The One Who Got Away is Back

Memory 6 ♡ One of Those Days

I should've known it was going to be one of those days. All the signs were there.

First I was running late from my shift because my relief got caught in a fender bender. Ayrton swooped in and saved the day by cutting his sleep short. I felt really terrible that he'd only got like three hours in before I interrupted, desperately begging for help, because I knew today the Business Plan teacher was going to lay out the requirements for the big assignment of the semester and I couldn't miss it.

"I owe you so hard," I told him as I changed out of my cafe attire in his office in such a haste that I didn't even care who else might see.

Ayr grunted as he gulped down enough coffee to start a car.

"Don't worry, I'll collect," he said. After an ominous pause where his light eyes narrowed into slits, he added, "One way or another."

A full body cringe took over me. It felt like I was bargaining with a mythical creature I maybe shouldn't have awakened.

I had barely ran one block away from the Magic Cafe when there was a loud rumble in the sky. Dark grey clouds were assembling at a speed that seemed unnatural, but once the wind started lashing around me I figured that was why. Even though my heart was beating hard, I broke into a full run to see if I could avoid the storm. All I had to do was make it across campus until I reached the business building. It wasn't a far distance from the cafe, so by all accounts I should have made it. Except the storm moved a lot faster than I could and when a clap of coming thunder was followed by lightning streaking the sky, I knew I was screwed. I didn't have a chance against mama nature. She just turned on her faucet and gifted me with a free shower.

"Damn it."

Believe it or not, although I shared the sentiment, the curse hadn't come from me. I turned to see Miguel joining me in the hallway, as absolutely drenched as I was. The difference was that he wore it well. His green t-shirt stuck to his body like a second skin and I didn't remember him having all those ridges of muscles back in high school. He'd bulked up a lot. Like, his shoulders were perfect works of art that were doing things to my tender parts.

I was thankful to be soaked like a rat, or he might have seen me drooling when he looked up.

"Oh, you too?" He laughed as he shook himself like a dog.

I cleared my throat and said, "I don't suppose you have a towel in your backpack?"

My words carried despite the relentless sound of the downpour, and they made him smile.

"I'm sure I have a handkerchief in there, but it probably suffered the same fate." Then he motioned toward the open classroom door and said, "After you, m'lady."

I gave a mocking scoff. "Why, thank you kind sir."

I tried to catch my breath as I climbed up the stairs. Somewhere in the middle of the classroom were Malik and the butthole from the other night, and they waved at Miguel as he came in. I kept going all the way to the back row, where I figured I'd be safe from Miguel now that he'd go join his friends. Then I'd be able to bring down my heartbeat during class.

To my surprise, he was right behind me, telling me to scoot so he could sit next to me on the corner.

I gaped at him.

"What?" he asked.

"What about your friends?"

He shrugged. "Kinda hard to reach them with a bunch of people in between. They'll be fine."

The teacher begun the class by saying, "Congratulations to those of you who joined us and are dry. To those that are here but had to swim through the storm to make it, I hope you can learn the value of organizing your time better."