After kicking the door shut behind her, Felicia walked into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water. She gulped it down in one go and shuffled into her room. With a sigh, she went into the attached bathroom, had a shower, changed her clothes and did what she had been wanting to do right from the moment he had said it, although she had stubbornly been telling herself she wouldn’t: pick up the darned book and see why he was so hyped up about it.
She had thrown it into a corner of her room the day before, and now she scolded herself when she saw it was dog-eared and its spine bent awkwardly. Frowning at the title and colorful cover design striving hard to evoke positive vibes and an esoteric flair, she sat down on her bed and opened the page with the table of contents.
She had hardly scanned the chapter titles, her frown intensifying, when the door to her room burst upon, and Cindy came in.
Her roommate walked over to the window, opened it wide and plunked herself at the foot end of the bed without invitation, as usual oblivious to the fact that Felicia preferred privacy and was seldom as cheerful as her. She flapped her hands about to dry the pink nail polish deftly applied to her long nails.
“How was your day?”
Felicia suppressed a sigh. She hated going through this on most days, and today it was worse, although she could see the book wouldn’t lessen her general frustration.
“Bad. And yours?”
Cindy shot her a look from between the blonde strands of the pony falling into her eyes.
“Poor girl. Mine was fine. In fact, it was awesome. Have I told you that Bryan from Marketing wants to take me out on a date tonight?”
Felicia made some noncommittal sound and was treated to several minutes of the young woman describing her latest admirer.
She could feel the heat rising, smoke tendrils coiling inside her body and pushing at her to explode and get rid of this nuisance.
“My, it sure is hot in your room today!” Cindy exclaimed and fanned herself with exaggeration.
It made her realize the heat was probably radiating from her angry self. She seriously had to be careful, or she’d start glowing again or doing something stupid!
Desperately searching for a way to control herself without giving her roomie more reason to talk, she held the book higher up and shielded her face with it.
“Sounds interesting. But I’m sorry, I’m in the middle of this fascinating read and…”
“Oh, it’s the book your boyfriend left you! Tell me more!” her roommate exclaimed and moved closer.
She was so startled she lowered the book and stared at the petite, blonde girl an arm’s length away from her, radiating curiosity.
“My boyfriend? I don’t have a boyfriend.”
Thinking of Joshua as her boyfriend was ridiculous. And damn tempting. And plain impossible.
Cindy pouted.
“If he’s not your boyfriend, why did he send you a gift, and why are you so intent on reading the book?”
Excellent point.
Felicia bit her lip for a second, debating with herself how to get out of this.
“He’s… he’s just a friend.”
But was he? A friend?
At this, her companion brightened up. Checking whether her nail polish had dried, she carefully laid a hand on Felicia’s knee and patted it.
“Oh please, not that lame excuse! It’s what they all say. And before you know it, there’s a spark and a huge boom, and there’s fiery hot passion between the so-called friends.”
She cringed inwardly at Cindy’s choice of words. Why did everyone have to pick up the topic of fire? As if she wasn’t constantly reminded of her dangerous fire within.
“Seriously, it’s not like that. We barely know each other and anyway, friends isn’t the right term. He’s an acquaintance. And I don’t plan any sparks or fire between us.”
Tilting her head like a dog when it wanted to be adorable or tried to figure out how to get a treat, her companion studied her face for a moment, put off by the stubborn refusal in such a serious voice.
“I was so happy you finally had a boyfriend,” she ploughed on.
Again, Felicia cringed. Her lack of love interests had been a constant point of irritation with her roommate. To Cindy, her ever-changing partners were an integral part of life. She, on the contrary, dreaded being in a relationship. Yet, sometimes—especially when Cindy was happy with one of her suitors—she felt lonely. Who would give her so much attention? Who would care for her happiness, hold her, and walk through life with her?
“Feli? Feli!”
The high, tinkling voice shook her out of her thoughts.
Her roomie was grinning at her knowingly.
“If you ask me, there’s much more to it. Why else would you think so hard about him? You’ve got to tell me more about him!”
Felicia sighed. There was no use denying. If Cindy wanted to believe something, there was no shaking her. Which, if you looked at it objectively, wasn’t such a bad thing. Yet, it happened to annoy her most of the time.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she tried to wiggle out.
“Not fair! I tell you everything about my boyfriends and you won’t tell me a teeny bit!”
The girl had a point.
“Hey, don’t you have to get dressed for your date?”
With a glance at the clock on the bedside table and a squeak, the girl sprang from the bed. At the door, she turned back and held up a pink-nailed finger, grinning.
“Don’t think you’re off the hook. Tomorrow’s Saturday and I’m going to use our free day to grill you for hours about your so-called friend.”
She danced along the hallway to her room, leaving Felicia staring at her in dismay, shaking her head.
Seriously, sometimes she could kick herself in the butt for not having opted for a single apartment. She’d tell Cindy plain out to mind her own business, and had best keep from imagining what could never be.
Gritting her teeth, she picked up the book again, chose a chapter with the title How much is too much? and started to read.