for now i'm only, people watching

NOTE: Please read my other stories, due to the entry fee I don't normally actually submit my stories. Therefore they don't get to many other people, I really enjoy writing and am looking for ways to get better. Most of my stories are just over 1,000 words so they don't take very long to read. :) Happy Reading!

There she was, writing in her diary like she always did. I wonder if she’s ever mentioned me in it, not like I’ve ever done anything too memorable. We’d been living together for three years, it was both our senior year of college and we knew absolutely nothing about each other. 

She was pretty, I knew that much. I knew that her friends were really bubbly. Her friends always greeted me if I was in the apartment when they came in but most of the time I wasn’t. I did know that she was one of the Daydreamers. Nobody ever came out and said that the kids in the night classes were the Night Owls, or that the kids who did day classes were the Daydreamers. It just kind of happened, and then the college started using the words and now they’re official. 

I was a Night Owl, I’m sure that’s much of a surprise. We mainly only saw each other while the sun was rising or setting. Sometimes we’d give a little, “Hey.” to each other but that was it. There were a few interesting moments, like how we remember each other’s names.

I walked into the cafe, there were so many people in there. Nobody had told me what she looked like at all, I couldn’t remember what her name was at all. I knew it was a weird name that started with E?

“One large iced caramel apple cider for Eunoia?” The barista called out.

Well, that was perfect timing. The girl, Eunoia, walked up and smiled as she grabbed the cup from the barista.

I ordered a large iced caramel apple cider as well, because I’d never had it, and sat down across from Eunoia.

“Are you the Daydreamer I’m here to meet?” I asked with a laugh.

She smiled after she took a drink, “Nice to meet you, what’s your name again? I’m Eunoia if you couldn’t remember.”

“My name’s-”

The barista called out, “One large iced caramel apple cider for Twyla?”

I stood up, “Jeez, they’re weird on the timing here.”

I walked over to the barista just as Eunoia had, I smiled as I grabbed the drink from the barista’s hand and thanked her. I then walked back over to the table that Eunoia was at.

“So your name’s Twyla?” Eunoia asked.

“Yeah.”

She smiled, “How could I forget a name like that?”

I looked up to her, “Look who’s talking.”

I really thought we were going to be close friends, I even kind of got excited. After we were at that cafe she asked me if I wanted to see the apartment and I said yes. She showed it to me and I instantly fell in love with it. She said she really just wanted a roommate that wasn’t creepy and wouldn’t be bothersome. And I told her I was looking for the same thing. She handed me the keys and I was set. I soon moved in and we didn’t talk other than “Hey”s for a while. Until that one morning, early in the third quarter of our freshman year.

It had been a long day, I was tired and I flunked on a quiz that should’ve been extremely easy. I just wanted to get into the apartment, open the door to my bedroom, flop on the bed, scream into the pillow, and then freaking fall asleep. 

I stood at the door of the apartment as I searched in my coat pocket for my keys. The door slammed open and Eunoia’s boyfriend went out holding a box filled with clothes, he looked perfectly calm but with a slight crazed look in his eye, “Sup Twyla.” I could hear Eunoia crying in the apartment.

I walked in, perfect timing. Eunoia was about to throw a lamp at the door and I quickly got out of the way before she chucked it, hitting the door and glass going everywhere. 

She looked at me, her mascara running and her face red. She looked so scared and sorry, “Oh my god I almost killed you.” she almost whispered, though it was loud enough I could hear her across the room

“Don’t worry about me, are you okay?”

“Yeah, sorry to bother you. You’re probably really tired.”

Before I could say anything, she went upstairs.

I felt so bad for her then, I didn’t care that she had almost thrown a glass lamp at me. God, I of all people knew what it was like to be betrayed by someone that you loved. That was what I had figured happened there. I never saw her boyfriend in the apartment again so I assumed that they broke up. I always found it extremely weird that he seemed so calm as he must’ve done something to drive her to want to kill him, what a sociopath. I will never forget Christman sophomore year, god that was hilarious. Eunoia didn’t have any family to go home to and my flight got canceled so we decided we’d have Christmas together in the apartment. Then we went out of town to a beautiful tree farm.

“They have fake trees.” Eunoia said, passing some slow SUV on the road.

“It’s so stupid that we aren’t allowed to have real trees in the apartment though, like how evil do you have to be to set restrictions on Christmas?” I complained. My family has always done a real tree. One time when we didn’t like any at the tree farm we went to, we cut down the one in the backyard and brought it inside.

“Well we need a tree, if you really want to decorate a real tree so badly you can help me decorate the ones around campus. I do it every year with that high school near the campus.”

“Maybe I will.” I crossed my arms.

A bit up the road, there was a big wooden cabin with multiple floors. There were Christmas lights strung everywhere. There was a vast amount of real trees behind the cabin, along with a few other things I couldn’t really make out.

“There it is.” Eunoia sighed.

She pulled in and once she found a nice little place to park, pretty close to the cabin, we started walking up.

Once we walked into the cabin, I realized how beautiful the place was. There were apple cider dispensers, you could buy coffee, there was a gift shop. There was a wooden sign in the shape of an arrow that pointed upstairs that said, Fake Trees.

There were people all over, excited and happy. There were kids running all over the place, some with pretzels in their hands, some playing tag, all bundled up in coats and sweats. 

Not like the kids were the only ones bundled up though, many adults were talking with many layers over their skin. It was a viciously cold night tonight, still so many people came to this tree farm and I could understand why. I had never seen a place where so many people were so happy, it felt like it had to have been the most wholesome moment in my life.

Before I could realize that Eunoia had left me, she was back with two cups of apple cider in her hands, “Here you go.” she smiled.

I took it and took a sip, “Oh my god.” I muttered, while drinking some more.

“What?” Eunoia laughed.

“I swear to god this is the best apple cider that I’ve had in my life.”

She laughed and grabbed my hand to pull me through the crowd.

As we were walking upstairs she asked me, “What kind of fake tree do you want?”

I snorted, “Oh I don’t know, I’d like a green one with branches.” How many different kinds of trees could there be? I thought to myself.

I immediately regretted that thought because right when we reached the next floor I could tell why she was asking.

There were small trees, tall trees, white trees, pink trees, blue trees, green trees with fake snow and holly on them, aluminum trees, red trees, and the list went on and on.

“Now, do you get what I mean?”

“Uh, yeah.”

We ended up taking home a fake green evergreen tree with fake snow and holly on it. It was one of the best Christmases of my entire life. Every single time something happened between Eunoia and I, I thought we might become close but it never seemed to happen. We always just went back to our “Hey”s. Still, I’ll always remember that as the best Christmas of my life. And still, we will both think we were best friends when we’re older.

The Night Owl and the Daydreamer: a beautiful mix, though one that could never truly dissolve.