Love's Not A Competition: Senior Year

I woke up early the next morning and pulled on my running gear even though I didn’t have training today. Training didn’t start until classes did but I felt like taking a run that morning. I walked down the two flights of stairs and breathed in the crisp morning air. The school grounds were empty and I headed to the track. I stretched before running laps around the track. It was eerily silent; the only sounds I could hear were my heavy breathing and my shoes hitting the ground as I ran. But it was nice, peaceful even. It was definitely a good time for a run.

I felt very refreshed when I got back to my dorm room. Sound was filling the hallways as the kids started waking up. I heard showers running from the rooms next to me and someone practicing the guitar across the hall. I had a shower in my bathroom before getting changed. I looked at the clock and decided to head down to breakfast. My friends probably weren’t up yet but that was okay. I walked out of my room and went downstairs, looking around the dining room when I reached it. I was surprised to see Brittney sitting at a table. I grabbed something to eat and headed over to her. She smiled weakly when I sat down.

“Are you okay?” I asked. “You don’t look well.”
“Just a little tired,” she said.

She only had coffee and I ate my toast while people slowly came into the dining hall. Katie sat down next to me, chatting away about how noisy her neighbors were. My neighbors weren’t too bad. I hadn’t heard either of them last night. It seemed different now that we didn’t have roommates, it seemed lonely. I expressed my feelings to Brittney and Katie. They both looked at me like I was going to burst into tears at any moment.

“It’s only because you had your boyfriend as your roommate,” Katie said. “I couldn’t be happier to get away from Eric.”
“Yeah, but you don’t like Eric.”
“I never really had a roommate so I’m used to it,” Brittney said. “I just miss Aidan. I miss not being able to go upstairs and knock on his door. I miss him not being around.”
“He never really said much,” Katie said.
“He’s the strong silent type,” Brittney said.
“Well, you certainly talk enough for both of you.”

We looked up and I smiled at Zeke as he sat down. Brittney looked slightly offended at his comment but she knew it was true so she didn’t say anything. Zeke kissed me on the cheek before having a sip of his coffee. Katie went back to her breakfast while I finished my toast. Brittney stared moodily into her mug and silence fell over us. I wondered when it had happened. When had we ever run out of things to talk about? Our little group seemed empty with Aidan and Eric around. I was beginning to wonder if our whole year was going to be like this, silent.

“What are you doing today?” Zeke asked me after a while.
“Well, I was hoping to go to the mall because I need a new pair of running shoes. I noticed a very big hole in mine this morning and they are looking very old.”
“Can I come?” Katie asked. “I need new shoes.”
“What for?” I asked.
“I was thinking of trying out for the cheerleading squad.”

Everyone stared at her, disbelieving. I had heard her say on many occasions that cheerleading wasn’t a real sport and only really girly girls did it to entice boys with their slutty dancing. Of course, Brittney had been highly offended by her comments. Even I had been offended and I wasn’t a cheerleader. So we were all very surprised to hear her state that she wanted to try out.

“What changed your mind?” Brittney asked.
“I don’t know. I just thought I might try it. You’re always telling me how much fun you have while doing it.”

Everyone decided to come to the mall after that. Zeke offered to drive since he was the only one of us with a car that had more than two seats. We decided to meet in the lounge in half an hour and I headed upstairs with Zeke. He went to grab his keys while I grabbed my purse. I was just putting on some makeup when he walked into my room, hugging me from behind. I put down my eyeliner before I poked myself in the eye as he trailed kisses down my neck.

“It was awfully lonely in my bed last night,” he whispered, his breath hot against my neck.
“You could’ve snuck into my room.”
“Now you tell me,” he said.

I smiled and he pulled me around, kissing me gently. I pushed him out of the bathroom and finished reapplying my makeup before we headed downstairs together. Katie and Brittney were waiting for us and we all headed outside to Zeke’s car. I sat in the front with Zeke and the girls sat in the back. We chatted as Zeke drove, not really talking about anything interesting. I did learn that Katie’s parents were giving her a hard time about school, telling her to get grades so she could get into a good college. She told us that she wanted to go into design when she left school but her parents didn’t want her to. I felt sorry for her. My mom had barely even asked me about college. I think that she just assumed I was going, which I was.

We pulled into the parking lot in the mall and I headed for the sports store with Zeke while Brittney and Katie went off somewhere else. We made plans to meet up in an hour by the car. I knew Zeke didn’t really want to come shopping so I tried not to take too long. He didn’t complain though and even helped pick out some shoes. He brought a pair for himself since his were falling apart as well. We brought them and headed out of the shop with time to spare. We looked around a few shops and I nearly pissed myself laughing when Zeke jumped out from one of those circle racks, scaring some lady. We had been grumbled at by the lady and kicked out of the shop but it had been worth it, definitely the highlight of my day.

We were still laughing about it as we got to the car. Katie and Brittney were waiting for us and looked at us weirdly when we reached them. We could barely tell them the story through our laughter. Every time we tried we would just start laughing again. The girls didn’t find it as funny as we had but they hadn’t seen the look on the lady’s face. She had jumped about two feet in the air. We finally calmed down as we got into the car.

“You two are like little children,” Brittney said after a while when we kept snickering.
Every time I looked at Zeke I would just remember it and it would start me laughing again.
“Are you high or something? Did you snort something while you were there?” Katie asked.
“Katie, they are just silly,” Brittney said.
“No Brittney, we are just in love,” I said, grinning at her over the back of my seat.

She rolled her eyes but cracked a smile when I pulled a funny face at her. We drove back to school, telling lame jokes that made us laugh. I was mainly doing it because Brittney had looked so depressed lately. She was missing Aidan more than she would let on, I could tell. She was just trying to act strongly but I could tell she was hurting inside. I knew that I would miss Zeke if he had graduated last semester and wasn’t around anymore. I definitely had to think of something to distract Brittney from thinking about missing Aidan. But I couldn’t think about it right now because we had reached the school.