Months have passed and although a lot of things have changed, the one thing  thatremains the same is the love between Reena and Reed...

***

I'm almost at the end of my first semester, and I'm dying to go home and see Claire. Only a two and a half years left to go before I graduate and get my degree in Occupational Therapy, then I can start my life the way I want to, with my daughter as my first priority. 

It's almost 2:00 a.m. when I decide to start putting away my books, and to go back to the dorm. I normally stay later, but the campus hasn't been safe in recent weeks and we've been ordered not to stay out too late as it's very dangerous, especially for us females. Before I leave, I text my roommate that I'll be there soon, and after she responds I leave. 

I step out into the night cold , with my text book in one hand and my knapsack in the other. All the time I am very observant of my surroundings. Just last week a girl was attacked, but she's okay because a bunch of guys came to her rescue when she screamed. The campus has been very tense since, worse yet when she described the attacker wearing the t-shirt with the university's logo, which means it's more than likely that it was another student that attacked her. 

I'm almost at my dorm when I see another female going my way, and I immediately feel a bit more comfortable. We walk together in silence but both acknowledging each other with our silent steps and quick glances. I'm just a few feet away from my dorm when she turns and leaves, whispering a low goodnight. I respond, enter my dorm and go to my room. After I quick shower, I try doing some more reading, but seconds later I'm in a deep sleep.

The next morning when I wake up, there have been fifteen missed calls from Reed. Since it is obvious it's an emergency, I call back.

"Reed?" 

"Where are you?" his voice is on edge, and it's doing nothing to calm me down.

"I'm in my room-" The phone goes dead before I can say anything else. I try calling back but get no response and after five tries and no answer, I decide to take a shower to calm my nerves instead. 

When I come back to my room, Reed is there.

"Hey." 

He pulls me into his arms and squeezes me into a tight hug. When he finally lets me go, I give him a weird look and he kisses me. 

"Okay, what's wrong?"

"Last night, some girl got robbed and beat up. She's in the hospital, I had to make sure it wasn't you." 

"What? Well is she okay?!" 

He sits on the edge of my bed and I sit beside him, "That's the thing, the only thing I know is that she's alive and that's it." He holds my chin and brings my face closer to his, "I'm just glad you're okay." He kisses me tenderly.

"I'm fine," I say in between kisses.

"I can see that."  He grips the towel hard and I grip it harder.

"Do you mind?" He loosens his grip on the towel and brings his face closer to mine. I smile into his face, before removing his glasses, and trying them on.

"Wow, your eyes are bad." I take them off returning them.

"You say that every time. Plus, I only need them to read, I'm not blind." He gives me a look and his eyes drop to my lips and I laugh "And you always say that." His grip tightens again on the towel, and when I kiss him,  the towel finally slips away. 

When we finally get dressed, he heads to football practice and I head to class.