Marisol's POV- May 2018

After an incredibly long day, I was exhausted and just wanted to go to bed. Finals started next week, which meant that I had only a couple of days to study and make sure I knew the class material. Cody had tried to get a hold of me a handful of times, but I was either too busy to answer his calls or asleep. My voicemail inbox was filled with messages from him that I had yet to hear. I had kept true to my word, and focused on school. My grades had slipped a bit, but not to a point where I would lose the A grade. That was the letter grade you were expected to get, anything less was a failure.

"Hi boy" I greeted Bugs.

He lightly whined and followed me into the kitchen.

"Let's get you fed," I said.

Dad had texted me as I was leaving campus to tell me that he was in such a hurry that he had forgotten to feed Bugs.

"Here you go," I told him.

I quickly went up to my room and set my backpack on my desk chair before walking back downstairs and outside to feed the stray cats. As I fed the strays, I heard the doorbell ring. I figured it was just James checking up on me, so I went to answer the door. To my surprise, it was not James, but Cody's sister, Ashli.

"Hi" I awkwardly greeted.

If she wanted to talk, she had to make it quick. I had to be up at 8 AM tomorrow, and I still had to shower.

"Hey, I was hoping we could talk?"

Instead of closing the door on her face, I decided to be civilized about this situation.

"Of course, come on in" I answered.

She stepped inside, and I closed the door behind me.

"Can you make it quick though? I kinda have to be up early in the morning" I told her.

She nodded.

"Would you like something to drink?" I asked.

"I'm okay"

"Have a seat" I offered.

She took a seat.

"So what's up?" I questioned.

I took a seat across from her.

"I wanted to apologize"

"For?" I wondered.

"Being a bitch to you"

Hey now, she said it.

"You're ignoring Cody"

"You were there when I told Cody that I needed to focus on school. I'm sure you know how hard Graduate school is since you know you're a student as well" I brought up.

She looked at me a bit confused.

"Cody told me you're wrapping up your Master's program," I said.

"He told you that?"

I nodded.

"Oh"

"Which means you know the workload," I told her.

She slowly nodded.

"I'm technically a Med School student except my future patients will be domesticated animals" I stated.

"I'm sorry for insinuating that your career path is easy"

I shrugged.

"All careers are difficult in their different way" I explained.

"The last time I was here, I noticed that you double majored"

Animal Science and Political Science.

"Why'd you major in Political Science?"

I smiled.

"To vote correctly" I admitted.

I liked to be well informed when it came to political policy. One would say that I was incredibly liberal...very liberal according to my Facebook.

"I'm pretty sure I'm more qualified than most people in office, surely more than 45" I noted.

The current administration was shit, and that was because half of them were dying fossils and the others uneducated. I'm not saying that all conservatives were a bunch of idiots, I'm just saying that anyone who supported the head bigot running our country certainly needed to reevaluate their lives.

"Anyways, you didn't come here to talk about Politics with me," I said.

"I owe you lots of apologies"

I see.

"I'm sorry for judging you before getting to know you"

"Have you ever been judged by strangers?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Then you know how much it sucks to be treated the way you did to me," I said.

It sucked.

"I didn't know Cody met you last summer, and that my mom ruined his chances with you"

I shrugged.

"I feel so bad especially because I didn't realize how strong Cody's feelings for you are"

She bit her lip and asked.

"Please give my brother another chance?"

This was really weird.

"He doesn't know I'm even in California let alone talking to you"

Well, this was interesting.

"I'm pretty sure Cody is in love with you"

Okay, this was weird.

"Cody's not ignoring you guys, right?" I asked.

She shook her head.

"No"

Good.

"I wish he would though, it would make me feel less guilty"

Oh, I see, she was here cause guilt brought her. Glad to know she had a conscious.

"I thought my brother was too good for you, but now that I've processed all of this, I think you're the one who's out of his league"

She was not the first to tell me this.

"I'll talk with him" I promised.

Next week, when finals were over...