Annabelle hadn't wanted to burn the restaurant down initially.
In all honesty, she had been in a good mood. The food smelled great, the weather was perfect, and the boy she had met on Tinder looked like an absolute snack in all his pictures.
But t...
After a few days of crying in Candy's hammock and letting the old woman stuff biscuits into her mouth, she was done. Done with him, done with men, done with love.
"I don't even need a man, Candy," she had muttered stubbornly. "I'm totally fine on my own. I'm going to be an astronaut and go to space and make out with an alien."
Candy had given her a strange look. "No one needs a man, Annabelle. But it sure damned is nice to have someone to pay half the rent."
"We could be roomies."
"No. You smell too much like balls."
"What?"
"Bowling balls, Annabelle. Bowling balls."
After that, Annabelle had kept her mind on anything but Luca. Even when his sweet spring eyes would pop into her head, she'd focus on her work. She re-laced all the shoes in the bowling alley, dusted every single damned corner, and even started making awkward small-talk with the younger coworkers. Hell, she helped one of them with their physics homework. Physics homework.
If she was using physics to keep her mind off a boy, that surely meant something was wrong with her. Right?
She even decided to visit the closest college to her home on their marketing day. There had been way too many people for her -- people tossing fliers and brochures in front of her, smiling faces that asked her what she would want to study, and stalls full of flowers and cotton candy and graduation gowns.
She moved into one of the giant lecture halls, where a young woman in gym clothes was presenting a lecture on the basics of aerodynamics and space travel.
Annabelle sat there, eyes glued to the numbers and equations and stars plastered over the screen.
One day, she would earn enough money to be here.
One day, she would study the stars.
She didn't need Luca for that.
Though, as she turned her head to the side, she could have sworn that he was there, sitting in the same lecture hall. She thought she would recognise that dark mop of hair, that warm skin and thoughtful smile.
But why would he be there? He had no interest in aerodynamics. Didn't he want to study psychology? And wasn't the psychology building on the other side of the campus?
A small voice crept into her head. Telling her that he was here to see her.
Annabelle shooed it away. Instead, she stood, scooped up her bags, and left the lecture.
One day, she would be here.
One day.
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She had done a pretty good job forgetting Luca after that.
It wasn't so much his beautiful smile and his toned forearms that she missed. It was the laughter he had once brought her, the way he would listen and care for her. The way he would let her rub cut up onions on him.
