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(help him find peace)
* * *
The next week passed by in a blur of assignments and deadlines which I found nearly impossible to keep track of.
The sheer volume of work I had to complete was bordering on ridiculous, and I found myself staying up all hours of the night, trying my best to complete the pile of assignments I was steadily working through in a (somewhat) timely manner. Unfortunately, all the deadlines seemed to overlap, meaning there were five different homework assignments due Tuesday, two exams on Wednesday along with a project that was due, as well as an exam on Friday for the one class I dreaded the most: calculus.
Suffice to say, I was quite literally drowning in a sea of schoolwork and there seemed to be no end in sight. Although the days of the week seemed to mesh together, each day bleeding into the next, that didn't make the time fly by any quicker. In fact, the days seemed to stretch for what felt like forever, only increasing the misery I felt tenfold.
As a result of all this, most of my time had been spent in the library, since my dorm had proven itself to be a less than ideal location to study. Distractions were everywhere—whether it be my bed, which was literally within arm's reach, or the television that was practically calling my name. It didn't help matters that two of my floormates had recently gotten in a pretty serious fight, which resulted in loud, hated discussions every time they crossed paths in the hallway—which, unfortunately, happened to be a common occurrence.
Getting work done in my room was impossible, so I'd unofficially moved into the library, finding a haven of sorts in the building. It seemed as if just by being there, I'd suddenly developed a work ethic. As if the productivity of the other students had somehow seeped into my bloodstream, providing me with the motivation needed to complete all my work on time.
Due to this newfound work ethic of mine, James and I rarely saw each other. With each assignment I finished, it felt as if ten more would crop up, making it nearly impossible to make it back to my dorm at a decent time. Usually, I'd stumble in sometime around three in the morning to find James asleep at his desk, textbooks strewn all around him. This week was just as difficult for him as it was for me—maybe even more, considering he was taking eighteen credits this semester.
That wasn't even the worst of what he had to deal with. Despite our lack of face-to-face communication, we made sure to update each other on our lives through texting. Throughout the day we would go back and forth, messaging each other various memes about college, shitty professors, and wanting to die. We also complained about our assignments. A lot.
It was in one of James' messages to me that he'd mentioned the result of his confrontation with Chuck on Friday: to soothe his boyfriend's insecurities, James had to devote at least five hours a day to him.
