Part One.
“Okay.” Normani nods, determined as she purses her lips and stretches her neck, eyes focused on the paragraph formed words on her screen. “Okay.” She repeats before straightening her back and allowing her eyes to roam over the words on the laptop. “In particular, she explores the sexual aspects of visual pleasures that derive-”
“Normani!”
Normani jumps slightly before holding her hand to her chest, her heart beating in tandem with the shock her body had just expressed, before she exhales and looks at the person who just attempted murder. “What Ry?” She asks through gritted teeth.
“What do you mean ‘What Ry’?” Ryan asks, mocking her friend as she moves around the slab to study her. “What the hell are you doing sitting on the kitchen counter? Your ass is where I make food!”
Normani rolls her eyes as Ryan continues to verbally express her shock. The third-year student silently closes her laptop and climbs from the kitchen counter. “I just wanted to see if I could get some inspiration over here, that’s all.” She explains when Ryan is done ranting, but her roommate is just too much in disbelief to accept that as an answer.
“On the kitchen counter, Normani, where we make food!” Ryan gestures to where her friend had just been sitting, watching as she opens the fridge and takes out the remainder of the orange juice.
“Firstly.” Normani groans slightly as she stretches for a glass. “You don’t make food.” She corrects Ryan. “I make food.” She informs her as she pours the juice into the glass. “Secondly, when I do make food, I use cutting boards and bowls.” She points a finger at Ryan before throwing the empty bottle in their shared plastic bin. “And thirdly, I’m not dirty. I was going to wipe there when I was done. You’re overreacting.”
“I am overreacting?” Ryan asks through a chuckle. “I am overreacting? Normani, you have been wearing the same clothes for three days now.”
“Because I don’t want to do too much laundry.” Normani shrugs in response before taking a sip of her juice. “Also, nobody sees me in this, why should I waste clothes?”
Ryan puts a hand to her head as she begins pacing and shaking her head. “You’ve been wearing the same clothes, you’ve been up at all hours of the night, your room is a mess, excuse me for thinking you sitting on the counter with a shirt full of stains is unsanitary.” She stops pacing. “You should be so happy Mama Drea is back home, because if she was here, I would have called her to come and yell at you because what the hell Mani? What the hell?” Normani pouts before finishing her juice and putting the glass with the rest of the unwashed dishes in the sink. Ryan’s eyes flash over the area before she exhales slowly. “Normani.”
“I’m just not feeling well, okay?” Normani admits as she adjusts her dirty shirt. “I can’t do anything anymore. I’m tired. But I also can’t sleep, because my problems keep me awake. It’s a vicious cycle. I have so much work overdue, but I can’t do it because I’m too tired to do it, and I can’t sleep because I can’t do my work.”
Ryan’s eyes soften as she takes in Normani’s sluggish posture. She sighs softly before pulling her friend into a hug. “Mani, why didn’t you tell me you were feeling this way?”
“Because…” Ryan feels Normani’s body basically melt into hers. “I didn’t think you’d notice, and I don’t want you to stress.”
Ryan chuckles slightly before pulling away. “You didn’t think I’d notice? Between the pile of dishes in the kitchen and the clothes you have laying on your desk in the room, and the pasta sauce stains on your shirt from three days ago? You didn’t think I’d notice, really?”
