"Welcome to our first meeting of the semester! While I'm familiar with some of you-" Precious looked at me, "-I'll like us to go around introducing ourselves. Does anyone want to start?"

I rose my hand. "I'll go. I'm Aimee. I'm a freshman, and uhh...I'm really glad to be a part of this club."

Precious smiled. "It's great to have you, Aimee! Care to share why you decided to join this club?"

Not really, no.

I shrugged. "I love cooking."

Miguel said, "In other words, you're here for the food like the rest of us."

Laughter echoed through the room.

I forced a smile onto my face. "I guess so." Why the fuck does he have to be in the club as well?

Following my lead, other members of the club introduced themselves. After that, Precious gave a brief explanation on how the club would run - every two weeks, some members of the club would choose a certain recipe of their choosing, which the rest of us would help prepare.

After giving space for questions, Precious let us go. Sadly, despite my efforts to make it out of the room as quickly as possible, Miguel caught me before I made it out.

Falling into step beside me, he grinned. "What's up?"

I shrugged. "Just heading out."

"What a coincidence, so am I! I guess we have no choice but to head out together, no?"

"No."

"So, where are we headed now?"

"Back to my dorms."

"Great!" He continued following along.

I furrowed my brow. "You're not invited."

He grinned. "Who says I'm coming in? There's no harm in having an escort, right?"

I stopped walking. "Oh, there's no need to bother yourself."

"Good thing it's not a bother then." He gestured ahead of me. "Shall we?"

Great.

I started walking again, at a quicker pace than I had before. He matched it.

"How's your time here been so far?"

"Alright."

"Good, good. Any trouble making friends?"

"Not really."

"If you ever need someone to hang out with, I'm available."

"Thanks, but I'm good."

He winked at me. "Well, come to me when you want to upgrade to better."

I rolled my eyes. Despite myself, I smiled. That was corny as fuck. "I'll keep that in mind. By the way, I'm surprised to see you sober."

"Only 'cause I can't walk around campus drunk, sadly. Don't worry, I'll be drunk in about a few hours from now. Wanna drop by my apartment and check on me then?"

"No thanks, I'll take your word for it."

"Well, if you ever change your mind-"

A male voice cut him off. "Yo, Miguel!"

Miguel turned, peering at the distant figure that had called him. "Oh shit, I'll be right there!"

He looked back at me, sighing. "I've got to cut this short-"

"Oh, I understand. Please, don't let me keep you waiting!"

"Alright." He opened his arms, spreading them out towards me.

I frowned. "What are you doing?"

He chuckled, dropping them. "Worth a shot. Catch you later!"

I waved him off. Not if I can help it!

. . .

When I got back to my room, I was surprised to see a message from Tim. It read:

'Burned down the house, send help.'

Chuckling, I rolled my eyes and replied: 'You're on your own. Call me when you're free.'

After that, I gathered the ingredients I'd gotten from the grocery store the day before, then headed to the kitchen to make a vegetable stew.

The kitchen was nearly empty - the only person inside was Emma, who was doing her dishes.

The conflict from the day before flashed in my mind. Great.

Taking a deep breath, I said, "Hey."

She jumped a little, then smiled at me. "Oh, I didn't hear you come in! Hey, how are you?"

"I'm alright, you? Well, I just scared the living daylights out of you, so maybe not so much."

She laughed. "I'm good now."

"Great."

She turned back to the dishes. I unpacked my ingredients, then grabbed the pot and equipment I was going to need.

As I was setting them down, Emma said, "By the way, I'm really sorry about what happened yesterday. It was shitty of me to just leave my dishes clogging up the sink. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Oh uh...it's all good now. I appreciate your apology."

Drying her hands, she smiled. "I appreciate you appreciating my apology."

"Do you by any chance happen to be Canadian?"

She grinned. "As a matter of fact, I am. How can you tell?"

"I think we both know."

"Do I happen to be carrying maple syrup with me?"

"Pretty sure I saw you smuggling several gallons in here the other day."

She laughed. "Fuck, I thought I was slick with it. What are you making?"

"Stew. The meat-free options in the dining hall just don't do it for me."

"Yours must be really good then. Well, I'll let you get back to it. See you around."

I smiled. "See you. You're welcome to a bowl when I'm done."

"I just might take you up on that!"

. . .

Tim called a few hours after. I'd finished in the kitchen by then and was in my room, watching videos on my laptop.

The first thing I said when I picked up was, "Hey. So should I call the fire department or an ambulance?"

"Huh? Oh, haha, very funny. By the way, I'm using your room now."

I scoffed. "Bullshit, I know for a fact that I locked it before I left."

"You did. It was nice of you to leave the key on the door for me."

I sat up. "What? No way."

"See for yourself. Gimme a sec, I'll switch to video."

