Shades of Limelight

3: Boring

It had been a few days since I last opened Instagram and a few days longer since I gave ESPN more than a glance of my time. Of course, Brooke made sure that I knew that all of the boys in her school had seen me on various epic sports fails pages and segments, but the last thing I wanted was to relive that moment from a new point of view.

The world would never see it from my own perspective, so I most certainly didn't need to see theirs.

Between the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison and my hometown of Sumpter, Wisconsin, there were a decent number of people who had heard my name, but there were many more who had heard Corey's. Neither one of us lived up to those names particularly well over the weekend, even if Corey was about to play as one of the top four football teams in the country for the National Championship.

I also still had a few belongings in Corey's dorm, but I wasn't ready to see him yet. And if I hadn't known for a fact that I left a pair of diamond earrings there, I probably would have considered that stuff lost forever to avoid any sort of uncomfortable conversation.

Just the thought of seeing that room one more time was enough to make my stomach hurt.

I never had a roommate of my own to talk to, but Corey lived with a fellow lineman in their little dorm room. He never seemed to mind when I was around, but I assumed that he was just happy that there wasn't an awkward silence lingering between the two of them in the room. Corey never was outgoing or friendly. Neither was I.

As I sat in an empty classroom in the communications building with my phone in my hands, a familiar face approached me. He must have just come in from the cold outside with the way his nose was red and runny and his light brown hair peeked out from between his matching hat and scarf. Although I hadn't spoken to him since Saturday, he wore his usual smile as if we were in the middle of a funny conversation.

"You still mad at me?" Ryan asked.

I shook my head. "I really wasn't ever mad at you on Saturday. It just wasn't the time for a joke."

"I know, and I'm sorry. It was just really uncomfortable, and I didn't know what else to do. It's not every day that you witness something like that," he said as he took the desk next to mine. "So what now? You and Corey are done?"

I nodded. "Seven years, and poof! It's all gone in a matter of seconds."

"At least that moment's not leaving anyone's mind any time soon. I took a really good picture of your reaction that made the front page with Isabel's story."

"And now I'm officially mad at you."

He held out his hand as I stood up to leave. "Layla, I'm sorry. I don't know how I'm supposed to help you right now except for making you smile, and I'm definitely not doing a great job at that."

He most certainly was doing a terrible job, but I took in a breath. Ryan didn't have bad intentions unlike Brooke, who let me know just how embarrassing the situation was for her at least four more times since I saw her during the weekend. Because that was definitely my top concern.

"Then talk to me about literally anything else. It's been a rough few days, and I can't even distract myself by mindlessly liking pictures from people from high school that I'll never actually talk to again because I just know someone posted about me, and I don't want to see it," I said.

"You like people's pics for no reason?"

I nodded. "Sometimes."

Ryan shook his head. "I don't work like that. You gotta earn a like from me."

Maybe I was nicer than him, or maybe I wasn't as critical since I wasn't studying anything photography-related and simply didn't know what I wasn't supposed to like.

Before I could respond out loud, two girls walked past the open door as they walked to the other end of the hallway where the main lecture hall was located. I wanted to fill in the blanks and imagine that they were on their way to their final presentation for their Intro to Public Speaking class, but unlike some people I worked with, I wasn't going to make up details and tell a story that wasn't my business.

"She literally said no in front of everyone. You have to be a heartless bitch to do that," the first one said.

"I feel kinda bad for the guy, but if he knew her at all, he would know that she didn't want something public," her friend replied.

I took in a breath but didn't say anything. It was fairly obvious that they weren't talking about their third friend behind her back. It was about Corey and me. I knew better than to hope that everyone would forget about it, but I wasn't the one who tried to make a private moment public.

"You know, I just thought of something that sounds like a lot of fun that you should totally do to get your mind off of absolutely nothing," Ryan said, and before I could ask him to repeat that convoluted, confusing sentence, he continued. "There's this party that the Alpha Chi Omega girls are throwing before finals week, and it sounds like it'll be fun."

"That's nice of you to suggest, but I really don't think that's my scene, Ryan," I said.

"What do you mean? I really didn't think you were so boring that you wouldn't go to a party to release a little stress after a public breakup and before finals."

"I'm not boring. I just wouldn't be caught dead at a party thrown by Isabel's sorority."

"That definitely makes you boring."

How did that make me boring?

"I know exactly what you're trying to do, and it's not going to work." I shook my head. Did he think I was stupid? "You can't guilt me into going to a stupid party by personally attacking me. You're being a menace."

He smiled. "I'm merely an agent of chaos."

I wasn't sure how he thought that was going to help his case, but oddly enough, it didn't seem to hurt it one bit. I was already dealing with the aftermath of one unplanned event, and any attempt I made at escaping the moment didn't sit well with at least one person I knew.

"Just think about it, Layla. I'm trying to help you, and if the party sucks, you can tell me that you told me so," Ryan said.

As much as I would have liked the opportunity to tell him that, I definitely needed a new friend more like me. Of course, that uptight, driven role was taken by Corey for years, but not anymore. Why did he have to keep popping into my head? He was supposed to be the one with the lingering devastation.

I certainly wasn't going to meet anyone like that at a sorority party, but I wasn't going to meet anyone watching Breakfast at Tiffany's alone in my room either.

As much as I didn't like it, the mere chaos agent had a point.

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Hello everyone! Thank you so much for reading!

I always like to ask people questions at the end of my chapters, whether they're related to the story or it's something so we can all get to know each other better. So for today's question, if you had the time to learn a new hobby, what would it be?

I would probably pick learning to play the piano. It's a super pretty instrument, and people immediately think you're classy and cool if you can play it.