Part 3: Friend In Need

By Firefly

“Well? What do you think?”

Lily looked up from her bowl of pastel orange ice cream and shrugged, “It’s ok, I guess.”

Serrah smirked, “Liar. I saw that surprised look on your face when you took that first bite.”

Lily flushed slightly and took another spoonful, rolling the ice cream around in her mouth before swallowing, “Ok. I won’t lie…” She leaned in and spoke in a whisper, “It’s actually really good.”

Serrah clapped her hands, “See, venturing outside that little box of yours can yield some enjoyable results! Just like Professor Barnes said, try something new and you might be surprised.”

“That’s different. I’m not going to become passionate for Carrot and Daffodil ice cream…”

Serrah pointed her spoon at Lily, “No, but you could. And that’s the point. Look at the time I introduced you to that pistachio frappe from Buckstar’s cafe! It’s literally your favorite drink. I keep telling you, you need to get out more. Test the waters. Try something new.”

Lily nodded and smiled, taking another bite. Serrah had a talent for being able to both scold her and encourage her at the same time. Even if she was giving Lily an earful, she still left her smiling afterward. It was a credit to her character and personality.

“Just think, take a few little forays like this and you could save your education, your job…all of it. Just by branching out a little and making some changes! Next, you’ll be going to the salon with me and getting those nails done!”

Lily snorted, “Fat chance of that!”

Serrah pouted, “Ah well. Worth a try. Some day we’ll make a proper girl out of you.”

“We have very different definitions of what equates to a proper girl. I hardly think nails count.”

Serrah made a show of holding up her hand and admiring the cute pastel nail art on perfectly shaped nails, “True, but it’s oh-so-fun. And makes you feel good. A bit of pampering goes a long way.”

“I mean, I can’t disagree on the pampering part. You took me to that…uh…what was it called, a head spa? I’d go back for that scalp massage aaaaany day. That was luxurious.” Lily offered, taking another big bite of her ice cream and cursing, “Shit. Why is this as good as it is? Not ok!”

Stifling a giggle, Serrah would finish off the last of her ice cream and climb to her feet, “New favorite flavor perhaps? The ponies would approve of that choice.”

Lily tossed her plastic spoon at Serrah, “Oh shut it.”

The pair of them devolved into a series of giggles as they cleaned up their table and headed out. Despite the talk from her professor earlier, Lily was feeling good about things. She still had a lot to think about, and a load of homework to attend to tonight, but Serrah had helped put things in perspective and make her not feel quite as bad about the situation at hand. The two of them headed back to college in time to make it to their next classes which for Serrah was her economics and cosmetology courses and for Lily, it was Math, English, and Chemistry. Three other classes she was significantly behind in.

She suffered through her classes as best she could and when her day was finally done she made her way back to her dorm. Serrah usually wasn’t back until late as she was part of several college clubs which gave Lily plenty of time to unwind and relax. A nice Shower, a bit of light reading, and of course, homework. The issue with being in AP courses was the course load. With her frameless glasses slipping down her nose she sat at her desk, the last remnants of sunlight filtering in through the pastel pink curtains drawn over the open window.

Lily bobbed her head gently as music pumped through a pair of over-the-ear headphones and filled her ears with the tones of Taylor Fleetfoot, a rather trendy pop singer. She often listened to music while she was working on something, it helped her concentrate, but also made her rather unaware as Serrah slid into the dorm several hours later. She looked like she’d been put through the wringer, dressed in a sleeveless muscle-shirt, tight-fitting shorts, and with her hair falling about her, slicked back and glistening with sweat. She looked like she’d just run a marathon as she kicked her shoes off and walked over, rubbing a sweaty cheek against the unsuspecting Lily’s cheek and giggling.

Lily let out a squeal and tugged off her headphones, “Serrah!! Gross!” She said with a huff, wiping at her cheek as her friend giggled and stood up, taking a long sip from a water bottle kept at her waist in a curious little holster that had a green LED light on one side which turned yellow when the bottle was taken off.

“Been busy have we?” Serrah asked after taking a long sip and looking at the veritable workload on Lily’s virtual workspace laid out in the desk’s face which served as an entire screen as well as a desk surface.

“A little. Though less than you apparently, stinky.”

Serrah sniffed herself, “Do not! I sprayed on perfume before I came back!”

Lily huffed, “So then you smell like a sweat-soaked pile of flowers.” She giggled.

“Ruuude! Maybe one of these days you’ll get out and actually work up a sweat. It’d be good for ya!” Serrah said this as she walked towards the bathroom, peeling off her shorts and shirt and dropping there unceremoniously on the floor in a breadcrumb trail towards the bathroom.

“What bloody club were you at so late that you’re that bloody sweaty anyway?”

