《Area Codes // dreamwastaken》fifty-two
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Drew stood in the doorway of Caoimhe's room, barely able to keep a smile off their face as they stared at her. Caoimhe looked up from her spot on the bed, glaring at them suspiciously.
"What?"
"Hehehe." Drew giggled before clamping their mouth shut again.
"What?" Caoimhe asked again.
"Hehehehehe." They fiddled with their phone, looking giddy beyond belief.
"What?!" Caoimhe was getting annoyed.
Drew took a running jump, plopping down on the bed next to her. They pulled Caoimhe close to their chest and held their phone out, clicking play on the video queued. "Watch this."
It was St. Patrick's day in the bar. The camera was uncomfortably close to Drew's face, focusing on the tears and runny eyeliner spilling down their face as they dry heaved.
Caoimhe squinted at the video. "Is this just ten minutes of you crying over thinking Katie's gonna cheat on you like she did with her last partner? Because that's the saddest drunk decision you've made yet."
"Shh. Wait for it."
Drew's sobs seemed to stop for a moment, and you could very clearly hear Caoimhe's giggles in the background. Caoimhe froze as she listened to herself.
"I think you're beautiful too, Clay. You make my heart go BABUMP BABUMP BABUMP."
Drew continued their crying.
"No fucking way." She turned towards her best friend who was nodding excitedly. "Tell me I didn't."
"Caught in 4k, bitch!"
Caoimhe screamed into her pillow as loud as she could, stopping just in time to hear her idiotic self confess "I like you. A lot. So much." and then went back to screaming.
The video ended second later, focusing on Drew's nose hairs. Neither roommate stopped to make fun. Caoimhe too busy contemplating whether to ghost Bartholomew or not, and Drew cackling at their best friend's horrified face.
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"And to think! You did all that and then ended up getting puke in the sink and falling asleep face down in our bathtub with your legs in the air. I wonder what else you did that you don't remember."
"This isn't funny! My life is over." Caoimhe fumbled for her phone. "Dear god, the call was forty-five minutes long."
"PLEASE!" Drew buried their face into Caoimhe's shoulder. "This is way better than me thinking my girlfriend's gonna leave me."
"You should definitely tell her all that later, by the way, she deserves to know how you feel."
"Shut up. You're not my therapist. Let me lovingly bully you in peace."
"Ok. So do you think he remembers? We haven't talked in almost forty-eight hours. That's like a new record or something. Oh no, does he hate me now? Shit, shit, shit, shit."
"Please don't get worked up over a man. I don't care how much clout he has." Drew reached over and flicked her between the eyes.
"I'm so tempted to call your mother and ask for your freshman homecoming pictures right now." Caoimhe deadpanned. "Then we'll see who's talking when I have physical evidence of you hanging onto some Christopher Haverford VanNote IV's arm."
"If I ever catch you with a picture of closeted me, I'll wring your neck." They threatened playfully.
"Gonna be like 'Hi Mrs. Purandeswari, I was just wondering if you could send me some pictures of fifteen year old Drew? I'm taking a design class this semester, and I really want to recreate their short teal dress. The one with the rhinestone belt because it was the peak of 2013 fashion. Thank you!' And because she adores me, you know she'd happily give them." Caoimhe laughed as she ducked away from Drew's attempted hits.
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"I knew it was a mistake showing you her Facebook."
"There are no mistakes. Only happy accidents. Bob Ross said that." She rolled away from another attempted slap.
The best friends transferred into playfully wrestling. Caoimhe shoving Drew off the bed and patting her elbow like John Cena before jumping on them. Drew getting Caoimhe in a headlock and trying to see if they could give her a little bald spot with a noogie.
Caoimhe got elbowed in the boob and Drew got a knee to the eye, and they laughed harder than they ever had before, just genuinely enjoying each other's presence as they goofed off.
They separated, exhausted, and stared at the ceiling.
"I love you, dude." Caoimhe spoke up.
"I tolerate you too, whore." Drew giggled.
Caoimhe's phone buzzed from somewhere in the room. She groaned and sat up, patting down the blankets on her bed until she felt it.
"Fuck, it's Clay." She stared at the notification for an extra second before turning her phone off and sinking back onto the floor.
"Didn't you want him to text you?"
"Not if he's gonna reject me or something. I'd much rather be in this weird limbo of unknowing."
"Your relationship confuses me more and more each day."
"It's not a relationship if it's just me pining from afar." Caoimhe argued as she finally unlocked her phone to read the messages. Her password was 1 0 0 2, Drew's birthday.
She didn't respond and just sat there, grateful he had forgotten.
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