"Alright. Let's talk."
Leslie sits quietly to your right, chewing her lip. Her forehead carries small creases of tension, and you quickly point it out.
"Leslie? Are you ok?"
"Yeah!" She instantly responds. "I just... found out what happened. With everyone." She looks down awkwardly.
"Oh. Right."
You look around the circle, feeling uneasy at the sight of four tense, anxious faces.
"Maybe we should start eating first? That should help lift the mood," you suggest.
Rae heartily agrees with a nod and pulls off the lid of her takeout container.
"Wow..." You sigh as you take in the aroma. "I like this. Sitting with you all and eating dinner together. Despite everything that's happened, it's nice to be able to do this," you sigh contentedly.
The girls watch in adoration as your eyes light up, smiles growing on their lips.
You dig into your food, quickly scarfing down the first few bites before Rae puts her hand on your back.
"Relax, baby, the food's not going anywhere."
Leslie snorts at her comment, making the rest of you giggle.
"Hehe, alright. I'll take it easy," you say.
Silence fills the room again as you all slowly eat. Every instance of small talk dies out in seconds, as everyone was too focused on the inevitable conversation. Their eyes slowly drifted back to you whenever you were looking at your food, and suddenly shot back up whenever you looked up.
"Alright," you say, setting down your half-eaten bowl. "Let's get started."
The girls put down their forks with varying degrees of dread.
"I want to start by saying that I'm not mad or upset at any of you. Miyoung, I really don't like what you did, but I'm not mad. We need to talk about what happened afterward, though..."
She briefly nods.
"And I want to get something straight. Rae, you confirmed to me that I once dated both Aria and Miyoung. Can you give me a sense of when that was, and for how long?"
Aria and Miyoung's cheeks turn pinker than normal.
"Yes," she hesitantly says. She sighs, and her shoulders drop for the first time throughout the whole dinner. "Alright." She takes in a deep breath. "Let's get this over with."
"Rae..." Miyoung suddenly cuts in. "Um... maybe... we... shouldn't..." She whispers.
Rae looks up at her, seemingly unsurprised at her intrusion. "Miyoung..." She sighs again.
The two girls exchange various looks that you knew you'd be able to understand if you could remember the years of interactions you'd had with them but were now lost on you.
They silently mouth words to each other as if you weren't there, and your failed attempts at understanding finally make you snap.
"Hey! What's going on?!?" You finally butt in. "What is this about? Why can't you tell me?"
"Hey," Rae's soothing voice finally turns away from Miyoung. She places her hand on your knee.
"Listen. Here's the truth."
Miyoung and Aria turn pink, but they don't rebut this time. They put their heads down, awaiting Rae's words.
What could the truth possibly be? Why would they want to hide this from me?
"So, we've been together for four years," Rae starts, "but after the first year, we- "
A piercing car alarm sounds from right outside the window you were facing, and all of your heads snap toward the awful, high-pitched whine of the vehicle. Rae jolts up and runs to the window, covering her ears as she peers out.
"It's our neighbor's car! It's... Damn, that's fucking LOUD!" She yells over the blaring noise.
"Oh, she's coming out!" She yells after a few painful seconds.
She watches as the neighbor digs in her pockets for her car keys, taking a painfully long time to fish them out. She finally stops the alarm, and Rae drops her hands, still feeling the reverberation of the sound bouncing around her skull.
"Shit..." Rae continues covering her ears, turning back around. "Who makes car alarms that annoying...?"
Her hands drop to her side, and her eyes widen in disbelief as she looks past the girls.
Rae cries out in shock, unleashing a piercing shriek.
The other three girls snap their heads back and release three simultaneous screams as they see your body lying on the ground, shaking and convulsing, while your enlarged eyes remain wide open, revealing nothing but a blank stare.
...
Miyoung and Aria turn pink, but they don't rebut this time. They put their heads down, awaiting Rae's words.
What could the truth possibly be? Why would they want to hide this from me?
"So, we've been together for four years," Rae starts, "but after the first year, we- "
Your hands shoot up to cover your ears as a loud blaring sound shoots in from the window.
But even before your ears can get coverage, the noise triggers a rush inside your mind, and the sound of the alarm overloads your senses.
You look down, finding yourself in the driver's seat of a car with your hands at the wheel. Your eyes slowly close and open again, and you sink further into the comfortable leather seat. Rain splatters on your window, and the dashed lines of the endless, straight road blur into a continuous streak.
It almost feels calm, except for the nauseating feeling building in your gut.
