Page 5

I was reheating previous night’s leftover lasagna, when I heard the front door open.

‘Honey, I’m home!’ Nina announced, entering our apartment.

College had had its fair share of ups and downs in the past couple of years, but it had also given me one of the greatest blessings of my life: on the day that I had stepped foot into my dorm room for the first time, I was introduced to my roommate, and now best friend, Nina Alvarez.

When it came to choosing a roommate, I had decided to request one and let the university do the searching, instead of doing it myself. Keeping my fingers crossed, I’d hoped to get along with whoever I ended up being roommates with.

Thankfully, we did, even catapulting into one of the greatest friendships I’ve ever made.

When it had come to discussing our living plans for our sophomore year, it was a no-brainer that we wanted to live together again.

And here we were, rooming together again for the third year running.

‘Welcome home, babe!’ I replied, matching her enthusiastic tone.

‘I smell something delicious. Is it food? Are you making food?’ she rushed out her words as she stepped into the kitchen, the mouthwatering smell of the lasagna slowly filling the air.

‘I’m just reheating our leftovers from last night,’ I told her. ‘You came home just in time.’

‘Oh, thank god. I’m starving,’ she said dramatically as she set down her bag by the kitchen island. Then, she headed over to the sink to wash her hands before plopping herself on one of our kitchen stools in our newly leased apartment.

Nina and I had decided to switch to a new apartment for the new term. The old apartment was fine, but we had realized that we wanted to have our own bathrooms instead of sharing one.

Our new apartment wasn’t anything special: just one open space with a kitchen a few steps away from the doorway, a countertop thrown in the middle of it to separate the kitchen from the living room, and windows that showed off a view of the streets below.

Not to forget, there were three doors on the right wall: two of which led to bedrooms with their own attached bathrooms; the middle door covering a washer and a dryer.

When Nina and I had toured the building and this particular apartment last semester, we had instantly fallen in love and knew this was the one. The apartment was still slightly messy, since I had only moved in a week ago, but even so, I knew we had made the right choice moving here.

Just as I was taking out the plates and utensils, the alarm of the oven went off.

Wearing mittens, I took out the heated lasagna, making sure to position it perfectly with the coaster.

Nina wasted no time scooping it up and putting it on her plate.

By the time I took off the mittens and went to sit next to her, she was already savouring her food.

I let out a small laugh and scooped out a proportion of my own, filling my plate.

Silence enveloped us as we enjoyed our reheated leftovers, the sounds from the streets below being our only companion.

‘I’m so glad we decided to make lasagna last night,’ Nina eventually said, moaning out her satisfaction in between bites. ‘This was exactly what I needed after today.’

‘I guess training was harder than usual today?’ I asked her, taking a bite of my own. Nina had arrived back on campus a week earlier than me, as was required by the track team. But the coach had decided to allow them an extra two days off the previous weekend to let them prepare for the semester.

‘It was brutal,’ she groaned out. ‘Coach had us running drills like a maniac. It was as if he was punishing us for taking the time off he gave us. I can already feel how sore I’m going to be this week.’

‘It’ll get better,’ I said, trying to cheer her up.

‘Yeah. Hopefully, I’ll get used to it by this time next week,’ she said, letting out a wistful sigh. ‘Anyway, enough of my whining. How was your day?’

For a moment, I considered telling her about what had happened today in ASL class and how I could possibly end up partnering with Colton Reed for a class assignment.

Nina had known all about my crush on Colton, just as I did about her crush on Miles, his teammate.

But I had never told anyone about the curse before, and I didn’t want to get her hopes up over something that wasn’t worth mentioning— not when this thing with Colton couldn’t go any further than us just being mere classmates.

‘It was okay.’ I shrugged. ‘I decided to walk back to the apartment today, instead of taking the bus—but that was pretty much the highlight of my day, along with this lasagna,’ I answered, my spoon pointing at whatever was left on my plate.

She let out a laugh. ‘The lasagna also happens to be the highlight of my day.’ She scooped up another bite, before adding, ‘Wait, wasn’t your first ASL class today? How did it go?’

