Page 3 of Yours, Unexpectedly

“I will say, this course is—”

“Do I need it to graduate or not?” I snap. She nods. “Then sign me up.”

I’m so close. So close, I can taste it. What’s one more class in the spring semester of my senior year of college? It can’t be that bad, right? I’m just so ready to graduate and get the hell out of Sassafras, the ridiculously named town where I have lived my entire life. I’m desperate to find my own footing somewhere where everyone doesn’t know who I am. I stand abruptly before she can give me any more bad news.

“I’ll get an email confirmation with the course and building?” I ask as I gather my things.

“Yes…” she says, hesitating.

“Okay great. Have a lovely winter break!” I add, trying to summon up some holiday cheer. She presses her lips together with a nod.

“You too, Ms. Bardot. Apologies again. We’ll make sure you cross that stage in May.” She pushes back from her desk and walks me to the door. When she shuts it, I stick out my tongue, stomping my feet like a small child.

Breathe. It’s fine, Bex. It’ll be fine. We can worry about it in January. We will not let this ruin our holiday. Okay, I’m talking to myself, time to walk away. How bad can it be? I know things about art. Picasso! Surrealism! Warhol! All of this sounds vaguely familiar. I’ve even been to the Met several times. How hard can a fine art course be? It’ll be fine.

I hate Januarys. There’s something so dreary about the month after the holidays. Every year I feel like I am constantly in a bad mood all throughout the month and this year is no different. Christmas at home is always crazy, and Mom wanted me to stay at our family house for most of the break even though my apartment is a five minute drive away.

Being the only girl with three older brothers is exhausting. Extremely entertaining, but also exhausting. Each of them stayed close to home after graduating and pursuing their careers, but it isn’t often that we all get together anymore. We have weekly Bardot family dinners, but someone always has a reason for why they can’t make it.

Admittedly, it was nice to put school in the back of my mind for a few weeks, but now I am ready to get back into my routine.

I hang up my keys on the tiny T-Rex hook as I walk into my off-campus apartment, toting a large bag of Chinese takeout and my duffel bag. Music is blaring from one of the bedrooms which means that Luci is home. Her music of choice today is early 2000's bubblegum pop. I never know what kind of music I will walk into with her, so overall I don’t hate this choice.

I drop the food on the counter and busy myself with tidying up around the living room, shaking my hips to “Crush.” A few seconds later, Luci’s door flies open and an ear splitting screech causes me to nearly jump out of my skin.

“You’re home!” Luci yells, her enthusiasm evident.

Lucinda Ramirez—my ray-of-sunshine friend with the bright blonde hair to match. The ultimate hype woman. We’ve been roommates since freshman year, and I’ve always been able to count on her to cheer me up after a long day of classes.

“How on earth did you hear me come in over that music? Love the Mandy Moore throwback, by the way.” I pull her into a hug and as usual, she rocks me side to side, acting as if we didn’t talk every day for the last few weeks while we were both home for the holidays.

“Find My Friends, obviously. I would have noticed you were home earlier but I got distracted trying to remember which movie the song ‘Feels Like Home’ is from…”

“How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” I reply immediately. It’s one of my favorite movies.

“Oh my gosh, thank you! That has been bothering me.” She does a little twirl and sits on the couch, patting next to her to indicate that I should sit down as well.

Before I do, I grab two canned margaritas out of the fridge—a weird combo with Chinese takeout but it’s what we always have. “You can google that shit, you know?”

“I know, I know. But I like to exercise my brain! Try to dig around for obscure facts that I will literally never need to know.” She pops open the tab on her margarita. “Have you heard from Riz? She should be back tonight too.”

Our third roommate, Guiliana Rizzo, grew up in the city so she’s taking the train back tonight, and we’ll have the weekend to catch up before classes start on Monday. “I was tracking her earlier but she’s still in the Bronx.”

I pull out my phone and snap a selfie of Luci and I cheersing our margaritas, sending it to the group chat.

friend *ship emoji*

We are drinking without you.

Riz

Bitches. I’ll be home soon, don’t let Luce have too many. You know her volume doesn’t have a max.

Luci

I resent that.

And I miss you!!! See you soon *kiss emoji* *drink emoji*