University Roommates (Restart)

Emily:
I giggled, feeling the alcohol more than I would admit. "What do you mean? I've only had like one bite so far..." I said, holding up my pizza and purposely misunderstanding what he meant. I took my glass again and tilted my head back to take a big sip. "Don't worry so much. I can handle it," I told him.

Ashton:

I sighed and took a sip of my own drink. I couldn't tell her what to do. Eating my pizza in silence, I slowly shredded a napkin into small pieces in my lap. There was an uncomfortable but familiar emptiness creeping into my chest.

Emily:
My head was swimming a little bit and I set my pizza down. I knew I should try to eat it so there was something in my stomach besides all the alcohol. But for the first time in a week, I felt a little bit better. I would probably have to be careful to not become dependent on this feeling. It's probably why alcoholics can't stop. I glanced over at him and crinkled my eyebrows. "You...are making a mess," I said, pointing at his lap. A few of the pieces he was tearing were around his feet by the floor. "I should get a sweepy thingy." I said, getting up. "A broom!" I exclaimed, suddenly remembering the name. "You wait here," I instructed, pointing a swaying finger at him.

Ashton:

"Sit down, I'll pick it up," I said. I dumped the shreds on my plate and bent over to pick up the scraps from the floor. "See? I got them all, just sit down and finish eating."

Emily:
I didn't sit down. "I am finished," I said, pointing at the almost full slice of pizza on my plate like it was evidence. "You know what else I finished? My book. I've been working on it for weeks and I finished it today," I told him. With Tasha gone, I didn't have anyone to tell. My parents wouldn't care and I didn't have any other friends.

Ashton:

I blinked in surprise and looked up at her. "You finished a book? Why didn't you say something sooner? We could-" I was going to say celebrate, but I had a feeling that wouldn't be appropriate now. How could I take her out to celebrate her book when we were on such shaky terms? Not to mention she was nearly drunk already.

Emily:
I smiled sadly, knowing where that sentence was probably going. "You weren't here," I told him. And he hadn't been here in this last week when I was finishing it up. He was in the house when I sent it to my publisher but even then, he wasn't here...

Ashton:

I looked down at my plate. "Yeah," I said. She deserved so much better. She deserved to have someone around who she could tell about things like this. "Well, could I read it?" I asked then and looked back up to her.

Emily
"Its not actually finished yet. I finished writing it, but if my publisher decides its good enough, it still has to be edited, which could take a while," I said. I was ringing my hands together to keep my nervousness about it at bay but I was actually really happy to tell him about it.

Ashton:

I leaned forward with my elbows on my knees. "I'd still like to read it, maybe I could give you some pointers or something," I offered even though I wasn't a writer or anything close to it. I had nearly dropped out of high school at sixteen, and even when I stuck with it, my grades weren't great.

Emily:
I bit my lip and sat down on the coffee table in front of him. "You...really want to read it?" I asked, somewhat doubtful. "Cause I would love some opinions on it," I admitted. I was still mad at him, I had to remind myself. But this is what we did. I would get mad at him for pushing me away and then he would do something incredibly...sweet, and I would be right back here. The alcohol wasn't helping.

Ashton:

"Of course. Absolutely I want to read it. I'm sure it's fantastic," I said quickly. I almost reached out to touch her knee but dropped my hand onto mine instead. To give a little more space between us, I leaned back into the couch instead of leaning toward her.

Emily:
"Okay!" I said, fighting a smile. "I'll get a copy printed out for you tomorrow," I promised. "So this way you can write on it and makes notes so you'll remember everything," I said, nodding and letting my smile grow. "And you have to be totally honest," I said, pointing at him more seriously. "I can take it." I said.

Ashton:

I couldn't help but smile. She was truly adorable. "I can be honest. Do you want to tell me what it's about? Give me a little background before I start reading." I had glad that she didn't seem mad at me anymore and eager to keep her that way. It was a guilty pleasure.

Emily:
I smiled and nodded. "Well its about a girl trying to navigate her life. With the normal obstacles of friendships and fights and love and heartbreak," I shrugged. "Thats all you get until you read it," I teased, bouncing my knee up and down. This was a huge deal for me and I didnt want to get my hopes but, but that wasn't happening.

