Later that night, Ricki flopped on her bed, feeling like shit. She had said no to Ashton of course, and he had been nice and polite as usual, but the rest of their date had been long and awkward.
"Why am I such a dork?" She asked herself, covering her face with her pillow.
"I dunno." Zac said, poking his head out of the bathroom.
Ricki made a face. "Shut up." She muttered, rolling over on her side.
"What, the jock get your panties in a twist?" Zac asked, smirking at her.
"That's it." She grumbled getting up. "That's it!"
"What?"
"I've had it with you and your snide little comments!"
Zac just looked at her, screaming at him. He was in shock. "I...I...Sorry."
"No! You're not sorry! That's all that's been happening since I got back! Everything I say, everything I do, everytime I come home, you make some stupid little comment and it pisses me off!" She shrieked.
Zac felt stupid and indignant. "Well too bad. I have the right to my own opinion."
Ricki threw up her hands. "Oh, my god. You are such a jackass, Zac. You do know that, don't you?" She asked.
"Yes. Yes I do. And I'm proud of it."
"ARRRGH!" She shouted.
"ARRGH!" He shouted back.
"I have never wanted to harm someone in their sleep so much!" Ricki said, beggining to pace.
"You wouldn't kill me."
"I didn't say kill. I said harm. As in hurt. Badly. That way you can die a slow and painfull death."
"Fine then. God, why do you have to be such a bitch all the time?"
"Me? A bitch? At least I'm not some horny bastard."
"I am not a horny bastard!"
"Bullshit." Ricki spat out. "I'm just sick of you. I'm tired of you and putting up with your shit." She said.
"Same here." He said.
"Just...don't talk to me...Go...go hump that girlfriend of yours."
"She's not my girlfriend anymore! What about you? Go hump that stupid jock of yours."
"He's not mine, and he's not stupid!" Ricki yelled.
"Fine!"
"Fine!" She screamed. She grabbed her sweatshirt and flew out the door, slamming it loudly.
"ULgh!" Zac gruntd as he pounded his fist into his pillow. "How does she make me this angry?"
Ricki stomped down the hallway of the dorms. How dare he yell at her like that? He didn't even have a reason to be yelling. Then again she did blow up at him....
She walked down to Mary Anne's room. If she couldn't talk to Zac, she would talk to Mary Anne. She knocked on the door and waited. After waiting for almost a minute, it became obvious to her that Mary Anne wasn't home.
"Ulgh." She sighed and walked down the staircase leading outside. She needed to walk. She needed to get away, and she needed to think.
Zac sat on Ricki's bed, still wondering what had happened. He made a joke, she started yelling, he got defensive, they both yelled, she left. It didn't really make sense to him, but he figured it was just her.
I'll give her a couple days, maybe a few weeks to cool down. Sheesh...one joke and I nearly got my eyes scratched out.
Things hadn't been easy for him lately. He had broken up with Susan right before break, and that had been hard on him. He didn't deal with sadness very well, so he make jokes instead. Sometimes the latter got him into even more trouble, whether he admitted it or not.
He couldn't put his finger on why breaking up with Susan made him so sad. He didn't like her that much, after all. All the little things had just finally added up, and it was too much for him. He had seen it coming, really. Now all he had to do was convince himself.
Ricki kicked at the leaves that were still sitting on the front walk of the dorms. She jammed her hands deeper in the pockets of her hooded sweatshirt and walkd up the steps.
It had been a long walk. Nearly an hour. She had walked around the campus, which was still getting it's occupants back from winter break. She paused on the top step and looked out at the campus. The trees were all bare without their leaves and looked uninviting, and the sky was a light greyish color, giving the campus an overall drab feeling. Ricki shivered and turned and went inside. The walk back up to her room seemed all too short. She opened the door, and Zac was pacing around the room.
She stood awkwardly in the doorway, her hands still shoved in her pockets. He looked up when he heard the door open. His eyes connected with hers, and he watched her to see what she would do.
They stood in silence for almost a mintute. Ricki shifted her weight from one foot to the other. The silence was killing both of them.
"Sorry." She said quietly, her voice above a whisper.
"Me too." Zac said. He was surprised that Ricki would say she was sorry. He was even more surprised when she walked straight into his arms.