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Someone handed Ryland a small, blue, oval-shaped pill and walked away, out of the sorority house’s kitchen.
“Wonder what this one is,” he said cheerfully before popping the mystery medication into his mouth. As he swallowed, his roommate, Greg, approached from the living room with a red Solo cup in each hand.
“A jungle juice for you, my good sir,” Greg shouted in a terrible British accent. More than a sip of the drinks sloshed over Greg’s hands as he tried to stay upright.
“Thank you, my liege,” Ryland replied loudly, bowing at the waist and taking one of the cups from the other man.
“So how'd you get the invite to this party?” Ryland asked.
“What?” Greg yelled.
“I said, how'd you get the invite to this party?” Ryland raised his voice.
“Oh, I’ve been sleeping with the president of Delta Sig.” Ryland nodded in solemn understanding. He didn't make a practice of sleeping his way around campus, but he had been sexiled too many times by Greg in the past two years of being roommates. Ryland really hoped that if they went to grad school together, they'd splurge for a place with two bedrooms that locked from the inside.
Ryland took a sip from his flimsy red cup and gagged.
“This is worse than usual,” he yelled close to Greg’s ear.
“You just gotta chug it, man, it's not for sipping,” Greg replied. Ryland took a deep breath and then downed the cursed beverage in one big gulp. He took another deep breath, wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, and surveyed the room. Suddenly he realized what Greg had said to him a minute ago.
“Wait, who did you sleep with to get into this party?” He asked Greg. He knew the answer, but he wanted confirmation. Greg suddenly had a look on his face like he immediately knew he'd messed up.
“Sleep with?” Greg tried to buy himself time.
“Don't play stupid with me, Gregory.” Before Greg could come up with a lie, a woman bounded up behind him and slipped her arms around his shoulders.
“Is the party worth last night?” The woman asked. Ryland knew that voice and it only confirmed his theory.
“Sadie?” Ryland leaned to the side so the woman behind Greg could see him. Sadie turned a shade of red that could only be rivaled by pickled beets.
“Ryland! I didn't know you were coming!” Her voice was too high.
“Clearly,” Ryland said. They hadn't been dating long, but they had agreed on being exclusive four months ago. Ryland turned to Greg.
“How long did you think you could keep this up?” He shouted. Not just because the music was too loud, or there were too many people talking over each other on the first floor of the sorority house. Ryland could feel that the tips of his ears must be matching Sadie’s entire face. He clenched his fists at his side, the Solo cup crumpling in on itself. Sadie caught the movement and her eyes went wide. She knew that Ryland had gotten into fights before, and not just verbally during class. There was a rumor that he'd scrapped with a professor and won, another that said he'd insulted the dean and then dumped his dining hall tray on the man. No one knew for sure what the reasons had been for these altercations, or even if they were actually true, but Ryland hadn't been expelled yet, so most people just tried to stay on his good side.
Greg stood frozen in place. Sadie stepped out from behind him with her hands up.
“I don't know what he told you, but I swear, Rye, nothing happened,” she said. Ryland scoffed.
“Do you guys think I'm stupid?” He said bitterly.
“Well-” Greg started.
“Gregory,” Sadie said firmly and elbowed him in the ribs.
“Well what, motherfucker?” Ryland yelled. He bounced on the balls of his feet, throwing the disposable cup to the side and cracking his knuckles.
“How many times did I have to exile you from our room, the same days Sadie didn't respond to your texts?” Greg asked with a venomous smile. He raised his eyebrows as Ryland narrowed his own eyes.
“Sorry for having trust in my girlfriend,” he said. He realized, nearly too late, that he was holding back tears. Ryland blinked quickly and willed them away. All at once, he felt the pill from earlier kick in right as the jungle juice hit his system. Ryland balled his fists again and lunged at Greg. Sadie thought quickly and stepped back as Ryland made contact with his roommate. He tackled him, pinned him to the kitchen floor with his knees, and landed a fast but damaging blow to Greg’s nose. Greg hollered in pain and wriggled, trying to shift Ryland’s weight to knock him over. Ryland was surprisingly strong. Try as Greg might, he couldn't get out from under Ryland and the hits kept coming. Greg decided that if he couldn't get Ryland off, he could at least hit back.
“You think you can just sleep with anyone who looks at you?” Ryland yelled as he jabbed Greg in the jaw. Greg flailed and one of his hands connected with one of Ryland’s ears. He pulled, hard, bringing Ryland’s face down to his. Then Greg started slapping Ryland.
“You think I'm fucking stupid!” Ryland began slapping Greg back, trying to swat his roommate's hands away.
“Dude, come on, let's talk-” Greg tried to say. But before he could finish his sentence, Ryland had grabbed him by the lapel and was shaking him vigorously.
“Motherfucker,” Ryland swore and pushed Greg’s shoulders back onto the floor. They tussled, neither causing much damage but definitely aggravating each other.
“Hey, alright!” Sadie tried to intervene from afar. She wasn't sure if Ryland had the presence of mind to not lash out at her as well. But she needn't have worried— Ryland had a one track mind and he was currently locked in on pummeling his roommate and now-ex-friend. Suddenly a tall, broad figure came up on Sadie's right, gently pushed her away, and then didn't hesitate to join the fray. For a split second Sadie thought Greg might be doomed. But the figure, whom Sadie now realized was Carl— Grace’s best friend— simply picked Ryland up by the back of his neck like a mama cat would her kitten. He hauled Ryland off of Greg and out of the kitchen as Ryland continued to kick and scream at Greg. Carl finally let go of Ryland once they'd exited the house completely and were on the front lawn.
“Ryland!” Carl whisper-shouted, shaking his best friend by the shoulders. “You gotta stop getting into fights, man.”
Ryland rolled his eyes.
“I didn't even start this one,” he grumbled.
“Doesn't matter. How many times am I gonna have to lug you off of some poor son of a bitch?” Carl crossed his arms.
“As many as I want,” Ryland said petulantly. Carl shook his head.
“Just let me know next time so I can make sure you only get one punch in and don't look like a fool in a slap-fight, okay?” Carl grabbed Ryland by the shoulders and pulled him into his side.
“Come on buddy, let's get you sobered up. Eva’s probably still at the campus cafe; we can steal one of her coffees.” Grace brightened at the name of their third best friend and happily followed Carl’s lead.