The Hat Trick

by Tara Wimble

  Literally nothing was going to ruin her day.

  “Don’t do it, don’t do it!”

  “It’s a pull up!” Janice’s voice exclaims loudly from somewhere in the hall. Laurel looks at her open door with regret but makes no move to get up from her place next to Amy. They’re cuddling which is more important.

  “Who’s that?”

  “Janice.” Laurel replies.

  A voice shouted in panic. “Janice!”

  “And Lexie.”

  Amy frowns and looks at the door as well. “Should we see what’s going on?”

  Laurel considers it. Seriously. For like a second. But she’s pretty content to be streaming movies illegally and sleeping on Amy’s shoulder for the next hour and whatever Janice’s doing isn’t going to-

  An unexpectedly loud creaking crash from the hall interrupts her internal debate.

  “HOLY SHIT!”

  She makes eye contact with Amy for a moment and then they’ve both jumped to their feet to run out of the door. When they make it outside Janice is flanked by Robin and Lexie on the floor with the top part of the wooden door frame in her hand, looking very sore and confused about how she ended up there.

  Laurel’s jaw drops. “What the heck did you just do?”

  The RA was going to kill her.

  “Shit.” Janice blinks and looks at the beam in her hand. “Can someone find me some glue real quick?”

  ***

  @janicemacky: @robynred: u are the worst roommate ever. m kicking you out of the dream team

  @robynred: @janicemacky: more room for @sexyLexie in this imaginary house then

  @janicemacky: @robynred oh no Lexie is mine in the roommate divorce

  @SantosGotcha: nice, quiet, sociology freshman looking for a house next year? Anyone?

  @sexyLexie: @SantosGotcha let me know if you need a roommate #janicemackyproblems

  **

  The ticking of the wheel as it spins clears her mind. There’s nothing else but the smooth rotation and the clean spokes. Her finger brushes against them to slow the wheel down before the other pushes it around again. Just watching as it goes.

  The Bike Shop is busy once again with a lot of people stopping by to get attendings to fix up their chains and brakes as the weather starts to turn. Lexie is mostly left alone in the corner, only moving for people to pick up tools, with her bike fixed up on the table.

  There’s nothing wrong with it at all. She’s spent the last hour cleaning the frame for something to do and in the Hope that maybe it’ll all fall apart so she’d have to focus on putting it back together rather than thinking about how Robin pulled away from her.

  Her hand catches inside the spokes and she flinches back. The line of pain where it hit flares and fades quickly and Lexie sighs. She spins the wheel again.

  They’d done nothing but talk last night after dinner. With Robin laying on her bed and tossing her a pillow to join here. She can’t even remember the stupid things they said, the small talk and the laughs and Robin thanking her for the bike again.

  Lexie had eventually settled down after Robin moved the bible from under the pillow. There was no way, Robin told her, she was cycling back to her dorm this late.

  The concern fills her chest again and Lexie despairingly stomps it out. Getting her hopes up isn’t doing her any favors.

  Yet she still watches the door from the corner of her eye waiting for someone to walk in. It’s useless really. Robin has classes until five and the last time she saw Janice it was wrapped in duct tape as she attempted to reattach the beam she’d broken off the door.

  The rational part of her knows that she should just text Robin and actually talk about this morning and this whole thing that is sparking between them. Friends don’t build each other bikes and get fireworks from almost kissing that consume them daily just thinking about it.

  Her phone is silent with only her sister dropping a message to ask how she is. She hasn’t replied to that yet either. She could be studying, or reading, or going out and running or something but no, she’s staring at her bike wheel and reflecting about her teenage crush.

  “Oh god.” She couldn’t be more of a lesbian cliché unless she was hit by a car.

  Despite being inside and away from the road, Lexie snaps up just to check.

  She has two options. Her hand stops the wheel. She can either stay here and say nothing to Robin and let things go or she can march up to Philosophy 130 and shoot the fireworks from her chest into words that actually express how she feels.

