The sound of Fallon's alarm caught her off guard when it went off Monday morning. The vibration felt like an Earthquake in her bed and the ringing sound was more piercing than usual. She sleepily hit snooze and pulled the blanket over her head.

She could hear Sarah clattering in the bathroom, she must have come back early this morning because she wasn't home last night. Fallon shuffled under the covers, trying to avoid the impending alarm that would be ringing again soon. Once it finally went off, Sarah wandered in.

"Wakey wakey!"

Fallon rolled over and groaned, "when did you come back?" She asked from under the covers.

"Early, too early, but I just didn't want to drive back last night."

"How are you even functioning?"

"Caffeine!"

"You? Coffee?"

"Tea doesn't cut it when you need to be awake as early as I was."

Fallon swung her feet over the side of the bed and rubbed her eyes, "I guess I should get up and go to class."

"You might want to get it moving."

"What are you doing?" She asked as Sarah shuffled around in her dresser.

"I'm looking for my yoga pants so I can go to the gym, do you have them?"

"You're insane, why don't you sleep so you can make it through your evening class? Also, no, don't have them."

"I'll be okay, caffeine, remember?" She smiled deviously.

Fallon picked up her phone and checked her messages. Her mom texted her to have a good day and that she loved her. Chloe, her friend from home, asked her to call her this week so they could catch up. And Trent had texted her twice, once asking if she wanted a ride to class; not that she lived far away, the apartments were still considered to be on campus. Then a second, acknowledging that she must still be asleep and that he would catch up with her later.

"It's already ten?" She jumped down from the bed and ran to the bathroom to start the shower. "I'm gonna be late."

Sarah had changed into her gym clothes and was back in the kitchen.

"Do you want a cup of this coffee before I toss it?" She shouted.

"Can you put it in my tumbler and pop it in the fridge please?" Fallon stuck her head out of the bedroom door as she was undressing for the shower, "it should be on the drying rack."

"I got it, I got it, go shower! It'll be in the fridge. I'm heading to the gym, I'll see you later!"

"Bye!" Fallon called from the bathroom.

Finally showered and dressed, Fallon brushed out her hair, leaving it wet, skipped the makeup, grabbed her bag, and ran out the door. She headed through the lobby and started her power walk down the sidewalk towards the main campus. It wasn't far, a straight shot down the main road and across the street and she would be there. She realized as she got to the crosswalk and the walk symbol blinked that she had left the coffee in the fridge. She rolled her eyes, annoyed with herself and headed into the building.

She was definitely late and the professor had started class, so she snuck in the back door of the lecture hall and took a seat in the far corner, hoping to avoid drawing any unneeded attention. As she dug out her notebook and pen, her phone vibrated in her pocket. It was Trent again,

Did you finally get up or you just sleeping through class these days?

She smiled, Not my fault, SOMEONE wanted to stay up and talk about their life last night and wouldn't let me go to bed.

Content with her defense, she tried to focus on the professor, droning on about the book she was supposed to be reading. Something about a crazy lady in an attic. She honestly hadn't cracked the pages open yet. She was relying solely on her notes from class and Sparkntoes to make sure she passed. Again, her phone buzzed.

I'm sorry, you should have said something.

Suddenly, she felt bad, No, no! It's fine, I'm kidding! You know me, I'm just not a morning person. It really wasn't your fault.

I should've waited for you this morning.

Trent, it's fine, really, don't worry about it. However, I am going to fail if I keep texting you. I'll catch up with you later. Café between classes?

Coffee is on me.

She tucked her phone back in her pocket and tried to refocus her energy into this class.

Finally, after an hour and a half, they were free. The lecture hall emptied and she started to pack her things. As she was getting her notebook in her backpack, she noticed feet standing next to her.

"Hey Dan!" She zipped up her bag and stood up from the small chair desk.

"Hey, I saw you sneak in late, I wanted to make sure everything was okay."

Dan was sweet, he had been in most of Fallon's English classes starting in Freshman year. That was the thing about English majors, there weren't very many, and the ones there were kind of stuck together for four years. They had been friendly throughout the years and it was always good to have a class buddy.

"Oh yeah, thanks, everything is fine, just an oversleeper," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "How is everything with you? Are you good with this book?" They both headed towards the door.

"Oh Madwoman? I've actually read it a couple times before, so I'm pretty familiar with it."

