“Not true!” I tried to defend myself.
She gave me a suspicious glance.
“Okay…” I said slowly. “I care about them the same.”
“Uh huh.” She shook her head and laughed.
“And honestly, I don’t know why I’m not freaking out,” I told her. “But I did kind of meet a girl at King’s Tooth, so maybe that’s helping.”
“You went to King’s Tooth?!” she asked, sounding shocked again. “In the middle of the day, and without me bugging you to? Like, totally by yourself?!”
“Yes… is it really that much of a shock?”
“Uh, yeah! It is! God, you failed a test, and you went drinking in the middle of the day… Who even are you? Wait, should you even be driving?”
I rolled my eyes. “You think I’d drink and drive? Of course not. I only had one drink.”
“Okay, didn’t think so. But I had to ask. You know my two fundamental rules in life: no glove, no love, and more than one beer, no steer.”
I laughed. I loved this about Abby; she was funny when she wasn’t even trying to be.
“Has anyone ever told you you're a little crass?” I asked her.
She put on a fake expression of shock. “Me? Crass? Why, I never!” she responded in an exaggerated accent.
I chuckled again. “You’re ridiculous, you know that?”
“You and me both! We haven’t even gotten to the most shocking part of your day yet!”
“Yeah?” I asked. “What’s that? What could be more shocking than me failing a test and drinking without you in the middle of the day?”
“You met yourself a woman!”
I raised an eyebrow. “And why is that shocking? I’m not attractive enough to pull women, huh?”
“Oh, no, you’re definitely cute. But I’ve seen you be attracted to literally nobody in the entire time we’ve been roommates.”
“I’ve been attracted to people…” I argued.
“Well, you’ve clearly been way too busy to act on it!” She said. “Always studying, no need for fun… I’m not even sure if I see you eat most days.”
That part was definitely an exaggeration, because she and I binge ate junk food and watched reality television together at least twice a week.
“So, about this girl…” she continued. “Tell me about her.”
I shrugged. “You know, I’m not sure what there is to tell… we talked for a bit, not too long or anything, but it just felt… nice. Like, we weren’t making small talk, you know? She recently moved here because of a bad break-up, and we were just getting into that and stuff. I don’t know, it was cool to talk so personally to someone new.”
“Is she cute?” she asked.
I could feel myself blushing. “Yeah… yeah, she really was.”
“And you know for sure she’s gay, right?”
“Oh, definitely. It was her girlfriend that she broke up with. And some guy actually came to ask her out, but she turned him down. He was a cute guy, too. I thought for sure when he walked over it would be the end of our conversation, but, nope, she had no interest.”
“Oh my god! Emily, this is so exciting. You actually like someone! I’m melting!”
To be honest, I was a little bit, too. It sounded dramatic, though. I barely talked to a cute girl at a bar, and now I was fantasizing about her like we were actually dating or something. Which, in reality, we never would be.