I pump out some shampoo into my hand and slather it onto Cam's damp hair. I made sure to coat all of hair; using my nails to massage it into her scalp. We had taken over one of the community sinks since all the showers were taken. Her head was in the sink, the water running over it. There was no use in talking 'cause I knew she wouldn't hear me. I kept hearing a strange buzzing sound, though. I looked around for a phone or something, but nothing was there. I shrugged it off and continued to wash Cam's hair. Once I was done, I tap her on the back, to let her know she could come up. She picks up the towel and wraps it around her now blonde hair, breathing heavily. "I'm not even gon' front, I damn near had an orgasm." she said, giggling. I furrowed my eyebrows. "What?"
"You didn't hear me hooting and hollering?"
"Bitch, that was you? I thought somebody left their phone on vibrate."
"You need to be in somebody's masseuse school. You have a gift." she declared. "Now come on, let's get the color on. This blonde got me looking crazy as fuck." she says. So we retreat back to the room.We talked and laughed about everything under the sun as we finished dyeing her hair. Right now we were just finishing up on blow drying her hair. This was the first time I'd seen her with any kind of big hair. "Ooh, you lowkey fine." I say, impressed with what I was seeing in the mirror. "I'm fine, period." she responds, chuckling. "Girl, bye." I retorted. This new bright burgundy hair color looked great on her, especially now that her hair had some kind of body to it. It didn't matter, though— she wanted to wear her signature style— straight hair. By the time we finished, I see her admiring the shine on her hair. I was kinda nervous, too, like I was actually a damn hairstylist, hoping the client loved her work. She gasped. "I love it. Lemme find out I got a masseuse and a hairstylist all-in-one." she says. I crack up.
That following Monday, I was in bed, writhing in pain. It was Day 2 of me feeling like complete shit. I groan quietly as I turn over in my bed. "You cool?" Cam asks me. "I'm cool. You ain't gotta worry about it." I tell her. "Yes, I do." she stresses. I smile weakly. "I'll live. Just a pounding headache and a fucked up stomach."
"Did you get any sleep last night?" she asked.
"Not really." I admit. "I'm about to send an email to the teachers and let 'em know I can't come in today."
"You hungry?"
"No." I say. The thought of eating actually turned my stomach.
She glances at her phone. "It's only 9. I don't know how I'm gonna make it back here in order to check up on you all day." she says. I roll my eyes. "I'm a big girl, Cam. I appreciate the thought, but you ain't gotta worry yourself to death." I say. My voice was gravelly and I think she could tell I had zero energy to even talk to her. I take some pills and gulp down some water. As I try to reposition myself on my bed, Cam first walks over to her bed, grabbing something, and makes her way to mine. She plops what looked like a body pillow right next to me. "Try grabbing onto this. It might help you sleep." she says. "Okay. We'll see." I say, grabbing onto it. "I'm going to breakfast. I'll be back to check on you before I head out for the day, okay?" she says.
"Alright." I said. After gathering all the strength I had in my body, I raised my phone over my face and sent emails out to both professors, letting them know that I was gonna be absent today. Once I hit send that second time, my arm drops, like a ton of bricks. Then I turn over and fall back asleep.Some time later, I wake up to a vibration. Tracey has texted me well wishes, letting me know that she was coming to see me at some point today. I checked to see what time it was—11:40AM. My stomach was roaring at this point. That's when I knew I had to at least eat something. I sit up and look around the room. Nothing. Then, I look at what was on my nightstand. I see a new bottle of water, pack of saltines, and a can of peaches. On top of the saltines I see a handwritten note.
Please eat SOMETHING.
-CamI went ahead and opened up the crackers and slowly ate a few of them. I was just trying to make sure I didn't get sick. I ate a few more once I determined they didn't disturb my stomach. I then sipped on some more water.
I picked up my phone and scrolled down all my social media. Ugh, nothing interesting was going on. But, I did remember to let KP know I wouldn't be able to make it to the study session today. I was a bit bummed out, but at least she came to see me yesterday. She had some downtime so she bought me lunch and hung out here for a couple hours.
