Feelin' 22, Caitlin Clark + Nika Muhl

Desi, You Did This.

I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing, piercing through the early morning silence. "What the fuck?" I mumbled, reaching my arm over and fumbling around trying to find my phone without opening my eyes.

"Why?" Nika groaned from her sleep, her voice muffled as she turned her body to face the other way, burying her face into the pillow.

"I don't know." I finally managed to grasp the phone, squinting at the screen to see the contact name "P boogers." I let out another loud sigh. "It's Paige." I set the phone back down, choosing to ignore the call, hoping it would stop ringing.

"DESI!" Nika yelled out after the phone started ringing again. "I swear to fucking God, I will smash it into a million pieces."

"So let's not do that." I quickly picked up the phone, pressing the volume down button to silence it, trying to keep the peace.

"Please answer Paige, or else I'm going to shoot my head off." She sat up in the bed, her hair a mess, frustration clear on her face as the phone rang yet again.

"Okay." I rolled my eyes, grabbing the phone from the nightstand and answering the FaceTime call, making sure to angle the camera away from Nika to keep her out of view.

"Desi?" Paige's eyes widened in surprise, clearly not expecting me to pick up.

"Yes, Paige?" I questioned, my face still planted into the pillow, my voice dripping with annoyance. "What the hell is so urgent at nine o'clock in the morning?"

"I haven't heard from you in a few days. I was just wondering what I did to deserve the silent treatment." she said, her voice filled with concern and a hint of accusation.

"Yes, Paige." I was completely annoyed, my tone came off more harsh than I intended. "I've been busy, you know? With juggling work, school and traveling, and Oh!" I lifted my head up as if a light bulb had went off. "And just trying to literally make it through a day without crying my fucking eyes out, but please Paige, go ahead."

"I'm sorry, Desi. I just have really missed talking to you." Her voice got quieter as if she was ashamed, and I could hear the slight tremble in her words. It was clear she was on the verge of tears, and I felt a pang of guilt for not reaching out sooner.

"It's okay, P." I immediately attempted to lighten my tone, hoping to ease the tension. "I'm sorry, I'm just really tired right now and hearing Apple's ringtone back to back isn't really how I like to be woken up."

"I know, I'm sorry," she repeated, sounding even more remorseful.

"It's okay," I reassured her, sitting up on the bed now and trying to shake off my grogginess. "What are your plans for today?"

"Nothing," she replied, her voice perking up a bit as she began to smile at the question. "Nika is gone, so I have the place to myself. Thank God." I turned my head to look at Nika, who was sitting across from me, her eyebrows raised in surprise.

"The fuck?" The Croatian mouthed silently, clearly taken aback by Paige's comment.

"Oh," was my only response, feeling a bit caught in the middle.

"She has been driving me crazy," Paige continued, not noticing my discomfort. "Ever since you left, she has been a fucking bitch."

"Me?!" Nika mouthed again, shocked as she adjusted her body to sit on her knees.

"I don't think it's a good idea for you to talk about your roomie like that," I tried to interject, hoping to steer the conversation to safer grounds, but Paige was on a roll.

"Don't get me wrong, Desi. I love Nika so much, but I don't love her stupid 'I'm hot shit' act." She rolled her eyes as she sat up on her bed, clearly frustrated. "It's annoying as hell, and on top of that, she was all up under you. I don't understand where that came from, and I wanted so badly to just rip her stupid eyelashes off."