Falsettos College AU

4:00

Whizzer

"What are you doing up?"

I turn to see Cordelia, standing behind me in the kitchen. It's about 4:00 in the morning, and I'm standing at the fridge dressed in a bathrobe. She's still in her pajamas, obviously, and is giving me a death stare.

"Sorry for waking you," I reply sheepishly, closing the fridge door. "I was hungry and wanted to get something to eat."

She looks me up and down. "Why are you in your bathrobe?"

"I was... dirty and wanted to take a shower?"

"Uh-huh." Cordelia shakes her head and walks back into the living room. "Whatever. It's not like you woke me up anyway. I can't fucking sleep for some reason. Maybe it's period cramps. Maybe it's just nerves. I don't know."

I follow her in and sit on the couch. "Why would it be nerves?" I ask. "I mean, is there anything specific to be nervous about?"

She shrugs. "I don't know. Let's see. Valentine's Day is coming up. Obviously, it's going to be my first one with Charlotte. But everything's pretty good with us, so I don't think I have anything to worry about... maybe it's that the end of the year is nearing and we'll be done with college before we know it and I feel like I haven't experienced enough to even remember these years—"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down," I say. I stand up and grab her by the shoulders. "You don't need to stress out about that."

"Oh, okay. Thanks, Whizzer. All better," she answers bitterly.

"I mean, yeah, your first year is almost over, but you have a ton of time for memorable experiences. And that doesn't have to include going to parties and shit... especially after the last one."

She rolls her eyes lightheartedly. "Come on. When are you going to let me forget that?"

"You already do." I try to suppress a grin. "Because you were drunk."

"Yeah, okay, I'm not worried about this anymore. I'll always remember having an asshole for a roommate," she huffs, but I know she's joking.

I sit back down and look at her. "Well, it's 4AM, and you still can't sleep, so what else in your life do you think could be causing it?"

"Maybe my asshole roommate?" She locks her fingers together underneath her chin and raises an eyebrow at me.

"Fair point, fair point. Do you suppose it would help to try going the fuck to sleep?"

"No, I have work in a couple of hours anyway," she responds, climbing onto the couch and resting her arm on the back of it. "Let's watch some TV!"

"You always want to watch TV."

"I know." She's already grabbed the remote and turned on the television, so I decide it can't hurt to watch a few episodes with her. We're still up by the time she has to get ready for work, so I convince her to go and get dressed. Thank goodness I don't work today. I'd be way too tired after getting up at 4:00.

With Cordelia gone, it's a pretty low-key day. But she got into my head earlier with the whole thing about not having enough memorable experiences, and now the thought keeps coming back to me. Which is incredibly dumb. I mean, I have enough to remember from high school already, and I'll have enough to remember from the years that come after, so why am I getting worked up about now?

Maybe it's because of how everything is sort of changing— this is my first long-term relationship, after all. And befriending his ex-girlfriend, the guy she has a crush on, and two chaotic lesbians? On the other hand, this is my college experience. Maybe it's just not what I wanted it to be. But I can't deny that it'll be fun seeing where this goes.

When Cordelia gets back home, Charlotte is with her. I don't see them right away because I'm asleep on the couch, but Cordelia helpfully wakes me up by exclaiming, "Were you lying here the entire time I was at work??"

"Whizzer, what the hell?" says Charlotte.

I sit up, glancing at both of them. "Oh, hey, guys. Look, can you blame me? Today was super boring. Also, I've been up since 4:00. I don't have the energy to move," I point out.

"Okay, well, same," Cordelia admits, dropping her coat on the back of the couch (even though the coat hooks are right there). "I hope you don't mind that Charlotte's gonna be having dinner with us later tonight."

"That's fine," I answer, waving to Charlotte from the couch. She waves back with a sort of cautious smile. I lay myself on the cushions again and try to get back to sleep.

The rest of the day is sort of relaxed. Hey, there's something that's different from usual.

Mendel

I knock loudly on Trina's door. "Trina? I know you can hear me. Can you please come and open the door?" I call.

Finally, she opens it. "Why didn't you tell me it was you out there?" she hisses. "I thought someone was trying to murder me."

"Oh. Sorry. Can I come in?" I step into her dorm before she can answer. "I need to talk to you about something."

"Oh, my God." She walks over to her bed and sits down, holding her head. I look at her in confusion. What's the matter now?

"I can come back later—"

"No, no," she cuts me off. "Please just say it now."

I don't know what she thinks I'm going to say, or why there's suddenly so much angst in the room. "Okay. I'll just say it. It's been a while since we, you know, talked."

She frowns. "We talked last week."

"I mean like a therapy session. Like how I would give you advice and you would vent to me about your problems?" I sit down next to her. "No pressure. I just want to know what's been going on lately."

Trina looks a little surprised. "Oh, that's right. You know, now that you mention it, I guess not much is happening right now. You already know I called a truce with Marvin," she remarks.

"About time," I mutter.

"Shut up. No, you have a point. But it wasn't exactly my fault. You know I tried mending things when I got to meet Whizzer back in the fall."

"True." I don't know what else to say. The conversation has sort of reached a dead end. Was the thing about our "therapy" sessions the real reason I came here anyway? I bite my lip and look around the room. It's considerable smaller than my dorm, but Trina doesn't seem to mind it. "Nice place you've got."

"Thanks," she replies in a bored tone. "I'm kind of sick of it. I don't have anywhere else to hang out after class and stuff."

I raise my eyebrows. "How about the library? That's where we always used to go."

"Couldn't hurt," she says with a shrug. As we're getting up from the bed, her phone buzzes and she looks at it. "Oh, man, I can't. Sorry, Mendel. I'm late for a job interview."

"Oh! That's big!"

"It won't be if I miss it." She pats me on the shoulder before rushing to the door. "We'll hang out soon, I promise. I have to go." And I'm left standing in her dorm room. It's sort of awkward being here by myself, so I leave and shut the door behind me.

Why didn't I use this opportunity to ask her out? Oh, who am I kidding. I wouldn't have gotten a single word in without choking anyway. There's always next time, right?