The Bug in the Shower

Charlotte

By early January, nothing much is happening. Cordelia and I have been together for a while now, and it feels more official now that she's met my parents. But overall, things are pretty much how they used to be. Marvin and Whizzer fought and made up, which they've been doing since I've known them, so it's not such a huge deal.

"I know there's nothing interesting going on in your life, Charlotte," Cordelia tells me, "but why does that mean we have to clean the entire second floor dorm bathroom?"

That's what we're doing at the moment. "I thought it made sense because there's a party and we're obviously not going after last time." We share a look, and I can tell we both know what I mean. "So let's make it nice and clean for the girls who are going to come in here later tonight and probably throw up before they get to the toilet."

"But shouldn't we clean it after? Or just let someone else do it?" She steps over a suspicious crack in the floor. "I don't know how you guys come in here every day. Oh, and the showers. The showers are disgusting." She pulls back one of the curtains and shakes her hand off.

"Don't act like you're better than us just because you live in your own apartment," I shoot back.

"Hey, I'm not saying our apartment is any better. The shower is musty as hell."

I smile a little. "Then quit complaining about this bathroom and just help me clean it," I tell her. "It'll go faster if we're both doing it."

She lets out a sigh. "All right."

We clean for a little while longer, and Cordelia keeps her complaints to a minimum, for which I'm grateful. We've actually made some progress when Whizzer comes in unexpectedly.

"Well? Are you two just going to spend all night in here?" he asks, looking from Cordelia to me.

Cordelia promptly screams. "What are you doing in here?" she demands. "This is the girls' bathroom. You don't belong in here."

"There's nobody else here except you guys. Chill out for a second," he says, waving her off. He climbs onto the counter where the sinks are and pulls out his phone, and I'm guessing he's going to be here for a while.

"Fine, you can stay while we clean," I mutter. "Which is what we're going to do for the rest of the night. I'm not going to any parties for a while. Remember the whole thing with Trina last time?" I wasn't there for their meeting, but from what I heard, it didn't go over well.

Whizzer just shrugs. "Yeah, but Trina and I are fine now. That's who I'm texting, actually." He turns his phone to show us, and my eyes widen.

"Since when are you and Trina texting?"

"Since last week," he answers. "And, for your information, it's barely awkward anymore at all. I just have to be mindful not to bring up Marvin too much. I think considering the circumstances it'd be good for them to start getting along, but that seems like Mendel's job, not mine."

"Did I hear my name?" Mendel's voice comes from outside the bathroom, and in a moment, he's joined us. Cordelia screams again.

"Get out!"

"It's fine, we're just cleaning and everybody's at the party anyway," I reassure her. I turn to the boys who are in here with us. "Mendel. Nice to see you again."

He glances at me. "You're the one who thinks she's a doctor, right?"

"No, that's literally you."

"Kids, please stop fighting," Whizzer says in an annoyed tone from his perch on the sink counter. It's getting just a little disorderly in here, and I just want to get the bathroom cleaned up so we can go back to the apartment.

Cordelia interrupts us by screaming again, but it's not because another man walked in, it's because of something in one of the shower stalls. I pull back the curtain and she latches onto me. "There's a giant cockroach in the middle of the floor!" she cries.

"Oh my God, ew," says Mendel, who's followed me to see what the commotion is about. "Kill it."

"I don't want to kill it! What if its friends smell it on my shoe and then come for me while I'm sleeping?" Cordelia lets go of my arm and steps past me into the sink area. "Whizzer, can you please come kill the bug?"

He sighs and slides off the counter. "Fine. Since you all are being a bunch of little bitches about it, I'll come in and kill your stupid cockroach." He starts to come into the stall, but stops immediately when he sees the bug. "Jesus, Cordelia, you didn't tell me it was that big! I don't want to step on it. My shoe will barely fit over it."

"Guys, shut up," I tell them, stepping on the bug. "See? Was that so hard?"

"I don't trust you," shudders Mendel, crawling into the other corner of the bathroom. I roll my eyes and pull the curtain back. Hopefully we're almost done cleaning. Mendel and Whizzer being here isn't making it any easier.

Whizzer hops back up onto his counter and returns to his texting. "Do you guys want me to invite Trina over here? Or Marvin? Probably not both of them."

"No," replies Cordelia. "No more people. At least not until we're out of here."

"All right, then. How about I order some food so it gets to our apartment by the time we get back?"

"I don't feel much like eating," she remarks. "Not after seeing that cockroach."

"More for me, then," answers Whizzer.

After we're in there for a few moments longer, Mendel in the corner recovering from the cockroach incident, Cordelia and I moving around cleaning, Whizzer still sitting up on the counter and the bug still squished in the shower, I hear the door open. I turn and see another girl, who I suppose lives on my floor, just entering the bathroom. She takes in the sight of me and my girlfriend cleaning up the place and then the two men in the corner.

"You're dreaming," Whizzer tells her.

The girl just looks around again and leaves, most likely incredibly confused. Whizzer just goes back to texting like it was nothing. Mendel gets up and dusts himself off.

"I should probably go find Trina," he stammers. "I'm not sure if she's at the party or what— Charlotte, what room is she in?"

"236," I answer.

"Thanks."

As Mendel's leaving, Whizzer looks up and calls to him, "Don't have sex!" Cordelia and I stare at him, and he looks at us and shrugs. "It's disruptive."

"Are you still going to be texting Trina while Mendel's looking for her?" Cordelia asks, nodding to Whizzer's phone.

"I guess not." He tucks it back into his pocket and sighs. "Isn't this a nice night?"

"No, not really at all," I respond. It's getting extremely late, and we're still stuck in here because none of us want to clean up the squashed bug.

Cordelia brushes her hands off on her leggings. "Why don't we just leave the roach here?" she suggests. "It can be a little... surprise for anyone who uses the shower."

I grimace. "Okay, that's fine. On an unrelated note, I'll only be taking showers at your place from now on." I make my way out of the bathroom, Cordelia close behind. Whizzer climbs down and joins us out in the hallway.

"I'm gonna go bother Marvin," he says. "Make sure you guys are back in about thirty minutes, though. That's when our food's getting there." He hurries off, I guess to go annoy his boyfriend, wherever he is. So, once again, the two of us are alone.

"Finally," Cordelia remarks, and we both smile. "I guess we should head back to the apartment. Do you want to just watch TV until we fall asleep?"

"That sounds great."

Mendel

I wanted to talk to Trina tonight, but she must be asleep because she isn't coming to her door when I knock on it, so eventually I give up and go back down the hall.

I've still been trying to help her lately, but so much has been going on now. And maybe, just maybe, now that we're sort of starting to get along with Marvin's other friends, life is just a little bit easier. Of course friends can't solve everything, but they can help numb the pain.

I head back to my own dorm, trying not to think about the bug we saw in the shower earlier. Man, that was disgusting. I'm glad the four of us got to spend some time together, though, since Whizzer and I haven't been very close at all. Same goes for Charlotte, and that blonde girl who I'm pretty sure was drunk that one time.

One of the things I want is for me and Marvin to get closer. We've barely spoken about his life since I tried giving him therapy and that didn't work out too well. I hope we get the chance to talk again soon.

More than anything, I just want my college life to be normal, at least for a moment. Sure, there's nothing normal about smashing cockroaches in the girls' bathroom at 1AM, but it's something, and it's nice to have that something.