Bitter (wlw) (txs)

fifty five

"Is everything alright?" I asked Mei once we were done with our lessons for the day. She'd been weirdly quiet all day, but I sensed she was only being like that with me, for some reason.

"Yeah, I'm fine" she carelessly said, not even looking at me.

"Are you sure? Did something happen?" I added, not convinced.

"Nope, I'm fine" she repeated.

"You wanna come with me to work? Sarah's already there"

"I know. But no, I think I'll go home" she got up from her seat, as I followed her.

"Did you argue with Sarah?" I suggested, knowing I was being slightly annoying but still wanting to understand what was wrong.

"Stop Ellie, nothing happened, okay? Am I not allowed to be in a slightly bad mood?" she blurted out.

"Of course..." I said, surprised by her reaction. "I'm just not used to seeing you like this. That's all"

"Well, you'll have to" she scoffed, walking away.

That same day Sarah seemed a little off too, but I didn't want to start asking her stuff as well. I just figured something had happened between her and my friend.

During the following days Mei still seemed to be avoiding me way more than usual, but she was talking to other people. And Sarah had started to be strangely cold with me too.

Maya was the only person I knew could be aware of something I didn't know, so I asked her if she knew what happened, as much as I still didn't really want to have to do with her more than I already had to. 

"Yeah, Sarah's been acting weird too. She's never talked as little as in these days. But everytime I ask if she's okay she says she is. I guess something must have happened between her and Mei, though?" she said.

"Hm, it seems like it. They seemed fine Saturday, though" I started to get even more confused.

"I know. Sunday morning too. Whatever it is that happened, I hope they figure it out" she added.

Not really having anyone to talk to in college started to make me feel pretty lonely, especially because I'd see Mei behaving normally with other people.

I hadn't even thought of it, but when I asked Sam what she'd do in that situation she asked if I was sure she hadn't found out about me and her. Which sent me in a spiral of panic, because Sarah had warned me about not being able to keep it in for much longer.

But if that was the case, why was Sarah acting different with Maya too? She hadn't done anything wrong, for once. 

I didn't even know how to make sure that wasn't what happened, without having to directly mention it to Mei.

"Mei, wait" I said as I managed to stop her after our last class, instead of allowing her to run away immediately after like she'd been doing for the past few days.

"What?" she said, visibly annoyed.

"Can we talk? Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what, exactly?"

"You know...avoiding me and me only" I said, trying not to sound too mad.

"That's not-" she started to reply as I confusedly looked at her, making her realize we both knew that was exactly what she was doing. "Okay, fine"

"Thank you" I sighed. "What happened?"

"Let's get out of here" she said, waiting until we weren't inside the building to say anything else. "I'm sorry, okay?"