21

26th of March, 2025. Finally, I turned 21. New responsibilities, new opportunities, and new problems. Of course, what good would those be if no one’s here to wish me a happy birthday? Here I am, sitting on this barely-comfortable chair with a small cake and a candle that’s illuminating my entire dorm room. “Happy 21st Birthday, Raven!” is what was written on the cake. To be fair, I was the one that asked for that to be written. Might as well wish myself a happy birthday if no one will.

It’s just a birthday, isn’t it? I’ll turn 22 next year anyway. I don’t really know if my friends still give a fuck about me. Most of them have their priorities; so do I. Do I care that I do though? Absolutely not. I’ll eat through this cake, go through my Marketing Management assignments, and rewatch my favorite angst movie after. Would’ve been so much better with someone by your side, unlike that Melissa bitch. Who confesses and then becomes toxic the day they get together? Dumbass. Haaaah, if only. If only.

“Ding-dong! Ding-dong!” the doorbell rang.

First and foremost, I never told anyone my address. Second, please don’t be a parcel. I have no money on me.

I opened the door and to my surprise…

*SCHWOOOP*

“Raaaaaaaven!” …Why did I get jumped?

“Agh! Goodness, Carmilla, at least alert me when you’re coming over!” Okay, so discard the thing about the address.

The friend that just jumped me is Carmilla. She’s probably one of the sweetest people I’ve met; maybe even one of the most gorgeous people. She’s… elegant in a sense.

“Hey, Raven, did you get your hair dyed? Seems different today,” she asked.

“Is it obvious?” I asked back.

“Dude, you had brown hair. I even researched it: auburn-colored hair. How come it’s black then?”

“Okay, okay, yes I did dye it.”

“Hah! Trying to copy my style, huh?”

“Yeah, but I’d never consider going blonde. Won’t fit my wavy hair.”

“Yet you say that when you pull all the girls in our batch! When you turn 22, get your hair dyed to blonde just like mine!”

“Ew, we’d be matching.”

“Aww, you’re no fun.”

She’s pretty annoying at times, but she’s pretty reliable by all means. Not only that, she’s also the most intelligent person I know.

“Speaking of which, Raven… happy birthday!”

“Thanks. Took you long enough.”

“Wow, so ungrateful. I'll take it back then.”
“I was joking. Please don’t.”

“Hmmm… I’ll think about it.”

This brat’s definitely something, but she’s good. Really good. Good at almost everything. Really good at almost everything, sadly.

“Wha– I was actually joking. Take a joke for once, dumbass.”

“Can’t hear ya, what’d ya say?”

“I said I was joki—”

*CRACK!*

“GOODNESS FUCK, CARMILLA! COULD’VE BEEN ANYWHERE ELSE YOU KICKED ME, BUT YOU WENT STRAIGHT FOR THE MANHOOD! FUCK!”

I don't know what possessed her to do that.

“HA! DON’T YOU DARE TALK SHIT TO ME!”

Oh, ho-ho-ho, little brat.

We went circles chasing each other through my room like cat and mouse. Huh. Maybe turning 21 doesn’t seem that bad now.

“Okay, okay, chill out already! Haha, phew, I’m tired, Raven. You’re one to run around the room, holy shit.”

“Says the one that kicked my balls.”

“You kinda deserved it lowkey.”

“That’s your gift for me? A kick to the nutsack?”

“I was considering it.”

“Okay bro. Unfair.”

We calmed down and sat down by the dining table. There it still was, the small cake and the flame from the candle.

“How sad.” That kinda hurt, Milla.

“Okay so first, I don’t have any more money. Second, I didn’t expect you to visit. So really, who’s at fault?”

“You.”

“I should’ve known. Fuck, you get me good, huh?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

“Why are you here anyway?”

“I saw your story on IG. Plus I know where you live anyway.”

“That’s it? Just the story?”

“Yeah, pretty much. The “I’m better off alone” caption is fucking cringe, by the way. For a person who radiates so much aura, that was such an L from you.”

“Look, I thought it was cool.”

“Yeah, nah. That just decreased your aura. L Raven.”

“Oooooka—”

“Oh wait, yeah I forgot to give this to you.”

She handed me a huge wrapped gift in blue. Wonder what the hell this is.

“Open it. I know how much you love Sweet Nights, so I got you the novel version!”

