We Don't Talk About It

Chapter 6.

January 22nd, 2018 - Monday

7:00am, Audrey's alarm clock blares loudly, as she cracks open her eyes to the rising sun shining through the blinds of her window.

It'a the first day of classes. This is it, this is the really the beginning of the end. Only 16 weeks left at her beloved home in the Banksmith Valley with the people she grew to call family.

Getting out of bed, Audrey tries to shut out the reminding thoughts that her time there is coming to an end, or that she has to see Liam fucking Payne again today. Instead, she tries to focus on the bit of excitement she feels for the first day of classes.

Audrey didn't just love Banksmith because of her friends, she loved learning. Audrey has always loved school, she loved to learn, she loved to read, and she was always good at it. The endless nights in the library, putting in her headphones and ignoring the world around her and focusing on what was in front of her. She loved that.

Audrey's major was psychology, with a sociology and anthropology minor. Even though Audrey enjoyed it, she knew she wanted to learn more while she was there. She chose to graduate with a Bachelors of Science degree. This introduced her to biology, chemistry, and even an environmental science class. Audrey had to take some math classes as a requirement, but she didn't mind, she really liked statistics. She was never great at math, but she wasn't bad at it either, and statistics made sense to her.

Heading to the bathroom, Audrey began thinking about her routine at gym. She was a little nervous, since it was a new semester and class schedules changed. She didn't know who was going to be there at 8:00am, and she wouldn't know who would be there at 10:00am tomorrow. The campus gym doesn't open until 7:30am, and Audrey has an 8:45am on Tuesdays/Thursdays. That's not enough time for Audrey, and that's a long time for her to go without any sustenance, but she'll have to make do. Audrey will adapt, she would have to. She couldn't gain the weight back.

152.1lbs - Audrey was content. If the scale had gone up, Audrey knew that her whole day would be ruined. Her mood is directly related to her weight and what she eats. One wrong move and Audrey shuts down, and if she isn't able to work it off immediately, she restricts twice as hard the next day.

Going downstairs to brew her morning coffee, Audrey's house is silent , the way she likes it.
She enjoyed the mornings alone. It gives her time to plan her days.

Finishing her coffee and her daily Tasty snapchat story, Audrey makes her way upstairs to change into her gym clothes. She peaks out her window, there's a little bit of snow on the ground, but the roads are clear and the sun is shining.

Getting dressed, grabbing her jacket, and gathering her things she makes her way to the campus gym. It's a short walk; and she knows it takes exactly 7 minutes to get there. She walks through the empty parking lot across the street, walking by her neighbors house, who's front door faces theirs.

The backyard has an old, beaten up green couch, partially covered in snow, and the yard is littered with Natty Light cans peeking out of the snow.

Boys, Audrey rolled her eyes. It occurred to her she's been walking this way everyday for the last 6 months, and she has no idea who her neighbors are that live there. Their houses are on the corners of a four-way intersection.

Across from Audrey's window, and one of the four corners, is a house full of men's soccer players that her and her friends have never spoken to. Their windows align like that Taylor Swift music video, and she secretly wishes she could reenact it. Wishing that maybe, just maybe he got a glimpse of her through the window.

But she did get a glimpse of the guy in that room - naked. He must have not realized his blinds were up and the light was on. Audrey tried not to stare when she was sitting at her desk, but she's only human.

Diagonally across the street from her house, was a house of frat guys. At least it wasn't one of their party houses.

Attached to their house, was a whole other house, the mirror opposite of Audrey and her friend's. Girls from their sorority lived in that half, letting them switch off the pregame house occasionally.

The house next door to them, similar to theirs was one house with two separate living spaces in the house. She was friendly with the frat guys that lived there since a few of them were there over the summer, but they all barely interacted. They were top tier, a different world from Audrey and her friends.

The other half of that house was a bunch of musicians, and almost all of them were in acapella groups on campus. Music always blasting, with kick backs always happening in their backyard.

Audrey didn't know any of her direct neighbors really. They were all from different worlds.

Walking through the courtyard between the Brahms Arts Center and the Baruch Business School, Audrey was almost at the gym.

The Baruch Business School was often joked about being a high school; if you were a business student, that's where you were all day. With the same people in the same classes. Audrey was glad she wasn't with douchey-Wolf of Wall Street wannabes all day, but she did envy her friends when they got to know more people, especially more guys. At least they had someone to talk to when they went to a party. Audrey didn't really know anyone, she kind of stuck to her friends, trying not to hover the conversations. Her classes were smaller, liberal arts kids, not really wrapped up in the Greek system.

Swiping her school ID at the front desk, the student working was clearly still half asleep. No surprise there.

Audrey made her way inside, tucked her jacket in a cubby, and got on her favorite treadmill.

The gym was practically empty, again, just the way she liked it. No one had to watch the fat girl try to exercise.

Audrey's headphones were in and her world was out for a little while, as her feet pounded the track of the treadmill and she ignored the ache in her knees begging her to stop.

It was one of those days Audrey couldn't tell what mood she was in and the music she wanted to listen. She was excited, but nervous, as she really tried not to think about the moment she has to see Liam Payne again.

She settled for her On Repeat playlist on Spotify to tell her what she wanted to hear and NbHD by One Republic blared through her headphones.

//

As mentioned, there is an official playlist that I am building. It will contain all the songs mentioned in the story, but also some other songs that I think match the story well!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2u5RlvWSXerjztRKDgf5H9?si=2aqdS1e6Qj2gpg80no3VlA

Like, Meet Me in the Hallway for example. The inspiration for the title.

Vote & Comment below!!