Chapter 1

Emilia

May

Junior year has finally come to a close. After finishing up my shift at The Blue Bean, the on-campus coffee shop, I submitted my last two final papers. Now that that"s all done with, I really need to get packing. Rosie, my roommate, and I are moving out of our dorm tomorrow and into an apartment for the summer and our senior year. I am beyond excited to be living in an apartment with my best friend, it's like a real taste of adulthood. I am also excited that I won't have to go home to see my mother this summer or during the school year breaks. Yes, that sounds harsh and a part of me will always love her but we have a complicated relationship

"EMI!" Rosie comes barreling into our apartment, her long dark brown almost black waves flying behind her, interrupting my thoughts. "It's over! I also got an A in my editorial photography class."

"Ro, that's amazing." I pull her into a hug. Rosie is a Film and Photography major. I might be biased as her best friend, but her work is incredible.

"Thank you." She smiles brightly. "Did you submit your drugs and human behavior final?"

"Yes, I just did." I exhale a breath, I love studying psychology but it can require researching and writing about a lot of tough topics. Drugs and alcohol in particular hit very close to home, so the class didn't bring up the best memories to say the least.

"Thank goodness, now that you're done with that we need to get your stuff packed." Rosie has almost all of her things packed already, but between working and having back-to-back tough finals this year I haven't had much of a chance to pack anything.

"Thanks for helping me Ro, I really appreciate it."

"Of course, now I'm turning on Taylor Swift and we're getting this done."We work together to pack my things into a variety of different storage containers and boxes, singing along as we go. Three Taylor Swift albums later, and we're finally done. I seal up the last box of my textbooks and we both sink down into the couch that comes as part of your dorm furnishings.

Thursday night has always been girls' night in our world. When Rosie and I got assigned as roommates freshman year she declared we needed a night for just the two of us. Our Thursdays together have become one of my favorite traditions. We always watch rom-coms and get those pre-made cookies to make, which sometimes ends up with us just eating the raw dough.

It took some juggling with my schedule, classes, studying, and working but I always made our girls' nights work. So far, I haven't really lived through that "normal" college experience. Once I started college I prioritized my grades and working, which then led into grades, internships and working. It's all worth it though, to create a good and secure future for myself. Something I severely lacked growing up.

"I'm pooped, let"s order a pizza and watch a movie." Rosie pulls up the pizza menu on her phone. "Pepperoni?"

"Sounds great." Rosie places an order for delivery for the pizza and some lemonades. When the food arrives we sit on the ground in front of the couch eating off the small coffee table and watching our favorite nineties rom-coms.

I wake up to the terrible sound of my alarm. It's Friday, aka moving day, and while I'm excited it's also going to be a terribly long day. I get out of bed, open the door to our common area and head to our small fridge and tiny counter space to make a bowl of cereal. Rosie shuffles out of her room, dragging her slipper clad feet across the floor. I hold up the cereal in my hand silently asking if she wants any, to which she nods before sitting on the small couch. One thing about Rosie is she is not a morning person.

I finish making my bowl of cereal and then make one for Rosie. We quickly eat and then get ready, putting on some athletic clothing and sneakers. Hiring movers was way out of the budget and since we have no real furniture, just our clothes, books, other odds and ends we decided we could do the move ourselves. Girl power.

After an hour we finally manage to get the first round of our stuff out of our dorm, into the back of Rosie's SUV and bring one box each into our new place. I'm already breaking a sweat, it's May in New England so it's not insanely hot yet but the sun is beating down today with no clouds in sight.

"Hey Rosie. Hi Emi." I turn around and see Garrett, parked a few cars down from us jogging in our direction.

"Hey Gar." Rosie says as I smile and wave in his direction before reaching into the back of the car to grab another box.

"You guys didn't tell me you were moving today. You know I would've helped."

"Yeah, cause we can handle it on our own." Rosie states and I stare at her like she's crazy. She's super independent but there's a huge man offering us help and I'm not about to turn him down. Garrett is tall, a little over six feet and super muscular, probably from all his training with the hockey team. Rosie and Garrett grew up in the same town and knew each other in passing. Garrett is one grade behind us, he is a rising junior to our senior. When Garrett got to campus his freshmen year, him and Ro had a class together where they reconnected and our duo became a trio. She was also the one who said she would tell Gar we were moving and with the hectic last week I had, it slipped my mind to confirm with her if he was available.

"Gar, we would actually love your help please don't listen to her."

"Ryan! Get over here." A man I didn't notice, standing outside of Garrett's car looks up, then he hangs up his phone and walks over to us. "This is Ryan, my teammate. Ryan, Emi and Rosie. We're going to help them move some stuff in."

"Sounds good, nice to meet you both." He smiles, his eyes catching on Rosie. You can't blame him, she's absolutely gorgeous.

"Fine, I guess you guys can help." Rosie sighs.

"We really appreciate it." I counter giving her a look. Getting everything into our apartment took half the time I expected after having the help of two strong men. They even went back to the dorm with us for the second load of our belongings and with Garrett's car two trips was enough. Ryan and Garrett bring in the last boxes and set them down in the living room."Thank you so much guys, honestly it was so helpful."