Serrah peeks out of the bathroom and grins, “Wouldn’t YOU like to know. Maybe if you join a club or two you’ll bump into me.” She winks and then disappears into the bathroom, not bothering to close the door. They’d both seen each other naked at this point so it was hardly an awkward thing anymore. Plus, they often chatted with the door left open.

Lily pouts, “Well…that’s why I asked…” She shakes her head and turns her music off, leaning back in her chair and stretching her arms over her head, “So, any plans for the holiday weekend coming up?” Lily asked as she heard the water begin in the bathroom.

“A few. I’ve got some things to do, and some people to see. What about you?” Serrah asked as she slipped into the glass Shower stall, pressing several buttons on the wall which made the Shower head go from spraying warm water on her to spraying a stream of warm soapy water over her. She hummed as she scrubbed away.

Lily leaned back in her chair, “Honestly, probably going to try and catch up on some of my homework. The family is vacationing that weekend so I won’t see them. So I guess homework and lazing about…”

“…As usual huh?”

Lily sighed, “Yeah, as usual.”

“I’ll say it again, Professor Barnes is right. You need to branch out! Join some extracurriculars. This school has about a hundred of them, it’s silly of you to not engage at all.”

“Alright alright. I get it. Let’s cut the school talk for today, I’ve already enough stress on my brain.”

Serrah hummed a bit, “Fair enough. My bloody legs are so sore.”

“Well when you come home that sweaty after clearly exercising, I’m sure they would ache a bit along with any other muscles you abused in the process.”

“Yeah, but this is a different kind of sore. It’s like…the soles of my feet are aching as well as my calves are so bloody tight. I might go to the RMT department tomorrow and see if they can fix me up, I’m pretty sure I pushed a bit too hard today.”

“That’s a good idea. Not sure you could handle laying in bed for more than five minutes.” Lily mused.

“Oh shut it! I spend plenty of time in bed!”

“You sleep like…four hours a night. That’s hardly enough.” Lily exclaimed.

“Better than twelve to fourteen…” Serrah responded as she finished up, turning the Shower off and setting it to run its self-cleaning cycle as she stepped out, a pair of arms descending from the ceiling and cinching a towel about her as she walked to the sink and went about her skincare routine.

“Oof. Right for the gut. How rude.” Lily looked down at her screens full of notes on the surface of the desk and leaned forward, pressing the save all icon at the bottom, and with a sideways swipe of her hand, the desk went dark and reverted to looking like no more than a pane of glass set into a wood table. She’d worked long enough tonight and her bed was calling her name. She climbed to her feet and stretched her arms over her head.

“So, any idea what you’re going to tell Professor Barnes tomorrow?”

“I’ve got a notion of what I’ll propose and say” Lily admits as she pulls the blankets back on her bed and strips down to nothing more than her skin. She brushed her fingers across the silken sheets of her bed, the cleaning drones had been in today and there was nothing quite as luxurious as sliding into crisp, freshly cleaned, silken sheets. Lily flopped unceremoniously onto the bed and laid down, tugging the blankets over her and as usual, pulling everything to the center of the bed, curling up into the nest of blankets and pillows. A curious habit, but one she’d had since she was a kid.

Lily tugged an eye mask from her side table with one hand as she continued, “Hopefully it will be good enough for him.”

Serrah stepped out of the bathroom then, glancing at Lily in her little nest, “I mean, he’s a tight-Ass, but he does want you to succeed. Just be honest and I’m sure things will work out, and if they don’t…well, we can handle things if they don’t. You’ll be fine Lils.” She beamed and tossed her towel in the wall chute before crawling into her bed and tugging her blankets up around her.

“Thanks for always being there for me Serrah. It does mean a lot, and it’s really nice to have a friend here.”

“Don’t thank me, you’ve earned as much. You’re a great friend and one I will not so quickly let go of once school is over.”

Lily smiled at that and pulled the black eye mask down over her eyes.

“Light level set, point five.”

Serrah’s command echoed through the room and after a moment the lights dimmed right down until they were barely emitting any light.

“Goodnight Lils.”

“Goodnight Serrah.”

And off they faded into sleep.

For Lily, it was a fairly restless sleep. She’d taken her fistful of melatonin about half an hour before Serrah got home and despite having it coursing through her system she found she wasn’t able to drift off all that well. Her mind was occupied with the notion that she could very much lose everything she’d been working for since coming to University. But then, she wasn’t sure WHAT she was working for. Not after Professor Barnes put everything in perspective. She had a lot to consider in regards to her future and the stress was getting to the point where she wasn’t sure how much longer she could put bandaids on the issue before she needed to address it.

Which brought up another problem. She hadn’t wondered of much of anything to say to Professor Barnes except begging for him to let her make up extra credit or something. Which was likely something she’d just as quickly fail at as she already had at every piece of assigned homework. Yet another bandaid she couldn’t afford.

But what else could she do?