Dark Night

Pacific Coast Highway

The next few days were a flurry of activity as I got back into my routine, catching up with classwork, talking to my faculty advisor about grad school (she was really pleased for me and glad that I'd be staying at UCLA), and passing out my souvenirs. The girls in the house had watched the competition and teased me about the interview. I rolled my eyes and smiled. "I always look like a dork in those," I said. "I forget that they're doing it, it's so much more fun to watch a skate in person; it's more dynamic and draws you in. I don't think I could behave like a normal person if I tried." My co-workers at the library were thrilled to hear that I'd gotten accepted to grad school and my boss brought cookies my next shift. Johanna had texted congratulations, as had Will. I popped the souvenirs I'd gotten my far-away friends into the mail and met with Keshondra and Zayna to catch up and give them theirs. They'd gotten the obligatory teasing out of the way and caught up with their news too. Zayna's roommates had not improved, but they were mostly gone, so I still had the group record for both the best and the worst roommates. Keshondra had just broken up with her boyfriend and needed some consolation. Zayna was enjoying her grad school classes and was firming up a summer internship in New York City at one of the big publishing houses there. Everybody else was waiting to hear back on their grad school applications so they could make their choices and plans. As we chatted and laughed and got refills for our coffee, time passed most pleasurably. Zayna looked over at the door and waved. Paul had come in with some of his friends, and he brought them over for introductions after they'd gotten their orders.

He teased me too about the interview, and I defended myself by mentioning his 'highlight' reel performance at the previous Olympics. He'd also followed my Instagram and had questions and comments about my activities. His friends also were interested. I gave him the snowboarding  pin I'd gotten for him and he promptly put it on his backpack. Keshondra asked how he was doing, and he had a lot to say about being a freshman in engineering. "I thought you looked pasty," Zayna teased, and we all laughed. But he did look paler; he wasn't spending nearly as much time outside as he was used to.

"John and the she-devil parted ways," he said carelessly as he picked apart his croissant. "She dumped him, actually, when he made it clear that he wasn't going to med school. Not ambitious enough for her. I'm glad to see the back of her; she hated me too and accused me of being anti-Korean."  We frowned.

"But you guys are half Korean," I said finally, puzzled.

"I know," he said, rolling his eyes. "She got pissed when I pointed that out." The others burst out into laughter, but it wasn't actually funny. I'd have popped her one for that. Paul wasn't laughing either.

"So what is John doing if he's not going to be a doctor?" Keshondra asked.

"OH, he wants to be a doctor, just a PhD rather than an MD," Paul said. "He's applied to grad school for bioinformatics, data analysis of genomes, molecules, that kind of stuff."

"Delia just got accepted to UCLA for her doctoral program," Zayna said proudly, and it felt good to hear her bragging.

"Congrats, General," Paul said, giving me a quick hug. "That's awesome. I'm glad you'll be around."

We talked for a little longer, then we had to bet going. I had a study group to get to and Zayna and Keshondra had their own work to do.

Time flew by and it didn't seem like enough time had passed when finals came around. I had a Friday afternoon final, so it was late afternoon when I set off for home. I love driving on the Pacific Coast Highway, and relaxed once I'd battled my way clear of LA traffic. Finals aside, it had been a kind of sucky week. The school newspaper had featured an interview with Will, highlighting his career as a Bruin and the terrific season he'd had with the Packers; he'd been on the short list for rookie of the year and was a major reason why the Packers had made it to the Super Bowl even though they hadn't won. I'd read it, of course, and it was interesting. His happiness was important to me. However, they'd shown a picture of him on the back patio of his new house, and the writer had specifically mentioned the gardens in the back yard that prominently featured larkspur throughout the beds. The journalist had attributed the swaths of blue to Will's fondness for Bruin blue.  I missed Will a lot, but he was happy and had a great future in front of him, and so did I. I'd been in a funk for a bit part of the week and relished the solitude and silence of the drive; I didn't even turn on the radio for a couple of hours. Real privacy was hard to come by on campus.