Roommates with a Player

Chapter Forty Three: All or Nothing

            I barely had time to get up from my chair and step away from the table so that they wouldn’t plow right through it. I was bombarded by the two of them, my body going airborne for a moment, and then we all slammed into the ground.

            “Ouch!” I shrieked, pain radiating from my back.

            But instead of a sorry, they started shouting at me, their voices sounding angry at first but then growing happier.

            “You’re back! You’re back!” they said on chorus.

            I shoved them off of me and sat up. Henry, Michelle, and Charlie were staring at us like we were insane. It’s not everyday that you see two friends attack and bring their best friend to the ground.

            “Should we give you guys some privacy?” Michelle questioned me, a strange look on her face.

            “Uh, sure?” my words came out sounding more like a question than a statement.

            Everyone quickly finished their meals and scampered off to their own rooms while Hailey and Maggie helped me up and towed me to the living room couch, where I regained my breath and said my hellos.

            “I’m so glad you came over,” I smiled. “I didn’t think you were both still in town. I’d expected you both to go out of state for college.”

            “Nah, we like it here!” Hailey replied. “You look so different, Em!”

            “In a bad way or a good way?” I asked, my self-consciousness growing.

            “In a great way!” Maggie assured me.

            “Well, that’s a relief,” I murmured.

            The next few minutes were followed with a bit of catching up and all the stuff I’d heard from just about every other person since I’d gotten back to town.

            “H-have you heard from Ricky since you’ve been back?” Maggie murmured, her voice growing nervous.

            “Surprisingly, no. James picked me up from the airport and he’s been at the hospital since I got here. Why did you ask?”

            Maggie and Hailey exchanged a strange glance.

            “I’m sorry, is there something I’m missing?” I questioned them both, looking at each of their guilty faces.

            “Well, we talked to Ricky and he told us something that I think you should-,”

            Maggie was cut off by one of Hailey’s punches. She yelped in pain, clutching her arm.

            “Maggie’s trying to say that we both saw him at Starbucks a few weeks back and we talked about…dogs. Yeah. We talked about dogs,” Hailey sputtered out.

            I sat there a moment, completely dumbstruck.

            “Okay, that has to be the dumbest lie you’ve ever made up in your whole life,” I finally said.

            “Don’t listen to Hailey’s lies. I’ll tell you the truth, Em,” Maggie spoke up.

            “Maggie, don’t! He told us not to!” Hailey squealed.

            I stood up from the couch and wheeled around to give them a menacing glare. They huddled together on the couch in hopefully, fear.