Chapter 4:

"Hey" Amy's plopped her books down beside me with a loud bang and fell onto the chair.

Everyone nearby turned at the sound and gave us a look. Class was about to start and she's making such a commotion.

I turned towards her from where I was, using the back of my chair as an armrest for my elbow and and tilted my head, giving her a look.

"I'm dying" she crossed her arms over the table and buried her face, her curly brown hair hanging down like a mop over the edge of the table.

"Hung over?" her voice is normally husky, but today she just sounds hoarse.

"I went on a date yesterday with a cute guy from premed and this lead to that and..." she peeked at me through her elbows "yeah... I'm dying"

"You reap what you sow" I turned back to face the front of the lecture hall.

"Wake me up when the lecture ends will you?" her muffled voice floating into the air.

Her breathing grew deep before I had a chance to ask her why she bothered coming to school today. She's lucky she doesn't snore.

-----

"Hey, wake up" I shook Amy lightly. She had really slept through the entire nearly 3 hours lecture, everyone was shuffling around and leaving and she's still sleep.

"Mmmnnnmn five more minutes"

"Okay, I'm leaving then" I gathered my things and stood up. Her hand shot up and grabbed my forearm before I could get away. "Why did you even come to school if you were feeling this bad?"

She turned her head to face me, eyes still half-closed, seemingly half asleep.

"You see, I told cute guy that I have a single friend when he mentioned his friend was looking for dates and..." her eyes were fully open now, wider than ever.

"No." I said firmly while trying to shake her hand off. Why is she so strong?

"Please?" she lifted her head up from her elbow and grabbed my arm with both hands.

"Let go" I tried to twist my arm free from her grasp but she's got me held down in a death grip.

"He said he wanted to do a double date today, please? Just come, it'll be fun, I'll pay!" her dark brown irises seemed to grow, trying to swallow me in as she gently shook my arm, begging.

"Let go and I'll go!" I give up. She'd never let me say no.

"Great!" she loosened her hands and started gathering her things from the table "We're going to the campus bar for happy hour at 5, I'll come pick you up and we can go together. Look nice, don't bring shame to your family." she rattled off while standing up to leave.

"Yeah yeah...." I shook my head internally, this girl is always on dates and she rarely finds one she likes, I'll just humor her.

She hummed in joy as we left the classroom, I smiled while walking behind her.

----

I looked at my alarm clock above my bed. 4:00pm. The date is at 5 and Amy will be here at 4:45 so I only have 45 minutes to get ready. I lay in my bed like a starfish, calculating the amount of time I had while regretting agreeing to go on the date.

Amy is extroverted, bubbly, kind. I am, well, me. I'm not necessarily introverted since I don't need to be alone to recharge but I don't really like meeting new people. I don't like the expectations that people have of each other in society.

I rolled over onto my right side, contemplating the meaning of life.

Oh, I had to get ready

I looked at the clock, 4:30. Shit, only 15 minutes now.

Jumping out of bed, I rushed to my closet. She said we were just going to the campus bar, so I don't need to be fancy, right? I grab my dark purple, long-sleeve button up blouse and a comfortable black, knee-length pleated skirt and throw them on, tucking the blouse in. I don't have that many choices anyways and sweatpants and a hoodie would earn me an earful.

Hair and makeup? I glanced over at the clock. 4:35.

No time, I fixed my makeup from class earlier, powdering up to remove the oil from being out all day, retouched my eyebrows and lip tint, blinking a few times at the mirror. Good enough? I ran my fingers through my black hair but my rolling around on the bed created a semi-permanent crease that I don't have time to fix. Glancing at the clock again, 4:40. Amy would be here any minute.

I grabbed my "date bag", a small, beige leather shoulder bag with a metal chain and a black scrunchie and tied my hair up into a high ponytail. The doorbell rang.

I took one last look at myself in the mirror, my jet black hair hanging slightly below my shoulders, and then moved to open the door.

"Are you ready yet?" Amy said as I opened the door for her.

"Yeah" I stepped into my black mary janes and joined her outside, locking my apartment behind me.

"You procrastinated getting ready didn't you?" Amy's eyes scrutinizing me carefully.

"It's just a double date with some guy I've never seen." I shrugged.

"You'll be shocked."

We trekked from my building to the campus bar. It's still a bit insane to me that there's been two disappearances from my building. It's student housing so only students live there and it's still on campus. I started day dreaming. Amy was chatting on her phone -- probably with her cute guy -- anyways.

----

The bar door opened with a jingle. The music blaring in the background could be heard before we entered.The campus bar was run by students for students so it had great prices but it was operated almost like a nightclub. The lights were dimmed, there was a dance floor and sometimes a live DJ, the servers were robotic, never seeming to care about their jobs, stuff like that.

Amy nearly jumped up and down when she spotted her cute guy, almost sprinting towards them, leaving me awkwardly at the entrance.

That girl! I chased after her.

"Hey! You're here" The boy Amy was running towards gestured towards someone beside him "this is my friend, Noah".

"Hello" a mellow and deep voice said, almost ringing in my ears.

I whipped my head at the sound.

A man wearing a hoody under a blazer sat beside Amy's date. His ash-brown hair swaying slightly as he nodded towards us. His dark eyes looking at me, setting my body aflame.

It's over for me.