Devil in a Suit

Nick set up the PowerPoint on the screen at the front of the classroom, murmuring beneath his breath. I soon realized that he was reciting his parts.

“We’ve got this,” Hannah whispered to me, shooting me a smile before turning to face the professors.

I breathed in deeply through my nose and followed her lead, plastering a bright smile on my face. I was nervous, but I also wanted people to hear about our great idea. If I wanted this business to ever see the light of day, I had to get used to pitching it over and over again, starting with this presentation.

“Thank you for hearing our presentation on UniVerse today. I’m Nick. This is Hannah and Madison. We’re excited to present to you our idea to connect college students and recent graduates to vital and necessary resources, whether they’re academic, medical, or personal,” Nick said, kicking off our presentation strong.

We spoke about our idea for around fifteen minutes, breaking down our plan and answering any questions that the professors asked us. It was hard to tell how they felt about our idea because their expressions remained neutral the entire time. It wasn’t like they would tell us if we passed or not right then and there, but it would’ve been nice to get a clue of how they felt.

“Thank you for telling us about UniVerse,” our professor told us as the other professors jotted down notes on their notepads. “You’ll receive an email in a few hours telling you if your idea was approved or not.”

The three of us nodded, telling the professors thank you before gathering our things and leaving the classroom. The second that we stepped out, we felt like we could breathe again, but the tension wasn’t fully gone left. Now, we had to play the waiting game, which was going to be torturous.

“I think I skipped a line when I was talking about the market research,” I fretted as we walked down the hallway together. Each word that I planned for the presentation was important. The professors had to know as many details as possible so that they could decide on whether they approved of our idea or not.

“You did great. Stop worrying,” Nick said as he nudged me with his elbow. “I think we did our best.”

He was probably right. No one stumbled over their lines or forgot them. We were a team, a united front, and we did what we were supposed to do. In a way, we bared our souls, showing those professors months of hard work and determination. Hopefully, it would all pay off.

Hannah slipped between us, throwing her arms around our shoulders.

“Let’s grab some food and wait for that email,” she suggested as she looked at us.

I already knew that I was going to have a heart attack the moment I got that notification. At least my friends could distract me while we waited.

“Let’s do it,” I said. I didn’t feel all that hungry, but I didn’t want to be alone right now. I would just keep worrying and overthinking everything, and I didn’t want to talk to Tyler until I had results to tell him.

The three of us walked down the street to a local diner. It was a staple for the university’s students who frequented the establishment drunk out of their minds at two in the morning or terribly hungover at ten in the morning. We were the sober outliers this afternoon.

“I think the food only tastes good here after a few shots,” Nick commented as he looked over the menu across the booth table from Hannah and me.

“The fries are good, drunk or not,” Hannah replied.

While they talked about greasy diner food, I stared mindlessly at the menu, trying to ignore the uncomfortable churning in my stomach. Once I was less stressed out, I would probably start sleeping better and feeling better.

“So, I texted Landon about the party. I think he wants to meet me there,” Hannah spoke up, coaxing me out of my own head.

“That’s great,” I told her sincerely. I didn’t know much about Landon, but he seemed like a nice, smart guy, so I hoped things worked out for him and Hannah.

“I’ve never heard of an IT major being a party guy,” Nick commented, giving Hannah a perplexed look.

She rolled her eyes. “Stop generalizing,” Hannah said.

Nick chuckled. “I’ll stop teasing your little boyfriend,” he said, grinning to himself.

I glanced between my two friends, finding myself smiling. I was glad to have them in my life. They gave me so much support and brought so much humor and joy into my life. Lately, I started reflecting more on the relationships in my life. For so long, I put them on the back burner and focused primarily on school and success. Over the last few months, I had done enough growing to know that my work and school life wasn’t the entirety of who I was. There was so much more for me to explore and build on when it came to my personal life, starting with the relationships that I already had. I wanted to deepen them and strengthen them because these people meant so much to me.