The Line Drive

three

Mackenzie

When I get home, all of my roommates are at the dining room table. We made the best decision of our lives when we got a massive dining room table from Goodwill. It enables us all to spread our homework out while sitting in the same space.

Kate and I lived in the same dorm freshman year. She's probably the most similar to me personality wise. Hannah lived in the dorm next to us, and was in two of my classes freshman year. Even though we were quite different, we still got along quite well. Penny was the quietest of the three of them, and she had lived across campus from the rest of us, but was always in the same dining hall at the same time.

We'd all gotten a house together our sophomore year and decided to renew our lease for our junior year. I spend more time at school than any of them with my work as a TA and with the paper, and I honestly kind of miss them.

Kate looks up first. "Hey, Mack!"

"Hey."

"You look annoyed. Did something happen?" Kate sets down her pencil, clearly ready to intervene in whatever is bothering me.

"I met Dane Sawyer."

"Ooo! He's cute." Hannah looks up from her homework. Hannah thinks everyone is cute.

"He was an asshole." I tell her.

"No shock there. Baseball player and all." Hannah tells me.

"Who's Dane Sawyer?" Kate asks.

"Pitcher on our baseball team." I tell her.

"Oh, sports." Kate says, as if she's just remembering that sports exist.

"Touche." Penny agrees. "Sports boys are the worst."

"Cute though." Hannah winks at me. I roll my eyes.

"Also Edwin invited me over for dinner." I can't keep the annoyance out of my voice.

"He's your boyfriend, why are you annoyed by that?" Kate asks.

"I don't know. He's just--" I trail off, thinking of Dane's words. I try to shake them out of my head. I'm not going to let him get under my skin. There must be a reason I like Edwin. Surely it's just the stress of school that's making him seem unappealing to me.

"Are you sure you really like him, Mack?" Kate looks at me imploringly. I sigh, because I'm not sure. "You know that no one is requiring you to date him right?"

"I just feel like I need to get back out there, you know?"

"That doesn't mean you have to settle for someone." Kate looks like she genuinely feels bad for me.

"You should just get out there and flirt with some new boys!" Hannah sounds a lot more excited by this prospect than I feel.

"Not everyone can flirt like you." Penny reminds Hannah.

"I can wing-woman for you!" Hannah ignores Penny completely, earning her a solid glare from Penny. Penny mouths something that looks a lot like asshole.

"I don't think we're to that point yet." I tell her. "But I appreciate the offer."

"Okay, you let me know, and I'm there." Hannah promises me. I smile and nod. Even though he pissed me off, all I can think about is Dane Sawyer's beautiful face. "Brandon's house is having a party this Friday. He invited all of us. Do you want to come?"

"You don't have to bring Edwin." Kate adds.

"Brandon's roommate got a dog." Penny chimes in helpfully.

"Yeah." I agree hesitantly. "Yeah, that could be fun." Parties have been pretty hit or miss for me in my college years. With the right people, they can be fun, other times they are a total disaster.

"It will be fun." Hannah says with a confidence that only Hannah has about parties.

"I'll DD." I offer.

"No." Hannah shakes her head. "You DDed last party. I wanna see you get all wild and crazy and fun."

"I have a lot of work to do this weekend. I can DD." I repeat.

"Mack." Hannah draws out my name for a good ten seconds. Five year old kids have nothing on Hannah whining.

"Leave her be, Hannah." Kate finally comes to my rescue. "Let her be the responsible one."

"Ugh." Hannah rolls her eyes. "So boring."

"Okay." I clap my hands together. "This has been fun. I've gotta go get ready for dinner."

"Say hi to Edwin for us." Hannah calls after me. I make a noise of agreement before disappearing into my room.

I get ready for dinner and put a small amount of makeup on. Edwin's place has pretty shit lighting in the kitchen, so it doesn't really make a difference how much makeup I wear because I'll look terrible either way. I'm honestly not sure that Edwin notices when I put in an effort either.

I sigh and try hard not to bang my head against the mirror in the bathroom.

It's going to be a long evening.