Getting Back

Charlotte

When we finally get back from Mendel's cottage late Saturday evening, all I want to do is sleep. The two-and-a-half-hour car ride was somehow even more cramped than the last, and my body aches everywhere. We drop Mendel off at his dorm first, then Trina, and it feels like forever before we make it to Cordelia and Whizzer's apartment. As we come in through the door, I collapse on the couch, exhausted.

"Someone's tired," Cordelia remarks. I open my eyes long enough to give her a look, like yeah, no shit.

Whizzer hangs up his coat and glances at us. "How are you guys even tired? We literally slept in all day."

"You did," Marvin tells him. "The rest of us actually helped pack up the car. Slacker." He glares at his boyfriend.

"And proud." Whizzer runs a hand through his hair and walks into the kitchen.

Cordelia sits next to me on the couch, tucking her feet under her. She reaches out and rubs my back, which usually annoys me a bit but it's relaxing when she does it. "Hey, Charlotte, remember when your friendship with Caroline ended and you totally overreacted?" she brings up unnecessarily.

"I can't hear you. I'm asleep," I say, my eyes closed once again. I hear her laugh a little and can tell she's probably rolling her eyes.

Whizzer has come out of the kitchen by the time I open my eyes back up. "There's nothing good to eat," he huffs. "I'm ordering pizza."

"Well, of course there's nothing to eat," Cordelia tells him. "We just came back from a week-long trip."

Marvin looks at her curiously. "That's right. What did you guys do with all your food before we left, anyway?"

"We ate it all," Whizzer answers. "We had a big midnight feast."

Cordelia glares at him. "We threw most of it out," she explains to Marvin.

I close my eyes again and try to go to sleep. There's nothing interesting happening right now. It's cozy, being curled up in the couch with all of us chilling in here, and I'm starting to drift off, until Whizzer's pizza has to get here and ruin it.

I sit up as he's paying for it and taking the food back into the apartment. "Who wants some?" he asks us.

"I don't," I reply. "I just want to get some rest."

"You can go lie down in my bed," Cordelia offers, nodding toward her room. I stand up and head toward the door.

"Wait!" Whizzer stops me. "Are you sure you don't want pizza?"

"I want pizza," says Marvin.

"I'm asking her, Marvin. Charlotte, are you absolutely sure? This is your last chance." He waves the pizza box under my nose like he did with the bagels.

Again, I push it away. "I'm absolutely sure. I still feel sick from the car ride, and I'm too tired to digest anything, so just eat it yourself."

"Can I have some?" Marvin cuts in.

Whizzer sighs. "Yeah, Marvin, you can have some."

-

The next morning, I wake up next to Cordelia, which is nice. I actually forget for a moment that I have my own dorm, since we've shared a room for the past week. I wonder how I'll get used to sleeping alone again. I probably did for most of last night, so it's not that big a deal.

When I leave the bedroom, Whizzer's on the couch with a cup of coffee. He looks up at me and raises his eyebrows. "You stayed over last night?" he asks.

"Yeah," I answer, making my way around him to the kitchen. "Is there any pizza left?"

"Marvin and I ate it all last night."

I turn and glare at him. "That was a whole pizza."

"I know, pretty impressive, right?"

I sigh. "Whatever. I'm not even that hungry." I'm still wearing my clothes from yesterday, so I should probably shower or something and go back to my dorm. I'm considering just showing there, but then I remember the cockroach and decide not to take my chances. "Can I use your bathroom?"

"Course," Whizzer replies, sipping his coffee.

I go to the bathroom, which is small— much smaller than the one in our dorm, but then again it's not shared by a whole floor of people. It's also close enough to the living room that I can talk to Whizzer from where he is on the couch, which I do.

"Hey, what's going on with Marvin?" I call, stepping into the shower.

"Marvin?" Whizzer says. "Nothing, I guess. What do you mean by that?"

"Well, he was obviously upset when he found out Mendel and Trina were dating, so..."

"Why would he be upset?"

I pause. "Whizzer, you know how insecure he was about their relationship, right?"

"If I did, I probably chose to ignore it," he remarks. "How can Marvin be upset about that? He's been teasing Trina just as long as I have. Plus, he got in a relationship way before she did."

"I know, but—"

"A year before."

"I know."

We're quiet for a few seconds. The only sound I can hear is the water coming from the leaky shower head, and Cordelia snoring in the next room. Whizzer's being so silent I wonder after a moment if he just got up and left.

"Whizzer?"

"I'm still here," he responds.

