Can I Ask You a Question?

2

As I propped myself back on Benji's pillows in his dorm room, he chucked the hot bag of popcorn at me. I ate like I hadn't been eating well recently, which was pretty accurate.

"Ah fuck- that shit is hot, dumbass. Why did you do that?" I winced, picking it up quickly from my thighs.

"Oops, I didn't think it would land on you. Sorry." Benji held his hands up and turned on the TV. We had decided to hang out and have a casual movie night. Benji was fun to hang out with.

"What were we watching again?"

"Um, Little Women? You might hate it the first time, but I've seen it about eighty times. It makes me bawl like a baby."

"I love movies like that. Here, sign in to your Amazon Prime." He passes me the remote, and I give him a knowing look.

"I promise I won't buy shit on it. You were the one that told me you bought Little Women on there because you were on a plane, so cough it up, sister."

"I guess it is fair." I rolled my eyes playfully and logged in for him.

Benji sat in the fluffy chair on his roommate's side and settled in. I put on the movie and played with my small hoop earrings. I had stopped dressing cutely because I felt depressed. Benji could tell, so he invited me to his dorm for the first time. I had my hair twisted up in a hair clip on top of my head, and I was in my pajamas—a band t-shirt and my Adventure Time pajama pants.

Jo and Teddy were dancing on the screen, and I looked over at Benji, who looked at me.

"Adam wants to talk to you about potentially moving in." He gave me a look, and I practically chucked the bag of open popcorn across the room at him.

"Benji! Why didn't you tell me asshole!? I've been stewing in my head. No one has answered my stupid ads. Why did you wait to tell me!?"

He laughed and started rapidly picking up the stray pieces of popcorn and passing the bag back to me.

"I'm sorry! I am sorry. It just seemed like a good time to say." He shrugged, and I could feel my eyes well up with tears, but I turned back to the screen to ignore it.

"Thank you, Benji. I owe you big time." I couldn't help but smile.

At six p.m. I got a text that read:

Unknown: 'Hey, it's Adam, Benji's friend. Care to call?'

My stomach flipped, and I felt like I had gotten a sugar rush and was in the process of a blackout.

I sent back:

Cami: 'Sure thing. Call me whenever you can. :) I can meet you in the quad early if you want.'

It took me about five minutes to get the courage to send the message. Was the smiley too much? Eh, nah. I'm only overthinking this because I know what he looks like. Just pretend you're on a bizarre version of Love Is Blind, I told myself, but without the dating and marriage part. Maybe that was a bad example.

My phone buzzed.

Adam: 'How early are we talking? :)'

Fuck, for some reason, that text was hot to me.

Cami: 'Well, I get up at five and have some free time before my first class at six. If that's too early, I can meet you at lunch.'

Adam: 'I can meet you at five. I'll see you then, Cami.'

Cami: 'See you then.'

I let out a sigh before I realized what state I was in. I hopped up from the floor and decided to go to the showers in my old dorm hall. I was not comfortable enough to shower in this hall. I grabbed my shower stuff and told Cliff where I was going. Of course, he asked me to get food when I came home. I was going to go broke from how much food I was buying, but I was staying there for free. As I was walking to my old dorm hall, I saw Adam. I felt like I wanted to cover myself up and hide. Well, fuck me. He was standing out front of Benji's dorm hall, using a cane to try to get up the stairs. He was struggling. His wheelchair was at the bottom of the stairs, and then I watched the worst happen. He wobbled so much that he fell over onto the concrete stairs. I let out an audible gasp and felt like I was flying towards him running. I rested my knees against the concrete beside him and reached for my phone.