Chapter 64: waiting II

Chapter 64: Chapter 64: waiting II

(Vivienne)

Mathematics came next.

Numbers usually had a comforting sort of certainty.

There was always a correct answer waiting somewhere.

Vivienne wished people were half as straightforward.

She copied the formulas from the board.

Solved the examples.

Answered when Professor Ellsworth called on her.

Outwardly...

She looked exactly the same as always.

Only Claire noticed that every now and then...

Vivienne’s hand would quietly disappear beneath the desk.

Not to send a message.

Only to press the small button on her phone.

The screen lit up.

No new messages.

She locked it again before anyone else noticed.

"...Still nothing?"

Claire whispered as the lecture ended.

Vivienne smiled faintly.

"...Still nothing."

She slipped the phone back into her bag.

"Maybe this afternoon."

Claire offered gently.

"...Maybe."

She wanted to believe it.

She truly did.

—

Lunch arrived.

The dining hall buzzed with conversation.

Someone laughed nearby.

Another table was already discussing the upcoming Founders’ Ball.

Vivienne barely noticed.

She picked absentmindedly at her lunch.

Claire and Eleanor exchanged a quiet glance.

Neither of them tried to force a conversation.

Instead...

They talked among themselves often enough that Vivienne wouldn’t feel obligated to keep speaking.

From time to time...

Claire would include her naturally.

Never making it obvious.

Never making her feel pitied.

Vivienne appreciated that.

More than she could say.

Halfway through lunch...

Her hand drifted toward her bag again.

She stopped herself.

No.

If there had been a reply...

It would still be there five minutes later.

She didn’t need to keep checking.

She lasted almost fifteen minutes.

Then quietly looked anyway.

Nothing.

She smiled to herself.

A small, self-conscious smile.

You’re hopeless.

—

Biology followed lunch.

Then Geography.

The hours passed one after another.

Outside...

The summer sun shone brightly over St. Albion University.

Inside...

Vivienne felt strangely disconnected from it all.

She answered questions.

Took notes.

Participated when called upon.

No one would have guessed anything was wrong.

Except...

She wasn’t laughing as much.

She wasn’t smiling as often.

Even her usual curiosity seemed quieter.

By the final lecture of the day...

She had almost stopped wondering whether Anthony would reply.

Not because she had found an answer.

But because asking herself the same question over and over again was exhausting.

Perhaps...

He really was just busy.

Perhaps...

He had forgotten.

Perhaps...

He hadn’t seen it yet.

And perhaps...

There simply wouldn’t be a reply.

None of those possibilities hurt quite as sharply anymore.

Not because she had accepted them.

Only because she had grown tired of fighting them.

When the afternoon bell finally rang, students poured out into the courtyards.

Vivienne walked with Claire and Eleanor toward the dormitories.

The warm breeze stirred the leaves overhead.

Someone nearby called happily to a friend.

Life around her continued exactly as it always had.

Claire glanced sideways.

"...Feeling any better?"

Vivienne thought about it.

Then smiled gently.

"...A little."

It wasn’t entirely true.

But it wasn’t entirely false either.

The disappointment hadn’t disappeared.

It had simply become quieter.

Easier to carry.

"I think..."

She looked up at the late afternoon sky.

"...I’ll stop checking my phone every few minutes."

Claire smiled.

"That’s probably a good idea."

Vivienne laughed softly.

"...I think so too."

Whether Anthony replied today...

Tomorrow...

Or never...

There was nothing more she could do.

She had already taken her step forward.

The next step...

Was no longer hers to take.

As they disappeared down the tree-lined path toward the women’s dormitory...

The mobile phone remained quietly tucked inside her bag.

Silent.

Waiting.

Just like her.

--

(Anthony)

Even Tuesday seemed determined to keep Anthony occupied.

The morning disappeared beneath advanced lectures on constitutional jurisprudence and comparative systems of government.

Between classes came another Student Council meeting.

Then a discussion with Professor Aldridge regarding preparations for the upcoming student leadership forum.

Lunch never became much of a break.

It was spent reviewing proposals for the Ashford Foundation alongside several committee members before he hurried off to his afternoon seminars.

By the time the final lecture ended...

The sun had already begun its slow descent beyond the university buildings.

Throughout the day...

The message crossed his mind more than once.

While walking between buildings.

While waiting for a lecture to begin.

While signing yet another stack of Student Council documents.

Each time...

His hand almost reached for his personal phone.

Each time...

Someone called his name.

A professor.

A committee member.

Another student seeking his opinion.

The moment passed.

"I’ll reply later."

The words repeated themselves so often throughout the day that, by evening, Anthony almost smiled at his own predictability.

It wasn’t that he had forgotten.

Quite the opposite.

He remembered every single time.

He simply kept deciding that the next moment would be more appropriate than the present one.

Only when he finally returned to the quiet of his dormitory...

Did "later" finally become "now."

Nathaniel was already seated at his desk, absorbed in another thick volume of case law.

Anthony loosened his tie before sitting down at his own desk.

His eyes drifted toward the personal phone lying beside a neat stack of papers.

The message.

He picked it up.

Read it once more.

Hello, Anthony. This is Vivienne. I hope I’m not disturbing you. Would it be all right if I gave you a call when you have a moment?

He looked at it for a long moment.

Not because he didn’t know what to say.

Because replying meant opening a conversation he had quietly postponed for years.

He let out a slow breath.

"...I can’t keep putting this off forever."

For the first time...

He pressed Reply.

His thumb hovered above the keypad.

He typed a sentence.

Paused.

Deleted it.

Typed another.

Read it over.

Deleted that as well.

Not because he was nervous.

Only because he wasn’t entirely sure what the proper beginning should be.

They were engaged.

Yet...

They had scarcely spoken as adults.

Finally...

He settled on something simple.

I’m sorry for the late reply.

He paused.

Then added,

I was occupied yesterday.

Another pause.

One final sentence.

If you’re still free this evening, you may call.

He read it once.

Then again.

Simple.

Polite.

Appropriate.

Very much like him.

Anthony pressed Send.

The message quietly disappeared from the screen.

He set the phone back onto the desk.

"...There."

The room fell silent once more.

Outside...

Night settled peacefully over St. Albion University.

Somewhere else on campus...

Completely unaware...

Vivienne Beaumont was still waiting.

--

Tbc

(A/N: hahahahaa finally! I can’ttttt!!!)