Catching Hearts

04 | i don't like kimchi

"You snore like a chainsaw," is the first thing I hear when I roll over the next morning.

"Shut up." I don't snore.

"I'm serious," he insists, peeling an eye open to look over at me. "I spent half the night worrying that someone would knock on the door with a noise complaint."

I'm about to call him on his bullshit when my phone rings, lost in the bed somewhere. I blindly reach around for it, scrambling to find it under the pillows, between the sheets, on the floor. I finally see the light from the screen illuminating the duvet by our feet, and dive to pick it up.

"Hello," I say, breathlessly. I can see Kenny's shoulders shaking as he laughs quietly at the dramatics.

"Hey, I need you to - wait, who is that?" Deja asks, completely abandoning her train of thought when Kenny's laugh gets louder. She gasps and I hear her voice take on an excited but accusatory tone. "Charlotte Johnson, did you go home with someone last night?"

"Can you talk about this later?" I hear Connor call out from somewhere in the background.

"Has the drought finally ended?" Deja continues, completely ignoring her boyfriend's complaints. "Hallelujah, baby, she actually got some. Was it that hottie from the swim team?"

"Dej, focus," I tell her, feeling far too tired and hungover for this right now. "You called and said you need me to—"

"Right, right. Um, so the thing is, Connor and I are kind of at urgent care right now. We took an uber a few hours ago and I can't afford to get one back because the dick charged me a huge cleaning fee for getting two little drops of blood on the seat."

"Why are you at urgent care?" I ask, sitting up abruptly. And then, "Who's bleeding?"

"I'll explain that later. Could you come pick us up?"

After ensuring that I would be there in ten minutes, I explain the situation to Kenny. He immediately rolls out of bed, pulls the first shirt he sees over his head and finds his keys. I grab my phone and we hustle out the front door.

Once we're in Kenny's car, I type the address of the closest urgent care into my phone and help him navigate there.

It's a short, silent drive as I mull over all of the possible emergencies they could have encountered after leaving the party last night.

We pull up and I hop out of the car, flagging down Connor and Deja. Her eyes widen a fraction as she looks between Kenny and I. She takes in my fluffy hair, baggy clothes and overall disheveled appearance.

"You fucked Kenny?" she gasps as she slides into the seat behind me, and I feel heat creep up my neck. "Damn, Char, you really did that."

"She really didn't," Kenny mumbles, and I glance over to see red blooming across his cheeks as well. It's difficult to tell where his hair stops and his ears begin.

The door behind Kenny opens and Connor climbs in, his right hand covered in gauze and bandages.

"What the fuck happened?"

"Deja doesn't know how to use knives," Connor deadpans, and I can sense that he's less than thrilled with her at the moment. An uneasy silence settles over the car and remains for the short drive back to my apartment.

"Thanks again," I tell Kenny when he pulls up outside our building. I throw one last sympathetic glance at Connor, before pulling my roommate towards our apartment. Once Deja and I are up the stairs and in our living room, I grab a throw pillow from the couch and hurl it at my best friend. "Deja, what the hell?"