Priory // h.s.

chapter twenty-one

"I am a bloody genuis and a lifesaver. You would be dead without me, admit it!"

From where I'm sprawled across the couch, wrapped in eight tons of blankets and sipping a mug of hot cocoa, I eye Jillian warily. "What did you do now?"

"I'm incredibly offended you assume I did something. And such an accusing tone, too," my roommate sings, collapsing into the armchair across from me. Her golden hair is untied and spill loosely around her shoulders, and her blue eyes glitter. In comparison to her, I must look like the bride of Frankenstein.

"Amber," Jillian says slowly, taking in my disheveled appearance. "Did you happen to try to drown yourself in my absence or something?"

"I fell in the fucking pond," I mutter.

She gapes at me. "Where the hell did you find a pond to fall into?"

"We took a walk down by the park-"

"Who's we?"

"Harry and I." 

"Since when is there a 'Harry and you'?" Her expression clearly spells out her thoughts.

Slightly annoyed--I'm not in the best mood right now--I chuck a pillow at her. She barely flinches. "There isn't a Harry and me. I was just bored, so I fed the ducks. And then they attacked me and I fell in the water and got soaked and it sucked." I blow a quick breath at the end of my run-on sentence, leaning back in the couch and closing my eyes.

Jillian's laughter is unsympathetic and very unneccesary. My eyes fly open. "Stop laughing," I groan. "It hurts my head."

Snickers still slipping through her lips, she gets up from the armchair and joins me on the couch, wrapping her arms around me. "Aw, Amber," she coos, chucking me under the chin with her finger.

I move to bite her. "Don't coddle me. You're an asshat," I mumble sleepily.

 "Right, well, anyway," she says dismissively, without bothering to deny it. "Don't you want to know why I'm a lifesaver?"

"You'll make me soup? And sandwiches? And more hot cocoa?" I say hopefully.

My friend is not amused. "Hell no. I'm not your maid."

"You're literally the worst friend ever."

She smirks. "Oh no I'm not. Guess what? Cade's throwing a dorm party for the interns this Friday! And he invited us!"

I stare at her for a solid minute. "How does this apply to me in any way whatsoever?"

"You're invited. Duh. And now, thanks to me, you'll have something to wear. Guess it wasn't such a bad idea to have gone dress shopping, hm?"

"Yes it was. It was a very bad idea. I don't want to go to a dorm party." And definitely not one hosted by Cade.

"You have to. Everyone goes."

"Good for them. Amber Faye will be at home, watching Disney movies."

 She squints at me, clearly wondering what kind of brain damage my fall in the pond caused. "But Amber, there's no way you can be that lame."

This proclamation earns her a pinch on the arm, courtesy of yours truly. Lips pulling into a sulking pout, she rubs the reddening patch of skin in an offhanded fashion. 

"I'm not going, Jillian. You and Kenneth have fun, though," I hasten to add.

Thoughtfully, she tilts her head to the side. "Would you go if someone asked you to the party?"