#sometime...

Ryan Bergara sat, slumped over, at UCLA’s library computer, eyes widen in shock.

No way. No fucking way.

He blinked, hoping his brain, still weary from moving into the dorm, was just tricking him.

There, on the screen displaying his bank account information, still sat the total: -489.73.

Fuck.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Ryan bemoaned, shoving another spoonful of stolen Rocky Road ice cream into his mouth.

Kelsey, the owner of said ice cream, had her eyes trained on the TV screen. If Ryan didn’t know her better, he’d probably be irritated that she wasn’t listening.

Thankfully, he did know her, and she was listening. She was just hyper focused on winning this COD match (which he totally gets). He was in her apartment, laying on the couch and mourning his debt-free life. His feet rested in her lap, as she sat cross-legged at the other end.

“I’d apply for another loan, but it takes forever to get them approved and I’ll be over-drafted while the bank figures it out,” he sighed, brows furrowed in thought. “And I don’t really want to sell my soul for school. Not to mention I’ve just spent the whole summer trying to pay off my first loan... and I had money saved up for that from high school.” Which was completely drained first semester. “Holy shit-” 

Ryan suddenly sat up, almost knocking the ice cream off his chest. He grabbed the gallon before it could, but the panicked look in his eyes didn’t disappear. “Holy shit, Kelsey, what the fuck am I gonna do for food? I only paid for my books! I still haven’t paid for tuition or my dorm or-”

Right then, the noise signaling the end of a match played, and Ryan glanced over to see the yellow line highlighting Kelsey’s name at the top of the list.

His leg was pat and he looked back to see Kelsey giving him a sympathetic look. “We’ve all been there,” she said, “I had to ask my mom for food halfway through the first semester. You can eat at my place while you figure it out!” Kelsey gave him a sweet smile and Ryan felt very, very guilty all of a sudden, stirring the melted remnants of ice cream left in the gallon.

He knew she was struggling to pay her tuition as well and she had worse luck than he did. She had to get an apartment this semester because dorms were full. She had to get a roommate because an apartment located close to campus in LA cost an arm and a leg. And then the whole food thing... Here he was complaining about his life when she had it much, much harder.

“No, Kelse, I couldn’t do that.”

“What? Why not? Listen, we broke-ass college students gotta stick together.”

God, she was always so optimistic. Ryan admired her for that. When he heard about her not getting a dorm, she just smiled and said, “It’ll be cool to live in the city! Maybe I’ll find some fun places! Ooh! And I’ll have better Wi-Fi!”

When she was looking for a roommate, she was so excited, mentioning that she “couldn’t wait to meet a cool new friend!”

Kelsey was the strongest person he knew and he worked at LA Fitness IN L.A.

“I just feel bad about it, because I know you’re struggling too.”

“Hey, I’ll be just as poor if you come over and eat a sandwich with me once in a while.” She shrugged. “I’d rather be poor and have good company than rich and be surrounded by people I hate.”

Ryan laughed, “You romantic fucking English major.”

Kelsey said nothing in response, just gave the widest grin that Ryan had ever seen.

“Come on,” she said, pushing Ryan’s feet off her lap and reaching forward to grab another controller. She handed it to Ryan, “Play some COD with me. I’ll give you something to really cry about!”

More than a dozen lost matches later (hey, Ryan was a NBA guy), Kelsey and Ryan were dancing in the kitchen to some stupid meme song that was in Kelsey’s playlist, laughing like manics. They had abandoned COD a while ago, deciding to finally listen to their rumbling tummies and making cheap ramen, lovingly flavored with the spiciest hot sauce they could find in the house.

Despite the music being loud enough to probably annoy Kelsey’s neighbors, it wasn’t loud enough to drown out the door hitting the wall.

Kelsey’s roommate was home.

“Sara!” Kelsey greeted, spinning around immediately. There, by the door, a paint-covered woman, with curly brown and eyes that gleamed impishly. Kelsey, once again, had a wild grin on her face, one that both of her friends knew said mischief. “Show us your moves!”

Sara, despite looking a bit ragged, smiled her own grin. She watched Kelsey show off her own moves for a minute, grin just growing wider and wider, before it finally broke. She laughed, as she dropping her canvas bag by the door and kicking off her shoes. Then, she was boogieing her way over to Kelsey and Ryan, doing some cheesy disco move that had Ryan doubled over and laughing and Kelsey imitating it (again, fucking romantic, cheesy English major).

