It was another fated day of writing as Angelo and I set in our dorm. I had my laptop on my lap as I sat on the floor while Angelo sat on his bed with his legs crossed. All of his writing this time was on loose pieces of paper, probably to make it harder for other people to see what he was writing down during lectures.

“What sort of tropes are you working with?” Angelo asked and I looked over the chapter that I had on my computer.

In all honesty, I had no clue what the hell I was writing. I somehow stitched together some words and ideas and it felt like a mess on a page.

“You may not like the answer,” I said and slowly lowered my laptop screen.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Angelo,” I said slowly. “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. Does it look like I know what tropes I’m working with here?”

“That’s why I’m asking so I can help you figure out what you’re stuck with.”

Angelo managed to snatch the laptop away from me and I could only scream internally as his eyes glazed over the chapter. His face was at first curious to see what I had written and it progressively turned into a look of concern and then a look of confusion.

“What are you trying to say here when your character ‘looks at him all lust-like’?”

“I don’t even know,” I groaned.

“The characters just are coworkers that have a regular talk at work. Like this whole page is just talking about sales and company policy and that can be hot but they’re so boring,” Angelo tapped my screen in agitation before looking up at me. “What kind of romance are you trying to portray?”

“A healthy one.”

“You can have a healthy romance and have it be fun and exciting. Nothing about this book hints that they even like each other except that one random line you threw in. Also, it’s clear you never worked an office job before because they keep repeating sales in their sentences and we have no idea what kind of company they work for.” Angelo set the laptop down on his bed and took a deep breath. “Do you know what kind of job they work at?”

It took me a moment to think over my answer and I looked at him dead in the eye with no humour in my expression.

“The place where they do business things.”

Angelo threw his pillow at me and I laughed.

“This is why people complain about men writing romance!” Angelo yelled. “You don’t understand the complexities of the heart!”

“I beg to differ,” I shouted back. “I did extensive research into what a heart looks like when dissected so I could give better descriptions for my novel.”

“That is disgusting.”

“I’m really proud of that specific description, do you want to read it?”

“No!”

A loud knock interrupted our conversation and I groaned internally. The resident assistant probably was telling us to quiet down again.

I placed my hands on the ground and pushed myself off the ground.

When I opened the door, I found myself looking at a very familiar face that wasn’t our resident assistant.

Allie had her bag slung over her shoulder and had a smile on her face. “Hey, hope I wasn’t interrupting anything.”

My face dropped and I found myself struggling to find any words to say for a good minute. “Allie. How did you figure out that this was my room?”

“I asked the resident assistant about it. Probably helped that I saw him passed out in the bushes outside. I didn’t know he was the RA but after I helped him out and asked who the RA was, he told me not to tell anyone about it. Managed to get your information in exchange.”

Angelo snorted loudly and I could only describe myself as mortified after hearing what she said.

“He’s going to be really disappointed,” I said and looked back to Angelo with an apologetic expression.

“Are you free to hang out? I have an appointment set up with a prof but it’s not happening in another two hours,” she said.

“I mean Angelo and I are doing a thing—”

“I could just hang out in your dorm if that’s cool.”

I looked back to Angelo and my mouth was slightly parted in concern. He gave me the okay sign and gestured for Allie to come in.

“I’m cool with it. We were just talking about writing anyways,” Angelo said.

“Writing? Like essays?” Allie asked.

“No, uh,” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Just silly stories we were writing.”

“I didn’t know you wrote,” Allie said surprised. She took off her shoes by the door and I watched her nervously.

My eyes met Angelo’s with a panicked look in my eyes and he scrunched his eyebrows together in concern.

“It’s a sort of new thing,” I mumbled.

I closed the door behind her and she made a spot for herself on the ground and placed her bag next to her.

“What kind of stuff do you two write?” She asked.

“You know,” I trailed off unsure of what to say, “stuff.”

“Stuff?” Allie asked in amusement.

“Yeah, stuff and things,” I said.

“Boo is bad at romance so I got him to try writing romance,” Angelo said jokingly.

I rub my forehead and was ready to lie in my grave. “Angelo.”

“A challenge is a challenge!” Angelo gleefully said as he readjusted the laptop on his lap.

“Challenge?” Allie echoed.

“Ugh, yeah. Angelo and I challenged each other to write genres we haven’t tried before.” I avoided eye contact with her.

“Which genre are you doing then?” Allie asked Angelo.

“Horror,” Angelo said cheerily. “Boo loves it but I’m squeamish.”

“Oh god, we used to run the horror film club back in high school.”

The two of them chatted to each other excitedly and whatever enthusiasm I had earlier dissipated. I found myself fidgeting and itching to get out of the room.

“Hey, Boo. Everything alright?” Allie asked.

“Um, yeah,” I said. “I just need some air.”

I practically jumped to my feet and grabbed my wallet from my jacket. Angelo and Allie were definitely staring at me but I tried not to pay attention to it.

“I might get something. I’m pretty hungry,” I said. “Do you guys need anything?”

“Pepsi,” Angelo said.

“I’m good, just ate,” Allie said. “Do you want me to come with you?”

“No, it’s alright. I swear I’ll come back quickly.”

Before either of them could say another word, I left the dorm room.