The Only

Chapter 4

"Ugh,this heat is unbearable." Rosie groans from her bed, lying starfish on her back then fli in nothing but a tank top and booty shorts in an effort to get as much skin exposed to air as she can without being completely unclothed.

"The dorm officials said it's only going to take one more hour before they could get the generators working." Lisa says from where she's sitting cross-legged on the floor.

It's nearly summer break, and it seems like summer this year was going to be unforgiving. The air is humid and the heat has become scorching. There were some students left still taking late exams. Mostly, the only ones left on campus are those busy with university org activities.

They were both going to be in their third years now, for the coming term, with Lisa being in charge of the dance troupe and Rosie preparing for a bid to run as the university's student council president.

(Lisa promised that her dance troupe would endorse Rosie. Rosie promised that she'd give Lisa's crew full support for everything they need if she and her lineup get elected. It would be a beautiful and mutually beneficial partnership. That's what best friends are for, right?)

So, being the model students that they both are, Rosie and Lisa have decided that and won't be going home for this summer.

It was a Sunday and they were both trying to cool down inside their room, having just eaten lunch when, unfortunately enough, there was a sudden power outage in all on campus dormitories. The generators kicked in after a few seconds, but a few seconds later, stopped again. They had apparently broken down, too. The dorm lady later called them to apologize and explain.

Now they're both stuck there melting like popsicle sticks; the sun is too high up and no clouds to filter its rays that they can't walk to the nearby cafe and the school is closed so the library isn't an option.

Rosie feels like she'd lose her mind from the heat.

Meanwhile, Lisa feels like she'd lose her mind from simply trying not to look at her friend's anything.

Rosie flips herself over, letting her back breathe this time, and releases another groan.

"Lisa, it's so fucking hot." The painter whines to her best friend for the thousandth time.

Lisa grunts. She has half a mind to tell her best friend to shut up.

The other half would rather that she just ignore it - pretend to be anything other than a human being that's susceptible to heat and melt quietly.

Lisa being herself, ends up doing the first.

"Complaining about how hot it is doesn't make it any less hotter, Chaeng." Lisa lets the nickname drop from her lips naturally - it's Rosie's Korean name, Chaeyoung, but affectionately shortened.

Rosie rolls her eyes at her friend from where she's lying down, then flips herself to lie on her back this time to let her front breathe and expose it to air.

"You think I don't know that, Lalisa?"

Lisa snorts.

"I don't know, Chaeng. I can't tell from how much you keep complaining about it."

A pillow flies past the left side of Lisa's head and lands a few inches in front of her. A soft groan follows it, sounding just tired and frustrated and drained.

Lisa waits for another attempt at smacking a pillow at her but nothing comes. She imagines that Rosie's probably nothing more than a little dried up raisin, can't be bothered to try hitting her with a pillow again.