The case of the missing cell phone

A white and pink cell phone caught Jess’ eyes on the lunch table on campus. No
one was around the table except him. People were talking outside between classes but no
one seemed to be near it. He deliberated whether or not to pick it up, just staring at it for
a good 2 minutes.
Even though it was just a phone he thought it was the most ridiculously girly
thing he had ever seen. On the phone there were small stickers of pink stars and rabbits
and smiley faces. The cell phone charm was of course in the shape of a rabbit. Jess
thought the phone might as well ooze pink cake icing and be able to make rainbows and
unicorns pop out as well.
He picked it up carefully as if he would catch some kind of girl disease. As soon
as he did, it up it made bell chime noise signaling that whoever the owner was,
she has a text message. Jess quickly turned the phone off and stuffed it in his pocket,
planning on bringing it to the Lost and Found desk later on that day.
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“I’m sorry sir but no one has come here requesting a cell phone today.” The lady
at the desk said. Jess tried to ignore the smell of smoke in the air and the smell of
Cheetos.
“Are you sure? It seems that it was left there for maybe a few hours.” Jess had
the impression that the lady was just too lazy to keep a record or even just remember.
“I’m positive, and you’re aren’t aloud to leave electronics in the Lost and Found,
people will think this is Best Buy, claiming things that don’t belong to them.”.

Jess just turned around and walked away from her. He was never quite a people
person, and didn’t feel like the back and forth banter that would have occurred with that
lady. He didn’t even know why he was making such a fuss over a lost phone. He found
himself asking people did they recognize it, or did they know the owner. But just
ignoring it all and just leaving it there didn’t feel right. Jess found himself peeking at the
phone in his pocket a little too much during the day. The phone was just so…pink! Does
this girl ever hear of blue or black?!, he thought to himself. He almost thought the phone
could belong to a little girl. It was impossible to think anyone over the age of 17,
girl or not would walk around proudly with it.

But he had to admit that it was quite endearing. It said a lot about the girl’s
personality. Probably really perky and always smiling. Was she a freshman or a senior? A
junior perhaps? The questions kept coming and flowing in his head all day, surprising
him that he was at least looking at the professor during each lecture.
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Searching for his keys to his dorm room, he opened the door. He plopped onto his
small bed and searched for his book to get started of his tons of reading he had for that
night. Again he felt the urge to reach in his pocket and look at the phone. Taking it out,
he laid it beside him and started shuffling for his book. Though he had already gotten
them out already. Jess finally caved in and picked it up and tuned it on without thinking.
It said that she had two messages. Not a lot for it being off for half of the day.
Temptation was taking over, he knew that it was an invasion of privacy, but he somehow
wanted to know more about the owner of the unicorn, rainbow phone. What was
she like? How old was she? He had to know. Jess pressed the read button and the
first message showed.

“Where are you?” was on the screen. It was from someone named Kelsie in her
phone book. Nothing bad so far, definitely not personal. The second message showed
next “ Can you at least stay out of the library for one second, Ana?”

A big grin appeared on his face. So her name is Ana?, he thought. He felt like he
solved a mystery case, but it was just two things about the girl. Her name was Ana and
she was apparently a book worm. The phone didn’t really fit the bookworm image, but he
guessed the name fit. Jess turned the phone off and opened his books to begin his
homework.
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Jess only went to the library maybe every two weeks. And it definitely wasn’t his
favorite place in the world. He had no clue what Ana looked like, how old she was,
nothing at all. But he kind of felt like he knew already, just by going through her phone
all night. Pictures were always of her friends, nothing of her. Maybe she was extremely,
shy or ugly perhaps? But he doubted that, he thought that was impossible.

As soon as he entered an isle that was specifically for the romance genre, he saw
a girl with a book in her hand reading the description on the back. He immediately broke
into a grin. She was adorable, no more than 17 or 18. She had freckles
sprinkled on her face and had light brown hair that came past her shoulders. Jess had
never been self-conscience, but he just felt really stupid staring at her. As if she could
feel his stare, Ana turned and saw him looking.

Jess cleared his throat and begun awkarwardly, “Are you Ana?”, though he
already knew. He thought it was silly thinking of faces now looking at her.

“Yes”, she said softly. He thought her voice was sweet.
He dug into his pocket and handed her the phone. “I think this belongs to you.”