We stopped laughing (sort of) and explained that we had just been hanging out, playing guitar, nothing more. Lauren raised an eyebrow at me, but didn't ask any more questions.
We recovered completely from our laughing fit about two minutes later. Wes said he should probably go and get some sleep. After all, we had to dance at 10 the next morning. He advised me to get some sleep too, and not gossip about him with my roommates. I blushed, because that was exactly what I had been planning on doing. I told him I'd try, but if they really wanted to know, I’d tell them.
As soon as the door closed, all three of my roommates ran out into our living room and demanded to know what had happened. Their rationale for knowing was the fact that he was a really cute guy who was in our dorm room. So I told them everything that had happened from this afternoon to that moment. They were overly excited when I told them about the "moment" we'd had, and tried immediately to glean a meaning from it.
"Seriously, guys, I'm sure it was nothing."
"Nothing?? Yeah right. He's totally into you!" Rhyan protested.
"Of course it's not nothing! You can't just have a moment and not have it mean anything!" Alex agreed.
"I totally saw them dancing at the party too!" Lauren added.
All three of them squealed with excitement.
"You never told us you danced with him at the party!! Oh my goodness that definitely means he's into you!" Rhyan said.
"No, it just means he wanted to dance with me. You guys over analyze everything!" I told them.
"Nuh-uh!" They all replied.
I shook my head and told them they could analyze all they wanted, but at that moment, Wes and I were nothing more than friends. They all giggled and reassured me they wouldn't analyze everything as much. I doubted that, but I let them think I believed them.
So three weeks went by... Three wonderful, amazing, dazzling weeks. I spent most of my free time in Wes' company, and he spent most of his in mine. We couldn't get enough of each other, and frankly, I was okay with it. I still didn't know if he actually liked me or not, but he had said we were turning out to be really great friends. I was a little bummed when I heard that, but I figured since he was spending more time with me than any of my friends ever would there had to be some kind of attraction in there somewhere.
We worked on our dance, too. We had to pick a song and come up with costumes for the winter showcase. We agreed to dance to Come On Get Higher by Matt Nathanson. We still hadn't lost that spark from our first time together. The costume, however, was a mystery. Mona, the Orchesis director, said she'd try and come up with something.
Sometimes after class Wes and I would go down by the library where there was a little mini pond. It was a beautiful spot to just simply go to and play guitar. It became "our spot" even though it was technically a public area. But in our minds, it was set-aside just for us. It was our “secret” little hideout we would go to when we wanted to talk, think, or play music.
It was a chilly autumn day when my life turned upside down. It was the first day we'd had since school began where the temperature was below 50 degrees. I was headed off to calculus, the class Wes and I had together. We always sat next to each other now, since we felt more comfortable in the other's presence. I huddled beneath my coat, not used to the cool air. As I stepped into the classroom and out of the cold, my insides turned even colder than the weather outside.
Sitting next to Wes, in my seat, was a girl who I'd never seen before. She was perfectly sculpted with platinum blonde hair most of the way down her back in a dead straight wave of sunshine. She laughed, showing ultra-white teeth surrounded by pink lips set beneath a button nose. She was everything a guy could want and more. But she could have chosen any other guy...
I walked over to Wes, my heart in my mouth. "So..." I said awkwardly.
The girl in my seat looked up. "Oh, Hi! I'm Lydia."
I nodded. "Wes?"
"Uh, sorry Tia. She just transferred into this class because of dance team practices... They interfered with her old calc class... She kind of asked already if she could sit here. I didn't think you'd mind. Is that okay?"
Well, no. It’s not okay at all. How could you be so stupid, Wes!? "Sure. Have fun." I spun on my heel and walked over to the only other empty table in the corner.
Breathe, Tia. I told myself. It's only one class. You still get to hang out with him today after class. That thought kept me going throughout the whole lonely class. I would occasionally glance over and see her leaning in towards him to ask a "question." Fury burned in my throat. Or maybe it was jealousy. Either way, I was feeling something, and it wasn't a nice feeling.
Class ended, and thankfully, Wes waited for me outside the door. But when I stepped outside, Wes wasn't the only one waiting for me.
"Hey, Tia... I know we're supposed to go to Java Hut and study for the calc quiz together, but Lydia needed some help with the negative integrals so I offered to let her join us."
WHAT?!?!?!?! That witch can't ruin this too? Can she!? What was I supposed to say? No, it's not okay, let her fail on her own, she's a boy-stealing soul-sucker? Personally, I was all ready to say my thoughts when I was interrupted by Lydia.
"Thank you so much for letting me join you guys. It's really sweet of you to help me out. I can't fail a class or I'll be kicked off dance team!"
I let my breath go that I'd been saving to speak my mind. "Alright, fine. Let's go." I said unenthusiastically.
Lydia squealed and clapped her hands together. "Yay!! Thank you thank you thank you!"
The torture lasted for about two hours in Java Hut. I was ready to start banging my head on the table when Lydia finally stood up and said she had to go meet her roommate in the UC. I breathed a sigh of relief when she left.
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