Falsettos College AU

(Just) Friends

Trina

There are so many questions I have. Since when does Marvin have a boyfriend? When did they meet? Was he the reason we broke up? If so, why didn't Marvin tell me he was gay? Is he even gay? It's only been five months since we were together. How much has changed?

Life just got a lot more stressful. And here I thought this was a new beginning. I was moving away from my hometown, from my old life, from Marvin. I never should have approached him in the study room. I could have just ignored him and gone the next four years without even talking to him. This could have been my beginning.

Well, there's no turning back now. I've talked to him, and now I need to know more. I'm making my way through the halls the next day, trying to find him. I hope that nobody's with him, whether it's that Mendel guy or whoever the hell his boyfriend is.

"Don't blow up," I say to myself. "I know you're mad at him for breaking it off so abruptly and leading you on when he was probably hooking up with guys on the side, but don't— oh, damn it, Trina, you're already blowing up. Stop!"

A familiar-looking curly-haired guy is passing me in the hall, looking bewildered at my yelling at myself. Oh, right, it's Mendel. I look around, but Marvin's nowhere near. Maybe it's better for me to calm myself down before I talk to him anyway.

"Trina?" Mendel frowns. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I reply. "Everything's fine. You don't even know me. You don't know my problems."

I start to walk away, but he quickly moves in front of me and blocks my path. "I'm a psychology major," he says, and I don't know how many times he's already said that to someone. "I can understand your problems. Just let me, Trina. Let me in."

"I was just upset about Marvin," I inform him, shifting the strap of my bag on my shoulder. "You know, seeing him in the study room the other day. It brought back some pain that evidently wasn't long enough ago to have worn off."

"You're a damaged girl," Mendel remarks. I sigh and try to push past him, because I don't feel like talking about whether or not I'm damaged.

"Just leave me alone. Please."

"Well, I have to make some friends here. Or else the next four years will pretty much suck. And so do you."

I turn around to face him with a frown. "I don't need your help to make friends."

"No, but we can start out by being that for each other," he points out. He's not wrong. I look him up and down, considering this. I should be a bit nicer to him. He isn't really that bad.

I'm start to nod, but then pull away. "You're friends with Marvin," I remind him. "I can't share a friend with my ex. Not if I want to get over him."

"I promise you, Trina, Marvin means nothing to me," Mendel says, taking my hand.

"Are you sure?"

He shrugs. "Yeah. He doesn't really like me anyway. We just hang out so I can give him therapy."

"Okay," I laugh. "I guess so. Just don't try to give me advice about my situation. Because if I don't know what to do, you definitely won't."

"I'm a psychology major," he replies, sounding a little offended.

"Mendel." I look into his eyes. "It's September. Your major does not make a difference to anything right now." He nods reluctantly, and I let go of his hand. "I'll see you later, 'kay?"

"Okay. Try not to stress too much about Marvin," he suggests as I'm walking away.

"Now that's some useful advice," I mutter, more to myself then to him, holding my head. It's useful, but can I manage to take it? Stressing is way easier than not stressing. Especially in a situation like this.

I'm glad Mendel's here, though. It'll make it a little easier, if anything.

Whizzer

"It's way more practical to have plastic cups!"

"Excuse me, I think we're responsible enough to have glass ones," I say, snatching the cup from Marvin's hand. "Besides, you don't even live here."

"Can you both be quiet? I'm trying to watch the news."

I walk into the living room where Cordelia's cross-legged on our couch, watching TV. It's only a few steps away from the kitchen, mind you, and it's barely a separate room. "What's so interesting about the news?" I ask her.

"Nothing," she admits with a shrug. "I just wanted you two to shut up."

Marvin comes in shortly after me. "I don't think you guys are mature enough to have only glass cups," he tells us, like a concerned parent. "You should switch them."

"Stop trying to control our lives, Marvin," I snap, as Cordelia grabs the remote and clicks off the TV.  "We're not going to drop and break our glasses, right, Cordelia?"

"I dropped one last night," she replies in a quiet voice.

I throw my hands up in the air, exasperated.

"What's been going on with you guys, anyway?" Marvin questions, sitting next to Cordelia on the couch. "I feel like we haven't talked much in the last few weeks."

"Tell her about Trina," I call from the kitchen, where I'm looking for something to eat.

Marvin hesitates. "Uh, what about Trina?"

"You know, how she's your ex-girlfriend and you didn't know she went here but then we saw her in the hall that one time," I remind him, coming into the living room with a bowl of grapes. Cordelia takes one and looks at Marvin, intrigued.

"Well, that and she talked to me in the study room the other day," he mutters.

I almost drop my bowl. "She what?" I demand. "When were you going to tell me about this?"

"I'm tired of people asking me that question!"

"Ooh, this sounds dramatic," Cordelia whispers, starting to stand up. "I should let you two sort things out."

"Stop." I put a hand on her shoulder to keep her from walking away. "Marvin and I can talk about this later." Why am I a little upset? Trina was the one who came up to him, as he implied. I wonder if he told her about me. But like I said, we can talk about that later. "Let's get back to you."

Cordelia just shrugs. "I don't know. I've been talking to Charlotte a bit more—"

"Charlotte?" Marvin raises his eyebrows. "Who's Charlotte?"

"She's this girl I met at my work. We've been hanging out at school and stuff." She hides her face, as if she's embarrassed, and suddenly I realize.

I climb up onto the couch as if being high up will make my announcement more effective. "You like her, don't you?" I tease. Cordelia reaches up to pull me back down.

"Stop standing on the couch. And yeah, maybe I like her a little. What's your problem?"

"You like her! I knew it!" I flop down next to Marvin. "You should definitely ask her out."

She stares at me like I'm crazy. "Ask her out? I can't do that. I've only known her for a few weeks. That would be insane. No. I'm not doing that."

"But you want to, right?" Marvin grins.

"Duh."

"Just do it, then," I encourage her. "You'll probably regret it later if you don't. Just saying. You know, I would be kicking myself right now if I hadn't taken my shot with Marvin. And I'm sure he feels the same way about Trina."

Marvin kicks me gently, probably so I don't have to. "Shut up, Whizzer. You know I don't still have feelings for her. She just wanted to talk to me."

"Okay, okay," I laugh. "Now, Cordelia. Come on."

"No. It's too bold. I'm not ready for that kind of thing. I just want to focus on school for the time being."

"Boring," I mutter.

She shakes her head. "It's not up for discussion."

"When you decide to ask her out, let us know," Marvin remarks.

"Will do."