Best Rivals {On Hold}

Chapter 4 (*Revised)

"What. The. Fuck?"

Simran was terrified to turn around and look at Bethany's face.

"What did you do?!" Bethany yelled as she stomped up to Simran and grabbed the papers from her hand.

"My portfolio!"

"I'm so sorry, Bethany! It was an accident!"

"Accident? Was this your plan all along, huh?"

"No! I swear, I didn't mean to. I just wanted to see..."

"Why would you touch my stuff anyways?! What's wrong with you?"

Simran knew that no matter what she tried to say, nothing could make this better right now. She felt so bad and all she wanted to do was rewind the clock just five minutes so she wouldn't have been an idiot.

"Ugh!" Bethany held the still dripping portfolio in her hands and bent down on her knees to try to use the towel to dry off some of the excess liquid.

"Let me help -"

"No!" Bethany yelled. "You ruined it."

Simran didn't want to make matters worse. There was nothing she could do right now to fix it so she slowly backed away, grabbed her phone and left the room.

~

She really wanted to talk to someone. Simran felt horrible and she needed to vent to someone who would help her do something to fix this, but she didn't know who.

The sun was setting and there was a slight chill in the air as the day's heat died down. Simran was wearing a light sweater but she could still feel the cool breeze create goosebumps on her skin.

"Hey!" Simran turned at the sound. Sitting under a large oak tree was the guy who had brought Bethany when she had been drunk.

Brayden, was it?

"You're Beth's roommate right?" He was leaning against the trunk of the tree, wearing a plain white t-shirt and jeans. His dark hair was a mess on top of his head but his face was clean-shaven, unlike the last time they had met.

"Yeah, Simran." She walked closer and stood awkwardly in front of him.

"Brayden." He nodded beside him, gesturing for her to sit down.

Taking a seat, Simran caught a whiff of subtle cologne and couldn't but admire his physique as she took a peak. He wasn't skinny but he didn't have a lot of muscle either, that she could see. Black ink peaked out from under one of his sleeves and Simran looked away quickly as he caught her staring.

"How's she doing?"

"Uh...fine."

He raised an eyebrow at her short response.

"What? You two don't get along already?"

"Something like that." Simran muttered.

"Yeah, it seemed like you two were quite different."

"What do you mean by that?" Simran knew that on the outside, the two girls seemed far apart in similarities. While Bethany had always been quick to make new friends and share her outgoing personality, Simran was more content with the people she already knew. She knew would have to step out of her comfort zone in university with new experiences, but she wasn't jumping at the opportunity to go and party just yet.

Brayden shrugged, "You seem like you could have fun, just in different ways." He smirked.

"In what ways?"