"I knew it!" Nicole shouted, jumping to her feet and slamming the kitchen table for emphasis. "Shit! Ouch!" She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and lowered her voice sitting back in her chair. "Oh, Reina, I'm so jealous of you right now," she gushed. I had just finished telling her what had happened the previous night over our shared breakfast and she was taking it just like I'd expected. Proud, but jealous.

"Why?" I asked, playing along.

"Because you have a boyfriend to go out on the town with tonight while I'm stuck at home doing dishes." She winced, her hands squeezing her forehead.

"Well," I walked over to the fridge, pulled out an ice pack and tossed it to her. A sigh of relief escaped her lips the second she pushed it to her forehead. "At least we'll have clean plates for breakfast tomorrow."

"I'm sorry," Nicole said. Her black pupils dripping with a hope for sympathy perfectly enlarging into her dark brown irises creating the perfect puppy dog eyes. The type I always gave into.

"It's fine," I said just like always. "It's fine."

Nicole was a terrible roommate. We were both incoming seniors at our college college, almost turning twenty two, when Nicole offered to live with me.

At Bellington, all students were required to live on campus until their junior and senior years, when most moved off campus to live in apartments or rented houses. I, however, was too poor for that and found myself living in a freshman dorm as an RA, a position that got me free housing. I definitely enjoyed it and there were some good times, but I was definitely missing out on a lot.

For one thing, while all my friends were off having fun during the night, I found myself struggling to stay awake during classes due to my boring night time rounds. It was also scary at times. While many students broke the rules, not all were very nice when they got caught about it.

I remember one night in particular I had to investigate a giant puddle of puke in the hallway. I called one of my friends over to come help me out, as I did not want to deal with the mess all by myself, and he was a huge help. My freshman, however, used this time to break into my room, puke on my floor, and scatter their beer bottles everywhere. They probably assumed that this way, when I went to report them the evidence would be nowhere in sight and that if I had to bring a higher up into my room for paperwork, I would get into trouble instead.

Unfortunately for them, this was not how things went down. When I returned to my room that night and saw the mess, Josh, the friend, immediately got to cleaning and called the police. When the police arrived, they informed me that just for this very reason, there were cameras parked outside my room that would prove this wasn't my doing. Unfortunately, for some reason, the police had to leave with the camera, so hours later when I returned to my room for some desperately needed sleep and Josh for Just In Case Protection, the freshman got to work on my door. By the next morning you could no longer see any of my happy name tags as they were covered up with the new nicknames I had been given. Slut and Whore were the nice ones. We never could figure out exactly who did it and I got moved to another building for the rest of the year.

After that experience, I was desperate to get out of the dorms, though it was impossible without any money. My family made just enough money that I wasn't eligible for any grants or work-study and I was struggling to keep a job so all of my money went straight to tuition. When rich girl and friend Nicole offered to pay the full cost of an apartment and let me move in with her, I would have been stupid to turn her down.

I moved in over the summer between my junior and senior year so that we could get used to living together as early on as possible. There were little problems at first, but I had hoped they would pass. For example, Nicole wasn't at all used to having to clean up after herself, so I found myself picking up after each and every single one of her messes. She also insisted we use the Taxi service, the expensive and fancier ride share service based off of the original taxi cabs, instead of GetThere, the common ride share app. She was also incapable of waking herself up and, at times, needed help getting changed especially when she was drunk or hungover, something that happened way too often for my liking, but at least she wasn't a smoker.

As time went on, I found myself giving in and doing all of the housework, working, and going to school and that was okay. Until we graduated and Nicole's dad decided to stop paying the rent leaving Nicole and myself on our own. He said that we (Nicole) had become to dependent on him and we (Nicole) needed to start making livings and our own lives, explaining that he had only gotten to be this well off due to years and years of hard work, and he didn't even have college as a starting point due to his race.

In the end, Nicole got a barista job that paid for whatever fun outings she planned for herself and whatever boyfriend she had at the time, and I secured a full time desk job as well as a night job at a strip club where I handled taking care of the strippers needs to pay rent, groceries, and literally everything else. Three years later it wasn't perfect, but it worked.

