“We could study together?” I said hopefully, “I’ve got a quiz tomorrow and…”
“My things are back in my apartment.” He said with a shrug, “I really should be going.”
I bit back the instinct to ask him if I could join. It would do me no good to beg and plead him to spend all of his time with me. We were just in the very fledgling stage of our love, we weren’t even anything official yet. I would die if I smothered the feelings we obviously shared for each other. I’d never been the clingy type, and I certainly wasn’t going to start now.
“Okay.” I said instead of pressing the issue, smiling at him, “What’s going on this weekend?”
We’d spent every weekend together, I mistakenly expected that to continue.
He paused, glancing at me uncomfortably before shifting his gaze back to his phone. He pursed his lips, contemplating.
I only had to rake my mind for the briefest of moments before I realized what was going on.
“A party.” I said quietly, “It’s one of your parties isn’t it?”
He gave a sharp nod, jamming his phone into his pocket with a clear of his throat.
“I really need to get going.” He said quietly.
The obvious un-invitation hung in the air between us like a sharp dagger. He clearly didn’t want me to go to his party.
“Okay.” I repeated, like a parrot stuck in a loop.
Eli swooped forward, taking my chin in his hands as he pressed his lips against mine, “Maybe you could hang out with Lucy this weekend?” He said, “I bet she’d have something exciting for you two to do.”
I summoned up another cheery smile, though I was sure it did not reach my eyes, “Yep.” I said simply, giving a halfhearted wave as he walked out of the room.
Seconds later, the front door swung closed.
I collapsed backwards, glaring up at my ceiling.
We’d been dating a whole month and he wasn’t even going to invite me to his party? What kind of attitude was that? Was he hiding me? Was he ashamed of me? Did I embarrass him?
Was I overreacting? I’m sure that I was, at least on some level. But, still!
I wished Lucy was home.
The more time I spent with Eli, the more time she spent squirreled away on campus somewhere.
Though, I knew she was still hurting from her rough breakup earlier this semester, I hadn’t expected her to hold it against me when I started seeing someone. It didn’t help that Eli was never interested in hanging out at his own apartment, it always had to be mine.
Maybe he was a hoarder or something.
Glumly, I climbed to my feet, heading into the kitchen. The coffee machine sat untouched on the counter. Lucy didn’t even stick around in the mornings long enough to make me coffee anymore. Eli hadn’t spent a single night, but it was as if she was afraid to spend time around me.
With a frown, I dug through the cabinets, searching for Lucy’s vitamins that she added to the coffee. I was going to show this girl that even though I had a sexy man on my arm now, she was still my number one.
Despite having zero idea how she concocted her coffee creation, I did my best, adding in the most stinky, greenest, weirdest looking of her powders and vitamins in an attempt to make her best damn cup of grossness that she’d ever had.
It was truly luck that just when I finished, the black haired girl walked right through the apartment door. She jumped when she saw me, as though she hadn’t expected me to be home.
It was true though, lately I’d been going to dinner with Eli instead of having meals at the apartment with Lucy. Previously, we’d always cooked together, even when it was simple things like microwave mac ‘n cheese.
“Lucy!” I said cheerily, slamming down two cups of “coffee” on the table, “I made you a peace offering.”
I sat down, waving at her own chair as she cautiously approached.
Lucy held up her hands, closing her eyes for a moment, “Oh god.” She said, wrinkling her nose, “That is the most vile thing I’ve ever smelled…I bet it’s great for your colon.”
Laughing, I shrugged, inhaling the scent of the gross cup of Joe, “It better be.” I said with a smirk.
Slowly, my roomie sank into her chair, dropping her purse on the ground beside her.
“Why did you make a peace offering?” She asked pensively, frowning at me, “Were we fighting?”
For a moment I paused, swirling a spoon in the dark brown liquid. Particles of the powders swirled with it, like a tornado in a swamp. Come to think of it, it kind of smelled like a swamp too.
“I just felt like we were drifting a little.” I offered with a shrug, “I just wanted to spend a little time one on one with my bestie.”