Later on I'm jolted out of my sleep by the sound of a chair being pulled up to my bed. I roll over and see Tracey plopping herself onto my desk chair. "Not that I'm not glad you're here, but... how'd you get in?" I asked. I turn my whole body over so I can face her. "You can thank Cam for that. When First Year Seminar was over, she was waiting outside of the classroom. She handed me the key and told me to stop by. I was gonna do that, anyway. She also told me to make sure you ate something, which is also something I was gonna do, anyway. I would've come earlier, but I had to finish up my assignment for the next class. But I'm here now, so... how you doing?"
I sigh heavily. "I'm alright. The headache is gone. The stomach pain is... bearable, I guess." I say, looking at my phone, to get the time. It was now 3:00. I guess there was a bit of improvement in my sleep. Instead of waking up every 90 minutes, I was now waking up every two hours. Fun."Sounds like an improvement from this morning." she replied.
"Oh, yeah."
She leans toward the nightstand to grab the already opened bag of crackers and hands them to me. "If you don't do shit else today, finish this sleeve. Being hungry is only gonna make the pain worse." she warns. I rolled my eyes. "Fine." I concede. I take a bite of one of the crackers.
"So... what y'all do in class today?" I ask. Tracey shakes her head in annoyance and leans back in the chair. "Lawrenz assigned partners for that damn social experiment thing. Guess who she put me with?" she asks me.
"Me, obviously." I say, hoping it was true.
She snickers. "She put me with Kleo."
Now it was my turn to laugh. "Biiiiitch." I say.
"It was so weird. The way she talked was so strange, like... she made everything sound like a veiled threat. It was like she was positive I had already told Cam what was up. My thing was, if she was all scared about it, why even do it? Cam doesn't deserve that shit." she says. I nod my head. "That Kleo is intense." she adds on.
"So I've heard." I say, trying not to seem like I actually knew that shit already.
"So, who'd she put me with?" I ask.
"One of them damn twins."
"Oh, God. So, basically, I gotta work with Bridget Junior." I said. She cracks up. "Well, she put everybody together based on last names, so it's just my luck that mine and Kleo's last name both begin with D. I guess that means you're working with Cara, not Sara."
I roll my eyes. "I'd rather just work with Bridget, damn. I'm used to her shenanigans. I'm never gonna get used to those creepy ass twins." I say.Later that night, I wiped my mouth as I finished eating a slice of pizza. I desperately hoped it would ease my nausea. I didn't wanna eat it, but I did it so Cam would stop hassling me about it. We talk for a little while before my eyes start getting low. "You been sleep on and off all day. How are you still so tired?" she asked.
"I've only been sleeping a couple hours at a time and my stomach been doing the most for what, two days now. It's so irritating." I complain.
"Mhm. I see." Cam says, walking off. Her now intense Burgundy hair bounces as she makes her way to the other side of the room. The lights in the room go out, but then a lamp turns on. "This might be a little strange, but it used to help me out when I was sick. Now, granted, I was a kid. But I'm fully willing to have an awkward encounter if it'll make you feel better."
"Fine. I'm willing to try anything." I say.
"Alright, then. Scoot over."
"Scoot over?" I repeated.
"Trust me." she says.
I furrowed my eyebrows, but eventually moved over.
I sigh in relief as I damn near smush myself against the body pillow. Cam put her hair in a bun and slides in next to me. "Okay, so, since you're sandwiched in between me and the pillow, you shouldn't be able to move nearly as much. Plus, me and the pillow both fluffy—providing everlasting comfort." she says, smiling. "And before you can really assess how strange this setup might be, you'll fall asleep. And by the morning it'll all be over and we ain't gotta speak of it, again."
I squint my eyes at her. "While I do think this is strange, I'm too tired to really argue with you about it. Since you all up in my bed tryna get me to sleep and shit, why don't you tell me a bedtime story?"
YOU ARE READING
TRU Life: Freshman Year (Lesbian)
HumorLook out, folks-- there's a new freshman in town. That's right, Gwen Galley has made it to her freshman year of college. With the daunting memories of her past constantly looming in her mind, she must find a way to get through this new chapter in he...