Ashton:

"I don't suppose this would be based on real life experiences?" I asked. "Am I going to find a character based off me?" I thought now that this might give me a better insight into how her mind worked. They always say write what you know, right?

Emily:
I paused and then shrugged. "You'll have to read and find out. It'll be interesting to see if you find common qualities between you and one of the characters," I said. Maybe had gotten a little inspiration from him but I doubted it would be obvious.

Ashton:

"I look forward to reading it," I said leaning forward to grab my glass that was close to her. I downed the last couple sips. With a quick glance at the bottle, I set my empty glass down. "I'm going to head to bed." It wasn't late, barely nine at night, but I knew if I stayed I would end up falling into the same pattern with her as before, and then we would just have a big fight again. I didn't want that to keep happening.

Emily:
I nodded and looked at him. His leaning made me freeze in my spot but I managed to stay in control. "Okay. Goodnight then," I said, looking at him. It was still pretty early but I was more than a little buzzed/

Ashton:

I stood up and looked down at her. "Goodnight Emily," I sighed. Something about the way she was in that moment made it so hard to leave her. I forced myself to step to the side and pick up the pizza box, putting it away before I went to my room.

Emily:
When the door to his room shut, I sighed and rubbed a hand down my face. It was probably best that I called it an early night so I didn't do anything stupid. I went quickly to my room and laid in bed. I probably tossed and turned for a half hour before I was out cold.

In the morning, when I woke up, the first thing I did was get dressed and run to the copy center. I wanted a printed out copy of my book, to actually see and feel. Something that I could physically hand to Ash. It took about an hour to do and when it was bound together, I clutched it to my chest the whole way home.

Ashton:

I didn't hear a sound in the house when I got up in the morning so I assumed Emily was still asleep. I took a shower and dressed before going to the kitchen to make breakfast. I decided on pancakes and started making enough for two.

Emily:
I was still holding the book when I walked inside and set the keys on the counter. Ash was standing by the stove, making something that smelled pretty good. "Good morning," I said, happily, setting the book down next to my keys. I had a good feeling about today and my smile showed it.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out and glanced at the screen. "Hello?" I said, answering it. I started flipping through the mail on the table absentmindedly.
"Hello Emily, It's Mark," The voice said. I perked up even more. Mark was my publisher.
"Hey Mark! I'm assuming you got the book I sent yesterday? Did you get a chance to start it yet?" I asked, fishing for information.
"Yeah I did..." He answered. "I was actually calling to talk about it. I...well Its just not what were looking for right now," He said. I heard voices in the back round and he sounded rushed to get off the phone.
I frowned. "What do you mean? I only sent it yesterday. There's no way you finished it," I said. How could he say that when he hadn't read the whole thing?
"Well I skimmed the first few chapters and you clearly have talent but...listen Emily, I'm sorry. This one just isn't gonna work out. But let me know when you have the next children's book and we'll talk okay? I gotta run!" I heard a click and then silence. I kept the phone to my ear for another couple seconds in shock. It was amazing how quickly a day could be ruined. That had to be a world record. What, did that take about 30 seconds?

Ashton:

I couldn't help but smile back at her when she came in all happy. My smile died and I looked back to my cooking when she answered the phone call from a man. The was a tinge of jealousy left over even after I realized the gist of the conversation.

I glanced at her when she ended the call. "They got your book?" I asked, glancing sideways at her. I wanted to pull her into a hug when I saw how her shoulders sunk from disappointment.

Emily:
I set my phone down and stared at my printed out book on the table. "Yeah, they got it," I said, softly. "And they hated it, too." I said, biting my lip. "Well now that I think of it, you'd have to actually read it in order to hate it," I said, my voice getting sarcastic to mask how upset I was. "But it's okay," my voice was still bitter and sarcastic. "Better to find out now," I said, grabbing the book and walking into the kitchen with it. I opened the lid to the garbage and threw it in and then slammed the lip shut again, all without looking at him once.