Something Right

Chapter Three

There was a loud, single knock on the door of the dormitory.

Elle, who had again been sleeping, groaned viciously, before forcing herself out of bed to go answer it.

"Who is it?" she asked groggily.

"It's me, Elle," Jeannie's voice sounded.

She called me by the correct name, Elle thought. Is she dying? She must be. That's the only logical reason.

Collecting her jumbled, sleepy thoughts, she opened the door to a tired-looking Jeannie. Her hair still looked perfect as always, but if Elle looked closely enough, she could see the perfect, make-up enhanced face in front of her was worn from what seemed like an exhausting date.

"Hey!" Elle greeted as cheerfully as she could after being awoken from her nap once again. "How was it?"

Jeannie glanced downward before opening her mouth. "It was fine."

Bullcrap, Elle thought. She asked, "Are you alright? Was he a jerk to you?"

"What?" her roommate answered, seemingly in a daze. "Wait, no. Um, yes, I'm alright."

"He was a jerk, wasn't he?" Elle pressed.

"No!" Jeannie insisted. "He was fine. Just not for me."

Elle felt the tense muscles in her body go relaxed. "Okay, that's good."

And, the voice in her head teased her, you still have a chance.

"Hey, Ellie?" Jeannie asked quietly.

"Yeah?" she responded halfheartedly, still somewhat lost in her thoughts about the oh-so-perfect Jeremy.

"Wanna move out of the way so I can come in? It's my dorm, too."

Elle hadn't even realized she'd been blocking Jeannie's way, and she quickly stumbled to the side so she could come in.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

Jeannie sat down on their futon before saying, "Okay, so he wasn't fine. Well, maybe he was. Maybe he's actually a great person! I just wouldn't know."

"And why is tha--"

"He left," she said quickly. "The waiter helped sneak him out of the restaurant. Like seriously? He told me he was going to the bathroom! And, worst of all, he left the check! Like I have that kind of money to spend. I'm in college. Broke as hell. Who does he think I am?"

She had that look in her eyes where it's just enough to make you think she's going to cry, but instead, she closed her eyes tightly and breathed out a long sigh.

"Aw, Jeannie," Elle started. "He's not worth your time. You'll have no problem getting guys in the future, I know it."

Jeannie smiled weakly back.

"Yeah, I suppose so. But can we still eat ice cream? I know it's not a real break-up, but it's close enough, right?"

Elle laughed. "Of course."

As they sat spooning chocolate caramel ice cream straight out of the container, Elle silently vowed to herself that she would get over her thing for Jeremy. She really couldn't call it a thing, either, since the only conversation they've had was when she was dressed in rubber ducky boxers. Sure, he was incredibly hot, but the hot ones are always jerks, right?

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The next day Elle had Genetics. She walked up to her normal front-and-center seat and noticed Jeremy, per usual, sitting behind her.