Two is Plenty, Three's a Crowd

I couldn't help myself. I pick the square sheet up and unfold it slowly.

I need to talk to you

My eyes roll and picking up my pen, I scribed back.

No, you don't

I throw the paper at Riri, keeping my eyes on Professor Hughes and trying to listen to the lecture. The note makes its way back to me.

Listen to me, my love. It's important

I finally look her way and my gaze cuts to her. She winces, but stands and nods, signaling me to meet her in the hall.

I shouldn't.

I really don't want to.

But I do. Standing from my chair slowly, I follow her. My heart feels like it's going to thump out of my chest and I feel the sting behind my eyes. The tears are threatening to leak already, and we hadn't even spoken yet.

I follow Riri into a corner at the end of the hall and lean against it, my burning eyes cast towards the ground, waiting for her to say whatever was so important.

When it takes a little too long for her to speak, I look up, wondering if she was even still there. She was. Her eyes were watching me closely, set hard on my face as they searched my features.

A small smile came to her lips. "You look good," she whispers. I feel my face flush and the tears well. I don't respond and when Riri realizes that I won't, she continues. "Have you been getting letters? With no return address?"

My ears perk up. I had. They'd been coming in ever since Riri and I broke up and I assumed they were from her. They'd begun to pile up on my desk, sitting unopened and collecting dust.

I nod, slowly.

Her features hardened and her jaw clenches. "Trash them. All of them. Get them out of your dorm."

"What?" One.

"Why?" Two. "They're not from you?" Six.

My voice pulls the hardness from her face and it fell as her eyes water. "I-I'd begun to forget what you sound like, mamas." She took a step forward and I instinctively took one back. Riri took her bottom lip into her mouth and bit down, her entire body reacting in pain when I moved away from her.

She shook it off, recovering quickly. "No. No, they're not from me."

"Who are they from?" Ten words in total now. "How did you know I was getting them?" Eighteen.

"I can't-It doesn't matter baby. Trash them, please." And she walks away, glancing back at me and opening her mouth like she wants to say something, but she doesn't.

Come back, I silently beg. Say it. But I've wasted enough words on this conversation, so the thoughts go unsaid.

When I return to our classroom, Riri and her things are gone. I take my seat, feeling a hint of sadness at the lack of her presence.

Like Honey had said earlier, it had been a rough month. I could barely pull myself out of bed, couldn't eat, and did nothing but sleep. Depression washed over me like a wave. I miss my Riri. Being able to call her my Riri.

The tears I'd worked so hard to hold back began to flow freely and while I wiped away what I could, I was unable to keep up. Grabbing my bag, I stood and exited the room as quickly as I could manage with blurred eyes.

Honey was going to kill me, but I needed my bed. I needed to shut the world out and shut my thoughts off. I made it back to my building in record time and started up the stairs. When I finally reached the front door of my home, I reached into my bag, in search of my key.