He did, then swiveled his phone, giving me a tour of my room. My heart sunk. Fuck!

I yelled, "Tim, get your ass out of there right now!"

"Chill, I haven't even messed it up, and I don't plan to. I'm only using it as my gaming room."

To his credit, apart from his gaming computer that was set on my desk, nothing seemed out of place.

Smirking, he added, "Besides, dad approves of me using it, so there's not much you can do about it."

"I somehow doubt that you asked him."'

"I didn't, but he saw me using it and didn't complain, so..."

The one time I would have liked him to complain, he doesn't. Aargh!

I groaned. "Whatever, just don't trash my room. Anyways, when did dad get home?"

"A few days ago. He'll probably be here for the next three days."

"Ahh. How...is he?"

"He's good." Tim's face lit. "Speaking of which, I just remembered why I called. Guess what?"

"Wha-"

"Dad's getting me a car!"

My eyes widened. "Wait, what? Seriously?"

Grinning, he nodded. "I figured since he has been in a good mood, I may as well try my luck. What do you know, it paid off!"

"Oh wow, uh...that's great! But don't you- I mean, it may be a little early to start celebrating, no? Considering how dad-"

"I know, I know, things didn't go great for you when you asked him to get you one-"

"He called me a moocher and yelled that I should use my savings to get one."

"Yes, yes, but this time is different: he has already agreed to it. Plus, you probably asked him at a bad time then."

That stung. "Has he told you when he's getting it?"

"We're going to a dealership this weekend."

"Ok, but how long does this 'good time' last? A few hours? The rest of today? Do you really think he's going to keep his word when it ends?"

Tim sighed exasperatedly. "You know what, forget it. If I knew you were going to hate this much, I wouldn't have bothered telling you."

"I'm not hating, I'm just trying to be realistic."

"Whatever. I gotta go."

"Tim-"

He hung up. I called him, but it went to voicemail.

Sighing, I tossed my phone onto my bed. Fuck!'

. . .

"...and it's not like I'm not happy for him, but I just don't want him to get his hopes dashed if my dad decides to change his mind, you know?"

Angelo hummed.

I sighed, shifting on my bed. "But he doesn't see that, so now I look like a bitch for trying to look out for him. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything. What do you think?"

Angelo hummed again.

I frowned, looking at my phone. He was staring at me with a small smile on his face and a distant look in his eyes.

I snapped, "Well?"

He blinked. "Huh? Sorry, what?"

"Were you even listening?"

"No- I mean, yes! But to be honest, I'm high as fuck now so I'm having trouble focusing on your words."

"Oh."

"Don't take it the wrong way, it's not that I don't want to listen-"

"Don't worry, I get it." I forced a smile onto my face. "Never mind."

He pouted. "But I want to mind. Tell me about it on Friday when I come over?"

My heart warmed. "You're coming over on Friday?"

"Yes, lucky you."

Struggling to keep a smile of my face, I rolled my eyes. "Says who? Now I gotta make myself scarce then."

"I'd wait in your room till you get back."

"Who says i'll have left it?"

"Then i'll lay seige outside your door till you let me in."

The smile broke free. "Come prepared with supplies then."

"Yes, my lady."

I giggled, then began setting up a movie for us to watch. As I did so, I said, "Speaking of being high, did last Saturday spark some love of Mary Jane in you?"

He chuckled. "No. Wanna know a secret?"

I paused, looking at him. "What?"

"I was just sobering by the time I arrived at your dorm last Friday."

My jaw dropped. "Seriously? I didn't even notice!"

"Well you didn't notice throughout spring and summer either."

"Wh- no! There's no way you were always high around me and I didn't notice."

"Not always, just a few times. Though I got high almost every night."

For a few seconds, I was speechless. Then I stuttered, "W-wow. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought you're a stoner."

He crinkled his nose. "I wouldn't call myself that."

"Do you need me to pull up the defin-"

"Anyways, what are we watching?"

.      .     .

To my disappointment, Angelo didn't show up on Friday. I left him a few messages asking him when he planned to arrive, but got no reply. I called, but he didn't pick up. At a point, I began worrying that something bad had happened to him.

I didn't learn what had been going on with him till the next day. That being said, what I learned was far from what I expected, and the information came from a surprising source.

I was doing my dishes in the kitchen when Precious walked in and said, "Oh, thank god I caught you here! I have a question."

I replied, "Go on."

"For real, are you and Angelo dating?"

I frowned. "Why?"

"Answer and I'll tell you."

"We are, but we're not in a relationship."

"So fuck buddies?"

"Not exactly."

"Ah, so what's the- never mind. But there's no commitment, right?"

"No..." Frowning, I narrowed my eyes at her. "Why are you asking?"

"If I told you that he was with another girl last night, would that be a problem?"

.      .      .

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