Brie Sheridan has had her heart broken way too many times. Rhett Price is usually the culprit, but, this time, he might be the solution.
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Brooke 'Brie' Sheridan wouldn't necessa...
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BRIE
The truth is that I'd rather swallow freshly made glass than trust Rhett Price with my heart again.
The nice thing about the start of a college year is that there's a lot I can do to keep my mind off stressful things (breaking up with Cole—I refuse to keep thinking of it as being dumped, even though that's what it was—is just one of them), especially when classes won't keep me as busy as I would like.
If anything, I feel ridiculous when I know I'm trying to keep myself occupied, especially mentally, just so I can speed up my healing process instead of looking like a hung up fool. After chastising Cole for giving too much value to what people might think about him, it's a tad bit hypocritical of me to find myself in the exact same situation, so concerned about the impression I'll give off to other people if they catch me weeping over him. It's usually easy to brush off snarky comments coming from people I know won't matter to me in just a few months, but then there are moments when I find myself beginning to spiral over the thought of being seen as obsessive and boy crazy.
Nancy Huang, my roommate, has been my saving grace this week.
Though we're not particularly close—which is surprising, considering we've been roommates since sophomore year—and I can't classify us as best friends in the regular sense of the word, we spend more time with each other than we do with other people, so the forced proximity has been helpful to strengthen our bond. She's a social butterfly, even more than I am, thanks to her newspaper duties and sports communication major, which means she gets invited to all sorts of events.
On the other hand, her social battery gets drained incredibly fast during most group activities, which is why I usually tag along. With my wonderful talent of never knowing when to stop talking, I can keep people entertained for long enough until she has rested and recovered, which also helps with networking. I'm not too versed in sports communication and am not particularly athletic, but you never know who you'll end up meeting at these events, and, with my future on the line thanks to Cole's brilliant sense of timing, I'm taking every opportunity I can get. I owe it to myself to at least try and make something out of it.
So, when she invites me to be her plus-one to some charity gala whose purpose she's not entirely certain of, I immediately jump out of bed and out of my misery. After convincing myself the entire male population is simply not worth it and I'm better off staying single and far, far away from men—including Rhett Price—I decide that my nights are best spent with my friend and media professionals. It's a win-win.
"I honestly don't know why you enjoy these things so much," Nancy comments, curling her hair with a Dyson curler that probably cost more than anything I'm wearing for tonight's event. My baby-blue cocktail dress is expensive, more expensive than I feel comfortable with, but I like dressing to impress, especially now. "The charities these galas are for aren't the ones actually benefiting from the fundraisers, no matter what they want you to believe."
