Through Thick & Thin

Chapter 1: Reyanna

"Wake up, wake up

Gotta get this paper, get this cake up

Gotta do my hair, gotta put on makeup

Gotta act like I care about this fake stuff

Straight up what a waste of my day

If I had..."

"Cute alarm," said Jason as Reyanna turned over to silence her phone's alarm. "I thought the song was befitting for its purpose," she said as she began checking the nights' activities. The time was now 7:30 in the morning and she had no missed calls, and a couple of messages from her group members about their upcoming paper. "Nothing important," she thought. "I can't believe I fell asleep here. Why didn't you wake me Jason?" "It was one in the morning and you were already sleep. I figured after the day you had, you needed the rest so I didn't want to wake you," said Jason as he grabbed a nearby shirt lying on the back of the chair. He smelled it first, making sure it was suitable enough to wear, and after deciding against it decided to get a white V-neck out of the pack instead. He knew he really needed to do laundry but with everything going on right now, it was the least of his concern.

"I can't believe you slept on the floor. Sorry to put you out of your bed," Reyanna said sitting up and stretching. "Don't mention it, the floor is actually pretty comfortable," he said with a smirk, but Reyanna just looked at him like she knew he was lying...which he was. "I'm going to hop in the shower," said Jason. "If you leave now you might be able to avoid you know who on the way out." Good idea," she said as she finished putting on her shoe and grabbed her book bag. "Oh and Jason, thanks for last night. It really helped." And with that she closed the door and descended down the hallway of the three-bedroom apartment. Luckily for her Jason's room was towards the front of Michael's so there was no chance of walking by him. All she had to do was make it past the kitchen and she was home free. The apartment was pretty nice for college living. A 3-bedroom modern apartment with granite countertops in the kitchen and chrome appliances. It had hardwood throughout the apartment except for in the bedrooms, and everyone got their own bathrooms. It came standard with a 50" flat screen television and a glass coffee table, very modern. The kitchen and living room were connected, and the front door was right off the kitchen, with a screened-in patio off the living room.

Reyanna quietly made her way to the front door, so deep in her thoughts that she didn't even here someone washing dishes in the sink. "Rey, w-what are u doing here," asked Michael as he nearly dropped the glass he was rinsing in the sink? Reyanna could see that he was tired and hadn't gotten much sleep. His eyes looked of someone who had been broken and pained. He looked hurt, and she knew she was the reason for his hurt. He was wearing his favorite gray sweatpants with the Brown University Baseball logo running down the side in white lettering, and of course, he wasn't wearing a shirt. She could tell he had just gotten out the shower and had just thrown on a pair of pants to come out in the kitchen area. His curly, chestnut brown hair was still damp with water, and she could see small beads of water trickling down his toned muscled body. She quickly diverted her eyes to stop herself from staring. She needed to leave now, especially before Jason came out into the kitchen and made matters worse.

"I uh, came by to grab some notes from Jason on my way to class. Mr. Dugger is giving a pop quiz later on today in history, and I just wanted to make sure I was prepared," she said trying to steady her breathing so her voice wouldn't falter. She hated lying to him like this, but if he found out about her spending the night in Jason's room, whether anything had happened or not, she knew he would be crushed and it would probably do irreparable damage between him and his brother. Michael lowered his glass into the sink and just looked her in the eyes. He always had this way of being able to look into her eyes and see if she was lying to him or not. After dating for nearly two years he knew her like the back of his hand, if not better. He knew when something was bothering her, and knew when she was genuinely happy. He knew how she was really feeling just by the changes of tone in her voice and, just like now, he knew when she was lying. He just didn't understand why she felt she needed to lie to him, especially after all the history they shared.