You try to turn your head to look around, but it doesn't move as you wish. Instead, you watch as your hands slowly slip off of the wheel while your neck turns to the side. Your eyes slowly close and open again, not detecting the car wheel slowly turning left, drifting the vehicle over the white line.
Your head snaps forward, and your vision is filled with the pure white light of two headlights twenty feet in front of you. You open your mouth to scream, but the sound is drowned out by the screech of the honk.
Your front windshield is the first thing to shatter.
Time seems to slow down as sharp jolts of pain crash through your entire body, disrupting all your thoughts.
A blinding agony fills your head as gravity becomes inverted. Your seatbelt locks you into the tumbling car, bringing you with it.
A shrill shriek sounds out from nowhere, and you snap your eyes open again, trying to focus on the faint, familiar sound as more pieces of shattered glass fly around, tearing pieces of skin and flesh off of every part of your body. With each roll, your body lurches and tumbles, rolling around into glass shards, bent metal, and your punctured airbag.
You scream, trying to let out the immense, sudden pain overtaking your body. Your heart pounds erratically in your chest as blood trickles out from countless cuts on your body, and what was left rushes downward to your heavy head.
I don't want to die... I don't want to die... please...
The sounds of panicked scuffling become slightly audible, and a clear voice finally speaks from above you.
"Hey! Wake up! WAKE UP!"
"AH!" You jolt upright.
Your lungs feel like they're seconds away from bursting from how fast they were taking in air, and your skin sweats at a monumental rate. You look down at your body, expecting to see a bloody mess, but seeing nothing of the sort.
"Babe..." Leslie whispers, drawing back your attention.
Her hand cups your cheek, and your trembling fingers hastily grip her slim hand as you look up into her worried eyes, trying to ground yourself.
"I'm here. You're ok," she comfortingly says. "Focus on me, ok?" Her soft gaze beckons you.
You nod and slowly lay back down, resting your back on the hardwood floor.
Your hand clutches hers tighter, and you remain eerily silent as those haunting moments replay over and over again in your mind.
You squeeze your eyelids shut, trying to think about anything but the horrific memory. But the images seem to become even more vivid, so you pry your eyes open again. All four girls are sitting around you, bewildered and scared.
"...f-f-fuck..."
"Let's get him to the couch," Leslie speaks up to the girls, taking charge.
The four girls grab your limbs and pick you up, waddling a few feet until they can set you down on the soft material.
You gratefully sink your head into a pillow. A warm hand gently rubs your shoulder, and you gently grab it and hold it against you for warmth.
"Blanket, get a blanket," someone whispers.
You turn your head sideways into the couch, away from the overhead lights. You faintly register the feeling of warm cloth being drawn over you as you slowly drift off.
...
Your eyes take a moment to adjust to the darkness. You realize your head was buried in a pillow, and you gently lift your head up. Only faint whispers of moonlight stream through the unfamiliarly placed window.
You stare at it for a few seconds, wondering when your bedroom had become so large.
You move your hands to pull down the blanket, only to find them trapped underneath a weight.
Huh...?
"Mmm... not yet..." A soft voice mumbles from right behind you.
You freeze as the person lying behind you shifts around before settling back into her slumber. Her breath warms the back of your neck, and her arm wrapped loosely around you makes you feel oddly secure.
You shudder as you recall what had happened, all the way up until the moment you fell asleep in your living room.
Despite how nice the warmth felt, there was too much you needed to do.
I remembered the accident. The car alarm must have triggered it.
Fuck... that was...
You go over the specifics of the accident, and your clamp your hand over your mouth to prevent the cry of surprise that was about to come out.
They told me it was a drunk driver.
But I... I was falling asleep. The way my hands slipped, the way my body turned to the side, the way my eyes were so droopy...
...this was my fault.
I need to talk to them.
"Rae..." You sit up, stripping away the arm of the girl lying behind you and gently shaking her.
"Hm - whaat?" Aria groans as she opens her eyes.
You stare blankly at her.
"Oh..." She quickly sits up and slides to the other side of the couch. You can make out the outline of her figure in the dim light, but you can't see her face.
"Um, we thought someone should stay here with you," she quickly explains. "And you were already holding onto my arm pretty tightly, so..."
"It's ok, Aria. I understand." You quell her nervous reaction. "What time is it?"
She reaches into her pocket for a moment. The bright light of her phone illuminates her face for a moment, but it quickly disappears as she shuts it off.
"5 AM."
You slowly nod, yawning.
