Hello, friends! This is my second venture into the Fangirl fandom (the first being a cutesy one-shot). Let me know what you think, okay? Enjoy!
"Shit, shit, double shit."
Why is Reagan cursing already? We've been here for no more than five minutes. Cath's brow furrows, and she tries to peek around her roommate, who immediately blocks her from entering the kitchen like a professional hockey player would. She also kind of body-checks her back into the living room, which Cath really does not appreciate.
"What are you doing?" she asks indignantly.
"We are leaving, Cather. Right now." Reagan tries to get a firm grip on her elbow, but Cath is really curious now and manages to evade her grasping hands and squeeze through the narrow kitchen doorway. Her tongue instantly curls up into a dry stick and her eyes blur crazily for a moment before they can really focus on what's happening by the sink.
Levi's standing with his back against the counter-top – well, he's leaning, really, because how else does he stand? – and his blonde hair is a wild mess. His one arm is wrapped around the back of some twiggy blonde chick with grapefruit-sized breasts and puffy red lips and tight, low-ride jeans. A half-empty beer bottle dangles from his loose grip. Levi is smiling as the girl mauls his mouth with her own, and Cath can definitely see (through a very dim and Tilt-A-Whirl-ish tunnel) some signs of tongue. Before she can examine the two any further, Reagan yanks her back and shoves herself in front of Levi so that Cath can't see him.
Cath's first thought: He's going to drop that beer bottle and the whole thing will splinter into a million pieces and it'll be so difficult to clean up because the floor is atrociously dirty and someone may accidentally step on those pieces and possibly need their foot to be amputated from the rest of their leg because who knows where that glass has been or who's stepped on this dirty floor.
Cath's second thought: He's smiling. Levi is smiling while open-mouthed kissing this girl. His eyes are closed like he's in complete and utter bliss. Like he doesn't have a care in the world. No, in the universe.
Faintly, she hears Levi take in a breath and say, "Reagan? What took you so long?"
Cath staggers backwards, feeling the earth revolve beneath her. She just barely makes it out the front door and off the porch before she calmly says, "I'm going to vomit," and precedes to do just that. And very messily, too.
Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, Cath stands up and pinches the bridge of her nose, expecting the tears to make an unwelcome appearance now that the shock is wearing off. However, the tears don't come. Actually, Cath doesn't feel upset at all, or angry or hurt or betrayed or anything, really. She doesn't feel anything.
Reagan appears by her side and silently hands her a crumpled paper towel, which Cath numbly takes and dabs at the corners of her crusty mouth. Her roommate turns and heads toward her car without a word, and Cath follows blindly behind.
The last thing Cath remembers is falling stiffly into the passenger seat and buckling her seat belt with clumsy fingers, and then all of a sudden she's back in her dorm room, staring at the ceiling from the comfort of her creaky bed. Reagan's somehow in the shower.
Twenty minutes later the door to the bathroom creaks open and Reagan's toweled head appears, her eyes squinting down at Cath. She hasn't moved since she realized where she was, and although the fact that she doesn't remember actually getting here disturbs her greatly, Cath remains sprawled on top of the comforter, still fully clothed.
Reagan stares at her for approximately six seconds. "Can you hand me that de-frizzer bottle?"
Cath blinks, glances at Reagan, then at the end table situated between their beds, and back at Reagan. Understanding that she won't stop asking until Cath complies, she reaches over and grabs the bottle, tossing it in her roommate's general direction.
"Wow, thanks," Reagan says drily as the bottle hits her on the arm and falls to the floor with a loud smack.
Cath shrugs, still struggling to come to terms with what happened.
"Listen," Reagan says a few minutes later, sitting on her bed in a black tank top and yoga pants, brushing out her wet hair. When did that happen? Did I fall asleep? Cath wonders vaguely.
"Back at Levi's house…I really didn't even consider that something like that would go down. I mean, that's what I get for trying to move you out of the room for the first night since you arrived. No good deed goes unrewarded? Please," she scoffs, rolling her eyes to the ceiling and directly back to Cath's prone figure. "I'm never, ever doing that again. You can rot in this room if you want, you and your protein bars."
After a moment, Reagan's face twists. "That didn't come out right, but I think you catch my drift. I'm not going to encourage you to go anywhere. Okay?"
Cath swallows dryly. "Just forget about it, Reagan, really."
"Forget…?"
She sits up, with obvious reluctance, and faces the bed opposite hers. "I mean it. Forget this ever happened. You and Levi can just resume your lives and pretend you didn't see anything, okay? I know you're like, best friends and everything, so I'm not going to let this interfere with that, but do you think…" Here, Cath chokes. "Um, do you think you can keep Levi away from the room for a while? That would, um, that would be great –"
"Okay, okay, stop," Reagan interrupts, holding up her hands, palms-out. "All this stuttering and stumbling is embarrassing. I was already going to make sure he doesn't come within a hundred yards of our room, especially if you're in it. If you don't want to see him, that's A-OK with me. But to pretend it didn't even happen…Are you sure?"
Cath sighs and slowly starts to take off her snow boots. "I'm positive. He saw you, so just maybe make up an excuse about why you suddenly had to take off. He never has to know that I was there at all."
Reagan watches her slow movements, then turns away. "If that's what you want," she repeats.
That's what she wants.
This scene in the actual book seriously tore at my heart. I felt so terrible for Cath, and I honestly wanted to hit Levi over the head with something heavy, like, say, maybe a car. Anyway, this fic will most likely be five chapters at most. I always appreciate feedback!