Shut Up and Kiss Me || Ethan Dolan

4: Inspect Her Gadget

A breeze blows Blake's hair around as she stomps toward her apartment door, letting it shut hard behind her. She groans as her back hits it afterward, sinking onto the floor.

It's only nearing late afternoon, and she's about ready for bed. But she can't sleep, because she still has a lot of stuff that needs to be done before she can go to bed. And it's Friday, so there's probably a party going on that she'd at least like to stop by, but that doesn't seem to be in the stars.

Her roommates wander toward the door at the sound, seeing their friend slumped against it. They both sigh and offer her a hand.

"Rough day?"

"I need a time-turner," she whines, following them toward the kitchen. She takes a seat at the table and rests her head in her hands. "I don't know if I can go to the party with you guys tonight. It's at Gamma, right?"

"Yeah. Don't stress if you can't come, Blake. You're not required to come to parties," Ava smiles, hugging her from behind. Gamma Theta Pi is one of the sororities on campus, and their parties are always fun. Blake wants to go and unwind, but not if she can't get her work finished. "Whatcha got to do?"

"Just... stuff. I thought I'd be home earlier, meeting went long," she sighs. "You have a class, don't you?"

"I do. And I should probably head out, but I did wanna make sure you were okay first. You had lunch, right?" Blake shakes her head. "Lara, make sure she eats something. I'll catch you guys later!"

"Bye, Aves!" Lara waves, walking over to the fridge. She wordlessly pulls out leftover mac and cheese and heats up a bowl for her exhausted friend, who's scribbling something in one of her millions of notebooks. "Blake, c'mon, you can rest for a minute. You haven't eaten since breakfast."

Blake grumbles under her breath. She doesn't have time to rest, she has a lot of stuff she needs to do before tonight. But Lara knows her friend all too well, so she scoops up her bag and notebook and replaces them with the bowl. Blake glares, but then softens her gaze and thanks her.

"You're a saint."

"I know," Lara laughs, kissing the top of Blake's head. "Try not to stress too much. You got this, B. You always underestimate yourself. So eat something, and then take a shower, and then get started on your work. It'll help you relax. I'll be home to get ready around when Aves is, I think, so the place is yours for a few hours. Love you!"

"Love you too, Lar," Blake smiles, taking another bite. After finishing, she downs and refills her water bottle before sighing and starting the dishes.

After doing the dishes, she wipes down all of the counters in the kitchen. But then she remembers they haven't dusted in a while, so she dusts all of the common areas in the apartment and her own room.

Grabbing the vacuum, she quickly uses it on the living room carpet. Next, she reorganizes their bookshelf to be in alphabetical order--which really should've been done a long time ago. It's when she goes to reorganize the kitchen cabinets that she realizes she's procrastinating.

Blake takes a few deep breaths and then forces herself toward their bathroom to take a shower. Their apartment isn't that big, she could clean the entire thing before they get home...

She doesn't. She knows she has more important things and can't procrastinate. Instead, she climbs into a burning shower and tries to relax under the water. It doesn't exactly work, but it gives her a small break, which is very much needed. The second she's out, she blow dries her hair, feeling the time ticking away. Blake hates the feeling of wet hair and it dripping down her skin, so she usually risks some heat damage if she's home with her blow dryer.