Isa's POV

The walk to class the next morning is pleasant. The sun is out, and the weather is slightly warmer today.

Temi is walking next to me in silence, but there's a ghost of a smile on her face. It makes me smile seeing her appear so at peace, so restful.

"I'll be here waiting after class," I say once we arrive outside of the building of Temi's politics class. I don't know exactly why I say this. It's not as if this is a new arrangement.

"Yeah, sure," Temi says, a bit nervously. She pushes a braid behind her ear.

"See you Isa," Temi quickly says, before offering me a small smile and rushing into the building.

I watch after her for a few moments, a huge smile dancing across my features. I'm definitely still getting accustomed to this new side of Temi: the shy, genuine side of her. Not the hard exterior she had been putting up previously. I love it and it fills me with a strange sense of warmth.

For a moment, a strange feeling of guilt passes through me. Temi is vulnerable right now. The truth of the matter is that she is still healing the death of her best friend. Is it really appropriate for me to be feeling the way I do about her? What more, I am her bodyguard and I am here because I have a job to do.

My thoughts are interrupted when I notice the blonde woman from the day before. She is standing a little distance from the politics building and seems to be on a phone call. Like yesterday, she has on shades that seem to conceal most of her face and bright red lipstick.

A feeling of unsettlement comes over me. For a moment, I wonder if she is a student. But she looks a bit too old to be an undergraduate, so maybe a graduate student?

With no delay, I make my way over to the woman.

"Hey," I say, once I'm within earshot.

I watch how she whispers something into her cell phone before turning around and flashing me with a pearly white smile.

"Hello, can I help you?" She asks. Her accent sounds American, but there's a hint of another accent that I cannot quite place.

I put on an innocent smile on my face.

"I'm lost. I just transferred here." I lie easily. "I was wondering if you know where the Economics building is?"

I study the woman as I ask, but she's hard to decipher, as most of her face is hidden behind her sunglasses.

"Oh honey," she says, "unfortunately, I'm a professor in the politics department. I just started working here, so I'm not familiar with this huge campus either."

She laughs then, and I laugh too, not because I find the situation amusing, but because it's the most natural thing to do.

But I'm not done with her just yet.

"That's really cool. I'm thinking of taking a politics class next semester. What class do you teach?" I ask, trying to sound as casual as possible.

There's a brief hesitation, but the woman quickly recovers.

"I teach European Politics," she says breezily, "you seem like a great student, I'll love to teach you someday. I'm Professor Murphy."

Her hands are outstretched to me, and she has a courteous smile on her face. I take her outstretched arm and shake it, putting a warm smile onto my face as well.

We exchange a few more words before she says something about an appointment that she needs to attend and walks off. I watch her retreat for a few moments, not really sure what to think.

She checks out honestly. She appears pretty legit, and it's most likely just my bodyguard protectiveness that was initially making me suspicious of her. I remind myself that this isn't a typical bodyguard mission that I'm on. After all, Temi isn't actually under any real threat, so it's not like anyone is after her.

As I walk back to my spot next to the politics building, I make a mental note to check her out a bit more. Just for the sake of putting my mind at rest.

Not long after, Temi bursts out of the politics building. She has a deep scowl I have seen many times before etched onto her face, and her eyes are blazing.

"Hey," I say, as she gets closer to me, "what's going on?"

"I'm never going back to that fucking class again," Temi snaps, stomping past me.

I follow after her, trying to keep up with her angry-walking.

"Hey, hey, hey, slow down," I say, "the class period isn't even over. What happened?"

Temi stops then. She turns to face me and crosses her arms over her chest. I try not to think of how adorable she looks right then.

"I know, I walked out of class," she says. "My mom running for New York State Governor was all we talked about throughout class. As if that wasn't bad enough, I had to deal with some incel white boy saying that there's no way my mom can be governor because she is a woman. What more, a black woman."

"What?"

"I know!" Temi says, her frustration clear in her voice. "He said that New York is too strong of a state to let that happen. So obviously I called out his racism and fucking misogynoir and everyone behaves like I was the bad one in the situation. My professor tells me to mind my language because I swore. Can you fucking imagine? As if that's the issue at hand."

