Free On The Floor (Second Story) by Jennifer LaCross

bed. It’s after two. I’ve got a busy day tomorrow. See you later.” I get off the bed to leave.
    He stands up as well and follows me to the door. We face each other, both looking at the floor. He puts both of his hands on my upper arms and slides them down until he is holding my hands.
    “Rachel?” I look up and our eyes meet. “This is not how I wanted this night to end,” he says with a smile, even though I can see the disappointment on his face.
    “Yeah, me neither,” I respond, trying to smile back.
    “I’m sorry about your mom. If you ever want to talk to me about anything, I would love to hear about her. About your family. About anything you want to talk about.” His smile turns sad as I look back down and nod my head.
    “Thanks, Jake.”
    With that, I walk out the door and over to my room. I open my door and lie down in my bed. I start to think about my mom and all the guilt I have for leaving home to come here and I start to cry. There is so much I don’t like thinking about. If Dad is okay. How Monica is doing now that it is just to two of them.
    I don’t end my night with Jake like I wanted.
    My night ends with me alone in my bed, full of sadness and guilt.
    To escape these feelings, I close my eyes and go to the beach.
    One.
    Two.
    Three.
     
    ***
     
    Thursday has been dragging on. I can’t seem to catch a break.
    I woke up late and spilled my coffee on my pants as I was rushing out of the door to class. I forgot I had a quiz in my history class and I didn’t have anything to contribute to a graded discussion in ethics. Then some guy on a bike ran over my foot.
    Now it’s lunchtime and I realize I forgot my wallet so I can’t even buy anything at the commons.
    Jenna offered to buy me something, but with the way my day is going I’d probably get food poisoning. I know my day could be a hell of a lot worse and I shouldn’t let the little things get me down, but sometimes a lot of little things all going wrong totally sucks. I decide to skip my math class and head back to the dorms. I just want to curl up in my bed with a good book to read a book of my choosing, not something required for classes. I need some me time.
    As soon as I get to my floor, I head to the  bathroom before going to my room. Jake is standing outside of the entrance to the bathroom just staring at the door. He has on basketball shorts, running shoes, and no shirt. His body is glistening and sweat is beading on his back. There is a towel thrown over his right shoulder covering part of the tattoo there, but he has his left hand in his sweat dampened hair and I can see the writing on his ribcage. I notice the quote written there is in another language. Then I look at his face. Shit. He looks worried and terrified.
    What did I just walk into? I should have known with the day I am having.
    “What happened?” I ask him, my voice loud and full of worry. I start imagining all of the scenes that could be waiting for me in the bathroom. What is he doing just standing there? Is someone hurt?
    “Someone is in there crying,” he says still staring at the door.
    “Are they hurt?” I’m starting to get scared.
    “No. Sounds more like sad crying.”
    “What happened?” I ask, my voice still full of concern.
    “I have no idea! I just walked into the bathroom to take a shower after my run and I heard this wailing type crying thing. She has quieted down a lot, but she still sounds like she’s crying, right?” He looks so worried. I listen closely and I can hear quiet crying in the silence.
    “What did she say when you asked her what was wrong?”
    “I didn’t even say anything to her. I just stood there for a minute and then turned around and walked out. I was standing here for like five minutes when you came up. I had no idea what to do. I didn’t want her to be embarrassed that somebody heard her.”
    “Okay, well, I’m going to go ask her what’s wrong. Wait out here and don’t let anyone else in the bathroom. Do you