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They sat in silence, the movie puttering out on the TV.
“Tell me about your Thanksgiving, Mel.”
“It was pretty horrible,” her friend mumbled. “Thanksgiving hasn’t felt normal for a while, though.”
“Do you miss him?”
“Yes. Every minute of every day.”
Melanie didn’t say more, so Rory didn’t push. She flicked on the next movie on her list, the two of them watching in comfortable silence.
* * *
Rory escaped up to her room and clicked the door shut. She stared at her phone and took a deep breath.
Just do it, she told herself.
She hadn’t heard much from Jay again this week. His texts were sparse and short, but she had chosen to take it as a good sign. She hoped this club was working out for him.
But she knew she couldn’t avoid this conversation any longer. She tapped his contact name and hit Call, then held it up to her ear and listened as the phone rang. It eventually went to voicemail.
Rory cursed and covered her face with her hands as she thought through the conversation she knew she needed to have.
Before she could think through a solid plan, her phone rang. She grabbed it and answered.
“Hi,” she mumbled.
“Hi, sorry, sorry,” Jay said on the other line. He sounded out of breath. “I’m late for a meeting. This campus is so damn big.”
“A meeting at ten at night?”
“Yeah, it’s insane.” Jay chuckled. “Everything okay?”
“Um, well, not really.”
The sound of whipping wind slowed on the other line. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Nothing. You’re busy, I don’t want to hold you up.”
“Just tell me.”
She squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath first. “Jay, what are we?”
“What do you mean what are we?” he snapped.
“Like, are we…in a relationship? Are you my boyfriend?”
The silence was damning, but Rory waited for him to respond.
“I…didn’t think we had to put a label on it,” Jay replied. “We’re just having fun.”
She concentrated on her nails and tried to keep her voice as calm as possible. “Are you seeing other people?”
“Uh, I—”
“Like, have you hooked up with anyone else?”
“Define hook up.”