  A surge of confidence rises within her for a second, as she takes her bike from the table to the floor, only to disappear once again with a flash of Robin’s panicked eyes. Would it be better to just leave it for a few days? Give her time to think or to go back to normal?

  Lexie barely catches some of the boys saying bye to her as she leaves.

  Or should she confront her just to see where they stand and what Robin pulling away actually meant?

  Oblivious to the world as she strays through her thoughts, it takes Laurel shouting from beside her to shake her out of her funk.

  “Where are you right now Lexie?” Laurel jokes. “I’ve seen more concentration from people in my Monday morning classes.”

  Lexie rubs her face with the heel of her hand and shivers as the chilly air finally makes itself known. “Miles away. Sorry for running out this morning without saying goodbye. How’s Janice doing with the repairs?”

  Laurel shrugs and pulls out a hoodie from her bag. “That’s okay. We didn’t stick around to help because Amy wanted to sleep in a little before her class. And last time I checked Janice had bolted.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah, she’s like taped it all together and hung a banner over it so you can’t see the damage. But she left right after you. Said something about going to see that cop?” Laurel hands over the hoodie to Lexie’s shivering form but continues before she can question it. “I mean, I’ve only met her once and that was when she took Janice to the station after Kings but she seems okay. A little intimidating.”

  “Yeah, she’s got that look about her,” Like she might snap any of them in pieces. Lexie finishes and looks at the hoodie. “What’s this for?”

  “You left it this morning?” Laurel points out. “I was coming over this way and Robin mentioned you’d ran out without it and it’s gonna be a cold one today.”

  “Thanks but this isn’t actually mine.” Lexie turns it over to show the frayed USA flag on the shoulder.

  Laurel hums in acknowledgement but there’s a lightness to it that throws Lexie off. “Oh, she must thought it was yours. You can give it back to her though right?”

  Lexie goes to protest, all thoughts of seeing Robin had been pushed away to the back of her mind until she thought of something to say, but Laurel is already backing away and waving her watch. “Gotta go Lexie! I’ll see you later!”

  Like the white rabbit in Wonderland, she sprints off, leaving her dazed and confused.

  Self-consciously she straightens the hoodie out and debates putting it on until the wind picks up. It’s snug on her, where it’s loose on Robin but the arms are shorter. Suddenly all she can smell is Robin’s body spray engulfing her.

  When she puts her hands in the weighted pocket, she pulls out a sticky note attached to Robin’s wallet.

  The wonky smiley drawn on it is hastily drawn and purposefully planted. Lexie looks on the back of it at Robin’s scratchy handwriting.

  ‘If located, return to Ethics 253 and in exchange for hugs. Peace and love, Robin.’

  Shit, Lexie blushes furiously into the sleeve of Robin’s hoodie. She really hopes that car doesn’t hit her now.

  ***

  SHE’S still picking splinters out of her fingers when she arrives at their spot. Janice had wrapped up before coming out, putting on her long running pants and donning Laurel’s Sociology Society sweatshirt to brave the cold. The sprints she’d taken to get there hadn’t warmed her up as much as remembering
Hope’s words to her when she’d been dropped off.

  The shiver that goes through her is definitely not about the weather then. Without realizing it she touches her face to check if she’s burning up from her own thoughts. A step after that and no one will be able to see her freckles for the color of her face.

  Not that she would care at all. Let the world see her blush. She’s happy. Not just every day happy but climbing mountains and trees and roommates happy.

  She’s doing everything her parent’s Hoped she would; going to college, making good friends and living it up in a new state. The days she used to sit in her bedroom and wonder what she’d actually do with all her freedom are long gone. Though, Janice thinks to herself as she stretches out her leg, another trip to the police station could wait until after graduation.

  The short wisps of her hair that escape her bun tickle at her face. Another smile, another head turn wondering which way Hope would run from this time, another smile.

