Fallon woke up to distant voices and what sounded like fighting. She sat up and it took her a minute to realize where she was. Matt wasn't there, the blanket and pillow had been folded and stacked neatly beside the bed. She reached for her phone and checked the time first, 8:30am. Early after having been up until 4:00am. Then her text messages, one from Sarah telling her to text her when she was on her way back. Three from Trent, all asking where she was. The yelling continued and sounded like it was coming from down the hall.

She got up out of bed and rubbed the sleepiness from her eyes before she left Matt's room and went into the hallway. The sound was clearly coming from Trent's room now. She made her way down the hall and knocked on Trent's door.

"Trent! It's me, open up!" The yelling stopped and the doorknob rattled before Trent appeared in the doorway. "Hey, what's going on? Who are you yelling at?"

"Just come here, please." He wrapped her into his embrace, "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Last night."

"It's totally fine," she pushed away from him, "I'm fine."

He closed the door to his room, putting them both in the hallway, "you stayed with Matt?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Why?"

"I needed somewhere to sleep, he offered."

"No one in this house should be trying to make a move on you."

"Trent, he wasn't, he was up while I was up. We had a cup of tea, he offered me a bed, he slept on the floor, that's it."

"You don't know him though or what he's like, or what..." Fallon cut him off.

"Trent, oh my God, it's fine. I've known most of these boys through you forever. No one here is going to hurt me."

"You don't know that." His tone was more stern now.

"Trent, stop, I'm fine."

"Fal, you just have to be careful."

"Trent, it's all good. Everything is fine."

The door behind them opened and Matt appeared in the doorway, "I told you, I didn't do anything to her. I'm not like that, I thought you knew me better than that, man." He shoved his way past Trent and turned to Fallon. "I wouldn't ever do anything to hurt you. Never. You or any other girl." He turned back to Trent, "I know the reputation I have, but I'm not a disgusting human being." Then again he turned back to Fallon, "it was nice getting to talk to you last night. I'm sorry if I crossed any boundaries."

"No, you didn't. Thank you for letting me stay." Matt nodded and made his way back to his room, closing the door behind him. The two stepped back into Trent's room and closed the door. Fallon felt a knot in her stomach. "That wasn't fair Trent, you can't be pissed at him, he did nothing."

"I didn't accuse him of anything, I just got pissed when I woke up, you were gone, and he just sauntered out of the bathroom like 'dude, she's in my room, relax.'"

"Where else did you want me to go?"

"I just thought you were staying with me." His face dropped a little.

"There was nowhere for me, Trent. You were passed out asleep, I didn't even try to move you. You drank so much I wanted to make sure you were okay, and by the time I was able to settle in, it was so late."

"I just don't want anything to happen to you Fal, not in this place, not when you didn't even want to be here."

"Nothing happened to me," her voice was serious now, "I'm fine."

Trent nodded, "okay, I'm sorry."

Fallon shook her head, "you're apologizing to the wrong person." She started gathering up her clothes from the night before. "I'm gonna go change and head back, Sarah is gonna start to wonder where I am."

"Okay, take a sweatshirt, it's cold. You can't walk back in that short shirt thing you had on last night."

Fallon giggled, "short, shirt, thing. Crop top?"

"That's what I said." Trent smiled at her.

She rummaged through the closet, looking for a hoodie she could be happy with and then set off to the bathroom to change and fix herself up to a point that it didn't look like a walk of shame going back home. She spent some time in the mirror, attempting to pull her ponytail higher and wiping smudged make-up from her eyes that she had clearly missed the night before. Eventually content enough, she left the bathroom wishing for a shower. The smell of stale beer and cigarettes was lingering in her hair.

Before she said goodbye to Trent, she made a point to stop in front of Matt's door and knock. When the door finally did open, she could see how fully exhausted he looked and realized she must have just woken him back up.

"Hi," she said quietly.

"Hi." He sounded confused.

She handed over her cell phone to him, "how will you take me on a date on Saturday if you don't know how to reach me?" A small grin came over his face as he typed his information into her phone and handed it back to her. "You didn't give me a fake number did you?"

"I guess you have to text me and find out." She quickly opened an empty text message, typed his name in and simply sent Fallon :). His phone rang in his pocket. "Got your answer?"

She nodded and slid her phone into the back pocket of her jeans. "Thank you again for letting me stay with you, and then most importantly the tea."

"Anytime."

"I'm sorry about Trent."

His smile faded. "I get it, he doesn't want anything to happen to you, he cares about you." Fallon nodded. "I'll see you Saturday?"

"Saturday sounds good. Text me."

Matt nodded and waved as he closed his bedroom door.

