With her backpack slung over her arm, Bree hurried down the hallway to her dorm room. She’d forgotten her Chem book, and she’d need it that day for a quiz. Professor Cross always let them use their book when he gave them a quiz, and she’d need it since she’d been out late the night before playing in a local club with Sam.

Dropping her backpack by the door, she grabbed the doorknob, thinking it should be unlocked because Melissa didn’t have class right now. When the door was locked, she was surprised but pulled her key out of her pocket and stuck it in the hole.

Pushing the door open, she suddenly realized why Melissa had the door locked. Two heads popped up on her roommate’s bed. “Oh, God! Sorry!” Bree averted her eyes, realizing her roommate was tangled in the sheets with a guy, but then, Bree stopped and considered exactly what she’ d just seen as the two of them scrambled to cover themselves.

“Wait--what the hell?” she asked. There was no escaping the situation. “Sam?”

Melissa sat up while the man next to her hid under the bespead. “Huh? Oh, no. It’s not Sam. I know he looks like Sam… but this is a guy I met last night at the club. Names… Ram.”

“Ram?” Anger boiled up in Bree’s blood, and she could feel her face turning red. “Samuel William Fowler! Get your head out of that blanket right now, or so help me God, I will take one of those pillows, shove it over your face, and squeeze the life out of you!”

“Okay, okay!” Sam sat up, the sheet falling down around his waist. “Bree, I’m so sorry. I can explain.”

“It’s not what it looks like,” Melissa said, one of her breasts showing where she hadn’t quite secured the blanket.

“Really?” Bree demanded. “Because it looks to me like my roommate and my boyfriend are having s*x! That’s what it looks like to me!”

“No, no. It is what it looks like, but I can explain….” Sam said again, a pleading look in his eyes.

“Save it, Sam! You’re an a*shole! And you!” She pointed at Melissa. “I never trusted you, you sl*t!”

“Hey! How dare you call me that!” Melissa said, jumping up and pulling the sheet away from Sam who scrambled to get the blanket in place, not that Bree hadn’t already seen his tiny package. “I was just satisfying his cravings, something you couldn’t do!”

Realizing she was going to be late to class and couldn’t deal with the situation at the moment, Bree grabbed her book off of the stack by her bed and shouted at Sam, “We’re through!”

“No, wait, Bree! You’ve got to give me a chance to explain!”

“F*ck you, Sam!” She glared at Melissa, thinking she’d have more words for her later, and headed off to her class.

Tears were streaming down her face as she walked to class, but she did her best to stifle them. She didn’t want to let Sam have the satisfaction of knowing she was so upset. At least she hadn’t moved in with him. Of course, if she had, Melissa wouldn’t be her roommate. Thus, Sam likely would’ve never met her. But… he would’ve found someone else to cheat with. A cheater would always find someone to cheat with.

Bree arrived in class and held her emotions in check long enough to get through her quiz. As soon as class was over, she headed back to her room, done with school for the day. She prayed that Melissa wouldn’t be there. The last thing she wanted was to see that lying b*tch.

She was there, though, sitting on her bed, watching videos on her phone. Bree didn’t even want to talk to her. She had nothing to say, and the other girl didn’t even look up when she walked in.

The stench of their sweaty bodies lingered in the air. Bree picked up a bottle of Febreeze she had in her closet and doused the entire room in it.

“What are you doing? It smells like a f*cking flower garden in here.”

“Don’t you have class? Ever?”

“F*ck you,” Melissa said, going back to her phone.

Bree didn’t want to yell at her because she realized Melissa wasn’t worth her time, but she couldn’t help it. “I cannot believe you did that. I thought we were friends.”

“Please. I don’t need you to be my friend, b*tch. I don’t have any friends that are girls. And now you know why.”

She wasn’t even sorry. “You’re a horrible person.”

Melissa just shrugged. “I’m not sure why you’re so upset. He’s not even a good f*ck.”

“He was a lot more than that to me, you stupid b*tch.” How in the world was Bree supposed to live with this person for the next two months before Christmas break, let alone the entire spring semester?

Melissa didn’t even acknowledge her. She just continued to flip through her phone.

Grabbing her guitar, Bree went out to the lounge. Something told her, she’d be spending a lot of time out there for the next few months.

