BEEP! BEEP!! BEEP!!! Be- SMACK!
The alarm clock took the blow from Devin in good spirits. The snooze button was rarely hit during the school year; but Saturday one week before classes began was the best time to utilize it. With 90 plus hour class and study weeks ahead of him Devin felt no reason to get out of bed at his normal 7 am time. Instead he allowed himself an extra 30 minutes of sleep and woke up with the arrival of the Saturday morning trash pick-up.
Slow to rise Devin didn’t even bother putting his slippers on and instead decided to get right into his running gear and go for a jog. It was a morning ritual that allowed him to collect his thoughts, mentally prepare for the day, and garnered him the one hour of exercise his doctor recommended. Half way through the run he reached Northwestern University campus. Taking a break and a few sips of water he took a call after his phone started to ring.
“Hey Erin a little early for you to be calling for a ride don’t you think?” Devin said after he saw it was his roommate. “I thought your flight didn’t come in for another 3 hours?” He was sweaty and a little out of breath, but he was feeling cheery this morning and it likely had to do with his current location both physically and mentally.
“You sound smelly….” Erin said with a slight laugh. “Anyway you can cancel the pick up I am not flying home.” Her tone was pretty deadpan as she delivered this news.
Devin silently shook his head. Erin was a great friend and seemed to be an alright roommate so far, but making plans with her always seemed to end up going sideways. “Staying a few more days in sunny California then? Alright when is your new flight I can see if I can still pick you up?”
“No Devin I said I am not flying home. I am staying here in California.” This time the tone was the same and not sarcastic or any second layer of a bad joke she was famous for. The silence followed was deafening.
“Wait what do you mean you aren’t coming back. Erin your classes start in a week!? Devin was starting to suddenly panic a little. He didn’t always deal with plans changing suddenly and this was indeed very sudden. Some would have start to wonder why he was friend with the infamously fleeting Erin, but from everything he had ever witnessed she was only like this with her romantic relationships. He was quickly going to learn this was not the case.
“Anyway I am staying in California because I learned about this amazing non-profit that helps the children in Nepal and after working with them for the last month I know it is where I need to be to make a difference.” Erin was in her zone and not listening to Devin ramble a little asking the same three questions over and over again. “I’m not about to leave you high and dry so I reached out to my friends and was able to get you a new roommate. She is great and I already let her know about the whole landlord not fixing things and she said it was cool so all good. Anyway it is like 5 Am here and I gotta get home. Did you know the bars stay open till 4 in LA?!”
With that hurricane Erin was gone from his ears and apparently their lease. Devin tried to call back and text but clearly Erin had gone to sleep or her phone had died. Either way she was suddenly unreachable.
Devin stood in the middle of the schools campus dumbfounded. With a defeated and utterly perplexed look he wondered home making this run his worst time all summer. When he got home he took his running clothes and put them in his hamper in his room and grabbed a towel from his door hanger. "Alexa play morning mix" Making his way to the bathroom he closed the door which then popped back open as he got into the shower and began to clean the exercise off him and think about what the hell was going on.
The alarm clock took the blow from Devin in good spirits. The snooze button was rarely hit during the school year; but Saturday one week before classes began was the best time to utilize it. With 90 plus hour class and study weeks ahead of him Devin felt no reason to get out of bed at his normal 7 am time. Instead he allowed himself an extra 30 minutes of sleep and woke up with the arrival of the Saturday morning trash pick-up.
Slow to rise Devin didn’t even bother putting his slippers on and instead decided to get right into his running gear and go for a jog. It was a morning ritual that allowed him to collect his thoughts, mentally prepare for the day, and garnered him the one hour of exercise his doctor recommended. Half way through the run he reached Northwestern University campus. Taking a break and a few sips of water he took a call after his phone started to ring.
“Hey Erin a little early for you to be calling for a ride don’t you think?” Devin said after he saw it was his roommate. “I thought your flight didn’t come in for another 3 hours?” He was sweaty and a little out of breath, but he was feeling cheery this morning and it likely had to do with his current location both physically and mentally.
“You sound smelly….” Erin said with a slight laugh. “Anyway you can cancel the pick up I am not flying home.” Her tone was pretty deadpan as she delivered this news.
Devin silently shook his head. Erin was a great friend and seemed to be an alright roommate so far, but making plans with her always seemed to end up going sideways. “Staying a few more days in sunny California then? Alright when is your new flight I can see if I can still pick you up?”
“No Devin I said I am not flying home. I am staying here in California.” This time the tone was the same and not sarcastic or any second layer of a bad joke she was famous for. The silence followed was deafening.
“Wait what do you mean you aren’t coming back. Erin your classes start in a week!? Devin was starting to suddenly panic a little. He didn’t always deal with plans changing suddenly and this was indeed very sudden. Some would have start to wonder why he was friend with the infamously fleeting Erin, but from everything he had ever witnessed she was only like this with her romantic relationships. He was quickly going to learn this was not the case.
“Anyway I am staying in California because I learned about this amazing non-profit that helps the children in Nepal and after working with them for the last month I know it is where I need to be to make a difference.” Erin was in her zone and not listening to Devin ramble a little asking the same three questions over and over again. “I’m not about to leave you high and dry so I reached out to my friends and was able to get you a new roommate. She is great and I already let her know about the whole landlord not fixing things and she said it was cool so all good. Anyway it is like 5 Am here and I gotta get home. Did you know the bars stay open till 4 in LA?!”
With that hurricane Erin was gone from his ears and apparently their lease. Devin tried to call back and text but clearly Erin had gone to sleep or her phone had died. Either way she was suddenly unreachable.
Devin stood in the middle of the schools campus dumbfounded. With a defeated and utterly perplexed look he wondered home making this run his worst time all summer. When he got home he took his running clothes and put them in his hamper in his room and grabbed a towel from his door hanger. "Alexa play morning mix" Making his way to the bathroom he closed the door which then popped back open as he got into the shower and began to clean the exercise off him and think about what the hell was going on.