Just waiting for the sound of you to come

Saturday, 9:30 am

Yuri sat on the bench outside of the library, half shielded from the sun by the buildings wide awning. The sun blazed down on her exposed legs, causing red welts to rise up on her pale skin. She sighed as she pulled her laptop case further down her lap, shielding her knees. “Late again” she murmured to herself. A moment later and the familiar sound of flip-flops slapping against the ground sounded from around the corner. Yuri stood up, slipping her bag strap over her shoulder just as her friend jogged into sight. Cameron didn't notice her at first, as always, her eyes flickered everywhere around her at a mile a minute. Yuri caught her by the arm as the other girl threatened to jog past without noticing her. She squealed as Cameron grabbed her wrist, twisting it back sharply. “Yuri! It's you!” Cameron gasped, pulling back as quickly as she’d grabbed her. “Oh my God, I didn't see you. I am So sorry” she groaned. Yuri cradled her wrist accusingly “of course it's me, who else would it be? I've been waiting for you for half an hour”. Cameron only grinned guiltily in response, pushing her curly hair off of her sweaty brown forehead. Together they made their way into the building. “Why are you always running? You look like a mess, you know” Yuri whispered accusingly as they both flashed their student cards to the automated turnstiles at the door. Cameron shrugged as she fixed her wrinkled button-up sheepishly. “Don’t you know by now? I’m a mess. Always running away from one demon or another”. Yuri shot her a look. “C’mon, be serious, Cam”. Cameron grinned “okay, okay, I forgot to set my alarm. Happy?”. Yuri sighed as she set her bag down on an open table near a charging port. “Whatever, just don’t do it again. Promise?”. Cameron hung her own rumpled back-pack against the back of a chair before sitting down. “I’ll do my best”.

Monday, 12:15 pm

Yuri peered around the door of the auditorium for the nth time, just missing a tall male student as he rushed into the building. She followed him with her eyes as he took one of the few open seats in the rapidly filling lecture hall. Yuri glanced at their own seats, where her backpack and jacket sat, provisionally claiming the spaces. It was basically law amongst students that seats with markers on them, like books or bags or items of clothing, were booked, as in strictly off limits. But still. Yuri hated to not be seated by the time the lecturer walked in. She stamped her foot, turned away from the door and then back towards it. “Just a little longer then I’ll sit” Yuri told herself. She checked her phone.The lockscreen read “12:11”. Class started at 12:15. Yuri sighed loudly enough that a few students nearest to her, in the back row, turned to look. She hated being this conspicuous. It was the whole reason she was waiting at the door in the first place. Sitting down, while saving your late friend a seat did nothing but garner dirty looks and “is this seat taken?” inquiries that Yuri never knew how to politely answer. After one last look at their seats and her bag, Yuri left the hall with her phone in her hand, already pulling up Cameron’s number. Once outside the hall, Yuri leaned up against the wall next to the doors and hit ‘call’. For once, Cameron answered immediately, or least that's what it sounded like. “Cam? Hello?” Yuri asked as she was greeted with the familiar, yet muffled, sound of her friends well-worn flip flops slapping the ground. “Cameron?” she tried again. “You better be on your way here!”. There was the sound of dull thuds and grunts and then the louder sound of something hitting concrete before the call ended abruptly. Yuri stared at her phone screen as the ‘this call has been disconnected’ notification flashed. “Well. That was even weirder than usual”. She pocketed her phone hesitantly before turning to the door. “God, I’m definitely late now” she groaned. The moment before her hand connected with the door handle she heard the sound of flip flops rapidly slapping against the stairs. A rumpled Cameron rounded the corner, there was a troubled look on her face before she spotted Yuri. “Yuri! Did you save us seats? We’re not late are we?”. “Where were you? I tried calling just now but the connection was weird and it shut off suddenly”. Cameron held up her phone, a mess of cracks littered the screen. “Oh did you? Sorry, I dropped my phone just now while I was running. Isn't that just So me?” she chuckled. Yuri suppressed her groan at her friend's carelessness, instead choosing to grab her by the arm and pull her towards the door. “Whatever, you're lucky this lecturer is always late”.

