Crushed (2 page)

"I guess I have the opposite problem. Too much free time." Jack's eyes hadn't moved from her face. "You should consider taking more breaks. Being a workaholic is no fun."

Sophie laughed, shaking her head. "Unfortunately, you can't major in fun."

"How strange." Jack mused, his expression growing serious for only a moment. "You didn't strike me as the type that enjoyed playing by the rules."

"What do you mean?" Sophie eyed him suspiciously. For someone she'd just met, she felt like he already knew her.

"You look like someone who's very passionate underneath all of those layers." He continued, smiling.

She was about to reply when he suddenly jerked up to his feet. She pulled back, shocked by his unexpected speed. Without warning, he leaned over her, just in time to stop the young child that was reaching into Sophie's purse. She'd left if lying beside of her, but while she was distracted with talking to him, she hadn't noticed the little thief sneak up on them. The small boy was holding her wallet in his hands, and he glared up at Jack when he realized he'd been caught. He dropped the wallet with a scowl, and turned to run off.

Sophie found that she'd forgotten to breathe. It was partly because of her close proximity to Jack, but also because she'd almost lost something extremely precious to her. Losing money to the thief wouldn't even have compared to losing the note she had hidden away inside her wallet.

"Thank you." Sophie muttered, too surprised to say anything more.

"That was scary." Jack joked, rubbing the back of his neck as he leaned away from her. "You should take better care of your things."

She nodded in response. "What was a kid like that doing at a college campus?" She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

Jack's smile seemed strained. "You'd be surprised the kind of people that turn up in places like this. I wouldn't think too much about it."

Sophie had never been known for her people skills, but she couldn't help feeling like his words were a warning rather than a friendly suggestion.

Shaking off the feeling, she decided Jack was too friendly for something like that to be true.

"I'd better get going." He said casually, glancing away from her. "I'm supposed to meet someone. It was nice getting to talk to you."

"Yeah, thanks again." Sophie waved to him as he walked away, feeling a wave of awkwardness wash over her. For a moment it had felt like they'd connected, but there was something off about him.

She turned towards her purse, and carefully unzipped her wallet. Slipping out the note she had tucked into a rip in the side, she unfolded the crumbled piece of paper.

In her surprise she hadn't felt as panicked as she should've been. This was the last letter her grandmother had written her before passing away. Sophie's grandmother was like her own mother, and had raised her since her parents passed away when she was three years old. This memento was priceless, and Sophie couldn't believe she'd come this close to losing it forever.

Written inside was a long message which Sophie still didn't understand to this day. Within the letter, her grandmother promised that someone would come to wipe away her loneliness, and to offer her a life that was very different from the one she was leading now. Sophie hadn't understood a word of it, but it still gave her hope. A year had passed since the letter had been written, and still Sophie felt alone. No one of significance had entered her life since then, and she'd half wondered if it was her own fault. She wasn't the warmest person, and she felt like she might've pushed the stranger away.

Clutching the note in her hands, Sophie decided that wishing for that person to come wasn't going to be enough. She'd stopped waiting a long time ago, but there were still grains of hope inside of her heart. Her grandmother had never lied before, and she didn't think this time would be any different. It was just really hard to have faith when she didn't know what, or who she was supposed to be looking for.

As Sophie reminisced about the past, she decided she was tired of waiting by the fountain. It had been too long since she'd last explored the art building, and she desperately wanted to surround herself with something familiar. All thoughts of her schedule had faded, as her mind was filled with thoughts of her grandmother's note, and of Jack's deep blue eyes.

*  *  *

The Art Department was composed of three buildings, all squashed together. While the first two held only lecture halls, it was the third hall where the real creation of art took place. The building which Sophie was headed to now was like a second home. As soon as she'd walked through the massive oak doors, she felt her heart ease.

The familiar hallway took her back to when she'd been a freshman, exploring the campus for the first time.

She'd initially felt intimidated by the regal exterior of the building, though the moment she'd entered, she'd become immersed in the culture which thrived inside.

All along the walls were portraits made by former students, and statues greeted guests from the lavish main hall. The ceiling up above was painted with dozens of angels, which peered down mischievously at Sophie as she walked through the entrance.

Hidden within the three floors of the building were various classrooms where students could choose to learn one of a variety of art forms. On the main floor were most of the sculpting classes, while the second floor was dedicated to both pottery and sketching classes. The basement was reserved for the photography classes, where students would practice using the campus's only dark room to develop their photographs.

