One Time, Badly Read online

  "Well, that was kind of weird. I thought he would wave you over or something," Lou sipped from the top of her drink, trying her best to avoid the layer of foam that had yet to dissolve.

  "Yeah, I know. Awkward."

  "Let's just drink our drinks. I'm sure he'll come find you in a minute," she said it with only the confidence that Lou could lend to completely unlikely scenarios. Still, Cecelia wanted to give him a chance to come talk to her. Now that he knew she was here, the ball was in his court.

  "Yeah, hopefully," she took a large gulp of her beer, turning to follow Louisiana into the crowd.

  She wasn't surprised that Lou knew so many people here; she seemed to make friends everywhere she went. Cee's reserve left her with acquaintances to wave to and smile at, shoot a quick 'How are you?' and a 'Good seeing you' here and there, but no one to really catch up with. These nights always left her wondering how much time Lou actually spent paying attention in class if she walked out with this many new friends.

  Her phone buzzed with a goodnight text from her mom, which came in at around 10:30 pm each and every night. Night, sweetie. Love you. It always made her smile when she saw the message, even though she knew it was coming.

  She typed back a quick Love you, too! Goodnight! and turned to find the bathroom and maybe get a refill. That first drink went quickly, but it's not like there was much else to do at this place.

  When she returned to the kitchen, Max was in the same spot, but there was just one girl with him now, standing between his legs with her hands resting on his thighs. His hands were cupping her face, his head bent towards hers in a way that could only mean one thing. She could just make out the working of his jaw from her angle. This was bullshit.

  Cecelia put her cup down on the counter and stalked out of the room, tracking down Lou, grabbing her drink out of her hands and pulling her right out the front door.

  "What the hell is going on?"

  "I don't even understand why he asked me to come!" she downed the remnants of Lou's drink and tossed the cup. It landed somewhere on the porch that circled Max's house. Good. Let him clean it up. "Ridiculous!"

  "Cee, what happened?" Lou was half-jogging beside Cee as if she couldn’t keep up. All drama, all the time.

  "He was making out with some skank in the kitchen." The words came out more forcefully than she'd intended them to, but she was worked up. A proper storming out could do that.

  "No!" Lou was scandalized.

  "Yes!" Cee was pissed off.

  "Why even invite me to this bullshit party if he wasn't even going to bother acknowledging me? I don't get it."

  "That dick. Let me go back in. I'll spill a quick drink on them and be out in under a minute," Lou made to move back towards the house, but Cecelia grabbed her arm. The anger was seeping from her with each step away from the party, turning to something much worse.

  "It's really not worth it. It's not like we're together or anything. Maybe I read this whole thing wrong and he was just trying to be nice inviting me tonight," her voice had grown very small now, logic interfering with emotion.

  "Cee, boys don't just do things to be nice. He was flirting with you last time you saw each other and then he invites you to a party at his place. You didn't read anything wrong, maybe he's just an asshole and he went for the first girl that walked in tonight."

  "Yeah, he probably asked a bunch of girls to come and I showed up too late," she hated that the disappointment of the night now felt more like her own fault than his.

  "Oh well, better to find out now than when you actually like him."

  "I kind of did actually like him, though. This is so annoying," she groaned, because what else could she do now.

  "Come on, Cee. Let's stop at the student center and grab some Ben & Jerry's. We can just download a movie. As it were, Joe blew me off tonight so he could 'study' and it's honestly the least believable thing another human being has ever said to me."

  With that, Lou and Cecelia headed off towards better things. Ice cream and TV boyfriends hadn't managed to let them down a single time.

  Before Cecelia knew it, Halloween was fast approaching and that meant just a few weeks before the semester started to wind down and she'd be heading home for an entire month.

  Besides the first week or two of November, it was like one big holiday rolled into one from Halloween to Thanksgiving and then Christmas for the entire month of December. Of course there were also finals to put a nice damper on all of the fun, but that's life, yeah?

  Cecelia was going as the four seasons along with Lou and two of the other girls from their floor. She'd lucked out and gotten winter in their random drawing and she was planning on "frosting" her hair and eyelashes and picking up some tulle and white glitter from the craft store to make her own snowy costume.

  She had a white skater dress she didn't mind sacrificing for the cause and she planned on wearing lace over the knee socks and her cute quilted snow boots to tone it down a bit. There was something about thigh highs that could really scream stripper if worn with the improper shoe.

  Lou would be donning an array of colorful leaves as fall, while Katie and Shelly would be going as summer and spring, respectively.

  Normally she'd have another outfit prepared for Saturday night, but she was planning on going home for the weekend to watch her younger sister Sedona's soccer game. She would be playing her rival school and, as it was her senior year, Sedona was freaking out about beating them one last time. Cee didn't want to miss it.

  She hadn't heard from Max since the party and, from the way he was going to town on that chick, she didn't expect to. Whatever. She was about to be caught up in the whirlwind that is the end of fall semester, she'd probably forget all about him by the time Santa Claus made his way to New Jersey.

