Preparing

“Never? Not even skinny dipping?” Mallory’s roommate Paige sat on her bed across from where Mallory was now nervously pacing.

“No! Never!” Mallory lamented her lack of experience being naked in public. It was Friday night. Normally this would be the time that her and Paige were preparing to go out to party. Now she was preparing for the fact that in 24 hours she’d be stripping naked to streak the entirety of campus.

“Come on Mal. It won’t be that bad.”

“Not that bad?!? The entirety of campus is going to see me naked!”

“So? You’re hot it doesn’t matter.” Paige’s argument was lost on Mallory. In her mind the fact that she was attractive made it way worse.

“Listen…” Paige said trying to salvage the conversation with her roommate, “They didn’t say how you had to get there right? We could like pick you up in a car and drive you most of the way.”

“Nope. Andi’s Big Savannah came up to me after and told me she’s in charge of coming up with the very specific route I have to follow. Or else.”

“Well damn…” Paige was starting to run out of sympathy for her friend. She herself had chosen not to join a sorority for these reasons. It was a lot harder to have fun when someone told you how to do it. “Hey let’s forget about it for tonight! Get dressed! Go out and blow off some steam. Maybe a few drinks will help mellow you out!”

“I’m not allowed to drink!” Mallory almost burst into tears as she finally stopped pacing and sat down on her bed. Paige didn’t know what to say anymore and an uncomfortable silence had fallen amongst the two friends.

“Well… do you mind if I go?” Paige offered softly. Her friend clearly wasn’t going to get past this… no sense in her wasting a perfectly Good Friday night.

“Yeah no… you should go. Have fun.” Paige gave her friend a soft smile and patted her gently on the shoulder. Before bounding out of the room to leave.