A pot of something richly brown and smelling distinctly like chocolate was on the stove when I returned to the apartment.

I quickly slid off the high heels, my head spinning a bit from the alcohol. Thankfully, the effects were already wearing off and I felt myself coming to a bit more. I tried to remember every detail of the night, but it all seemed a bit blurry. It felt like I'd only been gone for five minutes.

I double-checked my purse. Everything was still there. I would be alright. 

As I opened the door to my bedroom, I heard Cassidy's door open.

"Keira?" 

I dropped my purse on my desk, still half in the living room, half in my doorway. "Hi. I'm back," I replied. It was a bit obvious but whatever.

"Oh good. I made some hot chocolate if you want some."

I took my phone out of my pocket and left it on my desk. There was a missed call from an unknown number. I was used to this by now. 

"Okay," I replied quietly. "Give me a sec."

Vigorously, I smeared off my makeup with a makeup wipe and dropped my jewelry into a decorative plate that my mom had bought me for my birthday two years ago. I slipped on a comfy sweatshirt and finally felt the tension in my shoulders release. There was a glass of water on the desk which I completely drained in under a second.

Water would make it less painful tomorrow morning.

As I stepped out of my room into the living room, Cassidy was already seated at the couch with her own blue mug filled to the brim with hot cocoa. I grabbed my own from the cabinet - a zebra-painted one that I'd bought at the Bronx Zoo one time I went when I was in high school. Then, I ladled in a good amount of hot cooca. It was steaming, but not so hot that it burned me.

"Soooo, where did you go?" Cassidy asked, her voice a quiet murmur. As I sat across from her on the couch, I became acutely aware of just how quiet it was. Living this high up, you didn't get sounds of crickets or birds. Just emptiness and a view of the dark, cloudy sky.

Already, embarrassment overwhelmed me. It had been pretty stupid to go out on my own. "I went to Ember."

"Oh, like the night club?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that one. The one we went to a long time ago. I don't know if you remember."

Cassidy nodded slowly. "I think so. Why were you there?"

I shrugged.

"That's not an answer."

"I don't know. I just needed to leave I guess."

"Did something happen?"

A brief silence fell between us, in which I watched the smoke from my hot cocoa fade into nothingness as it met the air. 

"Yes."

"Is it related to David?" she asked.

I nodded curtly.

"Hmph," she mumbled, sipping her hot cocoa. Her back straight, she stared out of the window, eyebrows slightly scrunched.

"I met with David again."

She met my gaze.

"So, I came up with an idea to get Keaton and Paul to stop bugging me. David said he stopped. He showed me his phone. I can prove it. Although honestly, maybe he just deleted the apps. I don't know."

"I don't trust it," Cassidy commented, and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I know. It's weird," I agreed. "But he said Keaton and Paul still have the apps and that's who's been bugging me. I still don't know what the deal is with the expelling thing but it hasn't happened yet. And I hope I'll be fine."

Cassidy sighed. "Yeah, I don't think there's much you can do there. I want to trust the university's integrity system. And David literally told you this. Do you have record of him telling you, actually?"

I paused for a moment. Dumb of me not to. "No. But..."

Cassidy's face lit up suddenly. "That's an idea. If you need one."

"To record David saying that Keaton and Paul were going to do that? He would never agree to that."

"Hey, if it's in a public place where technically anyone could overhear, it's not illegal."

I froze, then gently placed my mug of hot chocolate down on the side table. "Wait, that's actually a great idea."

"Yeah. I know. I'm great." Cassidy smirked, her blue eyes alight in excitement.

"But how would I get him to explain all that  again? Just ask? That's kind of weird."

"Yeah, but I think it would save your ass," Cassidy retorted.

She had a pretty good point. If I was still at risk of being expelled, having evidence that this had been planned in advance would save me. Then, they couldn't do anything. It would be throwing David under the bus, but screw it. He didn't care to help me so I wouldn't bother to help him. What happened to him after everything he had started was none of my business.

"Okay, fine. I'll do it." My phone was still in my room, but I planned to text him as soon as I finished my hot cocoa. Already, I was thinking about my schedule for the upcoming couple of days. I had a few homework assignments but very little to do after class. I was pretty flexible.

"What else happened? You said you met with David and...," Cassidy broached. 

"Yeah. I keep getting texts from creeps still. So, I asked him quite politely to tell Keaton and Paul that I changed my phone number."

Cassidy frowned. "Did that work?"

"Nope."

"I didn't think so. No offense, but you can't be polite with people like David. It won't do anything. He has more to gain by sitting back and watching chaos unfold than trying to help you fix things. Maybe he feels guilty, but clearly he only reached out to make his own conscience feel better and he's done that," Cassidy explained. "My ex was like that, too,  you know."

I tried remembering what Cassidy's ex's name was. She had two. I knew both of them were jerks. One had cheated on her, the other one had been quite manipulative once she'd tried to break up with him. "Was this Tony?"

She nodded and the blonde hair that had escaped her bun bounced with the movement of her neck. "Yes." Her eyes were wide as saucers. "He was such a dick. After cheating on me, he went crazy apologizing and bought me flowers and made a whole show just to let me know he would never do it again. But when I asked that he deleted the girl's number, the one he cheated on me with, and tell her that he had a girlfriend and had cheated, he refused. He would only go as far as he wanted to to apologize. He was apologizing for himself. Not for me."

"So, what did you do?"

"I broke up with him of course." She shrugged. "Easiest decision of my life. Actually, not. It's hard breaking up with someone."

I barely understood. I'd never gone through a tough breakup. It scared me that I hadn't yet. It meant that one was potentially on the horizon.

But I knew heartbreak well. I'd been through pain like that. Of liking someone and having it not work out. Of hanging out with Phoebe and then...

That was a whole other can of worms.

And one that Cassidy was intent on forcefully opening.

"Did something happen between you and Phoebe?" she asked, after another pause. "If you feel comfortable sharing."

I didn't know if it had been obvious. What did Cassidy know? Had Phoebe talked to her? What was even going on with us? Maybe I had misinterpreted everything, moved too fast with everything. Led her on. I wasn't sure. Did she think I was leading her on? Did she want to date?

"I don't know," I admitted. "We've been doing this fake dating thing and then recently... I don't know. We didn't really agree that it was a date but we also didn't really agree that it wasn't a date."

Cassidy squinted at me. "Are you saying you aren't sure whether Phoebe likes you? Because I have an answer for you there if that's the question."

My face went bright red and I could feel the blood rush away from my extremities. "Wait, really? Did you talk to her?"

Cassidy let out a loud guffaw. "Did I talk to her? She's one of my friends. Of course I did!"

"Oh."

"Like, we're friends, yes. But I also regularly see her. And I've already asked her about this, too."

"Really?"

Cassidy nodded aggressively.

"Okay, wait, so tell me," I said, heart racing.

"The answer is duh. Of course. She thought you two were dating but kept telling me that she felt like you weren't on the same page. That she thought you weren't into her."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Oh."

"Mhmm."

"But I... I kind of agreed to go on a date with her and stuff right? Like I thought I made it obvious or...," I said, quietly.

"I think Phoebe was hurt because when I asked if you two were on a date, you didn't answer. I already knew her answer. She was waiting for you to speak."

God, I felt stupid. I should have just said yes. I should have just communicated things. Hadn't she tried to tell me she was interested in actually dating? I thought we'd communicated enough but apparently not.

"What the heck am I supposed to do?" I said, throwing my hands up.

Cassidy leaned forward and gripped my shoulder. "Girl, go fucking talk to her."