Page 10 of Clichés & Curses

‘Good news?’ I asked.

‘The best,’ she replied, turning her attention back to me. ‘Do you have any plans this Saturday night?’

I mentally went through my agenda and to-do list. ‘I don’t think so, I might just spend the morning unpacking and organizing my things.’ I had to stop procrastinating and get it done while I still had some free time on my hands.

‘Great! The track team is throwing a party at the team house on Saturday night to celebrate the end of the first week—or so they say,’ she explained, rolling her eyes.

The sports teams in our college were notorious for throwing parties on a weekly basis. It was almost as if they had a social calendar to ensure there was always a party happening onweekends. And it seemed like we were kicking the semester off with the track team.

‘I’m down for that. It’d be nice to catch up with everyone,’ I agreed. It had been a chaotic week: with moving out of the state, settling into a new apartment, attending classes, and deciding which ones I wanted to take for the semester. I hadn’t had the chance to talk to anyone other than Nina.

‘That settles it. The party starts at 8 p.m., so that gives us some time to grab dinner before we head out.’

‘Sounds like a plan,’ I confirmed.

As I continued to devour our homemade lasagna, it occurred to me that Colton might be attending the party too, since he was on the baseball team. Anyone and everyone who was a college athlete, tended to show up to these parties—regardless of which sports team was throwing it. Even so, this wouldn’t have been the first party I attended which bore the possibility of Colton’s presence.

Last semester, when it had been the baseball team’s turn to throw the week’s party, Nina was adamant about going and begged me to come along. While I was hesitant at first, I had eventually given in, figuring it would be a good way to celebrate after submitting a heavy assignment. I had stuck close to Nina the whole night, cheering on Claudia and Lily as they played beer pong against college athletes.

At that point in time,the incidenthad happened more than a month ago, but I was still slightly nervous about unexpectedly running into Colton, and the small chance of him remembering our little encounter. My worries ended up being for nothing, when the night flew by without Colton and I crossing paths with one another.

My fingers were crossed: I wanted it to repeat this upcoming Saturday.

The rest of the week was uneventfully filled with attending more classes, organizing my calendar with test dates, and assignment deadlines. I also had finally managed to unpack everything out of my luggage. Before I knew it, Saturday rolled around, and it was time to get ready for the party.

As I was curling my hair in my room, I heard knocks coming from the front door.

‘I’ll get it!’ shouted Nina.

It wasn’t a minute later, when the sounds of excited shrieking met my ears. I quickly curled the last patch of my hair and went out to the living room to greet our guests. Nina, meanwhile, went back to her room to add some finishing touches to her makeup.

‘Hey!’ I exclaimed, once my eyes landed on Claudia and Lily.

‘Clara!’ I barely managed to hear my name being called out, as I was pulled into Claudia’s arms. She squeezed me with her tight hug before I could even blink.

‘That’s enough. You’re suffocating the poor girl.’ I heard Lily say.

‘Let me be. I haven’t seen her in months.’ Claudia waved Lily off, continuing to hold me in her embrace.

‘I missed you too, Claudia,’ I said, softly patting her arms until she eventually pulled away.

‘All right, my turn.’ Lily playfully pushed Claudia to the side, before taking me in for a hug.

Not wanting to be left out, Claudia put her arms around both of us, making it a group hug instead.

‘Attachment issues,’ I heard Lily whisper into my ear.

‘I heard that!’ Claudia admitted.

I let out a light chuckle.

In our freshman year, when Nina and I were roommates staying at the dorms, Claudia and Lily had also been rooming together across the hall from us. One day, during the orientation week, I had left the door open, and they both came over to introduce themselves. All four of us were glued to each other for the rest of the week, always waiting for each other before heading out for the next activity. By the end of the orientation, we had already formed a group chat.

The proximity, ever since, had only increased our friendship with one another. Even as our sophomore year came, and all of us had been living off campus in different apartment buildings, we still made time for each other whenever we could—especially if any two of us were free, while being on campus.

‘We’re pregaming with Fireball, by the way,’ Claudia said, once our group hug finally came to an end.

‘And we also brought pizza!’ Lily gestured to the bottle of whiskey and the two boxes of pizza sitting on the kitchen island.

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