As much bad luck as Kelsey had, she had just the same amount of good luck. It was like a scale; every once in a while, one side (usually the bad luck side) got a pinch more, tipping her luck that way before the other side got a pinch more and so on.

Ryan remembers the day Kelsey was interviewing roommates. He’s sure his whole class did too, because his phone was going off non-stop during a movie they were analyzing and despite being on silent and flipped over, it kept lighting up the room because Kelsey could not stop raving about this one woman she interviewed -- which, of course, was the lovely Sara. Kelsey was head over heels for Sara from the minute they met.

Sara was a Art major and, apparently, her and Kelsey had SO much chemistry that Kelsey HAD to choose Sara. 

(It was true, though. Kelsey would write something for her class and it would inspire art-blocked Sara to draw something for her class and vice versa. Kelsey was bad at cleaning and good at cooking where Sara burnt water and was basically Marie Kondo. They both loved playing video games -- they both played DPS and had a fun time creating chaos in game. Ryan would call them soulmates, but Kelsey got too embarrassed whenever he said that, so he gave her a little bit of mercy and usually kept that to himself.)

“What is going on?” Sara shouts. She does a twirl to the beat and then holds her arm up for Kelsey, signaling her to grab her hand and twirl underneath it.

“Ryan’s in debt and his life is over!” Kelsey jokes, shouting over the music. Ryan distantly remembers the time Sara’s last class gets out -- 9:30 -- and wonders if they should turn down the music. “So we’re having a Dia De Los Muertos inspired funeral for him!” She lets go of Sara’s hand and just dances in her space. Sara does not seem to mind the close proximity at all.

“Oh shit!” Sara responds, “That fucking sucks, dude!”

“Yeah! He can’t even buy food!”

Sara glances over at Ryan, who is currently doing some shitty version of the cha-cha. “Really?” Kelsey nods and even though it looks like she’s nodding with the beat, Sara knows her better. They twirl opposite directions, almost looking choreographed, and when they come back together, Sara has a look on her face, head tilted and smile tight. 

“What is it?” Kelsey asks and Sara holds up a finger. She twirls away again, this time, going farther and farther until she reaches Kelsey’s phone on the island of the kitchen. 

Stopping the music (which Kelsey’s neighbors are probably thankful for), she spins around to give the two confused faces a bright smile. “I know how Ryan -- and us, of course -- can score some free food, if you’re up to it.”

Kelsey’s face lights up, “I love free food!”

“Didn’t we just eat?” Ryan says, he’s smiling though, because his grumbling tummy agrees with Kelsey. Hey, he’s a man who works out and has a high metabolism... and he’s “growing.” He’s always hungry.

And Kelsey... well, she’s Kelsey.

“So... how are we doing this?” Ryan says, with a lopsided smile. Ryan realizes how much they look like a pack of gremlins up to no good -- which they kinda are. Suddenly, the whole “I’m in horrible debt” thing isn’t looming over this day and he realizes that Kelsey was right -- it’s hard to be miserable in like-minded company.

“So,” Sara starts, using a voice that sounds like she’s giving Kelsey and Ryan an inside scoop. Ryan now pictures them as a group of spies, preparing to infiltrate an important ball. The two in question lean in, despite them being the only people in the house, and Sara continues, “So, in Art History today, we were learning about some art that was painted by people who were. Fucked. Up. Like they were drinking absinthe and doing coke -- I was joking with my friend, Keith, telling him how they must’ve been some WILD partiers and how it put me in a partying mood. And he told me that he and his little crew were going to this party at this bar on 6th street. And, this is the best part-” 

Sara look back and forth between Ryan and Kelsey, excitedly. “Eugene was the one who got invited, so you KNOW it’s gonna be full of people who got that mun-nay! We should hit it up and see if anyone will buy us drinks and food and stuff!”

“Hell yeah!” Kelsey exclaims, “Mooching off the rich for the win! Down with capitalism!”

“You got that right!” Sara says, “Mooch the rich!”

“Mooch the rich!” Ryan agrees. He throws his fist in the air like some French revolutionary and the look of excitement that appears on Kelsey’s face is so funny, he can’t help wheezing at it.

Kelsey and Sara carry on without him, shouting “MOOCH THE RICH!” and pounding their fists in the air, getting louder and louder with each shout.

Ryan’s tearing up from laughing so hard now, because holy shit, Kelsey’s neighbors are gonna think they’re some sort of anarchist cult doing weird cult stuff behind loud music and are Sara and Kelsey doing a picket circle in the kitchen now??