Coke & Run

t h r e e

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"Finally! You're home," Lauren shouts, hurling her body down her ladder. She throws on a hoodie and slips her feet into her slippers before I even walk through the door.

"Hungry much?" I ask with a laugh. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are rough because I have three classes back to back, but looking forward to lunch with my roommate gets me through it. Though today, I have barely thought about our lunchtime ritual. The only thing on my mind is Cameron.

I drop my backpack near my desk and follow Lauren out the door. When we step in the hallway, Hailey's roommate Ally is waiting for us.

"Oh! Hey, guys," she says, twirling her short blond hair around her fingers and trying to play this run-in off as if it was an accident. "What are you up to?"

"About to get lunch," Lauren responds.

"Well, I'd totally join, but I just got back from lunch!" Ally laughs, as if her statement was funny, and Lauren politely laughs along.

It's no secret that Ally and I aren't exactly friends—it's one of those things that everyone knows, but no one talks about. I can't exactly pinpoint how it started, but from the moment I met her, she annoyed me immensely. She's one of those people that like to invite herself everywhere, and she's a total flirt. She has a boyfriend that goes to school three hours away at the University of Michigan, but she flirts shamelessly with any boy she can get her hands on. Then she has the nerve to complain about all the guys that are "coming on" to her and flirting with her.

But the disdain for each other is mutual. The first time Ally explicitly stated her dislike for me was when I was sitting on her bed waiting for Hailey to finish her homework and accidentally fell asleep. Ally woke me up a half hour later while Hailey was in the shower and asked me "and my drool" to "please get off" her bed. That night, Ally ranted to Hailey about how disrespectful I was towards other's property. I felt bad, obviously, so I apologized the next day, and things were "fine" between us.

However, the main reason Ally doesn't like me is because of how close I am with Hailey. Ally's rarely in her room—and if she is, she's with a boy—so Hailey spends most of her time with Lauren and I. Since they're never hanging out, Hailey and Ally aren't really close, and I think Ally is secretly hurt by that.

"That's too bad!" Lauren says, civil as always.

"So, Becca," Ally says through a fake smile, "I heard you had a fun birthday."

"Yeah, I did!"

"And you danced with Maverick, right?"

"Uh, yeah..." I trail off, not knowing where this conversation is heading. There's no way Hailey would've told her about that.

"That's gotta be awkward, huh?" She says with a laugh, her fake smile never leaving her face.

"I mean it's—"

"At least I know it's awkward for him," she says, interrupting me and twirling her hair again. I notice Lauren bite her lip and look away, but Ally continues anyway. "He told me he really regrets it all."

I open my mouth to say something, but I immediately drop it closed. Somehow I had forgotten that Maverick and Ally were, like, best friends. Of course he would tell her about it, and of course he would regret it. He clearly likes Ally.

Well, I guess I can add that to the list of reasons why she doesn't like me.

"I guess that's pretty awkward then," I reply, not knowing what else to say.