She hadn’t been practicing long when she heard Sam clear his voice the way he always did when he was nervous. Bree didn’t stop the song she was practicing, realizing she’d made another mistake by coming out here where he was able to find her.

“Bree,” he said as she finished that song. “We need to talk.”

“I have absolutely nothing to say to you.”

“Come on, baby. I know you’re mad. I don’t blame you. I didn’t mean for it to happen. It just… did. She’s persistent.”

“Go to hell,” Bree replied, starting another song.

“Please, Bree. What we had was so good. She meant nothing to me.”

“And yet, you chose her over me.” Bree slammed her guitar down next to her and leapt to her feet. “You know how I feel about cheating, Sam. I’m not going to forgive you! Ever! So get the f*ck away from me!”

“But Bree… what about our gigs? We have so many scheduled already. We were going to spend the holidays together. My mom can’t wait to meet you.”

“Take Melissa,” she said with a sneer. “As for the gigs, I’ll just go back to playing by myself like I did for years before I met you. I don’t need you, Sam, and I don’t have time for anyone who would cheat on me. So get the hell away from me!”

By now, there were a few people standing in the doorway listening, including one of the guys who’d helped Melissa move in back that first day, when Bree’s whole life had changed, and she hadn’t even known it. He asked, “Are you okay, Bree?”

“Yeah, Jeff. I’m fine. Sam was just leaving.”

Sam ran a hand through his unruly hair and limped away, knowing Jeff could take him out in a couple of seconds if he wanted to.

Blowing out a hot breath, Bree picked up her guitar and started playing again, hoping she could lose herself in her music. She heard footsteps closeby and looked up, thankful it wasn’t Sam.

“Did I hear you right? He cheated on you? Does that mean you’re single?”

“Not now, Jeff….”

“Sorry. But, hey, when you’re ready, you know where to find me.”

She couldn’t help but smile. He was cute, even if he sounded a little desperate and had horrible timing. “Thanks, Jeff.”

He walked away, and Bree finished her song and then played another before she set her guitar down again. What she really needed right now was a friend. She dug her phone out of her pocket and scrolled through her contacts. She’d love to talk to Lilly about all of this. If only she was here in person.

Before she called her old roommate, she flipped to a social media site and scrolled through her newsfeed. She had a friend request--from Trent. Of all the days. Shaking her head, she clicked it, wondering what he was up to. Now that she was single again, it seemed like just the thing for her to start dreaming of him again.

But he wasn’t single. She could see that within a few seconds of looking at his page. It wasn’t the same girl she’d seen him with last summer, and her name was nowhere on the page, not in any of the captions or anything. But she was beautiful, with jet black hair and a confident smile. The way Trent was looking at her, there was no doubt they were together, and his personal status said, “In a relationship.”

“In a relationship, but not with me.” Rolling her eyes and dropping her phone, Bree picked up her guitar and started to play a melody that had been stuck in her head for ages. Eventually, lyrics came to her, and she built a song around the fact that Trent was with someone else when all this time she thought he was supposed to be with her.

“You’re mine, you just don’t know it.

You love me, you just can’t show it.

Maybe someday soon, you’re gonna see

Baby, you were meant to marry me.”

Once she was sure of the song structure and happy with the lyrics, she picked up her phone and set it to record. She thought she had something pretty special here, maybe even a song she could try to sell to another artist or use to market herself to agents and producers.

She played through it again, so lost in what she was doing she didn’t realize she wasn’t alone until she was done. A cheer went up from across the room, and Bree looked up to see a small crowd of about ten students standing there, watching her.

Immediately, her face turned crimson. “Oh, gosh, sorry. I didn’t know anyone was listening.”

“That was great,” one of the girls she knew lived on her floor said with a smile. “I loved it.”

“Thank you.”

“That wasn’t about that stupid Sam a*shole was it?” a guy who’d been there earlier when they were arguing asked.

“No, definitely not,” Bree assured him. “It was about a guy I used to know a long time ago.”

“Well, he’d better get his sh*t together because you're gonna be famous one day,” the same guy said with a smile.

“Thanks,” Bree said, still red in the face. Slowly, the crowd dispersed, and she went on to play another song, but she hoped the random guy in the hallway was right. Then, Sam really would feel like an idiot for sleeping with Melissa, and maybe Trent would finally see her as more than just a friend.

But perhaps most importantly at all, she’d be able to make a living doing what she loved most, making music.