Crushing College

16

"Lisa!"

I practically skipped over to my roommate when she entered our room the following evening. Dropping her bags on the floor, Lisa quickly shut the door before giving me a hug.

"Hi, Jennie." She greeted me with a warm smile, but there was sadness in her eyes. Her glad expression didn't convince me.

"Hey..." I started sympathetically, not sure how to proceed.

"I just ran in to him by the elevator," she frowned. From the few times she and I hung out over the summer, I could tell she still hadn't gotten over her breakup with JK. And to make it worse he was still living on the fifth floor with us.

"How can I help you?" I asked, as I started to move her things off the floor.

"No, don't," Lisa ordered, putting a hand up for me to stop. "I want to unpack. It will help keep my mind off things."

As I sat by my desk, I watched my roommate move from her closet to her bed to her desk in a flurry of motions. She filled me in on her busy schedule this semester, a full load of classes, various clubs on campus that she planned to join, and visits back home almost every weekend when she wasn't working. Busy was the operative word here since she didn't want to remain idle lest she think about JK or see him around. 

An hour later, my rumbling stomach told me it was time to eat. But since the cafeteria wasn't open yet, I offered to order us take out from our favorite greasy spot. After I picked it up from the delivery boy in the lobby I returned to our room.

"Lisa?" I could hear noises in the ensuite bathroom so I spoke louder. "Wanna eat in the lounge? A bunch of our friends are hanging out there."

She appeared in the doorway with a cautious look. "Are you going?" Lisa asked, peering at me with one foot in the bathroom and one foot in the living area.

"Yeah. Come on, it'll be fun." I raised the plastic bag full of Styrofoam containers in my hand to entice her, the smell of crispy French fries wafting in the air.

"No." Lisa hesitated as if she was going to change her mind then thought better of it. "No, he might be there. Can't you stay here? Keep me company," she whined.

I paused and realized what a bad friend I was being. "Sure. Of course."

Moving to her side of the room, I set up our food on her desk and we enjoyed the feast. "Talk to me. Help me keep my mind off you-know-who," she requested, squirting some ketchup on her hot dog.

"Well..." 

"This is the time of year JK and I would have planned our whole semester and compared schedules," she said sadly, pouting as she ate her food.

"We could do that," I offered, holding my hot dog as it dripped onto the waxy paper underneath.

"Ugh! He makes me so angry and sad at the same time." Lisa picked up a napkin to cover her mouth, her eyes drifting off to stare at the empty space between us on the table. 

"Lisa, we all live on the same floor. You can't avoid him forever."

"Watch me!" she declared, her big doe eyes on me.

Trying to soften the situation, I carefully chose my next words. "Then I hope you use the pain of the past to be a lesson for what's to come. Because you deserve the softest kind of love."

"Are you in love?" she asked, sincerely. I nodded with a tight smile. "Tae?" 

Another nod from me. "We just said the words to each other yesterday."

"Must be nice," she scoffed.

"Lisa...are you still in love with this guy?" I asked cautiously, knowing it had been three months since their breakup.