"Ok, but seriously have fun tonight, Reina girl. You deserve it." Nicole smiled at me and watched while I packed my bag for work. "Oh, and would you mind calling out for me? My shift was supposed to start at 1pm so I'd need the call to be at 11am in order for them to be able to cover my shift. Tell them I'm sick or something. It doesn't really matter."

"Ok," I said, racing out the door to work. "Stomach bug work?"

"Yeah," she replied, disappearing into her bedroom. "Don't forget ok?"

"I won't."

True to my promise, I called Nicole's boss at 11am on the nose. "Hi, Nicole is gonna have to call out for her 1o clock shift today as she's sick in bed with the stomach bug."

"Reina is that you?" James asked from the other end of the line.

"Yeah, it's me."

"Hey! Long time no see. Hear. Heard? Anyways, Nicole not feeling well today?"

"No, she's not. She's—"

"Hungover again right?" It wasn't the first time ever I'd called in her place.

"Yup."

"Alright it's no biggie. I'll just stay extra long and cover her shift. It's gonna be rough though. I've been here since four in the morning."

"I am so so sorry," I responded, and genuinely meant it. "I can't even imagine."

"It's alright. I'm more worried about you anyways."

"What do you mean? I'm fine." I was. I was fine. Everything was fine.

"No, I mean, when are you going to stop letting Nicole walk all over you. You're a good friend, Nicole, but twenty year olds can absolutely call out of work all by themselves. Or, come into work hungover and push through it like the rest of us."

"I'm not though," I was talking fast. "It's fine, really. We're fine. I do things to help Nicole out when she isn't well and she does the same for me."

"If you ever took a sick day we both know you'd be out on the street before Nicole would help you out."
"I guess." I was getting nervous now. "I've got to go back to work."

"Alright, Reina, thanks for the call. But please remember that in a healthy relationship, both parties have to give, not just one supporting it all, and I'm always here to talk if you need me."

"Thanks, James." And I hung up the phone.

For once, the second the clock struck five, I was out of my chair and racing down the steps of my office building to hail a Taxi. By seven forty five, I was outside the pizza place Rob told me to meet him at in my favorite, flowery dress.

"Hey," Rob said when he showed up. "You look really nice."

"Thanks," I replied, allowing myself to blush just a little. "So do you." I choked on my words, however, when I saw what he was wearing. Highlighter yellow shorts with red stripes and a gray hoodie paired with knee high black socks and sandals. No thank you. I already graduated middle school.

"Oh um," he gulped. "Thank you? For real though, I was playing with my nephew today. I didn't have time to change. I'm really sorry."

"It's ok, really," I reassured him. "Let's go in."

"After you, Milady," he bowed, holding the door open for me.

"Thank you kind Sir," I played along.

"Table for two?" The nauseously nasally lady at the front asked, grabbing menus from the wall behind her.

"Yes, please," I replied for us both.

"Follow me please," her nose spoke through her throat and she gestured for us to follow her all the way into the back to a small table for two. After placing down the menus and stepping back to allow us to sit, she pulled out a pencil, a pad of paper, and stared blankly into the distance.

"Can we... help you?" Rob awkwardly asked her, rubbing his hands together nervously.

"Are you ready to order yet?" she asked. I could have sworn there was some sass coming out of that nose.

"I mean... we just sat so...."

"I'll have a strawberry lemonade," I cut in.

"Strawberry lemonade," she repeated. "And for you... Sir...?" she questioned looking him up and down as though she was quite unsure about him.

"I'll have what she's having," he said with a wink and a grin aimed at me.

"Two strawberry lemonades for the young lady and her... date," the waitress screeched at the top of her lungs scaring us both. Then, turning completely silent again she stared at us.

"Do you...?"

"Eat? Are you gonna?" she asked, glaring at Rob. "Or did you forget your wallet where you left your pants?" I wanted to snicker, but was trying so hard not to screw up this date that I forced myself to keep quiet. Rob, however, wasn't pleased.

