Keeping up the Act

“Hey study buddy,” the young, curly haired boy said to the seated woman poring through her notes. He plopped himself down next to her and read over her shoulder. “Hm… you’re not one to have your head buried in the books, what gives?”

The agitated redhead looked up and recognized him. “Oh. Hey, Josh. Susan mentioned there might be a pop quiz this week.” She dropped her head back into her book. “I’m just brushing up on it.”

“Kels, you are going to burn out your brain cells over studying for things,” the young man warned. He’d known Kelsie long enough to know that she was stressed. “Tell you what, why don’t we head for some food after class? Help you decompress.”

“Decompress?” Kelsie responded with a sharp tone. Joshua leaned back in his chair, feeling the water ready to boil over. “I don’t need to decompress, Josh! I need to stay on top of all my courses, or…”

“Alright Kels, you know it won’t be the end of the world if your grades take a dip,” Josh said, trying to calm her down.

“How do YOU know? This could be the startup to my path of destitution and scorn!” she lamented.

“Scorn?”

“Oh the things I’m going to do when I’m destitute will merit scorn!” Kelsie nodded with confidence.

Joshua rolled his eyes. Kelsie was on another of her overblown speculations again. “You’ll be fine…” he rubbed her shoulder, reassuringly as he stared down to the stage.They were in an amphitheater with all the student seating facing the board where the professor would speak. The room was slowly filling in with other students, but it was hardly going to be a packed space. Stats was not the most popular subject in the curriculum.

The redhead put her book down and raised her hands. “I don’t even know why I’m doing this! I don’t even need this course!”

“You took this course because we couldn’t find any other electives that would fit our schedule,” Josh reminded her. “Drama Llamas, remember?” He put his fist out for her to bump. The reminder seemed to put her at ease for now. Drama Llamas was their group name since elementary school. They made it up when they were put together into a group for drama class. Josh, Kelsie and Paula. They enjoyed performing and would constantly make up plays and stories to act out. When they hit high school, Josh and Paula started dating, but Kelsie was always a close friend to the both of them.

“You know, we didn’t have to take the same classes to hang out together,” Kelsie replied, not bumping the fist. “We could have signed up for a theater play or something!”.

“You needed the credit and you know I can help you pass this course,” Josh reasoned back.

Kelsie sighed and folded her arms together, flipping her hand in the air. “Oh fine. I’ll stay in your boring ass class because you need someone to hold your hand in this world.”

Josh shook his head and sat back in his seat. He glanced over at his phone and sighed, seeing a post update from his former girlfriend.

“Well, Paula seems to be living it up over in Yale,” Josh said to Kelsie as he scrolled through their mutual friend’s story.

Kelsie leaned over to see Josh on Paula’s instagram. “You really should stop obsessing over her. You two agreed to split.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less.”

“The breaking up part or the part where you didn’t get accepted into Yale?” the redhead prodded. She gave a wicked grin, looking at Josh for a reaction.

“If I went to Yale with Pol, you would be stuck here all by yourself,” Josh teased back.

“Pssh!” Kelsie brushed off. “I would have made my way over there to hang out with you guys, maybe do street performances for enough money to buy food and a fresh cardboard box to sleep in every night!”

“Mhmm…” Josh replied, automatically going into ignore mode whenever she went into one of her sordid tales. He flicked through his phone some more.

“Would you just stop looking?!” Kelsie suggested in an exasperated tone.

Josh put his phone away. “Fine. Fine.”

“Besides, it’s good to be single!” His friend reasoned. “You’re free to be who you want to be, no changing to impress someone else. You can hook up with whoever you like, no strings attached. You’re young and good looking! You should be out there sowing your oats! That long term relationship thing is not healthy!”

“So… what was the name of the guy you brought out for drinks last weekend?” Josh shot back.

“Um…” Kelsie looked up and tried to recollect. She turned to Josh and asked, “Which one?”

“Aw Kels,you make single life sound like a dream!” Josh said, facetiously. He slumped lower into his seat and stared at the ceiling, settling in, to wax poetic. “A relationship is deeper than two people getting each other off, it’s about companionship! Having someone you can trust to share your deepest secrets and desires! Someone you can rely on no matter what!”

“Well, you and I get along just fine, isn’t that enough?” Kelsie offered.

“Well…” Josh paused, thinking about their relationship. He slumped his head into his arms. “... OK it’s about the sex too.”

Kelsie narrowed her eyes. “Mhmm…” She shook her head and pulled out her statistics textbook to doodle into. “Listen, if it’s about the sex, you should just get out there and find yourself a hookup. I’m sure that won’t be hard around here.”

“You mean you won’t get jealous?” Joshua teased.

Kelsie rolled her eyes. “I’ll try to contain myself.” They’ve broached the topic of hooking up together before, but Kelsie would not get near the idea. She was too close to Paula to do anything like that, it felt like a betrayal to their friendship.

Josh sighed and flicked on his phone again, sending a text.

“Messaging her again?”

“No, you’re right, it’s time for me to move on. I am putting myself out there.”

“Just like that?”

“Just… like… that!” Josh poignantly tapped the screen and his phone made an audible ‘woosh’ sound to signal the message being sent.

“Well, aren’t you Mr. Popular!” Kelsie praised.

“No need to butter me up, you had your chance,” Josh remarked as he pulled out his own notebook. The professor called for everyone’s attention as his lecture was about to begin.