  Next year will be even better. For all her talk about moving in with her friends, and all the doubts they joke about, Janice has this on lock. There’s this place about two miles out from campus on a little residential road. Just enough away for Lexie and Robin to make use of their bikes and close enough for Janice to drag Laurel away from her car.

  She hasn’t shown any of them anything yet. The little front path and garden is going to make them all flip though, whether they want to or not. There’s enough room for Lexie’s bike and all the things that come along with that as well as Robin’s collection of boards and balls. One of the other pluses is that they’ll all get their own rooms as well. Janice’s still working on Laurel and Amy moving in together with them because even though it’s only been a few weeks, she’s never seen Laurel look happier.

  Even though this morning didn’t reveal much either, she’s pretty sure that Robin and Lexie are going in the same direction. It’d been too good to resist sneaking out, getting breakfast, and slowly sitting in wait just for the look of abject horror on Lexie’s face when she’d turned around. For a second Janice had thought she was trying to leave before Robin woke up. Until she’d kept close to her roommate after she’d awoken.

  Janice turns in the direction of a dog barking. Hope’s late.

  Though, she still hasn’t gotten an explanation from Robin about why Lexie left so quickly after her disaster with the door frame. (Which is totally sorted out in a makeshift kind of way for now).

  With Hope nowhere in sight to see her warming up Janice pulls out her phone and opens twitter. There’s something about following her future roommates on twitter that’s preparing her for next year.

  “@sexyLexie: walking back home. warmer than this morning. #thanks

  @SantosGotcha: basketball game tonight with @aimes00! cheering on our boy @jakeywakey #datenight

  @robynred: forgot i was taking public speaking.”

  The grin she’s been wearing on her face works harder to show the world just how happy she is.

  “@janicemacky: is-”

  The Kim Possible theme song calls and beeps out telling her she has a text message as she tweets. She fumbles out of the app despite the sinking feeling opening the message gives her.

  “Busy today. See you around.”

  Hope.

  The world rushes back in and leaves her standing alone near their spot, realizing just how many people are moving on around her, while she waits.

  Her hands feel colder.

  “@janicemacky: isn’t feeling up to running today.”

  ***

  “I believe this is yours?” Lexie says immediately when she opens the door to see Robin on the other side. The girl is hugging her sides in a borrowed coat as her backpack slides precariously on her shoulders. Robin’s face lights up as she takes back her wallet.

  “I didn’t think Santos would find you. She’s been attached at Amy’s hip for most of the day.” She ushers herself inside. “Nice hoodie.”

  “They’re going to the game later, so they’ve been meeting up with some of Amy’s teammates.” Lexie tells her. “And you can have it back.”

  “Nah, it looks good on you.” Robin grins back but Lexie doesn’t miss the interlude she needs away from her gaze after it. “What do I owe you then?”

  Lexie rolls her eyes but stops herself from asking any awkward questions. “I think thirty seconds sounds about right.”

  Robin waves Lexie towards her with an inviting smile until she’s wrapping her arms around Lexie’s waist. “I knew you’d bring the wallet back.”

  Her heart soars until the back of her throat tingles.

  “You haven’t checked that your money is all in there.” Lexie points out. Robin’s hair is loose and tickles her arms as she holds her around the shoulders. A sigh flickers through her body.

  “I trust you.”

  Thirty seconds comes and goes and Robin withdraws, slower than the step back she took this morning. The sting of it all is fresh in Lexie’s mind but the warmth Robin presents to her now is totally different. Open and light. The hoodie is obviously an apology of sorts. By wearing it, she’s accepted whatever message Robin tried to send her.

  “Did you want to hang out for a while or were you going to the game as well?”

  Amy has tweeted her through Laurel with an offer to come with them, though Laurel had mentioned that it was an unofficial date, hinting that maybe tagging along wasn’t the best idea. It was sweet of Amy to ask though.

  Robin waves that suggestion off. “I was thinking I might just get some sleep in before Janice came back from her run actually.”