"Hey Temi, calm down," I say, because Temi's voice is steadily rising to a scream, resulting in some stares from students close by. I instantly regret my words the second they leave my mouth.

If Temi were in an animation, flames would come out of her ears right at this moment.

"I should calm down? I tell you all this, and your response is that I should calm down? Fuck, Isa, you sound just like them."

She's right, and I mentally face-palm at the realization of just how right she is. The last thing she needs is for me to reinforce this whole 'angry black girl' narrative, after she has just been gaslighted by her entire class and professor.

"You're right. I'm sorry, Temi. That was the wrong thing for me to say right now."

Temi doesn't respond. She doesn't look as pissed off at me, but she's still glaring.

"God, sometimes I wish I went to an HBCU instead. At least I wouldn't have to put up with this shit in my fucking classroom. As if I don't deal with it enough in the real world. I'm sure the fucking guy voted for Trump." Temi pauses then and looks at me, suspicion suddenly appearing in her eyes, "did you ever vote for Trump?"

"No Temi, what the hell?" Comes my response. I am slightly offended that she would think that, "I come from a line of Spanish immigrants. That's the last thing I would do."

"Just making sure... you can never really know," Temi says, shrugging slightly, but she appears slightly embarrassed.

Her anger is gone now, and all that's left is exhaustion. A deep exhaustion, and she doesn't hide it.

"Are you okay?" I finally ask Temi. I want so desperately to reach out and touch her. But I stay rooted with my hands buried in my pockets.

Temi simply shrugs in response and once again we are standing staring at each other.

"Do you wanna go back to the apartment?" I ask after a moment of silence.

Temi sighs deeply. "I don't want to be cooped up in the apartment right now. It's not healthy."

Something tugs at my heartstrings as I realize that Temi just used my advice. She doesn't even seem to have realized what she just said, and is staring at her sneakers, which she is using to trace lines in the concrete.

Temi suddenly looks up at me and there's a look of anticipation mixed in with excitement in her features.

"You should teach me how to paint," she blurts.

I only stare at her blankly in response.

"The University has an art studio open to the public. We should go there."

Temi doesn't wait for a response from me before walking in the studio's direction. I follow her, slightly amused. There's a twinkle in her eyes and it's clear to see that she takes great pride in this idea of hers.

We arrive at the art studio, and Temi books us a room. It's a small sized room, painted completely in black. There are writings all over the walls in chalk and a bunch of art materials strewn around the corner of the room.

"Well?"

I look to see that Temi is standing there, looking at me expectantly. From her small head nudge, I realize she expects me to take charge. This is crazy, seeing as up till now, I had never been in a proper art studio before.

I clear my throat and make my way around the room, gathering up art supplies. Once I am content, I return to Temi.

She is sitting patiently and has pulled up a seat for me next to her.

"I found some canvas and some paint supplies,'' I say, settling down beside her, "this should be good enough." I spread the paint supplies around us and hand a blank canvas to Temi.

I explain the basics to Temi, even though there isn't really much to explain. It's a paintbrush and a canvas, not exactly rocket science. Yet Temi sits there, nodding attentively and listening patiently, and a warm feeling passes through me.

"Okay, so what should I paint?" Temi asks.

"It's up to you," I reply, even though I'm asking myself the same question.

Temi says nothing but turns herself so she is sitting facing me. There's a small smile on her face and as she hides her canvas from me.

I roll my eyes at her mockingly and stare at my blank canvas before me.

I finally decide to paint Temi. I'm not even surprised in the slightest. I like to paint beautiful things, and the truth of the matter is that is exactly what Temi is. As corny as it sounds. She is my muse and has been for a while.

I start with my outline, neither of us saying much to each other. For the next hour, Temi and I work in silence.

I glance up at Temi often and more than once; I catch her looking at me. More than once, I send her a flirty wink, which initially causes her to smile nervously and quickly avert her gaze. But after a while, she starts sending winks back at me. At some point she even bites down on her lips and flutters her eyes seductively, causing me to drop my paintbrush abruptly.

Temi only giggles at this and goes back to her painting as if it were nothing.

"Done!" Temi exclaims thirty minutes later. She's looking at her painting with a triumphant expression etched into her features.

