Behind Closed Doors

Chapter 4

I sit on the foot of my bed, contemplating what I'm going to wear for my busy day. Avery is out helping one of her friends move in, so I'm alone in the dorm. Today is supposed to be my first appearance at the women's basketball practice. I've been dreading it the past 48 hours, since I found out I would actually have to attend and Melissa was not going to miraculously change her mind about me going. I lay back and stare at the ceiling, thinking.

I knew I didn't want my first appearance seeing Paige to be me looking bad in any way whatsoever. I had to look good. I had to look smart, and I had to be confident. I had to remind her that everything she could have had is doing much better without her. I wanted to hurt her the way she hurt me.

Of course, I don't know if she even still cares. Or if she meant anything that she told me when we were teenagers, vulnerable at 3am at one of our countless sneak outs. Maybe she has a girlfriend now, or someone she cares about to the extent that my presence wouldn't matter anymore. I don't know anything, but I know I want to make her regret everything that happened.

I stand up and head to the bathroom. The clock reads 10am, and the practice starts at 2. That means I have 4 hours. I grab my hair straightener and get to work. I give myself a blowout, running the straightener along my hair as I use a blowout brush to shape the wave. I roll my pink rollers into my hair to set the volume. My face felt dry, so I exfoliated it and put on a facemask while I grabbed my tweezers to clean up my eyebrows.

When I finish all my skincare, I start getting changed into my outfit. I'm wearing a simple dark red minidress and black short heeled boots. As I start getting my makeup out, I get a FaceTime call from Nina. I swipe to accept. Nina's face fills the screen on my phone, her vibrant smile getting me excited because I missed my best friend.

"Hey bae! How are you?? You haven't called me since you got to UCONN," she says. "I miss you." Nina ended up going to the University of Minnesota back home, so we don't get to hang out as much anymore. We usually call every other day or so to catch up, but I've been so busy hanging out with Avery all the time I haven't called her since I was at Yale.

"I miss you too, N." I reply, massaging my primer into my skin. "UCONN's good. So far I've basically just been with my roommate and preparing for the research to start."

"What's your roommate like?" She asks, sitting down on her bed. I know she's at home because I could recognize that pale pink wallpaper anywhere.

"You would really like her," I reply. "She's really talkative and nice. She's basically shown me all of campus and all the good spots."

"That's great, I'm glad to hear she's not mean or anything," Nina says, laughing.

"literally. That's always my biggest fear," I agree. "But we're good. She seems to be a green flag."

"What are you getting ready for?" Nina asks, watching me swipe concealer under my eyes and around my nose.

"You'll never guess. Apparently for my research position I have to sit in on the women's basketball team practices." I tell her, looking annoyed.

"Oh my gosh. Okay, well! Hot girls!" She tries to cheer me up. I told Nina I liked girls too in about tenth grade. She's always been really supportive and super adamant on getting me a girlfriend. I laugh at her comment.

"You remember Paige, right? From highschool?" I ask her. Her facial expression changes and I can tell she's registering Paige in her mind.

"Oh my gosh, I'm an idiot. She plays there! At UCONN! Why did I not realize that. I swear that's everything anyone here talks about," She exclaims excitedly. "Okay, so you'll know someone! That's good!"