"We'll have a large pepperoni, is that alright with you, Rob?" I asked.

"No. One large bacon for me. I don't like pepperoni."

"You don't like pepperoni?" I asked, aghast. "That's like, the pizza of all pizzas! How are you supposed to know if a pizza place is any good if you don't try their good old pepperoni and cheese?"

"I feel the same. However, with bacon!" Rob said with gusto. "Pepperoni just isn't up to my tastes."

"Well I'm not eating bacon," I stated firmly.

"Nor I, pepperoni. I guess we'll have to get two different pizzas then."

"No please no," I panicked. "I can't eat a whole pizza that's way too much food. Can't we just get one?"

"Well, I'm not going to compromise here and I somehow doubt you will either so I suppose we are stuck." Rob lay back in his chair resting his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. The waitress continued to stare at us.

"Are you both stupid?" she asked incredulously. "One half pepperoni half bacon for the idiotic love birds," she screeched again. This time, right in my ear. Ow.

"We're not in love," I said indignantly. "It's just a date."

"Right," she replied, dragging out the word as long as possible.

When our pizza arrived, I dug right in. I was so hungry from the days work that I didn't even care how I might have looked. The pizza was so dang good. The melty cheese with the crunchy, moist crust with the tangy red sauce between was the perfect base for the crisp slices of pepperoni that decorated my huge slice.

"Thith ith tho goodth," I mumbled, my mouth crammed full of delicious, warm pizza.

"Does it make up for Lady Rudo over there?" Rob asked me, smiling.

"Oh heck yeah," I swallowed. "When can we come back?"

"If you really like it that much we can come back tomorrow," Rob joked. "Anything for my girl."

"I'm not your girl, Rob," I grinned.

"Not yet at least," he said with a sly smile. "But seriously, I'm happy you like it. My dad used to always take me here with my sister when we were kids."

"That's sweet. Your nephew is her kid, right?"

"Uh huh," he replied. "Super sweet kid. Has a really hard time telling facts from opinions, though. A bit of an authority issue too. Really enjoys being correct."

"Oh?" I asked.

"Yeah, like just today, I was taking him to the playground and he starts to run across the middle of the road and I'm yelling after him that he needs to cross at the cross walk. He screams back that the sidewalk is ugly and therefore nobody wants to walk over it, finishing up by telling me how it's a fact. I tell him it's a fact that he has to walk across the cross walk and you know what he tells me?"

"No, what?" I asked, genuinely intrigued.

"'That's just your opinion, Uncle. And your opinion is wrong. A fact is that you're stupid and ugly and that Grammy loves Mommy more than she ever loved you!' and then, just when I'm about ready to smack the kid he screams, 'Just kidding!' yanks down his pants, and farts on me."

"What a fun kid," I laughed. "You're a real trooper."

"Thank you," Rob preforms a small bow. "But he's really not that bad usually. I love the kid. He's just in one of his moods where he has to be right about everything."

"That really is so funny though." I'm still giggling. "I can't wait to hear about what he does next."

"You mean you want to see my again?" Rob asks.

"I mean... yeah, you're cool. But we're not like, together, ok? I don't want a commitment at the moment."

"It's cool. It's cool. You're just looking for a bang and run moment, am I right? No commitment. Just beginnings, no endings, all the fun."

"Rob!" I smacked his arm. "Don't say things like that."

"I'm just kidding," he laughs.

"I know," I say, and I'm laughing too.

Once we finish the last slices of our half pepperoni half bacon pizza, Rob pays the bill saying that this will be the only time and to let it be his treat before retreating to his car.

"I'm sorry we could't do more tonight," he said. "I really have to go though. Family stuff."

"It's ok, I understand." I won't lie that I felt a little disappointed, but it really was ok. "Let's do this again sometime, I hope?" I ask.

"Yeah, of course. Only if you really want to, though," Rob responds.

"I do," I reply honestly.

"Hell yes!" I hear Rob screaming into the darkness as I hail down yet another Taxi.