Rooming With Ash

Rooming With Ash: Chapter 1

I've never liked to think of myself as a dramatic person. In all honesty, I tended to be pretty underwhelmed by most pieces of information that came my way, but when Riley told me – in the month of May, might I add – that she wouldn't be able to come along to Hawaii with us for the summer, it's safe to say that I was beyond devastated. Her not being able to come along changed everything. This trip was meant to be a chance for growth and fun, and how could a girl do either without her best friend there beside her?

The two of us had been building this trip, minute by minute, in our minds since we were 16-year-old sophomores and I had never once even considered the idea that it might not actually happen the way we'd envisioned it. It was supposed to be a movie worthy experience: Keira and Riley taking on Hawaii.

Well...Keira, Riley, and Riley's boyfriend, that is.

Ash Moretti. Riley's dazzling, heartbreaking boyfriend who she held onto like her life depended on it – like her heart depended on it. Not that I blamed her (since I knew that if I was in her shoes, I'd be doing the exact same thing), but ever since the two of them had become an item, they were always together. So much so that it was now at a point where I could rarely ever spend time alone with Riley.

I tried bringing it up once. I told her about how it seemed she'd began to neglect her friends for Ash, but she had just shrugged it off and told me that I wouldn't understand the situation since I wasn't in a relationship. And me, being my regularly stubborn self, had told her that I was in multiple relationships (one of them being ours) but I still didn't understand the neglect, and that was when she got defensive.

Riley being defensive was never a pretty sight. How do I even describe it? Riley becoming defensive was like a bull whose eyes were warning you to take off your red jacket so that it wouldn't have to charge at you – like it didn't want to charge, but it would if it had to. And I had been in this relationship long enough to know that Riley was never afraid to charge. I had decided not to push the matter any further because if there's anything I knew, it was that arguments between us never went anywhere because we both as stubborn as mules and Riley was too much of an Aries to ever be the one to give up first.

I had never brought up the issue of neglect since then.

Today though, I was sat on Riley's bed, frowning down at my crossed legs as Shrek 2 played in the background on her TV.

"Riley, there's seriously no point of me going to Hawaii if you can't come with." I reached over and placed a hand on her arm. "This was supposed to be our trip. A lot of these people are my proxy friends anyway – I only know them through you."

Groaning, Riley ran both hands through her long black hair. It fell back down to her sides, straight as a pin, and she sighed. "I know. I know, Keira. There's nothing I can do about it at this point though. You know my mom won't let me go anywhere after that report card. I have to take these summer classes if I want to graduate this year."

"Yeah, I know," I muttered. "It still sucks though."

Riley laughed. "That it does. If only my dad hadn't convinced her it would be a good idea to make me take all those AP's. Who would've ever thought," she said sarcastically. "An Asian person actually can fail their classes!"

I tried to laugh along with Riley, but it wasn't genuine and we could both tell. I sighed. "Hey, at least they believe in you. That's gotta count for something, right?"

"Yeah. It counts for making me miss the goddamn trip to Hawaii," she muttered. "I'm eternally grateful." And with an eye roll, Riley leaned back onto her pillow and laid down, staring up at the ceiling. I reached my hand over and took hers in it, holding it tightly.