Making her way back to Trent's room, Fallon could feel that her heart rate increased and that she was wearing a dumb smile on her face. She took a deep breath before she went into Trent's room, it didn't feel like a good time to tell him she was going on a date with Matt. She made the decision to not say anything unless they decided to go out again after Saturday.

She opened the door and tapped Trent on the shoulder, he had gotten back into bed and had his eyes closed. He jumped a little when he saw her over him.

"Are you leaving?" He asked in between a yawn.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go."

"Okay, I'll see you later or tomorrow or?"

"I'm gonna catch up with Sarah, I'll text you."

"Okay," he said and turned towards the side of the bed she was standing on, "I'm really sorry, again."

"Again, wrong person to apologize to." Trent nodded understandingly, she reached in to hug him, "I'm sorry about Ava. I hope last night got some of those feelings out of your system." She let go and headed towards the door. "I'll talk to you later."

"Bye Fally."

Fallon headed down the stairs and out the door, starting her walk back to her apartment. It was still early, and even though it wasn't more than ten minutes, the walk felt longer this morning as the cold air brushed against whatever pieces of her that weren't covered by her jeans and Trent's sweatshirt. Her hands were stiff and cold as she shoved them into the pockets.

Once back on campus, the usual busy sidewalks were mostly bare and quiet, it was early enough still that most people were still in bed. And since Friday classes mostly only belonged to the Freshmen, the amount of students walking around were significantly less. After crossing the street and walking through the back sidewalks next to the football field, her apartment building was in view and she was eager for the blast of warm air, trapped behind the glass doors.

Finally in the lobby, she took a minute to rub her hands together and try to get the feeling back in her fingers before going up the stairs to her apartment. She slid her key in and was met with relief walking through the door and sitting on her couch.

"Fal?" Sarah called from her bedroom.

"It's me!"

Sarah came down the short hallway and into the living room, "how was last night?" She was squeezing her wet hair between a towel.

Fallon let out a little laugh and covered her face with her hand, "disastrous, as expected."

"Oh no," Sarah sat down and crossed one leg over the other, "tell me ALL about it."

"Trent was plastered once I got there."

"Expected and acceptable given his circumstances." Sarah shrugged a bit.

"I guess, but by midnight, you know the after party starts, and now I'm already drunk, he's belligerent, like falling over drunk. So I'm like hey time for bed right?" Sarah nodded. "And then I went to change, cause, can't sleep in cute clothes, and by the time I came back, he's face down, passed out and just done for. And there's NOWHERE for me to sleep."

Sarah giggled, "okay, go on."

"So I'm rummaging around the kitchen desperate to find a tea bag and one of the guys, Matt, you've met him before, is like 'what're you looking for?' and scares the crap out of me. So anyway we end up talking and whatever and the next thing I know he's asking me on a date."

Sarah's eyes widened, "wait what?!"

"Yeah and I'm all like, I'll go out with you if you find me somewhere to sleep tonight so he's like well we have this couch and I have comfortable shoulders blah blah blah or we can go to my room."

"Fallon!" Sarah clasped a hand over her mouth, "wait you slept with this kid?"

"No, no, you're misunderstanding. I literally get to his room and I have this awful nervous feeling, but he's like just sleep in my bed, I'll sleep on the floor."

Sarah was laughing now, "this kid is into you and you made him sleep on the floor?"

"I'm not very good in social settings these days, but then I wake up and fucking him and Trent are fighting cause Trent accuses him of doing terrible things to me in my sleep or something."

"Because he has the hots for you."

"Shut up, no he doesn't. So I talk him off the ledge and Matt pleads his case and apologizes for literally nothing. So now I'm pissed and go to Matt's room again and make him give me his number because I actually do want to go on that date on Saturday. But there's no way I'm telling Trent about it. And now here I am."

Sarah nodded a few times, as if trying to digest the entirety of the story. "So you're going out on Saturday for sure then?"

"I think so. I hope so."

"You're so smitten looking about it"

"Despite the absolute mess, I did have a nice time talking to Matt, I think it would be fun to get to know him."

"Which one is he again?"

"Tall, skinny, reddish blond hair, ridiculously white teeth, usually smoking a cigarette."

"Oooo you with a cigarette smoker? You don't like that."

"Let's make it through date number one before we talk about learning to like or quit cigarettes."

"I know who you're talking about, he's a good looking kid."

Fallon nodded, "yeah definitely," she smiled.

"Aw look at you all blushy blushy."

"I am not 'blushy blushy.'" She made air quotes with her fingers.

"Got the tinglies?"

Fallon rolled her eyes, "I'm going in the shower."

"I've got homework to do."

"Oh! How was your night with Jeremy?"

"It was lovely, thanks for asking," Sarah said with a coy grin.

"Real lovely? Or really really lovely?"

"Really very lovely."

Fallon giggled and took off into her room.