"Same here," I say, applying the finishing touches to my painting of Temi.

"Okay, in three, we reveal our work." Temi says, and I agree.

"One, two, three-"

We both spin our canvas around to the other and I gasp slightly and begin laughing once I realize Temi has painted me, too. I take a little while to realize that it's me. Temi is definitely not an artist, but it's adorable, and I feel my heart clench tightly in my chest. This is one of the grandest gestures I've ever experienced.

"It doesn't look as good as the one you did of me," Temi mumbles, looking from her painting to mine. There's a look of dismay on her face.

"It's perfect, actually." I say.

"You're just saying that," Temi replies stubbornly, discarding her painting on the floor next to her.

In an instance, I am on my knees before her. I take the painting and place it down carefully before taking Temi's hands in mine.

She's looking at me with her gigantic eyes. They seem even wider right now, and I see the way her eyes flicker to my lips. She unconsciously bites her own lips and I tear my eyes away.

"It's great Temi, really," I say, trying to find my voice, "and I'm not just saying that. I promise you I'm not."

Temi is still looking at me suspiciously, but appears slightly less doubtful.

We stay like that for a moment. Temi reaches her hand out and runs it through my hair, bringing her hand down to cup my face. On instinct, I rest my face in her hand. We both just look at each other, none of us saying anything.

"I wanna show you someplace," Temi suddenly says softly. She quickly bends down, kisses my forehead before rising to her feet and pulling me up with her.

I follow her obediently, very aware of her small hand in mine. Temi doesn't try to take her hand away, so there we are; holding hands.

We exit the art studio and head outside. It's not as bright as it had been a few hours ago, but the sun is still up, peeking over the horizon.

I do not know what Temi wants to show me. I look over at her and she seems lost in her own world. She sucks on her bottom lip slightly.

"This is it," Temi says, pulling me to an abrupt stop. We are standing on a bridge with one side of it covered with padlocks.

"It's the Forever Bridge," Temi says, noticing my slight confusion. "Grace and I used to come here all the time."

Without waiting for a response from me, she pulls me towards the side of the bridge covered in padlocks. She seems to search for something before her freehand suddenly grabs hold of a padlock.

"This is ours. Grace and I's."

I look down at the padlock Temi is showing me. Sure enough, I see the inscription: Grace + Temi etched into it. Temi's head is bent, but I see the way her shoulder shakes as she looks at it.

"Hey," I say, slowly raising Temi's head up so she's looking at me. Her eyes are watering and her bottom lips shudder slightly. I take a step closer to her and wrap my arms around her waist.

"It's the Forever Bridge," Temi says quietly. "Grace and I were meant to be best friends forever. But she's gone. My best friend is gone. It's like she was never here."

I pull her even closer to me, tracing my fingers over her skin as her tears threaten to fall.

"She's not gone, Temi. She's alive in your memories, your heart. She's alive in you. Her impact on you is proof enough of her existence, her very being." My mind goes to Joshua as I speak. A memory of his smile plays in my head.

Temi is looking at me knowingly. It's something that we both seem to share.

"How do I deal with the guilt? How long before I stop missing her every single day?"

"It gets easier," I say, "with time, it gets easier. I promise you."

The sun seems to have set at some point during our conversation. We are standing there, holding each other. There are a few people around, but neither of us pays any attention to them. Only Temi and this moment I'm sharing with her seems to matter.

Slowly but surely, Temi's lips find mine. She's the one that instigates the kiss, but I respond almost instantly.

The kiss is soft, but laced with so much emotion. Emotion that I can't place. Emotion that cannot be contained. Her lips are soft, just as I have imagined a hundred times.

I reach my hand up, holding onto the back of her neck as I kiss her deeply. I taste salt at some point and I know it's from tears. I cannot tell whether it's mine or hers. Maybe it's both of ours.

We break apart, and I watch the tears roll down Temi's face. I know they're rolling down mine, too.

"It gets easier," I whisper, using my thumb to softly wipe away the tears on Temi's face.

"I promise."

It suddenly starts snowing, and Temi giggles in front of me. I can't help as a huge smile spreads across my face as well. It's the first snow of the season. It came early this year, and it fills me with something I have not felt for a long time. Hope.