No Ordinary Fate

Chapter 4

 An hour passed by with multiple students wandering in and out of the lounge before Emory felt the couch dip slightly as a sign someone was sitting beside her.

"Hi!" Brittany said. "I was wondering if me sitting here would be enough or if I'd have to pry that book from your fingers to get your attention."

Emory glanced at her hands and saw that she had been gripping the book tightly between her fingers. She had been very focused on a tougher puzzle that had very few hints.

"Sorry, got a little too into this, I guess." She smiled, thinking how lucky she was Brittany seemed to want to talk to her as much as she wanted to talk to Brittany, or she would've passed right by without Emory's notice.

"Wanna grab dinner in an hour or so?" Brittany asked.

"Yeah, that'd be great!" Emory replied. "And, actually, I kind of have a favor to ask you."

"What's up?"

"Well...I need your help picking out an outfit for tomorrow."

"Girl, consider it done. Wardrobe help is one of my favorite hobbies. What look are we going for? Sexy, silly, understated, relaxed, glam?"

"Um, comfortable but date-worthy?" Emory said.

"Wait, date? As in, Theo asked you out already?"

Emory blushed and nodded. Brittany let out a shriek before latching onto her hand and pulling her up off the couch.

"Come on, we've gotta start now!"

Emory laughed as Brittany tugged on her arm all the way to her room.

"I have to warn you, my roommate isn't very social."

"You're one to talk," Brittany said lightly, and it was clear in her tone she meant no harm with her insult, only teasing.

"Also, I'm not sure I have much clothing to work with."

Emory was fairly simple with clothing mostly because her mother had always been too busy to do mother-daughter shopping trips and none of her friends had an interest in spending hours at the mall. A part of her wanted her wardrobe to be more expressive. To own clothes to fit a mood or occasion, but mostly she had clean-cut clothes for any occasion. They mirrored her mom's clothes, because usually her mother just picked her up a few things every month when she was in need of something new. Plain blouses and dark jeans were staples. She tended to look more like she was attending an office meeting on a casual Friday than school.

Brittany was practically bouncing with excitement as she waited for Emory to unlock and open her door.

"Okay I need every last detail on how he did it and how it happened! How did he ask you? Did he seem nervous? Or confident you would say yes? Was it clear he was asking you to be his date?? Or did seem—"

Emory cut her off as she opened her door. "One question at a time and outfit first. We can analyze his dialogue over dinner."

Tanya was still hunched over her keyboard when she walked in, but now there was an empty cup of easy mac next to her and the room held the smell of the fake, neon-colored cheese.

Emory had turned right to her closet in attempt to prevent interaction, but Brittany forged ahead with her extroverted self.

"Hi," she said loudly, walking near Tanya's desk. Tanya removed her headphones and looked Brittany up and down before muttering hello.

"I'm Brittany, from down the hall," she said amicably, though Tanya gave her no indication to continue. "You're Tanya, right?" Tanya nodded once. "I remember you from the dorm meetings! So, you like video games?" Another nod. "You know, a guy in my Spanish class was talking about the video game clubs on campus just the other day. Apparently, there is one more focused on design and then one for enthusiasts to, like, meet up and discuss the games and even play together. I'd bet it'd be a cool club to join. The club fair is next Tuesday. If you're not busy, you should come with Emory and I, we're gonna check out a few too!