A Mess (Updated Version)

Life is a funny thing. Your unrealistic wishes come true in the most unexpected way. Ever since I was a little girl, I have dreamed of attending St. Royal College. It is the most prestigious educational institution in the whole town. I realize that most people prefer going to big cities for higher education, but this town is everything to me. I was born and raised here. My family is here. My home is here.

My thoughts are cut short when my mom yells from the kitchen to tell me about my best friend's arrival.

I grab my bag and run outside. I have been waiting for her for twenty minutes.

I open the door for the passenger seat and tell her, "Hi."

"Hey, girl. Can you believe it? It feels like just yesterday we were nervous about high school, and today is already the first day of college," Valentina says excitedly.

"I'll start thinking about it once I am over the fact that I managed to get a scholarship there. I mean, I am a mediocre student at best," I say, fastening the seat belt

"Start giving yourself a little credit. You studied like crazy last 4 years. Stop being so humble for once. You deserved the scholarship," She smiles while rolling the key in the ignition.

"If you say so," I say with a grin.

"By the way, not a good decision regarding your outfit," Val says with a judgmental look towards my plain, white t-shirt and blue jeans, "I mean it's the first day."

"What's wrong with it?" I ask with fake shock.

Then I glance at Valentina's black skirt and yellow blouse and come to the understanding that I can never dress as well as her. It's not that I don't want to or I don't try. It's just that she has a great sense of style...and money to get what she likes.

"Please, girl, don't get me started," she says, and I can't help but laugh. "You know I would not mind lending you stuff..."

"No, I am good," I say sternly. I have never wanted to take advantage of Val despite knowing she would gladly help me.

The rest of the drive is passed in total silence.

When we reach the campus, we cannot help but shriek with happiness, especially because I have managed to get here. It seemed impossible at the time.

We get out and start walking toward the building.

"Okay, see you later, girl. We should get to class. We are already a little late," Val says, and goes in a different direction.

Yeah, I wonder whose fault it is. Being late is a big part of my dear friend's personality.

While trying to find the classroom mentioned on my schedule, I bumped into someone. My bag falls from my hand.

"Sorry," the person says in a feminine voice.

"No, it's my fault," I say, grabbing the bag. Then I take a look at her.

She's a gorgeous girl with tan skin and long black hair. Wearing black heels, she's got a lot of inches on me, but she would be taller even without heels, as I am shorter than average.

She smiles at me and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.

I return her smile and ask, "Hey, do you know where classroom C1 is?"

"Yeah, in fact, I am going there. You can come with me," She politely offers.

"Sure, thanks," I say, and start following her.

"So you are a freshman too?" I ask with my eyebrows raised.

She does not look like it.

"No, I am a student of computer science. We must take stats in our third semester," She says and starts walking at a fast pace. "I have heard the prof is a real jerk. I regret ironing my hair today. Otherwise, I would not have been late. Why were you late?"

"My friend gave me a ride. Being late is a big part of her personality. By the way, I am a student of finance," I reply.

"Figured. That's why you have to take this class in your first semester," She says, finally stopping outside a room

As we enter the class, I can't help but gasp at the number of people sitting there.

"Small town colleges! That's what happens when they make people from three different majors take the same class," She says in an annoyed tone, "Finance students from the third semester are also here because the professor who was teaching them in their first year got caught in a harassment case."

I nod and start wondering where to sit. The girl beside me walks quickly towards a seat in the second row. I follow her to see if there's a seat next to her, but there is none.

"I am sure you'll find a seat in the last row. And if there are two, tell me and we'll sit together," She offers with a smile.

I walk towards the end of the room, where I find the corner seat with a bag on it. With difficulty, I manage to get there.

A guy is sitting on a chair beside that one with his head down.

"Um...listen...can you please remove your bag? I have to sit here."

He looks up, and I can't remove my stare from his face. He's a very handsome guy. I stare into his beautiful eyes. He has dark blue eyes and long lashes. After a minute of silence, I realize this staring contest has been going on for way too long, so I move my eyes a little lower. He has high cheekbones, which indicate arrogance.

"Can't you find somewhere else to sit? I am already feeling suffocated," He says, moving his hand through his black hair.

"Um...there is no other seat?" I say with a small smile.

"I am sure you'll find one. Take a round of the class," He says and takes his phone out of his pocket. The look he gives me before proceeding to use his phone indicates he's dismaying me.

What a jerk!

Just as I am about to open my mouth again, the girl from before comes to my rescue.

"Zander Martin, the guy who cannot stop being a jerk for once," She says, folding her arms.

"Not you today. My head is already pounding because of the hangover. I am in no mood," He says, putting a hand on his forehead.

"Hey, why don't you go sit in my seat and I'll make the jerk give up his seat," The girl says, looking at me.

The guy immediately removes his bag and produces an ugh sound.

"The girl can sit here, Amalia. Just go from here," Zander says with an extremely annoyed look.

"Okay then," She says with a smirk and returns to her seat.

I take the seat beside him.

"I would have simply gone if there had been another seat," I say apologetically.