Sophie found the spiraling staircase situated in the middle of the main hall, and climbed three flights of stairs, heading towards the top floor. The highest level of the building wasn't separated into classrooms. The entire floor was an open room in which aspiring painters were allowed to paint whatever they pleased. Most students used it to work on assignments given by their professors, though anyone could use the room as long as they were given a pass, which was similar to a library card.

Even before she reached the top floor, she could smell the strong scent of wet paint wafting down the staircase. Sophie smiled, brushing her hair out of her eyes. The chaos that greeted her once she entered the room was heartwarming. Just like she'd seen it three years before, the top level was cluttered with half-finished canvases, open paint tubes, scattered brushes, and the floor was speckled with drops of paint. The windows of each side of the large studio were open, letting a soft breeze stir around the warm room.

Sophie browsed through the paintings, examining the ongoing works of her peers. There was no organization to the paintings, and Sophie was pleased to see the odd collection of works. To her right were Expressionistic paintings, while to her left were what she expected to be attempts at Realism. Abstract paintings were spread across the room, some leaving Sophie impressed, and others leaving her only confused.

To Sophie, this place was where true art was created. She didn't look down on the other forms of art that students practiced, but this was just where she fit in. Even if she no longer wanted to be an art major, painting would always be her passion.

It took her almost twenty minutes to examine the room fully. As she reached the other end, she paused to glance back across the studio. She tried to imagine coming here every day to paint, but the thought only made her heart ache more. She envied the students that could come and go as they pleased.

She sat down near the window, on top of a table which was covered with art supplies. She brushed some of them out of the way, so that she wouldn't have to worry about getting wet paint on her clothes. Sophie turned her focus out of the window, down at the courtyard below. From this angle she could see the fountain, and all of the students sprinkled around it. No one in their right mind was cooped up inside on a day like today, and the studio was completely empty. Had it been any other day of the year, the room would have had at least four or five students occupying it.

She'd become so lost in thought, she barely registered the sound of something dropping to the floor on the other side of the studio. For a moment, Sophie wondered if she'd heard anything at all, when the sound of footsteps started coming her way. From her perch, Sophie could only see half of the room, as some of the larger canvases blocked most of her view. Whoever was heading in her direction had no idea that she was there. While it shouldn't have bothered her, Sophie felt like she'd been caught somewhere she wasn't supposed to be.

When the footsteps drew closer, the stranger stepped around one of the clusters of paintings so that they were in full view of Sophie. She caught her breath as she examined the man. He was wearing a black baseball cap, and had a large book bag strapped around his shoulders. He was moving quickly, though he was obviously trying to be quiet. He shifted his position to look out of the window, and Sophie gasped.

She'd seen this person less than an hour before.

"Jack?" She asked softly, wondering if she was going to scare him.

He didn't jump at the sound of her voice, but he turned towards her with wide eyes. His expression was stoic, but his eyes flickered with interest. He froze in place, deciding not to reply just yet.

"It is you." Sophie said, trying to sound lighthearted. She still felt like their last meeting was awkward, but she didn't want to be rude. She was mostly curious at what he was doing up here. Hadn't he said he was going to meet someone?

"We shouldn't have met again." Jack whispered, turning his eyes away. "I'm sorry, Sophie."

Sophie's eyes narrowed in confusion. "Sorry about what?" She tried to think of a reason why he would call her by her nickname, but she couldn't think of one.

"I tried to avoid this. I really did." He reached up and rubbed his temples, like he had a headache.

"What are you talking about?" Sophie asked, standing up.

When he looked back at her, his expression had changed back to the polite smile she'd seen earlier.

"It seems we were destined to meet again." He said in a bright voice, which was a huge deviation from the tone he'd been using before.

Sophie crossed her arms defensively. "Did you follow me up here?"

"Would I follow someone like you?" He countered. "I could ask the same question." He shrugged, turning to look out the window. "If I jumped from here, what do you think would happen?"

Sophie's eyes widened, as she stared down at the courtyard. "Well, seeing as though we are on the third floor, my best guess is that you might break a leg…or both legs." She wondered if he was suicidal.

Jack glanced up at her with sparkling blue eyes. "Sounds like a challenge." He mused.

Sophie took another step forward just as the alarm to the building went off. She jumped as the siren-like beeping filled the air. She thought it might've been the fire alarm, but as she stared at Jack, another thought struck her.

"What's in your backpack?" She asked coldly. She'd known from the beginning that there was something off about him, but the way he'd obviously not wanted to be seen tipped her off to a new suspicion. Hidden in one of the rooms in the basement of this building was the Salvador Dali painting that Professor Bowman had wanted to show her earlier. If the alarms were going off now, that meant something must've gone wrong.

"You're very clever." Jack commented, watching her with proud eyes. "Just like your parents."