December

Frankie breathed a sigh of relief as she exited the Humanities building, feeling the weight of the semester disappear from her shoulders. She was overcome with a sense of accomplishment as she headed towards the main street of the campus. She had done it; she had made it through her first semester of college without so much as a C, and it was finally time for winter break. Frankie was accustomed to having only two weeks off between semester in high school; she didn’t know what she was going to do with almost a month of free time between semesters at AIASF. She reached the Cobra stop on the main street and took a seat, still relishing in her freedom as she waited. Her thoughts naturally went to Shuya, and she wondered how his last final went; he was two years older than her and a junior, so his finals schedule was a little different than hers – she couldn’t remember exactly when he would be done with the semester.   She had been at the bus stop for a few minutes when a black Mustang pulled up to the curb, slowing to a stop directly in front of her; Frankie frowned curiously, leaning forward slightly in her seat. After a moment the passenger window rolled down to reveal Shuya in the driver’s seat, his hair down and falling over into the Ray Ban sunglasses on his face. He grinned handsomely at her.   “Need a ride?”   “Shuya?” Frankie stood from her seat, watching him exit the car as she walked over to it. “Where did you get a car?”   “It’s Aniki’s,” Shuya explained, leaning back against it. “He let me borrow it for a couple hours while he’s at work.”   “Borrow it for what?”   “To take a beautiful girl out to celebrate the end of the semester.” He held his hands out to her and with a smile Frankie stopped into his arms, letting him hug her tightly. “You did it,” he said, his deep voice practically rumbling through both of their bodies. “How do you feel?”   “Like a vet.” Shuya laughed, shaking both of them.   “Good; you worked hard.” He pulled back enough to kiss her indulgently before letting her go, and turning to open the passenger door. “Now let’s go celebrate.”   Frankie had no clue of what Shuya had in mind, but she didn’t hesitate to come along, getting in the car and letting him close the door behind her before getting in himself, pulling away from the curb just as the Cobra was