The Roommate Assignment

6

Grayson

Aspen's situation with her family was not okay within a few days. They held grudges that even me and my dad have never met. It was Halloween weekend, and Aspen didn't even plan anything. She didn't have any costumes lined up, she wasn't buzzing about how she was going to pair with Katie, or begging me to decorate the apartment with her. Aspen wouldn't even sit with me to watch a scary movie. I knew she had seasonal depression, I had helped her through it the best I could, but this wasn't that. Aspen rarely came out of her room, I tried the best I could to get her to come out some nights but she always said she was studying. The best she would be feeling recently was when she looked at her grades. I didn't know how to help her. It's not like I could reach out to her Mom and Dad, what would I say? 'Hey Mr. and Mrs. Lewis, this is the disappointment your daughter lives with. Your daughter is incredibly depressed over you disrespecting her privacy and I'd appreciate it if you'd forget all the things you read about us and start treating her like your daughter again.' Yeah, like that would go over well.

I decided it was time to bring in reinforcement, I managed to hunt down Kate at Nest and ambushed her at the front counter.

"I need you to come fix her," I explained, placing my hands down on the counter.

"Grayson, what are you on about?" Kate asked, looking up from her phone.

"Aspen has not left her room besides to go to class for weeks, I need you to come over and be there for her," I explained, "I've tried, but she brushes me off. I've offered to take her out, watch movies, cook dinner, everything and she won't. She hasn't even nagged me about Halloweekend."

"I've been texting her, she says everythings fine she's just been busy," Kate shows me their texts.

"Yeah, busy burrowing in bed and distracting herself with an extensive amount of homework, even for her," I explained, someone clearing their throat behind me.

"Are you going to order?" The girl asks. I rolled my eyes and stepped aside. I crossed my arms and tapped impatiently as she got her order taken.

"Okay, so why is she severely depressed- more than usual I mean?" Kate questions, tampering down some expresso shots.

"You mean she didn't tell you about her parents practically disowning her over me?" I clarified this was so much worse than I thought it was. Aspen wasn't even telling her best friend about the situation. Kate handed the customer her drink before grabbing a piece of receipt paper and scribbling down a list. Kate took off her apron and disappeared in the back. When she came back out she had her bag slung over her shoulder and was leading me out of the coffee shop.

"You're going to go to the store and get me everything on this list," Kate hands me the slip of paper, "I'm going straight to your guys' place to get her out of her room at least to the couch. I'll have her fixed by this weekend."

I saluted before turning for my car.

I was standing in front of the ice cream, wondering what flavor Aspen would want. Aspen told me her all-time favorite was Espresso Chocolate Chip but Kate wrote down cookie dough. Maybe she meant cookie dough to bake not ice cream. Screw it. I grabbed cookie dough ice cream off the shelf as well as the espresso chocolate chip and threw them in the basket. I also found a tube of Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough and threw it on top of the pile of goods. I didn't know exactly how a bunch of junk food was going to fix Aspen's Dad (her built-in best friend) disowning her, but I never questioned Kate or Aspen because I usually ended up wrong or looking stupid.

"I'm back!" I called, grabbing spoons and running up the steps with the groceries.

"Thank God, why didn't you tell me how bad it was?" Kate questioned, taking the bags and spoons from me and opening the door to Aspen's room. Well, what's left of her room? Aspen has always been a clean freak, I mean cleaning my room while spilling her gossip to me. Her floor was barely visible.