  “You didn’t go with her?”

  “Nah, this is her ‘special’ run.” She uses air quotes and hoists herself onto Lexie’s bed. Her roommate, Rhetta, is out and won’t be throwing Robin frustrated looks from the other side of the room.

  “What?”

  “Y’know, the one she does with the cop?”

  “Seriously?” Lexie exclaims. “Janice’s kept that one quiet.”

  The last she’d heard about the whole situation was that Janice still hadn’t made the call to her.

  “Trust me. She hasn’t.” Robin laughs. “Anyway, she’ll probably come in around six or something and talk all about what they did and stuff so.”

  “Wait ‘til next year.” Lexie reminds her. “All that talking and breaking doors.”

  “And if she actually gets with this cop?”

  Lexie fakes a shudder. She can’t imagine sitting down and having a movie night with Janice and Hope there. “Let’s not go there just yet.”

  Robin gleams at her.

  The morning in the bike store seems so long ago so Lexie doesn’t feel upset when she brings everything back up again. “So, I kind of didn’t say thanks-”

  “For what?”

  “For dinner and letting me stay last night. I know I put you out.”

  Robin had tugged on the back of her jumper. They’d looked outside at the dark and then to the bed again. She wasn’t going to cycle home and the moment she knew that everything felt a little lighter, even as she struggled to change into a pair of shorts Robin had offered her while she did the same.

  “Who said that?” Robin comments. Lexie realizes that her tone dropped towards the end. “I loved having you over. You don’t talk in your sleep like Janice.”

  It’s meant to cheer her up but she doesn’t rise to it as much as she wishes she could. Disappointment lingers in the back of her head. It’s hard to forget that when Robin is here, much like she was this morning, toeing the line so innocently.

  “Thanks anyway. Dinner was great.”

  “We should do it again sometime,” Robin suggests. “Us, or Janice and Laurel as well. Before we all go home for Christmas break.”

  “You decided to go home then?”

  “Yeah, my parents miss me.” Robin picks at the knee of her sweats. “I mean, they were happy enough to see me off so it’s kind of funny. I guess it’s not too far for you to go back is it?”


  “No. My sister is coming to get me. I think she’s more excited about coming back here than seeing me though.”

  “Yeah?” Robin inquires. “What’s that face about?”

  Lexie scrunches her nose at the reminder. “She’s got it into her head that I’m like, seeing someone.”

  Out of everything that Jeri had asked her; about her classes and her friends and everything going on, the one thing she’d picked up on was in Lexie’s response about if she’d been out with anyone. Like a trigger going off Lexie had thought back to the day in the bike store, sitting on the counter with Robin just looking at her like everything was right in the world, and Jeri had seen it written all over her face.

  And hadn’t let off since.

  Robin grows quiet quickly, like she didn’t expect that response, and when she recovers Lexie has already taken notice. “Oh, right. Like how?”

  “Just gleaming from phone calls really. I mean, I’m not-” Lexie reassures Robin of something that doesn’t make any sense. Her sister’s day dream imagining of her love life are targeted at all the college boys that she no doubt remembers from her own college experience, yet the reality of Lexie’s subtle affections is sitting next to her. “I don’t even like-”

  Lexie takes a huge breath and chokes on the words she wants to say.

  Except Robin is tilting her head knowing exactly what she wants to say. “Yeah I know.”

  Lexie bites her lip and looks anywhere but at Robin for a few seconds. Just enough time to memorize the ceiling and ignore Rhetta’s posters before she can feel the panic in her chest recede.

  “You do?”

  Robin’s nail digs into her sweats again. Trying to pick at an nonexistent hole in the material. “Well, Janice may have said something about the two of you when she was setting us up.”

  “About the flirting?” Lexie flutters. “Because she’s not my type.”

  The joke falls flat for all the right reasons when Robin nudges Lexie’s shoulder. “I figured that one out on my own.”

  “Yeah?” Lexie banters back. “What gave me away?”