Willa & the Extraordinary Internship

CH. 17

The shrill ringing of her cell phone jerked Maryam awake with a pounding heart and a feeling that a nightmare she suddenly couldn't remember had been averted. She scrambled to find her phone, somewhere on the floor beneath the pile of clothes from last night. She darted a quick glance at Willa, who was sprawled next to her, still fast asleep.

"Yes?" she whispered into the phone, detangling her legs from the sheets carefully so as not to disturb her friend. Plus her head was throbbing. She didn't even have to wonder why; the remnants of last night's impromptu girls' night was evident all around her, from the scattered clothing to the half-filled wine glasses on the nightstand.

"Why didn't you answer me last night?" a familiar voice demanded through the phone.

Maryam winced. Her head was killing her and Cyn's naturally loud voice exacerbated the problem. "Did you text me?"

"Only a million times! Literally."

Maryam refrained from telling Cyn that it was, in fact, figurative, not literal. "I wasn't paying attention. Sorry."

"What were you doing?" Cyn's voice was curious.

"Um, just hanging out with Willa."

There was a pregnant pause. "Oh really?" Cyn's voice was deceptively friendly. The without me? hung in the air between them, staticky and fragile.

"It wasn't really planned," Maryam found herself saying, almost defensively.

"I figured," Cyn said, voice turning brittle. "Otherwise I would have been invited." Another pause. "Right?"

"Sorry, it's just that Willa was...." Maryam suddenly realized her friend could wake up at any second. "Hold on a second, let me move to the living room."

"You have a guy over?"

"Don't sound so shocked," Maryam teased. "But no. Willa crashed at my place. We got a little drunk." She closed her bedroom shut quietly and moved to the coffee table, grabbing the empty wine bottle and the four dark brown bottles of pale ale.

"Oh."

Maryam lowered the bottles into the trash can under the sink and started making coffee, cell phone cradled to her ear. A silent Cyn was never good. It could mean her feelings were genuinely hurt and she was going to throw a world-class sulk at being left out. Pre-emptively striking, Maryam added, "You wouldn't believe what happened last night."

They were the perfect words to pique Cyn's interest. "She came on to you?" Cyn guessed, unmitigated glee in her voice.

"NO!" Maryam exclaimed, cheeks turning pink. "I think she and Luke broke up."

"He dumped her?" Now there was no mistaking the glee.

"There wasn't exactly a dumping," Maryam dragged out, watching as the coffee brewed and liquid began to trickle into the pot. "Per se."

"Secrets don't make friends," Cyn warned grumpily. "Come on. It's too early in the morning to guess."

"She caught him on a date with another woman."

"WHY DIDN'T YOU OPEN WITH THAT?" Cyn all but yelped. "What happened? Did he notice her? Did she say something? Was the other chick hotter?"

"He couldn't run out of there fast enough. Willa told the girl that Luke was taken and then we left. It wasn't as ugly as it could have been, but it was super awkward. Though obviously he's not taken anymore. I can't believe he would do that. I mean, who does that? That kind of shit happens to girls who aren't Willa," Maryam said.

"He seemed so into Willa, too."

Maryam always loved her gossip, and the three were all friends, so she didn't think twice about saying, "I don't know. Remember how she went to that wedding with him a month ago?"

"Yeah. She looked totally chubby in that dress though. Should have cropped her ankles out of that Instagram pic," Cyn relished.

"She told me that he ditched her and only came back when it was time to go home."

"Seriously? She bragged so much about that stupid night."

"Yeah, well." Maryam turned off the coffee maker and poured herself a steaming mug of Starbucks' Italian Roast.

"Is she okay?" Cyn asked.

"Yeah, she didn't have a meltdown or anything. She just kept staring at her phone all night like she thought he was going to apologize? Except he didn't," Maryam imparted.

"What a moron. Give me his number, I'm going to call him and give him a piece of my mind," Cyn's voice rumbled angrily into Maryam's ear.

"No way. The last thing she needs is more drama. And I don't know if I was even supposed to let anyone know."

"I'm not anyone, though, am I?" Cyn said slyly.

"Forget it!" Maryam laughed, blowing on her coffee to cool it down. "She'll be mad."

"All the more reason to do it," Cyn shot back. "I owe her plenty of anger after that crap she pulled on me."

"Cyn, don't. This is different. I know you're still on the outs with her, but can you please try and just be nice? You don't need to exploit her pain."

"Willa getting mad at me or not, the point is that Luke Derwent is a slimeball and needs to be a taught a lesson," Cyn said flatly. "I can't believe you haven't egged his car yet."

"Unlike you, I graduated the fifth grade already," Maryam retorted.

"You think this is fifth grade revenge? Baby, I was doing this in first."

"Shut up."

"Give me his number."

"No."

"Fine, I'll just get it from Facebook!" Cyn sing-songed before hanging up.

Maryam's head began throbbing again in earnest. She took her still-steaming cup in her hand and wandered to the living room, pulling a soft wool throw off the back of the couch and wrapping it around herself. Please don't let Cyn do something stupid, she thought, praying to every deity she believed in and even the ones she didn't.

Author's Note: I can't believe I reached 1K reads on my other novel! Keeping my fingers crossed that this one gets there soon, too :~) I also made a new cover, what do you think?