Willa & the Extraordinary Internship

CH.4

"Rise and shine, bitches!" Cyn sing-songed, grabbing the edge of Willa's blanket and rapidly waving it over her until Willa awoke from the sheer chill of the breeze.

    "Jesus, Cyn," she grumbled, swinging her legs out of bed and none-too-accidentally making sure to aim a kick at Cyn's butt.

    "Eye booger alert," Cyn informed her, ignoring Willa's groan.

    Cyn, as usual, looked flawless when she woke up. Her pin-straight white-blonde hair, all natural (or so she claimed), stopped just short of brushing her shoulders, looking like someone had flat-ironed it in her sleep.

Willa would have liked to have a snappy retort for her, but it was way too early in the morning for someone who had been up half the night, so she just settled for a grunt and trudged to Maryam's bathroom. Passing her Indian-American friend along the way she mouthed "someone's chipper", gratified at her more sane friend's commiserating eye roll.

Ten minutes later, having peed and brushed her teeth, Willa was in the kitchen looking marginally more presentable and ready to eat whatever Maryam had whipped up. Not exactly the most traditional Hindu, Maryam was plating bacon and sausages onto Corning plates while Cyn was half-heartedly flipping hashbrowns at the stove.

"It's burning!" Maryam scolded, bumping Cyn with her hip to get her to move. "Scooch. Just set the table." She looked up at Willa's approach. "Who were you texting last night?" The smile on her face was genuine, but it quickly fell when she noticed Willa's scowl and pointed look at Cyn behind their blond friend's back.

"Was it Luuuuuke?" Cyn grinned widely, completely oblivious to the daggers shooting from Willa's eyes. If it was a cartoon, Willa would probably have used the pan she was using to bash Cyn on the head until she saw stars.

"Drunk text from a party," Willa said dismissively, accepting the carton of orange juice Maryam handed her and pretending it was an olive branch.

"Are you going to see him again?" Cyn pressed, incorrigible as ever.

"He didn't ask."

A beat. "Did you?"

"No."

"How...proactive," Cyn said in a drawl, haphazardly laying the forks and plates on cherry-red woven placemats.

Devoid of any comeback, Willa instead asked, "what about you and Grayson?"

Cyn's eyes lit up. "He may actually be the guy I leave Tinder for," she informed, looking like the cat who ate the canary.

"Oooh, must be L-O-V-E," Maryam teased.

"What happened to your whole 'human beings aren't meant to be monogamous' philosophy?" Willa air-quoted.

"I was a child then," Cyn said flippantly, shovelling a strip of bacon in her mouth with all the grace and finesse of a trucker.

Maryam had that look on her face, like Cyn was their friend and they had to humor her, but unlike Maryam, Willa didn't find Cyn at all endearing in that moment. Irritation bubbled under the surface, itching to finish their spat from the night before. Even if Cyn seemed to have forgotten all about it, her comments still rankled Willa to the point that if she opened her mouth, she knew it would only be to pick a fight.

Instead, following Cyn's lead, she popped a maple sausage whole, not even cutting it into small pieces like she normally did, forcing herself to chew as slowly as possible to avoid taking part in the conversation.

Author's Note: What do you think, lovely readers...is Cyn pushy or well-meaning? Is Willa being too sensitive? As sometimes happens in friendship trios, not all is rainbows and sunshine (remember Ron having a fit and ditching Harry and Hermione???). Let me know what you think!