FLAKES | NATHAN CHEN

FIFTEEN

March 25th, 2019

Despite Avery being grateful that she didn't have to go to statistics the first day back from break, she wished she had had class this morning after all. She wanted her mind to stop swimming with images of the boy who had been hiding a secret life from her, and maybe it would have helped distract her from Nathan. She wanted to see if he was even back at school, and maybe that would clear her mind from her spinning thoughts. Instead, she was laying on her dorm room bed while Jess and her girlfriend Anna were getting ready for their date.

"Ok, which top do you like better, right or left?" Jess questioned her roommate and her girlfriend while holding up two shirts. "Go with the right," Avery said after a few seconds of thought passed. "Agreed," stated Anna, "But shouldn't you have picked out your outfit for our date, I don't know, not five minutes before our date?" "Well I'm sorry that I didn't get here until late last night and I just finished putting away my clothes now," Jess sassed back as she changed her shirt, now wearing an army green top with a pair of jeans.

"Where are you guys even going anyways?" Avery questioned, sitting up in her bed. "We are going to dinner and a movie," Anna said with a smile as she linked arms with her girlfriend. "At...noon?" Avery looked at the clock, confused as to why they would be going to dinner and a movie now. "Ok so it's no ideally dinner and a movie," Anna said. Jess picked up her sentence, "But I have psychology tonight at seven and she has environmental studies at eight."

"What are you doing today Avery?" Anna questioned as she sat on her girlfriends bed, waiting for Jess to finish getting ready. However before she could answer, her roommate beat her to it, "She's wallowing in her sorrows while waiting for a boy to text back." "I am not wallowing in my sorrows!" Avery yelled back in her defense. "Wait, is this the boy that you were hanging out with during the beginning of the semester? Did he ghost you?" Anna questioned as she turned her gaze back to the girl across from her. "Yes, It's the same person," She started, picking the sheets of her bed as she avoided eye contact, "And I'm assuming he's ghosting me?"

"Why do you think he's ghosting you?" Anna asked her. Well, Avery thought, I found out a big secret that isn't a secret really but I don't know if he wants people to know or not. "She found out he was an Olympian," Jess said, her voice coming out muffled as she brushed her teeth in their bathroom. "Oh, the guy is Nathan Chen?" Anna asked, making Avery's eyebrows furrow in confusion as she rolled over in her bed to face Anna. "How'd you know that?" "Well, like she just said he's an Olympian. Plus my family loves the Olympics and they freaked out when they announced he was going to the same school I was going to."

"So I'm literally the only one who didn't know that he was super famous," Avery said, raising her arms and throwing them down as she let out an exasperated sigh. Expressing the thoughts that she had been feeling for the past few days, she felt stupid. How could she have never heard of the name of a boy who was incredibly talented that Yale was advertising left and right. The more she looked into the boy, the more she realized it had been in front of her face the whole time. Yale had posted tons of articles about the boy she called her friend, and if she had only opened her eyes she would have known.

"Well, in your defense, you never really watch sports like ever," Jess concluded, wiping her hands on her jeans as she went to sit on her bed next to her girlfriend. "That's true, you wouldn't have known unless you watched the stuff," Anna concluded, nodding along with her girlfriend. "I guess you guys are right," Avery said when they all heard a knock on the door. "That's probably the guy from the mail room, they don't like the amount of packages I order," Jess said with a laugh as she stood up to get the door. Avery laughed and then said with a teasing voice, "What is this, like the 15th package you've ordered this month?" "Oh shut up," Jess yelled back, making the other two girls laugh before they heard her whisper, "Oh no." "What's wrong, is it more then you expected?" Anna teased. "No, I think this is for Avery," the other two girls stood up in confusion at the hesitation in her voice. "What? I didn't get anything..." Avery's voice died out towards the end of her sentence as she saw who stood at the door.