"Of course, you guys know I would've helped. Rosie, you really should have told me you were moving in today."

Rosie sighs, "I know, I"m sorry and thank you. We could have handled it though."

Garret chuckles, "I know you could've but you know I literally moved into this building a few days ago." My jaw drops, I knew Garret had moved but I hadn't quite put together that it was this building.

"He literally lives here and you didn't ask. Oh my gosh." Rosie just shrugs and smiles. I blame her need to do everything on her own, on her protective older brother who she says tried to do everything for her growing up. I've met Nate a few times and he's definitely protective of Rosie. I think she also gets her independent side from her mom."You guys should come to my house tonight, we're having a party." Ryan leans off the door frame and walks over to us, his eyes fixed on Rosie. "I'm going, we can all go together." Garrett suggests.

"Hmm..." Rosie ponders. "Depends, will there be margaritas?" I've never been to a house party, but I'm pretty sure that's not a staple at these kinds of things. I have always assumed college parties were more of a keg of beer kind of gathering. Maybe some random shots of something.

"I can make that happen." Ryan smirks.

"Well, then I'm in. Emi doesn't party though." Ryan looks at me for what is probably the first time with a curious stare. I contemplate for a minute what I should do. I've been thinking a lot recently how maybe I should try to have a different college experience my senior year. The kind I told myself I would have if I stayed on track.

"Actually…" Rosie's eyes go huge and her mouth drops. "I think I'll go." Rosie shrieks.

"Oh my god! Yay! Finally, I am doing your makeup, your hair and I'm picking your outfit." Rosie is all smiles.

"Perfect, I'll see you guys there then. I gotta go set up and get those margaritas." Ryan winks in Rosie's direction, I notice her slight eye roll that's undercut with a quirk of her lips. "Party starts around nine." He turns around and heads out the door. Garrett looks around us a little puzzled.

"You guys don"t have any furniture. Where are you gonna sleep?"

"We're going to Target to pick up an air mattress for a few days. We ordered mattresses and a couch but they're not coming until next week." Rosie shrugs.

"Okay, well let me know if you need my help with anything. I've got to go eat and nap before tonight. I'll come down here and get you guys at nine, okay?"

"Perfect, thanks Ryan." Rosie's already in the kitchen unloading one of the boxes we placed there earlier.

"Thank you Ryan, we really appreciate it." He flashes his winning smile. Honestly that smile could have girls tripping over their own two feet.

During our Target trip we got an air mattress, bedding, a few things for breakfast and I found a cute shirt to wear tonight, my first college night out. When we get back Rosie hops in the shower, our apartment has two bedrooms and only one bathroom but we don't mind too much since we had only one bathroom in our dorm last year. I set up the air mattress we'll be sharing in our living room for the first few nights while we wait for our actual beds to be delivered.

Once Rosie's out of the shower, she spreads out her makeup on the small coffee table we did manage to find shopping earlier, and starts her going out playlist. One Rosie usually plays to get ready while I take a study break to sit with her and chat, but this time we both are getting ready to it. I tie my hair up and take a quick shower. I dry off and change into my black jean shorts and blue crop top, Rosie's wearing a similar outfit but her shirt is emerald-green.

"I'm so excited you're actually coming out tonight." Rosie motions for me to sit in front of the coffee table while she sits on the air mattress and adds some waves to my hair.

"Yeah, it's about time I guess. Can't lie, I"m a little nervous though." An awkward laugh comes out of me. Rosie moves to sit next to me on the floor and turns me to face her so she can start my makeup. While hers is a smoky look with shimmery gold, she reaches for a more neutral pallet for me. I typically keep my makeup simple, concealer, eyebrows and mascara."Can you do eyeliner?"

"Um yes!" Rosie shimmies in her seat, excited to see me branch out of my typical look. "I know you're nervous, but you'll be okay, plus I'll be right by your side. Also Garrett will be there and he won't let anything happen to us." Rosie silences while she focuses on getting my eye makeup just right. "Don't worry we'll get you a margarita and you'll be dancing in no time." I smile and let out a little laugh.

"Oh gosh, that's going to be interesting. I'm not getting drunk though, just one drink."

"Whatever you say Emi." She smirks. I honestly haven't ever had much to drink. I tried a seltzer at my junior prom, and hated that. Then I tried a sip of vodka after my senior prom and almost puked afterwards. My twenty first is still a little over a month away so it's not like I've been hitting up the bars either.

"Sooo Ryan huh? He's cute." I probe her.

"Oh! You think he's cute! I bet Garrett could set you up."

"No silly, for you, did you not see the way he was looking at you?"

"Ugh, he's cute but I'm done with men." Rosie had a situationship at the beginning of the semester who just kept stringing her along. They went on a date one night, one of quite a few, and the next day he posted that he was in a relationship on social media. Turns out he was seeing them both at the same time but asked the other girl to be his girlfriend weeks before he even posted it. Rosie told the girl and they are no longer together. "Garrett is the only man I will be socializing with tonight." There is a knock on the door just as she finishes her sentence.

"Speaking of.."