home run

rain

After walking her back that night, they didn't really discuss the kisses, but he did press another one to her cheek before making sure she got inside. She watched as he walked away from the apartment and towards the main road to hail a cab. His kiss left her cheek a little sticky, but she still had a goofy smile on her face when he walked through the door.

"What happened?" Kate practically pounced on her and Theodore actually pounced on her, throwing himself into the air and putting his front paws onto her thigh. Michael was nowhere to be seen but Kate had already changed into a soft pair of shorts and was sitting crosslegged on the couch, her hands clasped together.

"We got ice cream," Leigh dragged out, petting the canine on the head and walking over to the kitchen for a glass of water, "Then we might have kissed."

"What!" Kate was just barely on the side of not shouting, showing much self-control.

"It was a small one! A small kiss, and then another smaller kiss. Then he kissed me on the cheek at the door." Leigh shrugged, trying to remain cool but it was almost impossible not to be giddy when talking to Kate.

"What a gentleman!" She clapped and Michael came out of the bathroom on a cue.

"Don't go in there." He announced, sitting on the couch next to his girlfriend. Both women groaned, "How was it?"

Leigh smiled despite the promise of a stinky bathroom, "It was good. Really good."

They didn't end up hanging out the next day, or even anytime during the next two weeks. While Leigh was somewhat disappointed, she was also grateful since her summer course was ending and required a lot of her focus to finish the final research paper. Their texts continued sporadically, but since Anthony sent her a panicked text of 'I downloaded snapchat, what do I do with this', they traded ten second clips of their daily lives back and forth between text messages.

She was downtown on this particular afternoon to present her research to the class and her professor— she had spent the entire commute on her bike rehearsing and repeating her statistics and her thoughts. She continued to practice during the short walk between parking garage and the building, she spoke aloud in the empty elevator, and whispered to herself on the way into the classroom. There was a time when she didn't care about public speaking, Leigh had passed her required speech class with flying colors and never got anxious about it once. Things changed, though, when she started to go to DePaul. These classes meant something to her, either their subject matter or their contribution to her degree. Because of their significance, Leigh had started to feel the pressure. She had worked the night before until close and didn't go to bed until very late, since she had gotten off of work and then continued to polish off her presentation.

You'll do great! Break a leg?

i think that only counts for theatre. thank you anyway (:

Anthony's text helped to ground her a bit, remind her that she was overreacting for a simple presentation that consisted of content she was confident in. Leigh avoided tugging on her uncomfortable dress clothes that the professor required her students to wear on presentation days and willed herself to exude confidence.

So in she went, volunteering to go first and meeting the required time as she presented her research on the differences between how women were framed in classic Hollywood cinema and in modern day cinema. The professor, usually a tightlipped woman who avoided showing any emotion or giving any personal bias in her lectures, actually gave Leigh a handful of proud smiles during some of her observations.

When Leigh returned to her seat, she heard a couple of other students groan and knew that it meant she had overshot her original goal of passing and managed to excel. Which was good, because she spent two weeks living with her head in books to compile the research.