  One of her coworkers, a sweet girl named Gwen, had invited the whole front desk crew to a bonfire at her place tonight and Cee figured it wouldn't hurt to ditch the girls from her dorm for once and meet some new people. Also, it was sacrilegious to turn down a bonfire invitation at the end of October. Just wasn't something a girl could do.

  So she bundled up in her coziest oversized sweater, threw on a pair of skinny jeans and camel colored over the knee boots and spent the night mingling with a whole new crew. Gwen was a bio major and her friends were smart in a totally different way than Cee's usual group. They read different books and watched different TV shows and it turned out to be a really fun night.

  It was the kind of night that acts as a refresher of sorts, a reminder that the world is big and the person sitting next to you on the bus or in the classroom has a story so different from your own.

  It was funny, too, how just a few hours spent outside of work can turn a coworker into a real life friend and amazing how less work feels like work when you're on shift with a friend.

  By the time Cee donned her shimmery, snowflake costume, all thoughts of a blue-eyed boy with the habit of spilling drinks of all kinds were slipping from her mind.

  2018

  September

  Her shoes had officially transitioned from uncomfortable to painful, but it would have to be ignored. Maybe it would be good to have a distraction from what was about to happen. Maybe she'd be able to forget about the butterflies in her stomach and the pounding of her heart once the leather of her shoe finally took a layer of skin off her ankle.

  Her first meeting of the day, the 10:30 that she and Stan had met and prepared for, had gone exceptionally well and that high had followed her for hours. They'd pitched a new series for the site to publish; it would be a short weekly advice column featuring a different employee each week.

  It was something she and Stan had been talking about for months and they'd finally settled on a format that they thought would work for the site. Cee was excited to see the different responses that came in from her own peers as well as the older members of the staff. There was a definite possibility that it could come off as stale and tank, but she felt optimistic about it and was grateful t
hat the rest of the editorial team had agreed to give it a shot.

  It was just the kind of personal victory that she needed today and she made sure to let herself bask in it for as long as possible. She always felt this sense of utter power after a successful meeting, especially one where she'd done the bulk of the presenting. It took a lot to walk into a room, especially one filled with her superiors, and own it.

  While Cee had always been comfortable with public speaking and had even found herself enjoying presentations during her school years, this was a different ballgame entirely. It was something she'd struggled with at the beginning of her career, but, like so many things, had become second nature to her now.

  The win had also given her something to look forward to. She enjoyed her job and felt fulfilled by it on some level each day, but there was nothing like starting a new project. She loved the feeling of creating something from scratch and working out the kinks as she went along. She was already assembling a list of the first few colleagues she planned on interviewing and she couldn't wait to get started.

  For a little while, it took her past the night ahead of her and into a future where she was doing what she did best.

  The crowds started to slim down the further uptown she went. It was amazing the difference just a few blocks could make in the city. One moment you're smack in the middle of a mob scene and the next you're looking over your shoulder to make sure you're not too alone on a block you're not familiar with.

  Although, getting mugged would do her one better than a distraction; it would be an excuse to just blow the whole night off.

  Chapter 6

  2011

  December

  It was a breezy mid-December morning when she saw him again. He hadn't noticed her, and she was hesitant to grab his attention. She didn't necessarily want to talk to him, but the crumbled up t-shirt in the bottom of her backpack was a constant reminder that they had some form of unfinished business. Had the shirt been Max's she wouldn't have cared, but she felt bad keeping a shirt that belonged to someone that she hadn't even met. What if he really liked it?

  She assessed the situation. Max Maylor, seven feet away, no beverage in sight. It was safe to approach. She'd just hand him the shirt and be on her way. No need for any conversation. She turned on her heel and headed in his direction.

  He seemed to be tuned out of the present moment, failing to notice her until she’d said his name twice. He looked up at her and a slow smile spread across his face, as if she’d just caught him waking up from a nap rather than at midday in the middle of the quad.

  “Hey,” was all he offered. There wasn't an ounce of guilt or awkwardness to it. If anything, he looked as if running into her was the best thing that could've happened to him in that very moment. There was note of excited anticipation in his tone, as if the whole Wine Wednesday debacle hadn’t happened at all.

  “Um, hey Max. I just wanted to finally return your friend’s stuff,” she retrieved it from the bottom of her bag, trying to straighten it out a bit before she handed it to him. “And just as a side note, if you have a drink in your hand the next time I see you, I’m keeping a 5-foot distance.”

  “Five feet? You’re underestimating both my arm strength and the physical matter of all liquids,” he made no move to grab the clothes from her outstretched hands, his quick response doing nothing to shake the mellow vibe he was giving off.

  “Are you okay? You seem dazed or, I don’t know, something’s off.”

  “All nighter, and I just spent the past 2 hours slowly dying in my exam. And fall is definitely over, so that sucks too. I hate when fall is over," he was rambling now, but it wasn't the nervous kind.

  It was almost as if he forgot she was there and he was just thinking out loud. She saw him catch himself and meet her eyes again. "I was actually going to grab lunch, any chance you want to save this day from being the actual worst day of my college career?”

