Blossoming Rose

Chapter 2

    "Explain. Now." Emily commanded as she threw open the door to her apartment. The doorknob slammed against the scuffed wall of the hallway with a reverberating bang.

     "Huh? What? I'm up!" croaked a tired voice from the other end of the room. Emily saw a lump of blankets shift and promptly fall off the light blue sofa which sat against the far wall. The cocoon rolled across the floor and stopped at Emily's feet, revealing a smirking face. "Damn, someone woke up on the wrong side of her bed this morning."

     "At least I bothered to wake up," Emily shot back before halfheartedly kicking her blanket-armored roommate. Pacing into the living room, she swung her bag onto the sofa with practiced ease and plopped down into an adjacent chair. "It's past noon. You can't just keep napping through every one of your classes like this."

     Sarah stuck her tongue out. "Watch me." Quickly disentangling herself from the blankets, the now-energetic girl hopped to her feet. Emily smiled at her friend's sudden change of attitude... until she turned to actually look at her.

     "Oh! Sarah, please!" Emily averted her eyes and threw a pillow at the completely nude girl standing next to her. "For god's sake, put some clothes on!"

     "Aw, but it's so hot out today..." Sarah whined. She walked past Emily and into the kitchen, feet padding quietly against the hardwood floor and tanned hips sashaying dangerously close to the blonde's head. Her large, perky breasts swayed gracefully as she walked.

     "We had this conversation yesterday: if you're in a common area in the apartment, you have to wear clothes." Emily blushed and rolled her eyes, trying her best to avoid eye contact with... anything. "Anyway, just get over here. You missed a lot in class today."

     Sarah finally obliged, pulling an oversized t-shirt over her chest which adequately covered her body. She popped open a soda from the fridge and ran her fingers through her messy brown hair. Then, with a running head start, she swung herself over the top of Emily's chair and onto the sofa with a crash, eliciting a small help from her roommate. Immediately, the brunette began digging through Emily's bag for her notebook.

     "Sorry, you can't copy off of mine today. I, uh.." Emily stuttered as she recalled the source of her distraction in class. "... I didn't bother taking notes, the material was so simple. Luckily for you, one of our classmates offered to help you out." Seeing Sarah's pout, Emily quickly pulled the slip of paper out of her pocket. "Here, she gave me her number earlier..."

     Sarah looked on, uninterested, until a flash of purple caught her attention. With a sparkle in her eyes, she darted forward and snatched the paper from Emily's hands. "Ooh, I dunno... This looks more like a love letter than an offer to share notes," Sarah teased while examining the flower pattern. Then, looking up, she saw that Emily's face had turned scarlet. "Wait. Was this actually like a 'Here's my number, call me sometime' kind of thing?"

     Emily's face turned several shades of red brighter.

     "Oh my god! It totally is! You actually picked someone up! And a hot girl, at that!" Sarah wiggled her eyebrows at her friend. "Didn't know you leaned that way. I feel bad about going au natural around the apartment now... if you had told me earlier, I could have walked in front of the sofa here, you know, put on a little show..."

     Emily shoved her roommate back with a shudder and glared at her from her seat. In response, Sarah erupted into a fit of giggles.

     "I'm not- well, I guess I kind of am into that, but no," she emphasized the word, "I would not appreciate that kind of behavior in my own home, thank you very much. Besides, I have no idea who this girl is. She could be a serial killer, for all I know!" Emily casually leaned back and took a deep breath. "She's expecting a call from you about borrowing notes for today's lecture, and that's all I intend to give her."

     Sarah nodded along seriously. "That's just like you, to be so responsible." Her deadpan look morphed into a goofy grin. "It's a good thing you've got me looking out for you!" Before Emily could react, her hyperactive roommate bolted off of the sofa, note in one hand and Emily's cell phone, stolen from her open bag, in the other.

     Emily gasped out a surprised protest, then jumped out of her seat. Calling out warnings, bribes, and threats, she chased her friend out of the room and into the connecting hallway. Sarah lept out of her reach and danced around her grip, managing to elude her all the way down the hall. Just as Emily attempted to tackle Sarah to the ground, the other girl slid through her bedroom door and slammed it shut. Emily pounded on the door and heard the locking mechanism click into place.

     "Sarah! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Open up! Give me my phone back!" Emily punctuated each sentence with another fist against the worn wood of the doorway.

     "Yeah, sure, of course! Lemme just send off a feeeew quick texts first, though. How do you usually greet people you're trying to ask out?"

     "Don't you dare! Stop that this instant!"

     "Yeah, you're right, you suck at pick-up lines. I should handle it."

     "Sarah!"

     "We'll go with 'Hi, how are you? Still as beautiful as before?'"

     "I'll break this door down if you don't open it on the count of three!"

     "What am I, a child? Ooh- we got a reply! 'I think so, but I could use a second opinion. Care to see for yourself tonight?' Wow, she is smooth."

     "One!"

     "She's gonna be disappointed when she finds out you're not this cool in person. You should say: 'I'll take you up on that offer - name the time and place.' Too forward? I think it's probably fine."

     "Two!"

     "Another reply! She liiiiikes youuuu. 'Bella Porcellino, 6:00 tonight. Bring your appetite." Damn, that's that fancy new Italian place downtown. You caught a rich one. I think we ought to graciously accept the offer, don't you? 'Sounds great! See you then!'"

     "Three!" Emily yelled as she started to hurl herself against the doorframe. At the last instant, however, the door opened to send her sprawling across the floor of the entranceway. She felt a soft thud as her phone was tossed onto her back.

     Sarah crouched by her side. "Come on, you need to get up so you can get ready! I'll find something actually nice for you to wear. After all..." She grinned at her exasperated friend.

     "...You've got a date tonight."