No More Waiting, She Chooses Love



Susie's eyes were a whirlpool of panic, and then she shook her head again, as if that had become her default response.

I was puzzled. "If he didn't touch you, didn't kiss you, where do you get the idea that he loves you?"

Susie blushed and looked down, saying, "Well, he... he almost kissed me once."

"Almost?" I pondered about Mack, "Was he drinking?"

Alcohol has a way of messing with men's heads, making them see past loves in the faces before them.

This time, Susie didn't shake her head but nodded slightly before confessing, "Last week, he was down in the dumps, drowning his sorrows. I asked him what was wrong, and he told me his favorite teacher had passed away, been gone for a hundred days. He said he missed her so much, and then... he looked at me, and he tried to kiss me..."

That's when it hit me that Judie had been gone from this world for a hundred days.

Mack's beloved teacher was Judie, and in that moment, he must have seen her in Susie.

Considering Judie, a girl who looked a bit like me, made my heart heavy. Looking at Susie, who bore no resemblance to Judie, I wondered how Mack could mistake her for Judie.

It must have been the alcohol.

"So, what stopped him? Did you push him away, or did he... stop himself?"

There was a deeper blush on Susie's face, "He stopped himself, then apologized to me."

"And you think he likes you because of that?" I couldn't help feeling that Susie's idea of romance was a bit skewed.

"It's not just that. He's been really nice to me, everyone at the library thinks we're dating. They even tease us, and he never corrects them," Susie seemed genuinely upset.

"And there's more. Whenever he arrives late and sees another guy sitting across from me or talking to me, he gets upset. Clearly, he's jealous," Susie listed the ways Mack had shown he was different around her.

I knew she was telling the truth. Anyone in her situation would have thought the same thing.

It looked like Mack did have some explaining to do, but first, I needed to address Susie's bruised heart.

"You mentioned he brought up his teacher, right? Didn't you ever wonder why he's so hung up on her?" I gently steered the conversation.

She wasn't foolish, "Licia, are you suggesting he was in love with his teacher?"

I was about to agree when she

set

shook her head, "That can't be right. How

old would his teacher hght.

to

be for that to be true? He couldn't

poly be in love with her

Such a sweet, naive girl, still stuck in the notion that all teachers are old and grizzled.

"From what I know, there are plenty of young and beautiful professors at the university," I paused, weighing whether to lay out the truth for her now or let her find out on he own eventually.

"Licia, are you saying Mack's professor was a young, beautiful woman?" Susie grasped my hint.

Hearing her say that, I decided it was

better to be upfront, better to rip the bandage off quickly. It would beContent protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.

kinder in the long run if she weren't too deeply ensnared.

"Susie, I actually know Mack..." I told her about how I knew Mack and the story between him and Judie,

Tears welled in Susie's eyes, "Licia, was their love story that touching?"

"Yes, and that's why, Susie, even without Judie in the picture, Mack's heart isn't easy to get into," I warned her.

Susie fell silent, and I was about to offer more words of comfort when the library's PA system crackled to life— "Attention, all students, due to severe weather conditions, we're closing the library early today. Please exit the building immediately." Upon hearing this, I had to cut our conversation short. A library staff member came by, urging us to hurry.

Susie and I quickly packed our things and left, but once we hit the street, finding a ride home proved impossible.

As we were considering our options, suddenly, we heard someone shout: "The dam at the reservoir has breached, the flood is coming."