College - Chapter 5

Chris sat on the torn up smoky-smelling couch in his dorm, on the opposite end as Jake.
"So," Jake said, lighting his millionth cigarette, "You have a girlfriend?"
Chris thought about how to answer. He decided that telling Jake that he wasn't interested in girls wasn't the best way to make friends and that it would be better to play it safe.
"Yes..." He said slowly.
"What's her name?" Jake said, not sounding like he believed Chris.
Without thinking, Chris said the first name that came to his mind; the name of his best friend, "Alice. H-her name is Alice."
Jake eyed him and said, "Is she pretty?"
Okay, Chris, Chris thought, Try to sound natural. Sound like a normal perverted college student.
"Heck yes!" He said, "She's beautiful!"
Jake raised an eyebrow at Chris and Chris said, "I mean, she's hot. She's really hot."
"What's she like?" Jake asked, seeming to test if Chris was lying or not.
"She has strawberry-blonde hair," Chris said, "And brown eyes. She's about the same height as me and she... Cleans a lot...."
Jake gave him a what's-wrong-with-you look and said, "Yeah?"
Chris nodded and Jake turned on the T.V.
After sitting in awkward silence for a few minutes, Chris sat down at his desk and started reading.




At about seven last night, I called Chris.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Chris." I said, "Sorry to bother you."
"It's fine." He said.
"Um, I'm sorry I was so rude to you and Ayumi yesterday. I was kind of a jerk."
There was silence on the other line for a bit and Chris said, "Thank you for apologizing."
I nodded, "Hey, Chris. Alice called me a few minutes ago."
Chris was quiet again for a second and he said, "Really?"
"Yeah," I said, "She's coming here over break. Isn't that awesome? Also, she's coming to the high school reunion."
Chris's breath shorted out and he didn't say anything/
"Chris?" I said cautiously, "Are you okay? I just told you that our best friend is coming to visit us."
"Uh, yeah, that's great!" Chris said, but he still sounded nervous.
I nodded again and Chris said, "When is she coming again?"
"Monday."
"M-Monday?" Chris said, "This Monday?"
"Yes!" I said, "What's wrong? You're killing me!"
"Nothing's wrong!" Chris said, hanging up the phone.
Sure, nothing was wrong. I didn't know what was wrong, but definitely something. Something was wrong.




Chris hung up the phone and Jake said, "What's wrong with you?"
Chris sat back in his chair, 




"My girlfriend is coming to visit."