"...are you ok?" She mutters, slowly returning to your side. Her hands dig under the blanket and pull it up over both of you.
You reach out your hand in the dark and find hers. The two of you naturally curl up side by side, and you lay your head on her shoulder.
"I think so."
"Did you remember the accident?" She places her other hand on top of yours. You respond likewise, and both of you giggle for a moment at the four-hand pile you had made.
"How'd you know?"
"You were muttering."
"...what was I muttering?"
Even in the dark, you can tell she's blinking back tears. She swallows the emotion threatening to come loose, and her hands squeeze yours.
"You said... 'I don't want to die.'"
You release a shaky breath, and she nuzzles you closer. You pick your head up from its comfortable position on her shoulder and turn to look at her.
"I must've scared you a lot."
"Yeah. It was really scary," her voice nearly cracks as she whispers. "But it must've been even worse for you."
You consider telling her about the realization you had made, but you can't say it.
The two of you sit in silence. It feels comfortable and soft, and Aria's arm wraps around your back as her head lands on your shoulder.
"You can lay on my lap if you'd like," she whispers. "Get some more sleep."
"Mmm..." You tiredly grunt as you slip out of her grip and onto her lap. She pulls the blanket up for you to rest your head on her thigh and curl your body up. She tucks the blanket over you, smiling.
Her fingers gently comb through your hair and softly touch your scalp, producing a soft grin on your face as her delicate scalp massage puts you to sleep.
...
You open your eyes, feeling very peaceful.
The warm, living pillow you had gone to sleep on was no longer present, but the sun shining through the window warmed you up enough.
You slowly stand up, realizing for the first time that you had slept through the entire night on the couch.
You walk to the kitchen, drawn by the sound of sizzling. As you approach, the faint smell of eggs wafts up to your nose, and you smile as you open the door, ready to bow down to Aria for her heavenly cooking.
Instead, you see Miyoung holding the spatula, flipping an omelet while holding her phone in her other hand. She's wearing a thin white t-shirt and light grey shorts, and her hair is even more unkempt than usual.
"I didn't know you knew how to cook," you groggily say, walking up behind her.
"Oh!" She yelps, startled. She immediately sets her phone and spatula down and turns to face you.
"Hey, are you ok?" She turns around and grips your shoulders, scanning your face.
"I'm fine, Miyoung. I'm sorry I scared you all yesterday. I just remembered-"
"The accident," she finishes. "That can't have been an easy thing to recall. Are you sure you're ok?"
You reach your arms up and match her position by putting your hands on her shoulders, and then pull her into a hug.
"Oh..." She relaxes into your grip, wrapping her arms around you.
"You really like hugs, don't you?" You ask.
"W-what? You're the one who hugged me!" Her warm breath makes your skin tingle.
"I know. It's just a guess," you grin, pulling away.
I always feel the urge to hug her when I'm around her. There's only one explanation for that...
She pouts at your teasing tone. "Well, yeah, I do."
"Do you want to hug more often?" You earnestly ask.
She gulps. "Uh... sure, if that's ok. I'd like that."
"Of course it's ok," you smile.
She leans in again and squeezes you tighter. She inhales deeply, and you giggle.
"Are you smelling me?" You ask.
"No!" She bats your arm. "I'm not weird like that..."
"Hey, can I ask you something else?" You slightly pull away from the hug, to her disappointment. Her arms remain wrapped around you, and your faces are inches apart. Her breath freezes in her lungs as she sees you up close, gently holding her.
"Y-yes?" She timidly asks.
You lean in a little closer, evoking an imperceptible shudder out of her.
"Are you going to let that omelet burn?"
"AH!" She pulls herself out of your grip and turns around to quickly pick up the pan and dump the omelet onto her plate.
"You're such a meanie..." She complains, putting on a childlike pout.
You walk up behind her and chuckle as she inspects the damage.
"You're lucky it's still in pretty good shape. Else you'd be in big trouble," she warns.
"Oh? Who's in trouble?" Leslie peeks out from the stairwell.
Miyoung rolls her eyes, and you greet Leslie as she fully reveals herself. She walks down the stairs wearing full-length pajamas. Her nose twitches in the air as she senses the simple yet delightful aroma, and she hums in approval.
"Do you want any extra salt or pepper?" Miyoung turns her attention back to you.
"Huh?"
"On your omelet. The one you almost made me burn."
"Oh! That was mine?"
"Uh-huh."
"I wasn't even awake yet! How did you know I'd want one?"
"..."
"..."
"I know you."
