Page 91 of Ink & Ambition

Danika and Sydney are on the couch, both looking at me with solemn expressions. “What is it?” I ask, looking back and forth between them.

“Have you checked instagram lately?” Sydney asks, her voice soft as if speaking to a toddler on the brink of a meltdown. I shake my head, rounding the couch to sit on the coffee table. Before I can even open my phone, a call from Alex comes in.

Danika takes the phone from my hand and puts it down beside her on the couch. “Look,” she says, showing me her instagram feed. Story after story of Alex and I touching on the quad.Okay, it doesn’t seem so bad. People are just surprised.I gear up to breathe a sigh of relief and tell them it’s okay…until I see the captions.

I didn’t know Alex would slum it with a junior. I would’ve shot my shot.

Guess this is why he’s been doing that podcast. Easy lay.

A rags to riches story in the making. Can you say gold digger?

Each comment was more heinous than the next. Girls calling me ugly and poor. Guys saying I must be an easy lay and wondering when they’d get their turn. After one such comment about how “hard” I must work to keep Alex interested, I shove Danika’s phone back in her hand, disgusted.

My own phone continues to vibrate on the couch and I know it’s Alex but I need to process before I can speak with him.

“People are going to be assholes, that’s how people are made,” Danika says. “You can only control how you feel about what they say.”

“Well, right now, I’m feeling like shit and that’s a very hard thing for me to control.” I purse my lips and stand up from the table, pacing back and forth in front of them.

Sydney grabs my arm as I pass her. “What’s your big news, Mar? Maybe that’ll help.”

I stop and level her with a look. “Alex and I are officially in a relationship.” That sentence should’ve been announced with the popping of champagne or the twisting of a beer cap. Not with a stone cold expression of worry and concern.

Still, the girls do muster up some happiness for me. Sydney jumps off the couch, smothering me in a tight embrace. “That’s amazing!”

Yes. Two minutes ago, it was amazing. Now, I don’t know what it is. Danika grabs my hand, pulling both Sydney and I onto the couch in an embrace.

“Don’t let the assholes ruin this for you. You deserve this, Mars.”

I settle into her hold and Sydney cuddles up behind me. They’re right. This is just jealous people letting off steam because they want what I have and what I have is Alex. The kindest, funniest, most authentic man who cares about me. Not anyone else. Me.

My phone buzzes again, now underneath me. “Let me let the man out of his misery,” I sigh, answering the phone. “It’s okay,” I say in greeting.

“Margot, don’t look at…wait. It’s okay?”

“It’s okay. I’m not going to let anyone ruin what we have. Let them be petty on their own. Once they realize that we’re not caring, they’ll stop caring, too,” I say, pretty proud of myself for how bold I’m being. Danika winks at me.

Alex’s sigh of relief is like an air horn into the receiver. “Thank fucking god. You’re a rockstar, you know that?”

“Oh yeah, lead singer vibes all the way.”

Alex laughs. “Nah, quiet but insanely hot bass player, that’s you.” I join in his laughter.

“I’ll call you later, okay? After I tell my roommates every detail of this afternoon.”

“Everydetail?” Alex questions, a slight hint of nervousness in his voice.

“Okay, maybe noteverydetail,” I reply. After saying our goodbyes, I hang up the phone, throwing it behind us on the couch.

“Okay, now I wanteverydetail,” Danika demands. Sydney hops over the couch to put a bag of popcorn in the microwave and grab some water bottles from the fridge. Danika grips my shoulders, placing herself in my line of sight. “And don’t even think about leaving anything out. Because I’ll know.”

Rolling my eyes, I am shaken by Dani who levels me with a serious expression. “I will tell you—mostly—every detail!” I swear, whispering a choice word but Danika will have none of it. The two girls spend the next hour wringing every bit of information out of me that they can, but I do manage to keep one thing a secret between me, Alex and the table in Study Room G6.

“I hope everyone rests up over Thanksgiving break. Come back ready to chase that lead!” Jessy’s inspirational speech falls on deaf ears as most of us are barely listening anyway. I’ve been trying to finish this article on the new quad sprinkler system but I just can’t find the right hook to make it interesting.Because it’s not.

“Margot,” Jessy plants her butt on the edge of my desk. I finish typing the word “cafeteria” and then look up at her. “You’re staying on campus this weekend right?”

“Yup,” I reply, popping the p.

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