Dear Diary

Dear Diary:

Dear Diary

what a crazy day. From the moment I woke up this morning I could feel that something was different. Like my life.

So I got up about half seven, which I suppose was the only normal thing that happened. Grabbed a bite to eat - cheap noodles from TESCO, lol, such is the depravity of being a student - then set off up to the top of the road for the free uni bus.

Twas Tarquin, the big blue and yellow superbus :) which was nice. Sat upstairs in my usual seat near the back. Carly came up and sat with me and we had a pleasant time catching up on what's gone on since before the Easter holidays.

Bus dropped us off at the Arriva bus stop instead of outside the security lodge. Still, close enough. As I got off I bade farewell to Carly and was just about to go to my revision workshop when suddenly I met the gaze of a girl about my age who was standing there, apparently waiting for a bus.

I looked at her and she looked at me... I so very rarely make eye contact with people I don't know, but this once it was like time was just standing still and by the time I came back to reality it felt like hours.

Then she said hi. I was almost sure I didn't know her, that I'd never seen her before... but I replied with a hello. We shook hands and she asked where I was headed and if she could walk with me or something.

I was heading over to the library to get my printing done for law, before I went to English, so we wandered over slowly. It was crazy - it was like I'd known her all my life. I didn't ask her name or where she was from and she didn't ask either. We just talked like old friends.

I'll take this point to say what she looked like. She was maybe five foot five, slender and what you might call dark-blonde with a hint of gold. She had the clearest mid-blue eyes I've ever seen and she walked with a sort of determination. Her face... indescribable - she was very pretty. Not specifically stunning, but an almost addictive visage.

Anyway in the end she stayed with me until I'd done my printing, and we were heading off to English. Without me even noticing it happen, I found myself with my arm around her shoulder and hers around my waist. So yeah, she said she had stuff to do until twelve, and asked when I was free. I said it would be about the same time, if not a little later and we arranged to meet outside the refectory, parting with an affectionate embrace.

English was just grammar revision, ready for the exam on the sixteenth. Nothing remarkably astounding. Saw Dave and Dave, who had obviously been filling their holidays with lots of revision... lol. While the others laboured over the sentence structure tree diagrams, I found the time to reflect on just what on Earth was happening. I'm hardly impetuous... but this girl, whose name I didn't even know... crazy stuff - but I didn't seem to care, either, that it was so crazy.

From English to Law, then. Law was good. Got into another discussion with Chalen - this time, about the division between public and private law. We didn't really get anywhere but I've got an appointment with her next Wednesday anyway so we might continue the debate then.

After the seminar was over, at about a quarter past twelve, I made off quite swiftly and gravitated directly to the refectory. Heading up to the doors I couldn't see her anywhere... but as soon as I walked in I saw her from right across the room. Twas like there was nobody else there, although the place was packed.

Well, we kissed when we met, then headed off into the afternoon sun and made for the Quad on the other side of the road. Just past the Students' Union, we both saw one guy heading our way. He looked at me, then her, then at our intertwined hands and frowned.

He stopped us, and asked to have a private word with the girl... whose name I still, oddly, didn't know. I didn't feel that I needed to; we were more than that. I went and gazed at the site map for a couple of minutes, before she and he came over. She told me she would be back in two minutes, after attending the conveniences - my words, not hers :D

The fellow then introduced himself to me, as Kev - a worker with homeless people in one of Liverpool's shelters. I'll quote what he said: "You've got to be careful with that one," he said, seriously. "She's trouble." He went on to say he'd known her for a year or two, since she ran away from her home in Chester. He warned me further, and seemed quite concerned. I almost wanted to say that I knew her, that I'd known her forever... but he wouldn't have understood. He also told me her name, which spoilt something of the thrill that not knowing had given me. Rachel.

She returned, and settled into my side with her arm around me, placing a quick peck on my cheek. I smiled at her, then glanced back to Kevin, who exhaled almost forcefully as something of a disgruntled sigh then stalked away briskly without another word.

Well, we pretty much ignored the whole event and continued on to the Quad, where we sat on the grass in the spring-summer sun and talked for what seemed like an eternity, about everything that came to mind... and just enjoyed each other's company... you know what I mean.

It was probably only a couple of hours, but the sun was past its height and the time was advancing. Almost at the same time we began to say to each other that each needed to get to the centre. Rachel was catching a bus to Chester and I was heading off to Leeds, so we decided we may as well go in together. I paid for her bus ticket on the 61 and we rode into town. On a whim I asked her if she had enough for the trip to Chester and when she realised she didn't, I said I'd sort that out for her.

Went straight to the new Paradise Street bus station and checked what time Rach's bus was coming. She'd just missed the 411, so there'd be another hour to wait. My train was due within twenty minutes and she said I should just leave her there. I disagreed but she insisted, so we shared one final parting expression of affection and I left her, feeling like I was leaving a life behind.

Yeah anyway moving on! Bit sentimental sorry... went up to the station and went onto the station for the train. It pulled in, and I stood and watched it from the platform for five minutes. The guard called the last passengers... and I still stood there, with a curious half-smile. I watched as it pulled away and before it was out of the station, I was gone.

I wandered down to Paradise Street again. I haven't a clue what I thought I was doing. On the way I actually remembered too that I had forgotten to give her the bus fare. Still, it was all working alright because I'd be back before her bus came.

I got there... and the place was deserted. Not a bus in sight... and no Rachel. I took ten minutes searching for her, but there was no sign.

See what I mean about a crazy day? Nothing's going to be quite the same.

A name, a kiss and a sun-brushed memory...

...

Yeah, sorry for the length of this journal - I thought it deserved it! lol

Just wrote this journal entry down in like ten seconds at the Liverpool Uni library computers - gonna get me the next train to Leeds. Should still get there in time to meet up with peeps.

laterz...