She speaks with a much more intimate, soft tone than either of you expected.
"...o-ok," you stammer out, feeling strangely flustered.
"So? Salt or pepper?"
You narrow your eyes.
"If you know me so well, why don't you tell me?"
"Because you're indecisive as hell and always want something different each time?" She cocks her head. "
You release a half-smile. "Fine, fine." You turn around and take the seat next to Leslie at the counter. "Pepper, please."
...
Aria soon joins you three, and you all stick around the kitchen to chat while she starts making her breakfast.
"Miyoung, I know I'm beautiful, but do you have to stare at me the entire time?" Aria flips her hair and asks the girl standing behind her.
"What? No! I'm trying to see how you do it," she whines. "Your omelets are always better than mine."
"Come on, Miyoung, omelets are the easiest thing in the world to make," Aria sighs.
"Are you sure you're not adding in some other ingredient?" Miyoung ponders.
"Aha, you got me!" Aria shakes her head.
"Wait, what?" Miyoung blinks.
"You're right. It's made with another ingredient."
Miyoung gasps. "Really? What it is?"
Aria turns to look at her, biting back a smile. You stop yourself from giggling, enjoying the banter between these two.
"Loooooove."
"Shut up. Shut up shut up SHUT UP!" Miyoung stomps the ground in annoyance.
"What can I say, Miyoung, it's the truth!" Aria giggles.
Miyoung growls and crosses her arms, and you finally burst out in laughter.
The two girls turn to look at you, grinning uncontrollably as they see your genuine smile.
"Is this what it's always like here?" You ask.
"Always," Leslie replies.
...
The three of you quickly finish the rest of your breakfasts, and Aria sits down to eat, laughing and having fun with the rest of you. The events of the previous night were nearly erased from your minds for the time being.
"Hey, um..." You say, right as Aria finishes her meal and places her dishes in the sink. "Where's Rae? She usually doesn't sleep this late. Then again, I'm usually the one to wake her..."
"Hm, I don't know. She couldn't have gone out, since our door alarm is still on. Maybe she just decided to sleep in," Aria says.
"I can check!" Miyoung slips out of her chair.
She quickly walks upstairs, leaving you, Aria, and Leslie alone.
The memory of the accident suddenly makes a reappearance in your mind, and you take a deep, shaky breath, trying to calm yourself from the influx of thoughts.
"Hey! What's wrong?" Aria asks, her neutral smile fading.
Your throat constricts, and your thoughts swirl around in your head.
What would they think of me if I told them that the accident was my fault? Maybe the other driver was drunk, but I was the one who caused it...
Would they forgive me for doing this to myself? And putting them through all of this?
"Hey. You're overthinking."
Leslie gently shakes your shoulders and squares herself to face you.
"Oh. Is it that obvious?" You rub the back of your neck.
"We've known you for a long time," Aria mutters. "So... yes."
"I think the accident was my fault," you blurt.
The girls stare at you, processing your words for a moment. They glance at each other with knowing looks, and suddenly, they're the ones who are anxious and uncertain, while you curiously look on.
"What? What is it?"
"We had a feeling that had to do with it," Leslie mutters.
"What do you mean?"
Leslie sighs. "There's something I didn't tell you about the night of the incident."
You lean in, wondering what new information she would provide.
"Um, guys?" Miyoung speaks softly from the stairwell. "Rae isn't asleep."
"Oh!"
"She's really, really mad."
"W-what?!? Why?" You sputter out.
"Not at anyone else! Just... at herself. She's very stressed about what happened yesterday."
"But I'm ok now! Did you tell her that?"
"Yes, I did. She said she already knew that since she heard us downstairs. But..." She wrings her hands together. "She feels guilty. She says she should have prepared you for that memory, but she never did. And you suffered because of it."
Before she finishes, you're running to the stairs, and the girls stand and watch as you leap three steps at a time. You reach your bedroom in four strides and burst in without warning. Rae snaps her head backward, and you see tears staining her cheeks.
"Rachel..." Your voice softens.
You slow your pace as you crawl onto the bed, ensuring she had time to adjust to your presence.
She turns away from you, but you reach out anyway and wrap your girlfriend in a bear hug, making her grunt and try to push you away.
"Baby, I love you..." You whisper, resting your forehead on the back of her neck. "It's ok. I'm ok. Don't feel bad."
She finally parts her lips, revealing the soft sounds of crying. She finally relents and lets you hold her, but she stays still.
She unintelligibly mutters under her breath.