I turn off the water, step out of the shower, and wrap a towel around my torso. When I dry off and get out of the bathroom, Whizzer's still on the couch, sipping from his cup.

"Are you okay?" I ask him.

He just frowns. "Of course I'm okay, Charlotte. If you think I'm broken up over whatever Marvin's feeling right now, I'm not."

"I don't think you are," I say. "I'm just saying, you shouldn't blame him. It'll probably take some time for him to get used to this."

"Why should he have to get used to it? I didn't ask to meet his ex-girlfriend in the first place. I just wanted to start a new life in college with my new boyfriend and my roommate, and look what this year's become." He throws his hands up and walks out of the room.

I follow him to the kitchen, puzzled. "Don't you think it's nice that we're all friends now?"

He sighs. "I think it's nice," he answers. "But it's not what I expected."

"Yeah, trust me, neither did I. But we should be happy for Mendel and Trina. And if Marvin can't do that, screw him. I'm sorry I brought it up."

"It's all right. And I think Marvin's fine. At least, now he is. The most upsetting thing right now is probably how sick he's feeling from eating all that pizza last night. I know I am," he mutters.

"That's why you should have saved some for me."

"You had your chance."

That's when Cordelia finally gets up. She comes into the kitchen, smiling. "Hey, guys? How long have you been awake."

"Too long," Whizzer remarks. "I'm going back to bed."

"We have school tomorrow, so get a good rest tonight," she tells him.

He lets out a groan. "Right, I forgot. It'll be so different."

"We were there a week ago," I say.

"Still. Different."

He kind of has a point. But only kind of. Not much has changed since we left except now Mendel and Trina are a thing, and let's be honest, it was about time.

I don't know if Whizzer's actually going back to bed, but he does leave the kitchen, so it's just me and Cordelia in here. Except now I feel like sleeping some more. I lean against the counter and rub my eyes, trying to wake myself up. The shower didn't help at all, not to mention it was extremely short. Cordelia starts to make herself breakfast.

"Were you guys fighting?"

"No," I reply. "We were just sorting things out. Actually, we weren't at all. I don't know what's happening. I just want to go back to bed."

She nods a little. "Go ahead."

Whizzer

"Open up."

I'm standing at Marvin's door, and it may be almost 11:00 at night, but I'm already here, and I'm knocking furiously. Finally the door swings open.

"Oh, good, it's just you," he says bitterly. "I thought it was a level 7 earthquake."

I blink. "We don't get earthquakes here, Marvin. Can I just come in?"

"Fine. Ignore the fact that I'm trying to sleep." I can tell he's not in a great mood, but he steps aside and I go in to sit down in his chair. Marvin closes the door and crosses his arms over his chest. "Now what do you want?"

"Can we talk in the hallway?"

"You just asked if you could... fine. Fine, we'll talk in the hallway." He opens the door, and we both walk out. "What did you want to talk about in the hallway?"

I don't exactly know, to tell the truth. I don't know why we keep moving around. Whatever I want to talk about probably shouldn't be important enough to wake my boyfriend up at this hour. But I sit down anyway, and he sits next to me.

"I wanted to talk about Mendel and Trina," I tell him. He starts to stand up, but I pull him by the hem of his shirt. "Wait! Marvin, I'm not done."

"I don't want you to start."

"We need to have a discussion about this!" I exclaim as he flops down with a sigh. "I don't know if you're jealous, or what, but something's going on that you're not telling the rest of us about."

He shakes his head. "There's nothing. Not really. I just... I don't know." He shrugs and stares ahead. "Mendel and Trina being together is, like, it's a new thing."

"Do you still love her?" I turn to look at him.

He looks back at me. "Of course I don't. I'm literally a homosexual, Whizzer."

"Then why does it matter so much to you? Why can't you just let it go? She's over you, and I thought you were supposed to be over her."

"I am over her! Can we not fight about this? I swear, every time we talk in my dorm, it ends badly."

"We're not even in your dorm, jackass. We're out in the hall."

"Because you made me come out here."

We sit there, letting the tension between us cool. I guess our relationship is always going to be like this, isn't it? Bittersweet. Whatever.

"I don't still love Trina, Whizzer," Marvin tells me. "I love you. You know I love you."

"Duh," I mutter.

"Can we please go back inside?"

I stand up. "Actually, I'm going home. Try to get some sleep," I remark.

He glares at me. "That's kind of what I was doing."

"Good. Keep it going." I bend down to kiss his forehead and head back toward the stairs. Maybe everything hasn't totally been worked out tonight, but I'm satisfied.