Behind Closed Doors

02 - alter ego

Hazel's POV:

Natalia accidentally sent me the audio recording of our last lecture.

It was 3 am, and she just randomly sent me it.

And now it's 6 pm, and she's over at my apartment. It's weird, having her in my personal space. Seeing my roommates and our pictures together hanging on the walls. I never see her outside of class or the hospital.

I sit next to her on the couch and pull my knee up to my chin. I get out my laptop and open the directions. I scroll through them and look at her.

"Did you read them? I don't feel like it," I say. She nods without looking up at me.

"Oh my gosh, Nat! Hi! Where's Lizzie?" Zoey asks, coming out of her room. She's only in underwear and a crop top. You can see all of her tattoos.

Natalia looks her up and down.

Don't fucking look at her like that.

Stop, Hazel.

"She's out at the bar. Mikes I think," she says. Zoey looks at me and grins. She comes over to me and ruffles her hand through my hair.

"Relax, Zelly, I won't steal your girl," she says before giggling. I furrow my eyebrows, and she smiles again.

"Stop calling me Zelly," I say.

"No!" She says smiling. She goes to the fridge and throws me one of those prepackaged ham and cheese sandwiches. My favorite.

"Eat. I haven't seen you all day so I know you haven't eaten anything." I take a bite and look back at my laptop. I pull up slides and notice she's shared one with me.

"So, we got assigned.. cancer. Brain tumor," she says. I swallow and look down.

"Oh no," Zoey says.

"What?" She asks looking at Zoey and then me. I shake my head.

"Nothing. It's fine," I say. I chew on my bottom lip while looking for reliable sources. I feel Natalia's eyes on me, but I ignore it.

"What happened?" Lyss asks coming in. She has her tote bags in hand full of groceries. She does all the shopping for us. I have social anxiety and Zoey hates grocery stores. We just send her a list.

She refuses to make us pay her back, but she always finds my portion in her wallet after she goes shopping.

I put it there.

"She has to do a project on brain cancer," Zoey says. Her face drops.

"Oh.. why would he make you do that?! I'm gonna kill him, Haze!" She says.

"He doesn't know! It was randomly assigned it's fine!" I say wiping my tears.

"I'm going to kill him still. He should be a goddamn mind reader," she says. I chuckle and shake my head.

"I know it's none of my business but.. why is this a.. problem?" Natalia asks.

"My dad passed from brain cancer when I was 16," I inform. Her face drops, and her jaw drops slightly.

"I am.. so sorry for your loss, Hazel," she says grabbing my hand.

"It's okay. It's fine. Um. Which slides do you wanna do?" I ask looking up at her. We hold eye contact, and she pulls her hand away.

"I don't mind, really. There's an even amount of numbers so I'll do even, you do odd?" I nod.

"Sure. Yeah." She nods and looks down at her laptop.