Chapter Text
After what felt like a year, Chloe finally shut her textbook, standing up. "Finished," She announced to her roommate, Red, who was lying flat on her stomach on her bed, scrolling on her phone, her earbuds in.
Just as Chloe pushed her chair back in against the desk, Red let out a loud laugh at something on her phone.
"That's not a good sign..." She muttered, more to herself than Red. "What is it?"
Red only continued laughing, hard enough for the phone to slip out of her hands and land on to her mattress with a soft thud.
"Red." Chloe sighed, "What is it?"
Red only continued to wheeze helplessly, pointing at the phone.
Chloe shook her head. "I'm going to call an ambulance if you don't tell me what's happening."
That only made Red laugh more, and with a resigned groan, Chloe rolled her eyes, reaching over to take the phone and find out why her roommate was currently breathless with laughter.
My friend and I have decided to go to couple's therapy just to fuck with the therapist and see how long it takes them to realise we're not even together. Let us know if you want weekly updates 😂 💕
Chloe almost face-palmed right there and then. Of course that was the sort of ridiculous, crazy, morally-wrong, borderline illegal thing that Red would laugh at. Chloe still wondered how the two of them were putting up with each other as roommates and friends. They were absolutely polar opposites, and yet, somehow, they still tolerated each other.
Red got detention often, while Chloe stayed after class to help teachers. Red was a lone wolf who kept to herself whereas Chloe loved talking to almost anyone around her. Red was guarded and closed off, where Chloe was an open book. Red was loud, reckless, rebellious, never hesitated to break rules, where Chloe was softer, a good student, and definitely quite the rule-follower. Red was forgetful and clumsy while Chloe planned everything out and overthought everything. On paper, it sounded like the two of them would hate each other's guts—well, okay, maybe that could be said back when they first met—but now? They had crossed into territory so unfamiliar to Chloe that it even scared her a little.
"Red!" She gasped, horrified. "That's not— how is that even funny?"
Red propped herself up to look directly at Chloe. "Are you kidding? That's hilarious! Whoever came up with that is a genius."
"Whoever came up with it is a fraud and a liar." Chloe shot back, sitting down on the edge of Red's bed.
"You know what?" Red started with a devilish grin.
Chloe sighed. "That has to be my least favourite start to a sentence when it comes from you. What?"
"We should try it."
Chloe blinked. Once. Twice. Frozen, sure that she had heard Red wrong.
"What?"
"We should try it!" Red repeated. "It'd be hilarious!"
"No." Chloe answered immediately. "Absolutely no way."
"Why?" Red pouted. "It'd be great!" She protested, sitting up and looking Chloe right in the eyes.
Chloe gave her a deadpan look and scoffed. "No, it would be lying, wasting an innocent professional's time, and wasting our money."
"Please?" Red whined. "Doesn't it sound fun?"
"Yeah, going to couple's therapy as friends just to screw with a therapist is exactly my idea of a fun Thrusday afternoon." Chloe retorted, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
Red huffed, flopping back down on the bed and staring up at the ceiling. "You're no fun." She muttered, heaving a heavy sigh.
"I'm very fun, thank you very much." Chloe shot back.
"You're a goody-two-shoes who's the student council president and takes extra credit in her free time." Red countered. "Very fun."
Chloe sighed. "At least I have hobbies. Your idea of occupying yourself is dragging your roommate along to couple's therapy and playing a stupid prank."
"And I know which of our hobbies sounds more exciting to me." Red clicked her tongue.
Chloe just shook her head, not saying anything more.
"Seriously," Red broke the silence, "Think about it."
"I don't need to think about it." Chloe replied instantly.
"No, like, really think about it." Red answered. "You can't tell me that it doesn't sound at least a little funny. And we'd be paying the therapist anyway, what's the big deal? We already have great chemistry, we'd definitely fool them!"
"Okay..." Chloe started slowly, "Hypothetically—"
Red instantly shot up, eyes aglow and locked on Chloe expectantly.
"I said hypothetically!" Chloe answered, throwing her hands up in dismay.
"Which is a maybe." Red responded excitedly.
"No, it's not. So, hypothetically," Chloe continued, "What would be the point of doing this?" When Red opened her mouth quickly to reply, Chloe cut her off, "And don't say 'fun' again, either."
Red paused and blinked, trying to think. "Entertainment." She responded instead with an annoyingly charming wink, and Chloe hated that a smile tugged at her lips.
"I'm serious, Red."
"Okay, fine! It could be good for our communication! We have roommates for two years now, but it wouldn't hurt to learn how to understand each other a little better." Red told her.
Chloe paused. Maybe Red did have a point. God, was she actually considering this? It had to be the most insane idea Red had ever come up with— and that said a lot. But maybe it would help their communication. And if it stopped Red from looking up at Chloe like a wounded puppy...
"One session. Two, max." She found herself saying before she even realised it.
A squeal tore from Red's throat. "Wait, are you serious? You're actually gonna do it?"
"Don't make me regret this..."
Red threw her arms around Chloe, a huge grin on her, face, and for some stupid reason, Chloe found herself grinning too.
"Alright," Red pulled back, taking out her phone, "We need to start planning."
Chloe let out a snort of laughter. "Planning? You want to plan something? Okay, who are you and what have you done with my roommate?"
"Nuh uh," Red answered with a smug grin, "I'm your girlfriend now, to anyone who asks."
Chloe almost choked at that. "Okay, whatever." She muttered, feeling her ears turn pink at the tips. She watched as Red took out her phone and started looking up typical questions that are asked at couple's therapy, and she found herself giving a dismayed shake of her head.
How had Red managed to convince her to do this?