Page 7 of No, For An Answer
“We were.”
“Oh, what happened?” All the air is immediately sucked out of the room. The moment the words sail from my lips and into the atmosphere, it turns thick with awkwardness. My chest and throat strained.
“Just different paths in life. I haven’t seen her for about a year now.”
Evidently true.
“That sucks.“
“It’s fine.” I cut her off, smiling as I place the frame on the table beside my bed. Facing me as usual so I wake up to her beautiful face like always. Maisy was my whole world and I’m pretty sure I was hers at one point too. Then everything went to shit, and now our friendship is broken.
“What happened? If it’s ok for me to ask. If not, I’ll shut my mouth.”
“She uh,” there’s no need for me to go in depth about our relationship. She doesn’t need to know, and, in all honesty, I don’t really need to tell it. “She just gave up. On us. On our friendship.” I take a deep breath and continue unpacking some things from the box in front of me. “I guess things just got too much y’know?”
“I get it.” She shrugs, completely oblivious.
Which is exactly how I need it.
“How about we go get a fucking drink.”
I laugh then. “Mia, it’s three in the afternoon.”
“Five somewhere, right?” Wiggling her shoulders playfully she sticks out her tongue and all I can do is roll my eyes.
“Fine. Where to?”
“OBK.” She winks.
“OBK?” I question. “Is that some kind of bar?”
“It’s a frat house just off campus.”
Shaking my head softly I decline. “Mia, I’m sorry I’m just really not in the mood for all this. I just spent like two days driving.”
Lie.
“All I want to do is rest. I have a lot to catch up on.”
Also, lies.
I have nothing to catch up on. I’ve spent the last three months catching up on the syllabus and taking online classes to make sure I could keep up with all the other students. Not that I really need to. I have a 4.0 GPA. I just wanted to make sure there was nothing to fuck up my time here. Although it will be a short period of time.
“I’m already half way through the semester and-”
“I hate to break it you Ashley, but, as my roommate, it’s a standard requirement. I’m sure if you and Maisy were still friends, she would want you to enjoy yourself?”
No.
Maisy would’ve wanted me with her. But she left before we had the chance to talk.
“Mia, I don’t know.”
“Look,” she removes the stuff in my hands and places it on the bedside table. “How about we go get some Pizza instead, come back here and watch a few movies?”
“That sounds a lot better.”
The weekend came and went. I spent most of that in the presence of Mia and the cheer team that she just got accepted for a spot with. Who’d have thought I’d be here, forcing myself to play the part of a highly excitable teenage girl. I didn’t want to be out and about with the cheer squad, in fact I hated listening to them drone on about their bullshit problems.
