Change is inevitable.

It wasn’t exactly hard getting used to the lenient units she has for the first semester but the rigid schedule in high school took time to get out of her head. Nora was simply stuck, mentally that is, awkwardly shuffling in and out of the classrooms and wander around the university to get a better idea of the school’s layout.

Overall, it’s big. Spacious even. Completely out of her depth with how small her high school was in comparison but there were things that the past lingers with the present. Both schools were private sectarians and were completely run by priests. So, chapels and status and pictures of saints the school represents can be seen throughout the area.

Nora sat down on a bench of the school’s park. It was placed in the center of the university, surrounded by buildings of different departments. She sips her water, feeling the condensation on the palm of her hand.

A giggle accompanies by loud whispers. All of it can be heard as two girls passes by, their hands intertwined and a blush can be seen painting the tip of one girl’s ears. Intimate, Nora thinks, observing their lips brushing each other – almost leading to a kiss that didn’t occur.

But neither complaint by the absence of it.

What they have at the moment was enough, reassuring the other with a look filled with love.

Nora stayed speechless, mouth gaping from the public display of affection. She chews her the tip of her water bottle and looks away as the couple continues walking, ignoring her presence entirely. It wasn’t like she wants to be known either – just want to have a conversation with romance and the likes.

It was one of the main reasons she denies every planned in settling at a college near her hometown – just for romance, with girls.

Her heart skips a beat at the thought.

“Nora?” Someone calls her out and Nora stares at Lily sitting beside her. “You, okay?”

Nora composed herself, losing the slouch with a straighten back and throws her empty water bottle on the trash bin next to the bench. She clears her throat, nodding along to the answer.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Just thinking,” she adds a response, uncertain on how to proceed with the question.

“About?” Lily questions.

“My love life…”

Nora hesitates to expound the dilemma but it wasn’t like the problem have been hidden away from Lily either. She already admitted about it to her best friend, multiple times. The grumbles of loneliness and yearning for a partner is a topic she had beaten to death.

“Oh,” Lily expresses and twirls a strand of hair with her finger.

“Have you found anyone you like?” Lily questions, almost to a whisper. Nora reclines on the backrest of the bench, melting away from what little heat of the summer remains in June.

“No,” Nora mutters.

There was a sigh Nora hears on the right, Lily looks relieved by something and have finally untangled the ball of hair around her finger. She took out a brush from her bag and hands it to Lily, who uses it.

“You-you could like use a dating app,” Lily suggests in a stutter, brushing her hair down. The bangs were rightfully placed on the forehead and correctly angles her glasses on the bridge of her nose. “Or hang out in bars or clubs.”

“You sure?” Nora replies back, uncertain. She has been clubs before, bars as well. With or without parental supervision but dating apps were still a subject Nora has left untouched.

Mostly out of the embarrassment she’ll get if ever matched with someone she knows.

“I could go with you,” Lily offers, less persistent Nora realize. “My classmates wanted me to tag along at a bar somewhere and I only joined when they said I could bring someone.”

Nora frowns. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”

Lily simply shrugs at the problem, likely used to it or just resigned at her fate. Whichever the choice was, the end game is still the same and Nora feels protective of her about it. Frowning won’t do much to solve it and laying a hand on Lily’s shoulder won’t do either. But seeing her best friend smiling at the touch was enough to satiate whatever unnecessary justice-seeking she plans.

“I’m okay,” Lily reassures her.

“You sure?” Nora questions.

Her best friend replies with a nod.

“I always wanted to go to a bar,” Lily adds.

Nora reassures, “Well, not to brag, but I’m somewhat of a bar connoisseur myself. Ask me anything and I’ll give you better answers for a first timer like you.”

Lily chuckles and Nora grins, puffing her chest to exaggerate her pride at the tiny fact. The conversation starts with another topic and Lily sighs after the joke fades into the background. She licks her lips and Nora was actually eager for a question.

“Miss Bar Addict,” Lily begins and Nora pouts. “My question is about alcohol. What kind would recommend for someone whose only experienced are sparkling wine and alcohol-free champagne?”