The Predicament:

-Amanda-

Norman and I broke up last summer. It resulted from a stupid fight that we had. I don’t know what led to that point. I remembered that he said that he couldn’t make me happy. A fight followed and then we broke up.

We dated since we were high school. People say that we were mismatched. Somehow, it didn’t matter. Norman had big dreams. He wants to be a director after college. I cheered him all the way. I think it was because I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life at the time. Norman first addressed this question to me during our junior year of high school.

“Mandy, what do you want to do with your life?” he asked. I looked at him uncertain at first.

“I don’t know,” I said, “Maybe go to college.”

“And after that?” he asked. I frowned at him.

“Why does it matter?” I asked. His eyes through the silver-rimmed glasses lit up when he grinned.

“I’m going to be a film director,” he said. I tilted my head at him.

“You are?” I asked.”

“Yep,” my then-boyfriend replied, “I don’t want to be one of those big shots in Hollywood either. I mean one of those directors to be taken seriously.” I nodded at his words. I couldn’t explain it at the time, but something about him made me want to see where this dream of his would take him. In a sense, I wanted to find out my own future for myself. That’s one of the reasons I hung onto him. I didn’t tell him this, but I felt that he already knew somehow. Why he wouldn’t confirm what I thought, I didn’t ask him.

After we graduated from high school, Norman applied to Tampa University. I decided to follow here to see the rest of the story. Needless to say, it didn’t turn out so well for our relationship and we broke up before we started our sophomore year in TU. We just moved on in our lives. I found more friends and decided to give French language and literature a try. I always loved the country ever since my mother’s younger sister sang praises about it after she moved there. The way she went on and on about made me want to go there and visit one day. I even found a new love this semester. His name is Cole and the complete opposite of Norman. He lives in the here and now, not caring too much about the future. I guess, that’s good enough for me at the moment.

My life is going good, but right now I have a bit of a problem.

I discovered it on Friday afternoon when I got home from my classes. I happened to notice few items from my room were missing.

“Lucy!” I shouted.

“Yes?” she asked from her room.

“Did you see where some of my stuff went?” I asked.

“What?” she asked.

“Something of my stuff is not in my room,” I repeated, “Do you know what happened to it?” Lucy didn’t answer me for a moment.

“Oh yeah,” she said, “Cole came by earlier and said that he needed to borrow some stuff.” A puzzled look came over my face.

“Borrow?” I asked, “What exactly did he borrow?”

“He wouldn’t see,” my best friend/roommate replied. No sooner had she said that, I realized one of the top things missing. I rushed over to the phone and dialed the one number I needed for this.