Wednesday, 14:45 pm

Yuri hurried towards the old brick building that housed the cinema. “I can’t believe I'm running late, ugh. Cam must be rubbing off on me”. She stopped when she reached it, hiding from the rain under the canopy at the door. After drying her hands off on the dry inner lining of her coat, she pulled her phone out and pulled up her messages. “Please tell me you’re inside already?” she sent. A reply pinged back almost instantly. “Nope :P” followed by “u aren't either?”. “How am I supposed to go in? U have the tickets!!!”. Yuri fought back the urge to sob in exasperation. Why had she let Cam keep their tickets, again? Okay, so her friend had offered to buy the tickets as an apology for always being late but in retrospect, Yuri should have offered to hold onto them. And here she’d thought that Cam booking the tickets in advance would save them from what had happened last time. When Cam had come too late and the tickets had already been sold out. But here they were, late again. “I’m almost there” came the reply. Yuri moved to pocket her phone before another message sounded. “Movie only starts at 3, dont stress”. Yuri rolled her eyes aggressively. “It starts at 14:45!!! It's 14:48 now!!!”. A winky face emoji came in, followed by “Previews start at 45, movie is only at 3”. Yuri clenched her fist before responding. “Not how it works!!!!”. “Sure it is :P” came the reply before “almost there” and then “brb”. Yuri sighed, pocketing her phone. True to her word, the sound of flip flops, slapping the wet ground came from the distance. “She really loves those shoes” Yuri thought to herself, hiding her smile in her scarf. Finally, Cameron appeared across the narrow street, a closed umbrella clutched in her hand despite the pouring rain. “Cam! Finall-” Yuri started before another person came into view. A tall, heavy set man in all black, including a black mask which obscured his face, came sprinting up behind her friend. He had a crowbar clenched in one glove clad fist “Oh my god, Cam look-out!” she had just enough time to say before her friend pivoted around, disturbing a deep puddle with her flip-flop clad feet. The man swung, just missing as Cameron ducked. She came up fast, wielding the pointy end of her umbrella like a sword. Yuri looked away as Cameron hit her mark, pulling a mangled scream from the man. When she looked across the street again, Cameron was wiping the bloody end of her umbrella with the man's dark coat as he lay unmoving at her feet. Before she could react, a well dressed woman with a similar umbrella to Cam’s, though hers was actually opened to shield her from the rain, jogged up the street. “I’m so sorry Cameron, somehow he slipped through our grasp” Yuri could just hear the woman say over the noise of the rain. “No problem” Cam replied with a shrug as she stood up. “You should really get this cleaned up soon though” she suggested, toeing the body with her flip flop. The woman nodded and turned, gesturing down the street as a black van came into view. “Already on it”. Yuri laid a shaky hand over her chest as the van came to a stop in front of the scene she’d just witnessed. Before she could do anything else, maybe enter the building, hide behind one of the cardboard cutouts in the alcove, or run away screaming, Cam jogged around the side of the van towards her. “Oh Yuri! You didn't have to wait outside” she called as she joined her. “Cam? What was that just now?” Yuri exclaimed as soon as she found her voice. Cameron looked confused for a second before she glanced behind her where the people from the van were still loading the body. “Oh! That? No need to worry about it” she reassured her as she shook the rain from her curly hair and moved towards the door. “No need to worry? I’m pretty sure I just saw my best friend get attacked and then kill some guy? How is that not something to worry about?”. Cameron linked their arms “They’ve got it handled and hey-” she pulled up her cracked phone “It's still before three, I'm not even late for once”. Yuri rolled her eyes weakly as she was ushered into the building by her friend. “That's highly debatable”. Cameron just chuckled “whatever”.