Conor buries his face in his hands, letting out a desperate groan. “I’m screwed,” he mumbles and Charlotte shoots him a sympathetic look from across the table.
“We all are,” Meghan replies drily, typing away on her laptop. It’s starting to get late and they are all working on essays.
That are due the next day.
“I’m full on bullshitting this now,” Conor says with a shrug. “I don’t even care anymore.”
He takes a sip from his coffee, blinking tiredly. Meghan seems to have finished her work, closing the lid of her laptop.
She stretches in her seat, before scrolling through her phone.
“Charlie?”
“Hm?” Charlotte asks, without looking up from her laptop.
“Did you know that Shawn and Nate got into a fight today?”
Charlotte stops typing immediately, blinking at her roommate. “Excuse me?”
“They got into a fight during soccer practice. Thought you should know.”
Charlotte stares at her in disbelief. “How do you know?”
“Nick, the goalie, told Abby who told Elle who told me,” Meghan replies, pulling her auburn hair into a ponytail.
“Why would they… what happened?” Charlotte asks, frowning in confusion. “I’ll talk to Shawn,” she announces, saving her Word document, before closing the lid of her MacBook. She shoves her laptop into her purse, grabbing her books. Conor looks like he wants to say something, opening his mouth. But as if he has changed his mind, he looks away, seemingly conflicted.
“See you,” Charlotte says over her shoulder, hurrying out of the building.
She loudly knocks on the door of Shawn’s dorm, starting to feel furious.
Why would he do that?
Shawn opens the door, wearing sweatpants and an university t-shirt. Charlotte eyes him intently, searching for traces of a fight on his face. He looks intact. Smooth skin, a healthy blush on his cheeks, eyes sparkling.
“Hey,” he says, his handsome face lighting up. He pulls her into a tight hug but Charlotte tenses up in his arms.
She would get straight to the point.
“Why did you get into a fight with Nate?” she asks in an upset tone, as soon as the door closes behind them.
Shawn sighs, fingers raking through his curls. He wouldn’t even try to deny it.
“He pushed me first.”
“What are you? A kindergarten kid?” Charlotte spits out, cheeks flushed in anger. “What the hell, Shawn? This doesn’t even look like you!”
“Listen, I’m sorry, okay? But he wanted to take this penalty when everyone knows I always take the penalties. He had no business in coming up and taking the ball. He pushed me and I pushed him back and he fell and got up and he wanted to hit me. Okay, I wanted to hit him, too but I didn’t, I swear. I didn’t hit him.”
Charlotte closes her eyes for a second, before looking up at the ceiling.
“We both got sent off,” Shawn admits quietly, looking at his feet. “Sorry, Charlie.”
She crosses her arms in front of her chest, letting out a sigh. “Whatever, please don’t get in trouble again, okay?”
He nods, hands behind his back. He looks like a little kid, swaying back and forth a little.
“It won’t happen again.”
“Good,” Charlotte replies in a harsh tone. “Shawn, you are not… you are not going to ruin this for me, are you?”
“I would never!” Shawn is quick to defend himself. “I know how much you’ve been wanting this with him. If you,” he swallows thickly, “if you want me to keep my distance, I will.”
“That’s not what I said!” Charlotte protests.
“I would never take your happiness away from you,” he says, looking her straight in the eye. “If he makes you happy, then that’s… great.”
“Okay,” Charlotte nods.
“Okay,” he repeats quietly. Even though nothing about this was okay.
Charlotte glances at her phone.
“It’s late and I should get going, see you tomorrow. Good night.”
“No, wait,” he reaches out to grab her hand, turning her around to him. “What about Sunday? Are we still meeting up now that you are…um… in a relationship?”
Now that you’re his? And not mine? And probably never will be?
Charlotte gives him a weak smile. They had this ritual of binge-watching Netflix on Sunday evenings after finishing all of their assignments. Meghan would always go home over the weekends, so that Charlotte had the dorm for herself and Shawn would come over, bringing snacks. It was a win-win situation because Conor and Liz had the boy’s dorm for themselves while Shawn was hanging with Charlotte and everybody was happy.
Her expression softens a little.
“Sure.”
He tries for a weak smile. “Okay,” he says quietly. “See you, then.”
“See you.”
She turns around, closing the door after her and he wonders how often he would have to watch her walk away from him. It was starting to hurt more and more each time.
