Red Hot Love

Why Won't You Just Leave Me Alone?

"Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry…" Sunny exhaled, looking up. The person she had bumped into was tall, dark-haired, and kind of resembled a Kpop star.

"It's okay," she replied, blinking. "I wasn't paying enough attention."

"Honestly, you never do," her mother's voice replied. Sunny bent down and began to pick up her belongings.

"No, no, it's all on me." Sunny watched dully as the person brushed their hair out of their eyes, noting the way their biceps slightly rippled from the movement. "I'm so sorry, are you in a rush to get somewhere?"

"No," Sunny replied. "I'm just returning from class."

"Ah, good," the person breathed out, and held out their hand. "I'm Carson. So sorry about that…here," he kneeled back down and began to pick up some of Sunny's stuff as well.

"Oh, no, you don't have to do that-"

"Oh, I insist," he nodded fervently. "I'm sorry, I don't know if I caught your name…?"

"It's...Susie," Sunny replied.

"Really. Huh. Nice name," the guy smiled brightly.

Sunny just nodded and smiled slightly. People usually acted very friendly around her, even when she was a child, for some reason she didn't know. "It's because of your face," her mother would say. "You have a pretty face, and people want to be close to that." Still, Sunny preferred to just stay next to Jem. Jem's stony expression, hard as it was to break, would work to her benefit as people stopped bothering her.

"This is the place?" Carson asked, as Sunny stopped in front of a door. It wasn't really her room, and really she should have gone to the wrong hall, but she had found her feet stopping anyway.

"Yeah," Sunny replied, praying that the actual tenants wouldn't choose right now to come out and disprove her. "I'll just, go in a second. I need to, um, check my texts first," she finished.

"Ah okay," the guy replied, depositing her stuff on the floor and looking up at her expectantly. Did he want to start a conversation? Sunny swallowed. "So, are you new here?"

Sunny looked down. "No," she replied.

"Oh. What year are you? I'm a sophomore," Carson offered.

Sunny bit her lip. She'd already given him a like-sounding fake name and led him to the wrong door. Why not continue with the ruse? "What did you say?"

"Oh, what year are you? How long have you been here?'

The questions were starting to get annoying. "A while," Sunny replied quietly. Just then, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Jem enter the dorm hall. "Jem!" She exclaimed, forgetting herself.

Jem waved back unhurriedly. Carson looked over his shoulder and noticed her. "That your friend?"

Sunny realized she'd given herself away. "Yes," she replied, deciding not to add the fact they were roommates, seeing as Jem was headed towards a different room.

"Oh. How'd you meet?"

This part should be easy, Sunny mused. There she was, clad in a beautiful red dress, her long locks of curling hair trailing down the dark brown skin of her back. I walked over to her, and I held out my hand, and said, "You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. Will you dance with me?"

"Just ran into each other at a high school cafeteria, haha," Sunny replied.

"I see. You've known each other since high school? How long ago was that?"

Enough questions. "Eh," Sunny replied ambiguously, "I'm sorry, but I really need to go to the bathroom. It's been nice meeting you, but, I really gotta go."

"Oh! Sorry, sorry about that," Carson smiled. Sunny smiled back, a little tensely. "Well, nice talking to you," he added.

"Same," Sunny replied, the same smiled fixed to her face.

With that, the guy finally left. Sunny waited for a few seconds, then walked over to her room with Jem. She had never tried to unlock a door as quickly as she did before. Quickly, she yanked her key out of the lock and closed it with a faint bang.

"Are you being pursued?" A slightly amused voice came from behind her. Sunny whirled around. Just Jem.

"No," Sunny breathed, sinking against the doorway and inhaling deeply.

"Then why do you look like you're Jean Valjean and you just passed by Javert?" Jem raised an eyebrow.

"I…" Sunny frowned. "Is that a reference to…Les Misérables?"

"Indeed," Jem replied, her mouth quirking slightly. Sunny shook her head.

"I was…just talking to a guy. That's all," she replied.

He was a pretty handsome one, too. Maybe he just wanted your number, a voice suggested.

"Oh? That Asian stud in the hallway?" Jem raised an eyebrow. Sunny looked down, frowning.

"I don't care about any guys. The only person for me is you," Sunny insisted, grabbing Jem's brown hand with both hands and tugging her closer.

"Yes, so I've heard," Jem replied coolly.

Sunny pouted. "I love you," she added.

"I know," Jem replied, gently detaching her hand from Sunny's and patting her on the head. "Well, see you."

"Wait. You're leaving?" Sunny frowned.

"Yup. Just needed to get back so I could get my book," Jem replied.

Sunny raised an eyebrow. "But…okay," she replied.

"Bye," Jem waved, as she walked out the door.

"Bye," Sunny replied brightly. "No goodbye kiss?" She pouted.

"Hm, maybe later," Jem replied, smiling and closing the door on herself.

"I'll hold you to that!" Sunny called out. The door shut itself. Sunny looked around and sank onto the bed.

Jem never forgets anything, her brain reminded her. Never. Not a birthday, appointment, homework assignment, or how many bags of potato chips I ate last week.

Just then a nasty thought occurred to her.

What if she's also just saying to stuff to get me off her back, just like I was doing with that Carson guy?