"Rae? Can you speak up?" You softly ask, holding her close.
"...i'm sorry..."
"For what?"
"...i could've done something... I'm just so... stupid..."
You feel a vigorous desire to argue against her words, knowing just how valuable and incredible she was. But you stay calm, knowing that it wouldn't help to argue.
"You think you could've prepared me for remembering the accident?"
She slowly nods.
You kiss the back of her neck, and she leans forward, trying to pull away.
"...don't do that. I don't... deserve it..." She whispers between sniffles.
"Well, I don't care if you deserve it," you smile. "You're getting my kisses anyway."
You lean forward again, but this time, she shoves herself forward out of your grip before your lips can touch her.
"...please... don't..."
"Alright, Rae. I'm sorry. I... won't do that again," you mutter, shocked at her reaction.
She shakes her head and sneaks a glance back at your concerned gaze.
"youdsrvesomonebetr..." She mumbles.
"What?"
"youdeservesomeonebetter..." She mumbles again, simultaneously hoping you would and wouldn't hear her.
"Rae, sorry if my hearing is bad, but could you say it one more time?" You lay your head next to hers, ensuring you'd her every vibration of the air around her lips.
"You... deserve... someone... better..." She tightly forces out.
"Rae!" You yell, startling both of you. "Wha-? Why would you say that?"
"..."
"It's ok to be upset at yourself. But that's just - !"
A fresh wave of tears flow from her eyes, and you regret your outburst instantly.
"Hey..." You soothe her. "Listen. You're amazing, and I love you so much. We're meant for each other."
Her face twists into a tight grimace, and her sobs grow in volume.
You hold her as she cries. She clutches onto your arm like a lifeline as she continues spurting tears, long past the point at which you thought she'd stop.
"Rae?" You finally pull away. "You're... crying a lot."
"...i don't deserve you..." She mumbles again.
Your stomach clenches as you hear her words again.
"Rae, why are you saying that?" You whisper, turning her chin to face you.
"...it's my fault... all my fault..."
"Rachel," you firmly say, trying to snap her out of her mental state.
She pulls her knees up to her chin and turns away from you.
"Go away," she mumbles.
"Rae." You put your hand on her shoulder. "I don't understand. It wasn't your fault- "
"GO AWAY!"
"..."
You slowly stand up.
You bite back the words building in your throat and take steps toward the door. You turn back to look at her one last time, but she remains unmoving on the bed.
You slowly close the door behind you, trying to ignore the sinking feeling building in your chest.
...
"What happened? We heard her yell at you," Leslie says as you dejectedly tread down the stairs.
"I don't get it," you sigh. "She keeps saying it's her fault. And that..." You wince at the thought of her cutting words. "I deserve someone better."
The girls shoot each other worried looks.
"Maybe I should check on her?" Aria asks.
"I don't think she'd want to see anyone right now."
You sit down at the kitchen counter and put your head in your hands.
"Why would she say that? I've never known her to be insecure in our relationship," you reason.
Leslie puts her hand on your shoulder. "I think I know why," she solemnly says. "Remember how I told you that on the night of the accident, we were cooking dinner, and you went out for ingredients?"
"Yeah, I remember."
"Well, we didn't want you to go. We were ok with just ordering takeout that night. But Rae was super excited to make it, so you went out... for her."
"..."
"..."
"Fuck."
It all comes together in your head, despite you not remembering any of it. "And she blames herself for me going out, and for the whole accident."
"Yeah."
"Fuuuuck. Ok, I'm going to talk to her. But I want to give her some time to cool down first."
"Good idea," Miyoung says. "We can all hang out until then if you want," she turns to Leslie and Aria.
"Yeah!" Aria exclaims. "We have a lot of catching up to do."
"I'm down," Leslie agrees. "In the living room?"
"Wait, don't you have a stream today, Leslie?" Aria asks.
"Erm... maybe. But some things are more important," she mutters, glancing at you.
...
"You know, I realized something," you stare into space as you think. Your hands mechanically rub Leslie's feet in your lap, making her release sighs of delight as she lazily lays on the couch beside you.
Miyoung is sitting horizontally on a loveseat, dangling her slender legs over the edge as she crosses her arms in her lap. Aria is lying flat on the other couch, with one knee slightly pulled up.
"I think I figured out what triggers my memories. It's not just sexual stuff. It's intense emotion. Like when I hugged Miyoung after..." Your voice trails off, and both of you turn red, recalling what she'd done.
