Her eyes flew over the things she had bought and her heart skipped a beat.
Chocolate, crisps, a blanket, energy drinks and condoms – even the strawberry-scented ones!
They were the very things they needed on their regular, nightly outings. Correction: had needed.
The two of them had often lain on the bonnet of Alec’s car for hours, having a good time and gazing at the starry night sky together. No one, absolutely no one in this world could resist a handsome guy who held you gently in his arms and whispered the names of the stars in your ear. Sirius, Canopus, Arcturus, Altair, Izar …
With sheer force of will, Liz shooed away the romantic mirages of their shared past. She decided to play along with the ridiculous game and across the stupid question she wrote simply:
Where do you want me to go with you?
She wanted to take the wind out of Alec’s sails, crumpled up the paper unkindly and threw it at his head. At least she would have liked to. Instead, it fell precisely on his table – even gravity had conspired against her – and a grinning look from him followed when he had read her counter-question.
He raised his hand, not giving her the middle finger, which she would have really understood, but instead two promising tickets.
Surely this was not normal! He knew her far too well and had obviously expected her reaction and response. Now he actually wanted to do something together with her?!
Rigorously Liz shook her head and pointed to the front row, after all that was where her boyfriend was sitting. She would definitely not go anywhere with Alec and he should be inviting Sue!
But her ex had reckoned with that too. With a casual wave of his hand, he fanned out the two tickets further and revealed four of them. Liz’s jaw dropped and she stared at him open-mouthed.
He wasn’t serious, was he? A double-date?! She could hardly imagine anything worse and more beautiful…