When In Doubt - Freshman Year

Chapter 21

Heather

"I don't know about you, but I freakin' hate Valentine's Day," Matt told Heather when they'd walked into the MSC a week later. The holiday had honestly snuck up on all them, and their pixel project was already due that following Monday. Heather still couldn't believe their instructor had given them such a short time to complete their project, and even better, it was only the first part of the project. That Monday, they'd be given instruction on what the second part would entail.

"I don't know, it has its advantages," Heather remarked. "Just grab a friend, and you can take advantage of all the special deals that pop up."

"But the idea that you need to be in relationship to be happy, buying a shit ton of candy, or flowers, or an expensive dinner, or couples massages," Matt got the chills as he'd said it, and Heather chuckled at his dramatics.

"Does that mean you don't want to do that pizza deal?" Heather grinned his way. "You know, since you're not buying into the holiday?"

"Uh, no! That would mean I don't want pizza, which is physically, mentally and emotionally impossible," Matt rolled his neck. "It just happens to be shaped like a heart, and it's on sale."

They'd walked into the Blue Devil Market, and ordered the specialty pizza, because apparently they'd both had to be present together as a couple to be able to get the deal, but whatever, it was almost half off their regular price. They were going to need all the sugar and carbs they could afford to be able to get through their first official all-nighter, so they'd stocked up bottles of Mountain Dew, Monster Energy Drinks, bags of candy and Little Debbie baked goods to haul back up to their study lounge with the others for the night. Shortly after, they'd returned out into the lounge where Jenna, Eden and Zach were all set up at one of the tables, all their drawing boards almost completely covered the top.

Eden had risen from her seat, her hair up in a messy bun, and put her hands on her hips with a large, pasted-on smile that actually creeped Heather out. She didn't think Eden had even blinked.

"Hello, and welcome to Hell," Eden gestured into the room like some hostess. "Over here, we have our workstations complete with invisible chains, but the acoustic covers playlist I made should help ease the pain."

"Are these chains fur lined?" Heather winked.

"This is hell, so they're actually lined with steel wool, but let's explore that idea later," Eden shot back, and they'd all sat down and got started. It was going to be a long night, but at least they were going to suffer together.

About an hour into it, Eden loudly groaned. "Alex just texted me that there's this big house party tonight, and that Devin has been asking about me."

Jenna rolled her eyes and readjusted her readers. "Tell Alex to leave you alone, and for the love of J.K. Rowling, tell him to stop talking about Beyoncé's Super Bowl performance while you're at it! We get it...she's a goddess stuck in a mortal's body."

Heather snorted, but frowned when she'd been reminded of her own boy drama. Ryan was so angry when she'd told him about what happened with Luke. Of course, he'd absolutely lost it; He said plenty of terrible things, and said they'd needed to take a break.

Another guy telling her that she'd needed to figure her shit out...It was annoying, but Heather had begrudgingly admitted to that both guys were right. These were people's lives and emotions that she'd been messing with, and she wasn't the kind of girl who'd liked to string them along.

Voices and footsteps were heard down the hall coming towards them, and Heather looked up and saw Jared, Brayden and the Bryans as they'd all walked by. The boys happily chatted away and were all dressed ready to embark on a cold winter journey to whatever party they'd found for the night. They'd all stopped when they'd noticed the group working in the lounge.