Two Days From Now

Charlie had never been more furious with herself. For the first time ever, she had left a uni assignment to the last minute, and had to stay up into the night to hand it in on the due date. She had submitted before midnight, but she wasn’t particularly happy with the final result, and wished desperately she had started earlier so she might have been able to spend more time developing the piece further. It wasn’t even that she didn’t like the unit; Designing Fictions was one of her favourites this trimester. To rehash and expand her understanding of constructing a story—a good story—was one of her favourite things to do. Indeed, the first assignment had been enjoyable; writing a report about how the class had helped her develop her writing practice. This piece had allowed her the longest word count she’d had yet, and Charlie had known what she was going to write about from the moment she read the assignment’s description. The only problem was the little details—not even that important to the overall story—she kept tripping on. Charlie wasn’t sure if her protagonist, Beran, should meet his friend before or after going to the supermarket, and so she had procrastinated. When she had finally solved that particular quandary and continued on with her story, another had cropped up; which aspect of Beran should the antagonist make fun of, his financial status or the ‘losers’ he chose to keep as friends? It shouldn’t be both; Antonique wouldn’t be that cruel. And so Charlie was back to scrolling TikTok and hoping the answer would come to her soon. But two days ago the deadline had really started looming, and Charlie had gotten her butt into gear and started working seriously, even skipping bits that threatened to stall her momentum again. She had worked for hours, revising her piece and shifting details until it was ten minutes to midnight, and she’d had to save the document and make sure she had all the logistical details correct, and then submitted it, three minutes before it would have been late. She collapsed onto her bed, not bothering to change out of her trackies and hoodie and fell asleep, two hours later than usual.

***

Charlie slept through her alarm. She was supposed to be meeting Shae for coffee this morning, and had set her alarm to get up at seven am and have a shower, blow-dry and straighten her hair, apply her make-up and carefully choose an outfit, before driving herself into town, ready for their nine am meeting. Instead, Charlie had woken up an hour and a half late, with barely time to have a shower and eat breakfast. She had scrambled to find her comfy jeans and a clean jumper, before looking for her contact lenses. They weren’t anywhere. First she had almost handed in an assignment late for the first time in her life, but now she was probably going to be late to meet Shae, and she hadn’t had time for any of her normal morning routine. Charlie grumbled to herself as she found her glasses on her dresser and grabbed her laptop, before hurrying to grab her keys and race out the door.

***

Shae was beginning to get worried. Charlie had always been ready and waiting five minutes early for everything, but she wasn’t anywhere in the café and it was now a quarter past nine. She hadn’t messaged that she was going to be late or unable to come, which was what really concerned Shae. The two of them had met in their first year at Deakin and become fast friends, hanging out after class, chatting on social media and catching up for drinks every few weeks. Creative Writing units didn’t have many group projects, but they always tried to work together when they could. They often met to catch up and talk about their writing projects, but today was special. They both had pieces they wanted to submit to the Verandah Journal, and were meeting to workshop their pieces and refine them that extra little bit. Shae was excited to show Charlie her piece and hear what she thought about it, and what she thought could be improved. Shae had just got out her phone to message Charlie and ask her if everything was alright when Charlie walked into the café, very flustered. ‘Oh,’ Shae whispered. Charlie’s brown hair, which usually fell to her mid-back, wasn’t straight after all. It was curly and hung just past her shoulders. Tiny, tight ringlets. Shae wanted to thread her pinky finger through one. Black-framed glasses drew attention to Charlie’s golden-brown eyes, which looked a little dull today. She had freckles. An adorable smattering of light freckles across her nose and cheekbones. Charlie must put a lot of work into her appearance each morning, to straighten her hair and apply her make-up flawlessly. ‘Hi,’ Shae said a little breathlessly as Charlie slumped into the seat opposite her, and then cursed herself. Pull yourself together. She can’t help that she looks beautiful. Act normally, for gods’ sake. ‘Rough morning?’ she asked, and this time her voice was stronger. Charlie snorted. ‘Rough night, actually. I had to finish my Designing Fictions assignment so I could hand it in before midnight, and went to bed a lot later than I have been lately. Completely slept through my alarm. How did you go with that assignment, by the way?’ ‘I was really happy with mine,’ Shae replied. ‘I’d finished my first draft when I workshopped my 800 words, so it was just a matter of editing it, mostly. I submitted it before lunchtime yesterday. I’m sorry yours gave you so much trouble.’ ‘Ah, it’s alright,’ Charlie said, shrugging. Shae nodded slowly, her head tilted to one side as she watched Charlie scan her menu, watched the way her mouth shaped her words. Shae realised she was staring and blushed. What had Charlie been saying? Something about last assignments? ‘Nice,’ Shae said vaguely. ‘I have one more assignment due; my film script for Scriptwriting.’ ‘Nearly finished?’ Charlie asked, and Shae nodded. ‘I should be ready to hand it in tomorrow, or the day after at the latest,’ she said, and then grinned. ‘After that it’s a month off.’ Charlie nodded. ‘We-we should hang out,’ Shae said. ‘Over the break, I mean.’ She winced. They had already agreed to keep in touch; both over the holidays and after they finished studying.

***

Charlie stared at Shae for a minute. She seemed to realise she’d said something weird and was fiddling with her empty mug and carefully avoiding eye contact. Is she hiding something? They made sure to keep in touch, especially over the holidays when they didn’t see each other as often, and Shae had even organised a group writing event with a few of the others from their class. It was weird of Shae to suggest they hang out—they already had plans. Charlie tried to catch Shae’s eye when she glanced around the room, but Shae’s gaze skittered away from Charlie’s. She was blushing. Charlie blinked. Did—did Shae like her? They hadn’t talked much about dating, but when they did, Shae tried to keep the conversation on the past, instead of talking about current crushes, Charlie realised. She wondered if Shae was ever going to do anything about it. It had been nearly a full minute since either of them had last spoken. Determined to say something, Charlie opened her mouth. Shae spoke first, keeping her eyes on the table in front of her. ‘You look beautiful,’ she said softly. Charlie’s heart stopped beating for a moment. She had to remind herself to breathe. Her hair was wild and she was wearing glasses and no makeup, but she could tell that Shae meant it. Shae always meant what she said. Maybe there was something there—something worth exploring. They had been good friends for nearly two years now, and they had spent some of Charlie’s favourite time together. Charlie smiled softly. She wouldn’t mind seeing where this went. ‘Would you like to meet up for dinner one day?’ she asked, and Shae looked up quickly. ‘Dinner? Like a dinner meeting?’ Shae asked. Charlie grinned. ‘Like a date. Do you want to go on a date with me?’ Shae looked stunned for a few seconds, and then she smiled shyly. ‘Really?’ ‘Yeah,’ Charlie nodded. ‘Really.’ ‘Okay.’ ‘Okay,’ Charlie said, returning Shae’s smile. ‘Two days from now?’ ‘Two days from now,’ Shae replied.