“I’m so pleased you’re my friend, Laura.”
She smiled.
“Laura?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you for bringing me here.”
“It’s my pleasure.”
They stayed together on the boulder until the sun went down and Dean drove her home later that night. She watched him disappear before walking into the house. The afternoon had been good for him to get the pain and misery off his chest. She hated to think of him hurting. No one deserved to go through the pain.
* * * *
“I’m never going to get this,” Peter yelled.
Laura sat in the picnic area. Young children played on the swings and other families sat at benches eating food.
“Yell any louder and they’ll call the cops to have you removed,” she told him and took another bite of her sandwich.
“I don’t understand it. It’s like it’s not sinking in,” He replied with a sigh and dropped his body down onto the grass. Laura moved her lunch out of the way for him to sit.
“How do you do it?” he asked.
“Do what?” she asked.
“Remember this crap. I mean, why do we have to do it in the first place?”
Laura laughed and then finished off her sandwich. “First off, you didn’t have to take history. In college you pick your own courses, remember? And second, how can you not get history? It’s not like an equation you have to learn or any crap like that. History is about fact and events taken place in the past. I don’t get why you don’t understand it,” she said.
Peter watched as she took her second sandwich out of the box and began eating it. Her lunch break wasn’t long and he'd taken it upon himself to accompany her on the break.
“I’m not a brainy person like you.”
“When the new semester starts, I suggest you change subjects,” she offered.
They ate their lunch in silence and walked the short distance back to the library. Laura left him to the back room while she went to sort through the books.
Peter watched her go. He wished he could find more of an excuse to be with her. History was the lamest of excuses he’d come up with. How could he tell her history was one of the classes he excelled in? Cursing his life, he opened the book he’d read several times and began reading through it once again.
With any other girl he’d be right in there and asking her for a date. With Laura it wasn’t simple. She was smart and beautiful and he knew she thought of him as an asshole. At closing time he waited outside for her.
“Can I walk you home?” he asked. Every other time she declined his offer.
“Yes.”
His heart jumped with joy. Maybe there was hope for him yet. Together they walked through the small town.
“Can I ask why you accepted?” His curiosity had gotten the better of him.
“I usually have another date somewhere and tonight I’m free," she responded. "I’ve nowhere else I need to be.”
Peter wondered where she usually went, but thought better of asking. He didn’t want to upset her while he was ahead.
“Would you like to come back to my place?” he asked.
“I’m good, thanks. I want to get home.”