complicated

It began to rain, and Eric started to fidget. She wasn't going to come, was she? He'd almost decided, but there Syd was a bit wet and slushy in her plaid rain boots, cold and a bit sad in her yellow slicker.

Eric didn't want to jump to conclusions. But it was obvious. There was someone else.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He winced. "You could have just told me."

"Its complicated." She bit back.

"Oh, is it?" He didn't want to be mad, but he was. He felt like a fool now. Thank God, no one was around to listen to them in the late afternoon. "Just how complicated?" He stared at her, thinking the worst.

"Its just, everyone thinks he's perfect for me." She sounded like she hated this guy.

"Just how involved are you with this-" He didn't want to imagine it. She was sleeping with him, too. He hadn't a chance, did he? He was the other guy. He hated the thought of it.

"Kip." She nodded. "He's just my roommate, but he seems to think we're...together." She sighed. "But we're not, we're really not. I haven't done anything with him. I don't want to. I mean, I do have my own room. But, everyone seems to think it'll happen. Sooner or later. I don't want anything to happen with Kip."

Eric listened. He wanted to believe her. Could he believe her? Should he believe her?

"I didn't think I'd ever see you, again." He confessed.

She just nodded as if she had no intention of anything with him, either. He felt sad about this instead of anger. Although, he really was mad about her.

"I missed you." He promised taking her hand, looking at her pimpled face and seeing her raw self behind those thick glasses. It felt weird now that he'd missed this. What sort of fantasy did he have going on in his head about her? Yet, he thought of her brave, anyway. There was just something different about her now, but he still wanted her, all the more. "Could we spend the night, somewhere, alone. Just so we could talk."

"I dunno." She didn't sound optimistic about it as if everything was set in stone with Kip. She sighed biting her bottom lip. "There is something."

"What is it?"

"Probably nothing." She tried to smile, but she didn't. He looked at her wondering if he was suppose to guess.