“Ugh,this heat is unbearable.” Rosie groans from her bed, lying starfish on her back then fli in nothing but a tank top and booty shorts in an effort to get as much skin exposed to air as she can without being completely unclothed.

“The dorm officials said it’s only going to take one more hour before they could get the generators working.” Lisa says from where she’s sitting cross-legged on the floor.

It’s nearly summer break, and it seems like summer this year was going to be unforgiving. The air is humid and the heat has become scorching. There were some students left still taking late exams. Mostly, the only ones left on campus are those busy with university org activities. 

They were both going to be in their third years now, for the coming term, with Lisa being in charge of the dance troupe and Rosie preparing for a bid to run as the university’s student council president.

(Lisa promised that her dance troupe would endorse Rosie. Rosie promised that she’d give Lisa’s crew full support for everything they need if she and her lineup get elected. It would be a beautiful and mutually beneficial partnership. That’s what best friends are for, right?)

So, being the model students that they both are, Rosie and Lisa have decided that and won’t be going home for this summer.

It was a Sunday and they were both trying to cool down inside their room, having just eaten lunch when, unfortunately enough, there was a sudden power outage in all on campus dormitories. The generators kicked in after a few seconds, but a few seconds later, stopped again. They had apparently broken down, too. The dorm lady later called them to apologize and explain.

Now they’re both stuck there melting like popsickle sticks; the sun is too high up and no clouds to filter its rays that they can’t walk to the nearby cafe and the school is closed so the library isn’t an option.

Rosie feels like she’d lose her mind from the heat.

Meanwhile, Lisa feels like she’d lose her mind from simply trying not to look at her friend’s anything.

Rosie flips herself over, letting her back breathe this time, and releases another groan.

“Lisa, it’s so ing hot.” The painter whines to her best friend for the thousandth time.

Lisa grunts. She has half a mind to tell her best friend to shut up.

The other half would rather that she just ignore it - pretend to be anything other than a human being that’s susceptible to heat and melt quietly.

Lisa being herself, ends up doing the first.

“Complaining about how hot it is doesn’t make it any less hotter, Chaeng.” Lisa lets the nickname drop from her lips naturally - it’s Rosie’s Korean name, Chaeyoung, but affectionately shortened.

Rosie rolls her eyes at her friend from where she’s lying down, then flips herself to lie on her back this time to let her front breathe and expose it to air.

“You think I don’t know that, Lalisa?”

Lisa snorts.

“I don’t know, Chaeng. I can’t tell from how much you keep complaining about it.”

A pillow flies past the left side of Lisa’s head and lands a few inches in front of her. A soft groan follows it, sounding just tired and frustrated and drained.

Lisa waits for another attempt at smacking a pillow at her but nothing comes.  She imagines that Rosie’s probably nothing more than a little dried up raisin, can't be bothered to try hitting her with a pillow again.

“You’re so annoying.”

Her best friend’s voice is small when she says it, utterly without bite. Somehow the words make Lisa's heart swell – the words making her feel full.

Full and loved.

So Lisa laughs and says, "that's why you love me."

The two of them have been friends long enough – have shared enough meaningful and intimate moments between them that Lisa is comfortable throwing around the word love and knowing that it only meant friendship.

But then suddenly there is a presence kneeling beside her.

She feels warm breath followed by soft lips touching her cheek in a quick and fleeting kiss.

And then a whisper.

"Yeah, I guess I do love you." 

And then Rosie is giggling and there are barefoot footsteps padding heavily on their wooden floors.

Rosie's laughter sounds like tinkling wind chimes and her footsteps resounding along with every thump of her heart.

Lisa isn't prepared for the wave of fondness that crashes over her head and drags her into the depths of the seemingly endless ocean of her feelings for her best friend.

The door to their bathroom swings open then shuts closed, the sound of the lock clicking. Lisa hears the sounds of the shower running followed by Rosie's usual humming.

Yeah. A cold shower was the perfect way to alleviate the burning heat. Lisa would've been pissed that she hadn't thought of it.

She would have been pissed.

But, in the span of time it took Rosie to walk to the shower from the spot beside her, she was too busy trying ro kill the little flower of hope that bloomed in her chest.

Lisa kept reminding herself; Rosie said she loves me. And she meant that as a friend.

~

The electricity actually comes back within the hour as promised by the dorm lady.

Lisa falls asleep on the floor before it does, lying starfish on her back with her face flushed.

When she hears the telltale hum of their room's air conditioning and the muffled sounds of celebration from the rooms beside theirs, Rosie finally walks out of the shower. She has a towel wrapped around her, one hand running a towel to dry her hair.

She spots her best friend asleep on the floor, snoring lightly and her lips quirk up into a small smile. She feels the edges of her heart go fuzzy with warmth.

She does love Lisa a lot. She can't think of anyone she holds closer to her heart.

Lisa is the person most dear to her.

And she can't imagine living life without Lisa being her annoying and endearing self beside her.

Rosie moves to her dresser to grab comfortable clothes to put on. She sees Lisa stir behind her through the mirror of their shared vanity and she turns her head to see.

Lisa's lips move in her sleep, as if uttering wordless speech.

Rosie laughs. Lisa has always had weird sleeping habits, especially after a long day of exhausting practice. It must have been the heat that knocked her out like an uppercut to the chin.

She leans back against the vanity and she watches Lisa sleep. She counts off all the sleeping habits she's observed over the years.

Snoring for one, sleeping with wide open that she drools for another, and talking in her sleep, too.

Rosie smiles.

She does love her best friend.

Then Lisa's whole body twitches and it was one of the most unsightly things Rosie has ever seen – the movement looking as if it was right out of a zombie movie.

Rosie bursts out laughing.

She then moves towards her sleeping best friend to wake her, make her transfer from the floor to her bed. She taps Lisa on the shoulder, softly at first then with more pressure as Lisa stays asleep.

Finally, Lisa's eyes slowly open and she grunts. She looks like a confused little kid and she looks at Rosie with dazed eyes.

Rosie chuckles.

You were twitching in your sleep. That was really ugly, Lisa, what the hell, she thinks of saying.

But instead, Rosie finds herself cupping Lisa's face gently and saying something completely different - something softer, but still couched with as much fondness.

"Lisa, your bed is a lot more comfortable than the floor."

Sleepy Lisa just grunts. Rosie smiles at her. She puts a hand around one of Lisa's arm and stands up, tugging Lisa along with her.

"Come on, sweetie. Up you go." The words slip out of before she can even think about them.

Lisa follows and plops herself on the bed. If she were a little more conscious than she was at that moment, she would have found them uncharacteristic. And maybe it would water the little flower of hope in her chest.

"There." Rosie says, smiling.

Lisa turns to her side and cuddles into her pillows, slipping back into sleep easily.

Rosie watches her with her back against the vanity once again. The fuzz around her heart also comes back.

Rosie does love Lisa.

A lot.

But sometimes, sometimes, she can't help but feel confused.