"I am glad there was not or Amalia would have sat here just to annoy me," He says more to himself than to me.

I smile awkwardly while wondering if he expects a reply. Luckily, the professor comes and puts me out of my dilemma.

The rest of the class is spent in total quiet, much to my relief. Once the professor leaves the classroom, I go to Amalia. In 4 years of high school, I could not make a single friend. The last time I made a friend was in preschool. Luckily, I found Valentina then, or who knows, I would have never been able to experience friendship...if we don't count my annoying young sister. The point is that I would like to have more friends in college. Perhaps I should stick to a freshman, but the thing is, I liked Amalia. I like that despite our meeting only a while ago, she came to my rescue.

"Oh, hey," She says with a smile, "I hope he was not a jerk again."

"No, he did not even look at me after that encounter. How do you know him? Doesn't seem like you guys are friends," I ask, trying to start a conversation

"Our mothers have been best friends forever, and I am dating his brother," She says, walking outside with me following her.

"Oh. Does your boyfriend go here too?" I inquire.

She says, "No, he doesn't. He was done with his master's last year. He went to Yale," She tells me, "Now he just helps his father with their business."

"A guy who went to Yale helps his father with his business. Safe to assume it's not a small business," I say with a chuckle and cringe inwardly for asking such a private question.

"Oh, believe me, it's not," She says, laughing, "Their father is Alexander Martin."

"ALEXANDER MARTIN? My inspiration? The man of our town who managed to start one of the top five businesses in our country? Does not he live in a city or something?" I ask with surprise.

"Yeah, he does. Zander's grandparents are here. Let's just say he made kind of a blunder in the city and his father sent him here for a while," She says discreetly, "He said if I could reach where I am after graduating from that college. Then so can you."

"Huh! It's a good college, by the way. Some people's dream college," I say, looking down.

"Not when you can go to one of the top universities in the world," She chuckles, "Anyway, see you later. I have a class to go to."

"Yeah, sure. Do you want to exchange email IDs or something?" I ask awkwardly, and she raises an eyebrow at me.

"Give me your Instagram username and I'll follow you," She says with a little smile.

"EllisRoss04," I tell her.

"Okay, then, see you later," She says with a wave and goes her way.

I take out my phone and send a text to Val.

You have your free lecture now, too, right? See you in the coffee shop outside.

With that, I walk towards the coffee shop.

As I reach the small coffee shop, I frown at the queue. How can anyone manage to get a coffee here if they have a single free lecture?

Deciding I should not waste time anymore, I joined the queue.

Lost in my thoughts, I look around to find Val. Just then, I heard a voice.

The voice I am very familiar with. I turn around in a swift motion and come face to face with the guy I can't help but dream about at least once a week.

With his cell phone in his left hand and eyes glued to the screen, he let out a groan. His frown indicates he's frustrated with whoever he's talking to. Probably feeling my stare at him, he raises his eyes and looks directly into my eyes. My heart skips a beat. I keep staring into his deep, green eyes. My mouth was probably hanging open.

"Ellis," He says in his deep, smooth voice.

The same voice, which is my favourite feature of his.

As I move my lips to open my mouth to call out his name, I realize I have managed to maintain some grace.

"Aiden," I say in a low voice, "I did not realize you were still in the town."

"I go to SRC," He says with a half-hearted smile.

"Wait...what? How? Why? You planned to go to NYU?" I ask with a frown.

"Family issues," He says with his hand on his neck.

"You must be devastated," I resist the urge to hug him.

"It's okay," He says with a sigh.

"Well, you can always come to talk to me, you know," I offer with a smile.

"We still do that thing?"

"What thing?"

"Communicate," He says with a smirk, "I thought we stopped.

"Funny," I say with a roll of my eyes and turn back around.

Aiden has been my first and only boyfriend. Being friendly and a popular guy in school, he was in high demand among girls. Imagine my surprise when I, a nobody, was approached by him in my sophomore year. Long story short, we ended up dating. The best year of my life. We were attached to hips. We had great chemistry and an even better friendship. He didn't care for anyone else. Our days were always spent together. Until he did something I could not forgive, and we had to have a breakup.

I feel him moving towards me and then bending a little. My heart starts beating a little faster. I feel his breath on my ear.

"Ellis," He says in a whisper, "I miss us."

I move away from him and feel him returning to his previous posture. I turn around and give him a small smile.

"I would not lie," I say, biting into my lower lip, "I miss our friendship too. Maybe we can give it another chance?"

"That's not what I meant," He says, looking directly into my eyes.

"That's what I am always gonna mean," I manage to say despite my fluttering heart.

Remember what he did!

"Really? Look into my eyes and say it. I promise I'll never propose that again and leave you alone," He raises his eyebrows.

"Yes," I return his intense gaze and say in a shivering voice.

"Say it with a little confidence, beautiful," he says, tugging a strand of my hair behind my ear. "Convince me."

My favorite habit of his.

"Yes," I say more firmly this time.

He gives me a salute with his two fingers and walks away.