"Well how convenient, I have never read it, including right now, as we are supposed to be reading it, so we may need to sit down together and talk about it so I don't fail out of school and become a degenerate to society." She smiled wide and pleadingly.

Dan laughed, "well I supposed we can't have that. I'll absolutely catch you up, let me know when works best for you. You have my number right?"

"I'm pretty sure I still do, let me just check." They paused in the hallway of the main building and Fallon pulled out her phone, "is it the 555-6798 number?"

"That's it."

"Great! You have mine right?"
"I think so, shoot me a text real quick."

Fallon quickly sent a message over to him. "Get it?"

"Got it. You're in here."

"Awesome, I'll text you. I really appreciate it Dan."

"Any time. Hey, do you have lunch plans?"

It caught Fallon slightly off guard, "oh, I actually do today, I'm sorry."

"It's all good. Wednesday after class?"

"To study?"

"Well and lunch," he smiled.

"Sure, it's a date."

"It's a date, I'll see you later."

They parted ways as they walked out the door and into the courtyard. Fallon headed towards the café to meet up with Trent. She walked up the massive steps of the recreation building and headed into the large glass doors. She could see Trent in the line at the coffee café.

"Hey!" She tapped him on the shoulder as she walked up beside him.

"Hey, how was class?"

"Class," she shrugged.

They both ordered their drinks, Trent, a medium black coffee, Fallon, a large green tea, with just a drop of honey. Trent paid as promised, and they headed towards the seated area.

"Wanna go out on the balcony?"

"Sure, it's beautiful out."

Trent held the door open to the outdoor balcony area, "after you."

"Thank you sir," she sat down at one of the empty tables at the end of the balcony.

Trent followed, pulling his phone from his pocket as he sat. "What time did you actually get to class today?"

"Late," Fallon smacked her hand over her eyes and dragged it down her face. "I'm just not a morning person, not sure how I managed an eight AM freshman year."

"We've all been there," Trent shrugged. Suddenly his phone vibrated, shaking the small metal table. He picked it up, looked at the message and put it back down. "So the guys are throwing a party on Thursday, do you want to come?"

"At the house?"

"Yeah, the usual."

His phone vibrated again. He glanced at it and again ignored it.

"Doesn't it like, gross you out to live in the same spot that a million people just trash every week?"

"Well no one trashes my room and I mostly live in there," Trent smiled and pushed his hair from his face.

"I like your hair this length."

"Oh thanks, I miss having it longer, it's time to grow it out again."

"You look grungy."

"Is that good or are you telling me I look dirty?"

Fallon laughed, shaking her head, "no! Not dirty!" Trent's phone vibrated again, and the smile fell away from his face. "Is everything okay?"

Trent sighed, "it's Ava, she's starting to drive me insane."

"Weren't you literally just talking about marrying her?"

"Yeah, well, reconsidering."

"Geez," Fallon took a sip of her tea, "what's she doing? It's not like you to get frustrated."

Trent rubbed his face with his hands, "she's just, I dunno. You know me, I don't ask for a lot, but like I just feel like, we're already so far away from each other, we hardly have time to talk, and when we do, I just feel like, I dunno I feel like we should use that time. You can only keep things alive so much through text messages. Ya know?" Fallon nodded. "Well she has literally no interest in ever speaking or facetiming or visiting, ever. And to me that seems sketchy, and I'm not really down with feeling sketchy and uncomfortable in my own relationship, so I told her, look if you're not feeling this anymore, just tell me, don't keep stringing me along, and this," he pointed to his phone, vibrating again, "is the product of that conversation."

"Jesus Trent, I'm sorry. Is this why you were so stressed last night?"

"Mostly, yes."

"God, that's awful. So what are you gonna do?"

"I've managed this relationship for a year. I knew once she transferred it was gonna be hard, but I didn't expect it to be this difficult. I just want to be able to enjoy this last year of school, and I don't know if I want to keep dealing with this."

"So break up with her," Fallon clasped her hand over her mouth, "sorry, I'm not good with dealing with bullshit, I know you're nicer than I am."

"No it's okay, I just don't want to make a big decision like that without thinking about it first, but I can't think if she doesn't let me."

"Hey, it's gonna be fine," she pushed his coffee cup towards him, "here drink this."

"Did you poison it while I wasn't looking?"

"Absolutely."

