Page 48 of Falling Again

“I think you just make up these girl codes.”

“So, what if I do? I’m a girl, aren’t I?” I say, flipping a blonde curl over my shoulder.

Annika sits back in her chair, relaxing a bit. I’m delighted in myself that I could help her relax a bit. “So, how’s it going with Dane? It seems like you two are getting serious,” she asks, and I bite my tongue, knowing I’ve withheld so much when it comes to Dane. I haven’t told her that we love each other. I haven’t told her that we had sex on the floor of our dorm room last week. I haven’t told her that he’s all I think about. I’m worried she will say I’m moving too fast. She could barely handle going on two dates with Reid. She wouldn’t understand.

“It’s going great! He is so sweet to me, Anni. I’ve never been so lucky to have a guy like him,” I tell her genuinely.

“I’m really happy you are really happy, Chloe. You deserve so much. I hope he knows that.” Her words hit a spot in my gut. I can feel my eyes going glassy, but I blink it away and smile at her.

“He does. He treats me well,” I tell her, but it sounds like a lie.

The lab is lively today. So many students are chatting about projects and generally yapping. The professor is bouncing between tables, answering questions. Annika has her headphones in and is furiously typing on her laptop. I am drawing doodles in the margins of notes I took in my last class. I have an exam next week and should be studying, but of course, my mind wanders to Dane. What is he doing right now?

I look over at Annika, and she looks at me out of the corner of her eye and removes an earbud. “What’s up?” she asks and looks down at my notes. “I don’t know why we have to take a history class. I know it’s general ed, but it is so boring,” she adds.

“I wish I could go to college without taking classes or doing any work” I say. “Just hang out with my besties all day.”

“You hang out with your boyfriend more nowadays,” Annika quickly points out, but then presses her lips together as if she didn’t mean to say her thought out loud.

“We hang out all the time. We live together,” I retort.

“I know, but never mind, it’s okay. You’re right. We see each other all the time,” Annika says and goes to put her earbuds back in.

“Let’s hang out tonight.”

“It’s a Wednesday.”

“So! Neither of us has class tomorrow.”

“What should we do? We don’t have fake IDs, so it’s not like we can go to any bars.”

“That reminds me, Isaac knows a guy whose girlfriend got fake IDs from this chick at USC. He said he could give us her number.”

“That sentence makes me anxious,” Annika says, and I laugh.

“I’ll take care of it.” I wave her off. “Let’s wander Gaslamp, just like we did when we first started here. We would walk around drinking iced tea and browsing random stores. I miss those days.”

“I miss those days, too. I miss hanging out with you. I know you are wrapped up with Dane, but I do miss our girl days.”

The mention of Dane’s name reminds me that he likes it when I hang out at his coffee shop on Wednesday evenings. He works but still likes to see me, so I usually sit at a table drawing or studying. I’m sure he will understand me skipping out on one Wednesday.

“I miss our girl days, too. Let’s do it,” I say, pulling out my phone to quickly text Dane about the change of plans.

Me

I’m going to hang out with Anni tonight.

Dane

But I’m working tonight

I know, but Anni misses me.

I miss you.

I see you every day.

She lives with you. You see her more than me.