I take a deep sigh and wonder where I gathered the courage to resist his proposition.

From my hurt self, that's where.

Just then, I am reminded of the fact that my best friend has not managed to come here till now. I take my phone out of my pocket and am surprised to see 10 missed calls.

Why did I have it on silent?

I return her call, and as soon as she answers, she starts speaking in a frustrated tone.

"Why were you ignoring my calls?"

"Sorry, my phone was on silent. Where are you?"

"Lost in this stupid college," She whines.

I give her directions till she reaches the coffee shop, and then create some space for her to stand with me in the queue.

"Girl, you look weird. What happened?" She asks as soon as she calms down from her tantrum about the stupid hallways of college.

"Nothing much! Just saw my ex," I say with a humorless chuckle.

"Aiden!? What was he doing here?" She asks with surprise.

"Turns out he goes to SRC. He could not go to NYU due to family issues," I say with a shrug.

"Wow! Is there any chance for old romance to be rekindled? I mean you both are more mature now..."

"No way! He cheated!" I interrupted her from saying further.

"Honey, are we sure about that?" She questions with a sympathetic smile.

"I can't believe you are asking me that," I say with a scowl, "Can we change the topic?"

"Okay, if you say so. Well, speaking of surprising people who go to this university. Guess who else goes here?"

"Alexander Martin's son...Zander?" I ask with a sly smile.

"Wait, what!? I was talking about Amalia Lockwood. Wait...Zander Martin goes here?" She asks with her mouth hanging open.

"Yes. I sat with him, actually, during class. Who is the girl?"

"Savannah Lockwood's daughter is, famous wedding gown designer. Is he hotter in reality or pictures?"

"I have never seen his picture. I did not even realize I was sitting with Zander 'Martin'," I reply, "But yes, he is hot. A little bit arrogant. Would not let me sit with him. Till this girl, Amalia, came to my rescue. She's kind of his sister in law."

"For God's sake, Ellis, that's Amalia Lockwood. Do you know anything? Under which rock do you live, girl? Don't you follow these people on Instagram?" My best friend rants in one breath.

"Really? This took an unexpected turn."

"You amaze me. Girl, you have had such a wild morning. Why was I not with you seriously?"

"Eh...maybe next time," I say with a laugh.

"Who would have thought that these people would have such boring majors? Well, it's expected from Zander, but Amalia...that's a surprise," She says with her eyebrows up.

"Not everyone has to be like their parents. Your father is a lawyer and your mother is a professor, but you are interested in designing. Similarly, Amalia prefers computer science. Why does it matter?"

"Stop the lecture! Tell me more, what and how everything happened?" she questions, folding her arms.

"Well, I ran into Amalia while trying to find my class. We talked a bit. Then, when we reached the class, there were no seats. Amalia sat in the second row. The only seat left was beside Zander. But he didn't want me to sit there. And then Amalia came to my rescue, and Zander let me sit beside him. After that, Amalia and I talked a little bit more," I explained the whole situation

"First of all, it's funny that I was feeling jealous. Both of your meetings were very awkward. Secondly, give me details on what you talked about. And lastly, your luck is working incredibly today. Give me some of that energy."

"How come my luck is working if my meetings with them were awkward?"

"Stop being so ungrateful!" Val rolls her eyes.

"How do you know so much about these people anyway?" I question.

"Last year, I heard from someone that Alexander Martin was coming to town to meet his in-laws. Naturally, I did some stalking. Unfortunately, only Mr and Mrs. Martin came. I was so disappointed. So bad that I stopped following Zander on social media as I decided those were empty dreams. But now I got a chance," She says with a victory symbol.

"Slow down, Val," I say with a laugh.

"Miss, your order, please?" the barista questions.

Oh, we have reached the end of the queue.

I tell her my order and take my latte and Val's mocha from her. Trying to find someplace to sit along with Val, I can't help but think about what Aiden said.

As we come to a spot where only a few people are, we sit on the grass. Valentina looks at me suspiciously as I give her the mocha.

"What is it?" she asks.

"It's just Aiden, he said some things..." I say with a sigh.

"Oh...stupid me. Instead of consoling you about Aiden, I bombarded you with questions regarding Zander and Amalia. What did he say?"

I gave her a brief explanation about what happened.

"I have to say I am relieved you said no to him. We hang out way too little when you guys are dating. Seriously, I started thinking he was becoming your best friend. And if he actually cheated, you should ignore his propositions. Once a cheater, always a cheater," She gives her opinion on the matter.

I give her a half smile, "Don't worry, there is no chance with us. You are always going to be my only best friend. No one can replace you."

"So you don't have any feelings for him?"

Before I answer, she starts laughing.

"Who am I kidding? How can someone not have any feelings for a guy like him? And especially when you know what it is to be with him. Impossible! I have to admit, even I have a bit of feeling for him," She says while giggling.

Even though she said it as a joke, I can't help but feel offended. Isn't that against friendship rules? How can anyone like their best friend's ex? This is not funny to me.

But not wanting to argue, I return her laugh.