Trent took a long sip, "so anyway, are you gonna come Thursday?"

Fallon rolled her eyes, "I'll come, can I bring Sarah?"

"Sure."

"I just don't wanna be left on my own if you go and mingle."

"I don't mingle."

"You drink and get mingly."

"Maybe a little."

Fallon finished her tea, "I have to get going so I can actually be on time to class."

"Go ahead, don't let me keep you."

She stood up and collected her things, she hugged Trent before she left, "thank you for the tea."

"Of course, sorry I made you late this morning."

"Oh for the millionth time, it wasn't you it's me."

"It isn't me it's you."

She giggled and headed back to the door, she quickly turned around, "Hey Trent," he looked up from his phone, "remind me to tell you about my date later."

Looking shocked he stuttered a bit with his reply, "uh uh oh, okay, call me later."

She waved and disappeared behind the door.

Trent sat awhile longer, staring at his phone, debating texting Ava, taking sips of his coffee, now cold, and thinking about Fallon going on a date. He put his phone in his pocket and his head in his hands. He had to head to class too. This wasn't the year to slack off. He took a deep breath, collected himself, collected his things, and headed towards the science labs.

Finally done with her day, Fallon walked into her apartment after class and found Sarah on the couch.

"Hey." She tossed her bag on the ground, and flopped onto the couch across from Sarah.

"Hey."

"How was your day?"

"I'm fucking tired dude."

"I can't imagine why," she said sarcastically. "Did you eat?"

"Too tired. Gonna eat sleep for dinner."

"Shut up," she tossed a pillow at Sarah, "order Chinese food with me."

"Sweet nectar of the gods, please, please get me crab Rangoon and chicken and broccoli. Take money out of my wallet, it's my treat."

"Sarah no, you don't have to."

"Shut up, my wallet is in my desk drawer."

"Wow, Trent bought me coffee, you're buying dinner, I could get used to this."

"Oh yeah, where's Trent been? I haven't seen him lately."

"He was here over the weekend, he's having girlfriend issues."

"Hm poor thing, long distance is hard."

"I can imagine. Hey, what are your plans on Thursday night?"

Sarah bit at her lip, "um I don't think anything, why?"

"There's a party at the boys' house, do you wanna come?"

"I hate those parties," she squinted her nose.

"I know, I do too, but I also feel obligated to go."

"I'll think about it."

"Fair enough."

As they finished up dinner from their takeout containers, Fallon got off the couch, collected her trash and headed towards the kitchen, pausing at Sarah in one of the chairs.

"You done?" Fallon asked, reaching out for Sarah's empty container.

"Yeah, I'm good, thank you."

"No, thank you for dinner." She tossed the containers in the trash and walked into the bedroom. Grabbing a book off her desk she went back to her spot in the living room.

"Are you reading something good?"

"No, it's for class, but I have to get started, I'm so behind."

"You? Behind?" Sarah reached for the nail polish bottle on the coffee table, "you're never behind, especially in English."

"Yeah, this one for some reason has been particularly tough."

"Can I ask you something kind of personal, Fallon?" Sarah asked as she applied another layer of nail polish to her already neon purple nails. "I've been thinking about it a lot lately, and I'm just dying to get the answer from a reliable source."

Fallon looked up from her book, "sure, go ahead."

"What's the real deal with you and Trent?"

"Left field, what do you mean?"

"You guys are like always together, and I know you said that you've been friends for a long time, but, don't take this the wrong way, there's just like, so much sexual tension between you two when you're around each other!" Sarah laughed.

"What?" Fallon fired back, slamming her book shut. "No way, we've been best friends for years, literally longer than a decade. There's no way. It would be like...kissing my brother." She tried to hide the smile that was fighting through her suppressions.

"No see, I don't believe you! You have that stupid smile on your face. I don't know any best friends who treat each other like you guys do. If you don't have the tinglies for him, well he's got them for you."

"The tinglies?" Fallon snickered.

"Yeah, you know, the tinglies, the tingly feeling you get when you see a person you have the hots for. It tingles, usually in your stomach like butterflies, sometimes in your vagina."

"Sarah!"

"What?" She giggled, "it's true!"

"Well I don't have the tinglies for Trent."

"Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure I'm sure."

"I don't believe you, but whatever you say." She sneered.

Fallon went back to her book, rolling her eyes, "tinglies," she whispered under her breath.