  “Really? Did you not hear the whole 5-feet from you and drinks thing?” she was gearing up to say no. A snide comment about the last time he'd invited her somewhere was on the tip of her tongue. But it wasn't worth it. The few weeks since she'd seen him had cooled her initial sadness at their last encounter. Facts were facts, she didn't know him and he didn't owe her anything. Maybe getting lunch with him might not be the worst thing in the world.

  “We can take this time to draw up the legal documents. ‘I, Max Maylor, promise to resist approaching Cecelia Something while holding any beverage, hot or cold’,” he laughed lightly. He gestured vaguely in the direction of the dining hall, a quirk to his brow. “I promise not to spill anything on you in the meantime, and I might even swipe you in.”

  “You don’t have to swipe me in, ” she said in answer to his original question. “And I won’t be signing any legal documents without a lawyer present.”

  He let out an easy laugh at that as she fell into step with him and she felt her shoulders begin to relax. It was one meal, no big deal.

  She’d never seen someone more successfully take advantage of his meal plan than Max Maylor. He seemed to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner on his tray within five minutes, and he couldn’t stop talking about the ice cream he was going to eat when he was done. For her part, Cecelia had a respectable cheeseburger and fries combo, and was considering grabbing some pasta salad to go with it.

  “The way I see it, we have to take advantage of the buffet. We’re paying for it, and I for one don’t like wasting money. I like to feel like I’m beating the system,” he led her to a table on the outer edge of the dining hall, pulling out a seat for her with one hand and sliding into his own in one smooth motion.

  “There’s beating the system, and then there’s eating to the point of explosion. At this point I’m not even worried about you spilling your drink, I think you might actually projectile vomit on me if you eat all that,” Cecelia took a bite of her burger and tried not to laugh as Max’s eyebrows rose up at the image she’d just painted.

  “Yeah, this is definitely excessive. But, like I said, I had a terrible night and an even worse morning so I’m going to comfort eat my way through the afternoon.”

  “Fair enough. So what was this soul sucking exam on?”

  “Some advanced calculus class. I don’t even want to talk about it, I think I’m going to have to change my major after this one,” he seemed genuinely heavy-hearted about it.

  “I’m sure you did better than you think, especially if you spent the whole night reviewing everything.”

  “I guess we’ll see, nothing I can do about it now.”

  “That’s the spirit! Admit defeat and eat a 7-course meal at 1pm. That’ll do the trick.”

  “If you keep talking about how much food I’m about to house, I’m gonna get a complex, Cecelia.”

  “Ok, ok I’m sorry. No more talk of food or exams.”

  “Awesome. Thank you, much appreciated,” he sent her a wink and a smile as he bit into some gauzy pastry.

  “No problem, I think the agreement was that I save this day from being the worst of your college career, not tank it even more.”

  “Yes, I love a woman that sticks to a deal, very good quality.”

  “Would you like to talk about what seems to be an insurmountable tendency to spill any drink that finds its way into your hands?”

  “I swear that you’re the only person that I’ve ever spilt a drink on in my life! And for it to happen twice, I can’t even explain it. But I have to say, and you’re not gonna like it, but I have to say you definitely get an assist on the History building incident,” he held up his hands as if to say there was nothing he could do about it, facts are facts.

  “What?! You doused me in scalding coffee. I definitely didn’t assist you in that!” Cecelia put her burger back on the plate for this one.

  “You ran right into me! And 'scalding' is a little dramatic, that coffee was lukewarm at best before I lost it to your shirt.”

  “Lost it to my shirt? I’m going to forfeit thi
s conversation for the sole purpose of having it end in you describing what happened as you losing your coffee to my shirt.”

  “Ok, but I would just like to say, and we can consider this the start of a new conversation, that I am a very coordinated person. Some people might even call me ‘Athlete of the Month’.”

  “Oh yeah? And where are these fanatical Max Maylor fans located?”

  “That would be Lyndhurst, New Jersey. Born and bred.”

  “You’re not from Lyndhurst.”

  “You got something against Lyndhurst? I’ll have you know it’s a fantastic town, great parks, great restaurants. Home of the Maylor family for four generations.”

  “Very nice description. If I’d never been, I’d most definitely want to visit. But I have been to Lyndhurst, many times actually. I’m from Nutley.”

  “No way! What a small world! We grew up 10 minutes from each other, and it took me ruining your day twice for us to actually meet? You gotta love it, we’re like those people that grow up down the street from each other in some small European town only to meet half way around the world.”

  “Such a coincidence! You just took that so far with the whole Europe thing, but it really is crazy.”

  “Any analogy is a good analogy! What’s your last name, do you have any siblings I would know from sports or something like that?”

  “It’s Scott, Cecelia Scott. I have a younger sister named Sedona, we both played soccer all through high school. I guess we never would’ve crossed paths.”

  “I guess not. I did football and hockey. I have a younger sister, Isabella, but she wasn’t into sports. She’s a really good painter, you should see her stuff, I think she could start selling it and she’s only 18 years old.”

  “That’s cool, good for her! I always wished I could paint, but I’m like one level above stick figures when it comes to art.”