✔️Soundtrack To My Life (18+) part 1

Dead On Arrival

A/N: This was a double update, if you haven't read the chapter before (Happier) do not continue reading this one until you do...Or do what you want.

Veronica, February 2002

First week back at uni and the backs of my bare legs were sticking to the vinyl seat, giving me a the feeling of excruciating leg wax whenever I stood up. The lecture hall had been fitted out with overhead fans during the Christmas break but they gave little relief from the relentless heat wave we were having. Sweat dripped down my body like a waterfall making my red sundress felt like it was already soaked on the back as I pressed myself into my chair and tried hard to concentrate on what our professor was moaning on about.

We had just started our third year so the shine of being university students had well worn off, gone were the days when I'd wake up hours early just to do my hair and make up and pick out an awesome outfit, now I was lucky if I woke up 20 minutes before Lucas and Penny would arrive at my house, pull my honey blonde hair into a top knot and throw on whatever was clean and closest to me while I quickly scoffed down a piece of toast and a cup of coffee that I drank so fast it would burn my tongue. 

I envied Bridget who was able to sleep in 'til 9 and then take her sweet time getting ready to go to her mid-day class on design and style at the community college. She had just started back for her second year and she was loving every minute of it, this was her ultimate passion, to her, no day there was boring or dull, she never came home complaining that the heat blocked her concentration or the course load was just mind numbing, for the first time in her education she would complete her assignments early and even do extra work, I wish I had her motivation, I was getting my work done but closer to the deadline of when it was due and only because the thought of failing scared me, I had nothing to fall back on.

"Coffee?" Penny asked at the end of class, it was a blazing, hot, Summer's day and yet we still craved the caffeine to get us through the rest of the day when the three of us would go off to our seperate classes.

"Yes, I need a double shot after this lecture, I swear that man's aim is to bore us to death." I motion to to Professor Argle who is rubbing off his notes from class  the whiteboard. Professor Argle spoke in a dreary monotone tone that made me just want to drift off to sleep. 

The three of us walked to the coffee shop nearby, Lucas went up to order while Penny and I grabbed the only free table we could find, this place was now busier than Central station with the influx of new courses that the university added in this year, meaning more students. Lucas returned to our table with a number and a warning that it might be a while, the cafe was getting swamped.

"What are you and Gareth doing tonight?" Penny asked while we waited for our coffee to arrive.

"It's Thursday, we don't make plans for Thursday, we only see each other on Saturday nights." I remind her. When I explained my situation to Gareth, how I was my Dad's primary carer in the evenings he took it well and asked for a standard date every Saturday night, just so we could see each other.

"It's also Valentine's Day, or had you forgotten?" She giggles, taking hold of Lucas' hand, he brings it to his mouth and kisses it softly. The public displays of affection were still strong with these two, even after being together almost three years. 

"Shit." I had forgotten, I'd been single so long that February 14th was just another day but now that I was in a relationship it would a day that I'm required to acknowledge. Maybe Gareth forgot too? I hadn't heard from him yet. "What are you two doing? Maybe we could double?"