What I Hate About You

I hate the way you talk to me and the way you cut your hair

"Alright, love, where are we meeting them? Are they stopping 'round here first, or are we going straight to the bar?" Evelina asks, plopping herself down on the couch next to Charlie, the force of Evelina on the pillow sending Charlie's phone into the air before hitting the floor.

Charlie huffs as she bends down to pick it up, staring at the screen as if she was trying to will a new message to appear. "Last I heard, we were meeting them there. But that's only if you get ready before they get bored and leave."

Evelina rolls her eyes at her roommate's grouchiness, pulling herself and Charlie off the couch to lead her down their hall to her room. "As if they would get that bored in a bar that's probably full of gorgeous women that can't wait to hit on an attractive group of guys." Charlie feels her chest tighten at the thought of someone else flirting with the one she wanted to text. There was no question that he was attractive, but they weren't together. There was no need for them to be together, nor was there desire from herself to be with him. But that didn't mean she wanted to think about him being with someone else.

Charlie throws herself onto Evelina's bed, her phone finally buzzing with the texts she was waiting for. His name appears on her screen, the stupid nickname and emojis that he had put next to his contact one time all those years ago when they first met making her blush immediately, as it did every time he sent her something.

"Is that your man, Char?" Evelina asks, an evil grin on her face as she finally starts applying her makeup for the night.

Charlie scoffs, sitting up to meet Evelina's gaze in her mirror. "He's not my man."

"Not yet."

"Not ever."

"But you want him to be."

Charlie hesitates before answering, quickly getting out, "No," when she sees Evelina start to give her own comeback.

Evelina turns to her, shoving the mascara wand in her hand back into the tube. "You wouldn't have waited to answer me like you always do. You wouldn't have smiled when he texted just now."

"How do you know it was him?" Charlie asks, crossing her arms over her chest, her phone still in hand and buzzing with more and more texts from him. She bit her lip, hoping it would somehow stop the heat from rushing back to her cheeks to turn them pink yet again, knowing that it would be received with teasing from Evelina. She checks her phone in an attempt to ignore her roommate, praying that she could play it off as a message from one of her parents, or even her brother.

Her parents texted exactly how you would expect someone who was on the cusp of being a boomer would text, which meant there was no need for her to blush at the sight of their messages, not in the way that his texts made her. As for her brother, their messages were normally dumb enough that anyone who didn't know their relationship would be incredibly confused by the lack of context and the random messages sent at seven am that asked, 'in a court of law, what's the difference between a murder a homicide?' No one's messages made her feel the way his did, even when they were as mundane as a silly dancing Snoopy GIF that she knew her mom would also send.

"What, are you two sexting or something?" Charlie looks up from her phone, slightly offended by her roommate's crude insinuation as she continues. "You only blush when he is the one who texts you. Which is more than anyone else, even me, who is your best friend. I'm surprised more people don't think you're sunburned or have some medical condition that always makes your skin red," Evelina mocks, shrugging as she continues to put her makeup on.

"We live and work together, we don't need to text each other. You can't see if I blush when you text me since it implies that we aren't together in the first place." Charlie counters, hating that Evelina knew her way too well. "Second, I don't have rosacea or any similar condition. I don't blush every time he texts me. Third, this is not sexting. We're fully clothed and not talking about anything like that."