and headed up the ramp to the exit. “Have a nice day, Mr. Dawson. I’ll see you later.”
My day didn’t go as planned. In fact, my day turned into a disaster. After my early afternoon class, I lined up and grabbed a coffee in one of the university’s coffee houses. My headache was back, and I was dragging ass, wishing I could go home and fall into bed.
Stepping out of the way of a rush of students flying around the food court area, I balanced my coffee awkwardly in the crook of my arm while trying to dislodge the childproof lid on my pill bottle. While engaged in this epic balancing act, the fire alarms went off, ringing at decibels that made everyone cover their ears.
I startled, spilling not only my pills all over the floor but my coffee all down the front of my shirt. There was no time to rectify the problem since we had to evacuate. Emergency lights flashed down every hallway as people scrambled to exit the building, their concerned questions and theories on what had happened mingling with exclamations of excitement over missed classes and the opportunity to head home early.
Outside in the cold overcast day, my wet shirt, once too hot against my skin, turned ice cold. Heavy gray clouds hung in the air, threatening rain. I joined a group of professors in a grassy area a good distance from the building, a poor attempt at mingling. I knew a few co-worker’s names, the ones who worked in my area, but with upwards of a hundred people on staff between professors and TAs, most were strangers.
“Have an accident?” a tall woman with bird-like features and poufy blonde hair asked as she indicated my shirt. I thought she was a TA for one of the professors in the English department, but I couldn’t be sure.
“Yeah, alarm startled me.”
“Too bad. History department, right?”
“Um, yes. New hire.”
“Hmm.”
She gave me a sympathetic smile and must have decided I wasn’t worth her time. She moved toward a group of women where she remained. I scanned faces, trying to find someone I knew well enough I could strike up a conversation while we waited to be admitted back into the building, but I quickly realized I didn’t know anyone at all.
I’d spent so much time isolating myself, I’d avoided meeting any of my colleagues or making any friends. This was exactly what Levi had been talking about. It was depressing. He was right. I used to be the outgoing, social one, and I’d turned into a recluse, untrusting of my own shadow. I needed to make more of an effort.
The fire department came and cleared the building. Apparently, there had been a small fire in one of the chemistry labs that had gotten out of control. By the time we were allowed back inside, I’d missed a full class and was supposed to be in my office and available for students. Before I made it that far, a rare announcement blasted through the speaker system, calling all faculty who worked in the north building to a late and impromptu meeting, which was scheduled to begin at four thirty. It meant canceling my office hours.
With the way things were going, I couldn’t be sure the meeting would wrap up on time for me to meet Skylar at five, so I figured it would be best to cancel that appointment as well.
It was after four by the time I made it to my office. My desk was a mess of notes and things I’d hoped to accomplish that afternoon. I didn’t have time to sort them out. I dug through my briefcase and found a travel-sized pill container I’d bought a while back when I’d forgotten my other bottle at home. I took two tablets dry and tossed the container on my desk. I had a spare change of clothes in my car, so I grabbed my keys and shot off to take care of that quickly before I sent Skylar an email and raced to my meeting.
Back in my office, I tossed all the loose papers off my desk into my briefcase, sweeping the remainder of the crap into the drawer and pulling my laptop forward. Scanning through my class list, I located Skylar’s email and sent him a short message, hoping he’d get it and not end up waiting outside my office endlessly when I wasn’t going to be there.
Mr. Dawson,
Apologies. I have an unexpected meeting, and I’m not sure