Roommate [girlxgirl]

Loaded

Darron runs up to me and hugs me. "I heard that Alicia is going after you now! I love how fast you move on from the love of your life."

"Shut up, Praise isn't the love of my life," I say.

He lets go of me and shrugs. "You never know. Plus, she's never fallen in love before, so you could be her first and last."

I groan with rage and embarrassment. Conversations like these make me uncomfortable because my life was ruined the last time I thought I found the love of my life. I've only known Praise for a few days, so I'd be getting ahead of myself if I thought she had no unbearable flaws. Actually, I already know a flaw I can't get past: she's pretending to be straight.

Darron pulls out a beanie from his coat pocket and puts it on. A tuft of curly hair pokes out from the top, so I can see why boring white girls are into him. We start walking towards the main building, but we walk slowly because we both still have time before our class starts. We found out that we're in the same bio class!

"There's a party this weekend, if you're interested. It's in Mackie, so it won't be a huge party, but Praise and Alicia are going. I want to see if they fight over you!" Darron says.

"Will there be beer?" I ask. He nods, and I nod back. "I'm in, then."

He laughs and crams his hands into his pockets. "The theme is edgy people and stuff. I don't know why Praise is going, but someone invited her. You better tell her to dress up for it! Anyways, it's on Saturday, so get ready!" he says.

We walk past an open field where upperclassmen are throwing a football. The men are tall and broad, but they move with too much confidence. The beauty of women is that most women walk vulnerably, but a badass girlfriend can change that. The change is the best part.

"Do you think you'll ever be like them?" I ask Darron.

He looks over to watch the football players, too. He walks differently than they do, but he's still tall and broad. Maybe he's just more honest than they are.

Darron grunts and mumbles something before giving an understandable answer. "Football players and band kids and computer geeks—Wait, why would I want to be like them? It's so  much more satisfying to be counter-culture."

I furrow my eyebrows and tilt my head. "Aren't emos considered a subculture? If it's a culture, it's not counter-culture."

"Oh, shut up, won't you?" he laughs. "You know what I meant. Plus, being a goth boy is how I justify being talentless."

I scoff and punch his upper-arm. "You are not talentless! Come on, skateboarding requires practice and stuff."

He shakes his head. "Skateboarding is one hell-of-a useless talent. I meant something like football, band, or computers. I'm majoring in communications because it's good for broadening the job options I'll have, but I have no idea what I'm going to focus on in the job force."

"I think you're a people person, so don't worry about it. I could see you becoming a salesperson or store manager or whatever," I say.

He shakes his head. "That sounds stupid."

"Well, that sounds like a you-problem!" I exclaim.

He waves his hand at me to dismiss the conversation. "Why can't we go back to talking about you and Praise? I was having way more fun making you uncomfortable."

"Speaking of that, I made out with Alicia yesterday, and it was fine. I think we'll start dating soon," I say.

"Oh, boy," he says. "The make out was 'fine'? That sounds rough."

I shrug. "I need to distract myself from Praise more. She takes her clothes off a lot in our room, and her panties are so sexy."

"No need to tell me twice," he laughs.

I punch his upper-arm again, and he flinches this time. I cross my arms and pout my lips. He reaches to grab my bottom lip, and I swat his hand away.

"You're like the brother I always wanted, except I hate you," I say jokingly but still with a serious face.

He cackles, rubbing his hands together like a witch. "Don't you love the tattoo she has on her panty line?"

He's talking about the one and only tattoo Praise has. She got it when she was 16, and it's the word "beautiful" in cursive. She told me it's to remind her that black is beautiful.

"Ugh!" I shout. "It's so hot, but please shut up," I whisper.

He leans in close to my ear. "You want to take her panties off!" he giggles.

"Stop it!" I shout and push him away, laughing the entire time.

We make it to the main building and grab lunch. We eat with his emo friend group, and the entire table argues about whether Twenty One Pilots counts as an emo band. Darron and I ignore his friends most of the time.

"I have an older brother that I hate because he was more popular than I was in high school," Darron says out of nowhere.

I stare at him blankly and expect him to continue speaking, but he doesn't. "That's it?"

His jaw muscles flare up before he starts talking. "He slept with my first girlfriend while she was drunk. It was rape, to be honest. She didn't want it, and she couldn't say no."

I shiver and take a sip of my coffee. This subject came out of nowhere, and I have no idea how to respond to something as serious as that. I've never been in any similar situation, and I don't even know how to begin sympathizing with Darron.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to get so graphic during lunch, but I just thought you should know that about me. No one does except for you," he says.

I feel special, but the burden presses against my upper-back like a dumbbell. I still don't know what to say, so I stay silent. We finish our lunch quietly and walk our separate ways.