Being roommates for two whole years together, Nina had been a witness to my disappointment each semester, when I couldn’t fit the ASL class into my schedule, as it had always clashed with my other mandatory classes.

When the stars had finally aligned for me to be able to take it this semester, she was just as ecstatic as I was to learn that ASL was going to be on my list of classes I would be attending.

‘It was,’ I nodded. ‘Nothing much happened since it was just the first class, so it was mostly just an introduction to what we can expect in the course.’

But I did sit next to Colton for almost a whole hour and got to talk to him , I added in my head.

Just as she was about to reply, her phone, placed next to her on the kitchen island, started buzzing with tons of notifications. She picked it up to see what the fuss was about. A look of excitement crossed her features at whatever it was.

‘Good news?’ I asked.

‘The best,’ she replied, turning her attention back to me. ‘Do you have any plans this Saturday night?’

I mentally went through my agenda and to-do list. ‘I don’t think so, I might just spend the morning unpacking and organizing my things.’ I had to stop procrastinating and get it done while I still had some free time on my hands.

‘Great! The track team is throwing a party at the team house on Saturday night to celebrate the end of the first week—or so they say,’ she explained, rolling her eyes.

The sports teams in our college were notorious for throwing parties on a weekly basis. It was almost as if they had a social calendar to ensure there was always a party happening on weekends. And it seemed like we were kicking the semester off with the track team.

‘I’m down for that. It’d be nice to catch up with everyone,’ I agreed. It had been a chaotic week: with moving out of the state, settling into a new apartment, attending classes, and deciding which ones I wanted to take for the semester. I hadn’t had the chance to talk to anyone other than Nina.

‘That settles it. The party starts at 8 p.m., so that gives us some time to grab dinner before we head out.’

‘Sounds like a plan,’ I confirmed.

As I continued to devour our homemade lasagna, it occurred to me that Colton might be attending the party too, since he was on the baseball team.

Anyone and everyone who was a college athlete, tended to show up to these parties—regardless of which sports team was throwing it.

Even so, this wouldn’t have been the first party I attended which bore the possibility of Colton’s presence.

Last semester, when it had been the baseball team’s turn to throw the week’s party, Nina was adamant about going and begged me to come along.

While I was hesitant at first, I had eventually given in, figuring it would be a good way to celebrate after submitting a heavy assignment.

I had stuck close to Nina the whole night, cheering on Claudia and Lily as they played beer pong against college athletes.

At that point in time, the incident had happened more than a month ago, but I was still slightly nervous about unexpectedly running into Colton, and the small chance of him remembering our little encounter.

My worries ended up being for nothing, when the night flew by without Colton and I crossing paths with one another.

My fingers were crossed: I wanted it to repeat this upcoming Saturday.

The rest of the week was uneventfully filled with attending more classes, organizing my calendar with test dates, and assignment deadlines. I also had finally managed to unpack everything out of my luggage. Before I knew it, Saturday rolled around, and it was time to get ready for the party.

As I was curling my hair in my room, I heard knocks coming from the front door.

‘I’ll get it!’ shouted Nina.

It wasn’t a minute later, when the sounds of excited shrieking met my ears. I quickly curled the last patch of my hair and went out to the living room to greet our guests. Nina, meanwhile, went back to her room to add some finishing touches to her makeup.

‘Hey!’ I exclaimed, once my eyes landed on Claudia and Lily.

‘Clara!’ I barely managed to hear my name being called out, as I was pulled into Claudia’s arms. She squeezed me with her tight hug before I could even blink.

‘That’s enough. You’re suffocating the poor girl.’ I heard Lily say.

‘Let me be. I haven’t seen her in months.’ Claudia waved Lily off, continuing to hold me in her embrace.

‘I missed you too, Claudia,’ I said, softly patting her arms until she eventually pulled away.

‘All right, my turn.’ Lily playfully pushed Claudia to the side, before taking me in for a hug.

Not wanting to be left out, Claudia put her arms around both of us, making it a group hug instead.

‘Attachment issues,’ I heard Lily whisper into my ear.

‘I heard that!’ Claudia admitted.

I let out a light chuckle.