"And then the car alarm made me remember the accident," you continue, quickly moving past the awkward moment. "So I think any intense emotion can get me to remember something related to that emotion. I don't know why I only remember stuff about the person who's causing me intense emotion, though. That part's still a mystery."
Aria sits up, curiosity written all over her expression. "Hmm... so what you're saying is-"
"BOO!"
"GAH!" You yelp as Leslie yells into your ear, nearly knocking you back. You hadn't realized that she'd sat up and decided to test your theory.
But by the time you recover your bearings enough to yell at her, you scan the new influx pouring into your mind.
"Halloween. Last Halloween..." You smile, lost in the memory. "Aria tried scaring Miyoung when she walked in the door, and she ended up falling on top of her." You laugh, recalling how funny it was at the time. "And then..."
The vision comes to an abrupt end, and you blink, returning to reality.
All three of the girls were drawn in by how you looked when remembering, realizing that you were practically living through the experience for the first time.
"Leslie, don't do that ever again," you quickly turn to her.
"Aww, why? You remembered!"
"This time I remembered something funny. But what if it's something bad next time, and I'm not prepared? I don't want another incident with the car alarm to happen..."
The reminder of last night's uneasy ending quickly shuts her up.
"Right. Sorry."
The silence grows as the girls all start plotting what they could do to help you remember.
"Also, please don't randomly just take your clothes off in front of me either," you add on, mostly as a joke.
"Dammit."
"Shit."
"Darn."
The three girls emit profane grunts, and you roll your eyes.
"None of you were actually planning on doing that, were you?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
None of the girls meet your eyes.
"Oh."
...
"Rae?" You softly knock on your bedroom door.
"Come in," she calls out, her voice still carrying a tender quality.
You open the door and step inside the room, seeing Rae sitting up in bed, her lower half covered by a blanket, with her laptop on top.
She doesn't smile, but you can tell she's feeling better than she was.
"How are you?" You ask as you stride up to the bed and crawl onto your side.
"I'm ok."
"Good. Do you want to talk about-"
"Not really."
"Ah. Ok."
You lean back onto your pillow, and she returns to her laptop. You sneak a few glances at her screen and see her typing out an email.
"It wasn't your fault," you finally blurt out. "The girls told me everything. They told me why you felt like it was your fault that I got in the accident that night. But it's not true! I wanted to go. And... if anything, it was my fault that the accident happened."
Rae slowly closes her laptop.
"No."
"Huh?"
"You don't remember anything. You're just saying that because our roommates told you that."
"Well, maybe, but..." You struggle to counter her logic. "But I remembered something about the accident itself! I discovered-"
"You don't remember the whole story. Small pieces won't help you."
"I'm recalling more and more, Rae. I know that one day I'll remember everything, and I'm confident that-"
"They didn't tell you everything," she interrupts again, pursing her lips. "There's something they didn't tell you."
"What?"
She sighs and lays her head back, staring up at the ceiling.
"It's what I was going to tell you yesterday at dinner before the alarm went off," she sighs.
"Ok..."
"We tried to keep it a secret." Her tone shifts, becoming darker and quieter. "We had our reasons - we'll fill you in at some point. But for now... I just can't keep this in anymore. It hurts too much to see you with them. To hear you laughing with them, hanging out with them, not knowing..." Her wave of emotion from earlier returns, and she puts her head in her hands, fighting back tears.
"Rae, if you don't want me to do all that with them, I won't! Really, if you just tell me what's going on, why you're feeling this way, then I'll stop. You're my one and only," you earnestly say, putting your hand on her shoulder.
"No, I'm not! That's exactly the point!" She throws her hands up, knocking you away.
"What are you talking about?!?"
"I've been keeping you from them! That's why I said I don't deserve you, I..."
With newfound conviction sparked by your ever-confused face, she grabs your shoulders and looks you square in the eyes.
"Fine. I'll spell it out for you," she angrily spits.
Despite her tone, you knew she wasn't angry at you, but at the circumstance she had gotten both of you into.
"Our roommates... they're not your ex-girlfriends. They're your girlfriends."
...
Five minutes later, you walk downstairs, feeling like your head was moments away from exploding.
"What the FUCK?!?"
Aria, Miyoung, and Leslie all turn in your direction, shocked at your unfamiliar tone.
But as you finally dart your eyes up to meet their gazes, your look of recognition tells them everything they needed to know.
"Oh..." Aria gasps.
"Oh no..." Miyoung mutters.
"So, um..." Leslie looks to the side, twiddling her thumbs nervously. "I guess we have some explaining to do...?"