I ripped open the wrapping paper and… holy shit… she actually did get me the novel of Sweet Nights! Holy!

“So… what’d ya think?”

No other words came out of my mouth. I got out of my seat and rushed to hug her. I’ve always liked the movie Sweet Nights by Vivian Espinoza, so to get me the book of it was really sweet of her! Hehe, Sweet Nights… and it’s like 9pm right now… what a sweet night. Ha!

“Rae— I think you should let go. You’ve been hugging me for 30 seconds straight.”

“I– I have no words, Milla. Thank you. I really do thank you for this.” I gave her the widest smile I could do and placed the novel on my bookshelf.

“Knew you’d like it! I swear, it’s like you have an attachment to the friends to lovers trope.”

“You know me so well, don’t you?”

“Hell yeah, you know it.” Wait, how’d she find my location? Wait wai–

A few minutes passed by and we talked about how life was going for each other. Since we study in different fields, we haven’t gotten much time at all to hang out.

“And so when I talked to Jeremy, all he said was he didn’t know how to calculate the revenue. Like, for 3 years we’ve been studying accounting, and that dumbass hasn’t learned shit? I can’t stand it, Raven. I wanna switch so bad, all because of these dumb classmates.”

“Nah, I get ya. Y’know Kali?” I replied.

“The 5’6 one?”

“Yeah, yeah exactly. She once told me how stupid I was at managing sales. Brother, you are 4 thousand dollars down. Your business is flunking. I have investors. INVESTORS! AND THAT WASN’T EVEN A REAL PROJECT, IT WAS A TEST STUDY!”

“Can’t believe how stupid our environments are, HAHAHA!”

“I know, it sucks so bad.”

It’s true. Being one of the only few intelligent ones in the section is pretty tough. It’s a big struggle for everyone else to keep up with you when you’re honestly just on top of the class. Is it fair? No. Do I give a shit? Not really. I wanna get my degree and disappear. Is that possible? Like I wanna do that.

I knew Carmilla from my senior high friends back when I was still reviewing for my entrance exams. At the time, we were aiming for the same course: accountancy. Those guys were telling me how she could compete with how smart I am or how goated she was compared to me.

“Wait, Raven, can you tell me why you switched to Marketing Management? You aced the Accounting exam. No one’s ever gotten a 100% on an entrance exam. At least not that I know of. I think. I think.” she asked.

“I dunno. Not a lot of competition.”

“...Are you like… sick in the head or something? Why the fuck would you want competition in accountancy? You’re calculating money. Money. I can even spell it out for you: M-O-N-E-Y. Money.”

“Yeah, but I guess our sectionmates just got too pressured ‘cuz of the fact that both of us were classmates. You’re the second one who got a 100% mark.”

“I guess you’re right. Touche.”

It’s true. Back in high school, Carmilla and I were the highest-scoring students in our respective schools. Carmilla was fairly popular with a pretty big fan club supporting her. Me? Uhh… I guess I was doing my best. I don’t know what you’d expect from me. She’s always been seldom better than me. You could always expect that from a popular person. Especially if they’re extremely pretty. I’d consider looks as plus points though. Having the brains is enough.

“Huh, who am I kidding? I have a friend over and I have nothing to serve her?”

“Wow, for the first time, you’re becoming a gentleman.”

“Shut it. This is the only time I’ll make you food.”

“Me? Just me? How about you?”

“Well yeah, of course I’ll make my own food too. All I have is a cake and…”

“A candle.” Yup. No one’s eating that. “Is the wax edible?”

“Milla — what the hell?”

“I was joking.” Joking, she said. I wonder what happened earlier when I joked around. I’ll punt her head to the moon with a frying pan if I could right now. “Hey, I see that look on your face. You are not hitting my manhood.”

“You don’t even have one!”

“Then how will my future kids be born? Think through this shit, Raven! My kids! My poor old kids!”

“Dude, I doubt you’ll have kids in the first place.”

“JUST MAKE THE FUCKING FOOD, PIECE OF SHIT!”

Oops. Welp, it happens. She’s usually like this anyway. I like it nonetheless. Is that masochistic? It’s like how my mom used to yell at me yet kept telling me she still loved me. I don’t like Carmilla though. I think I don’t.

I took out some of my spare pasta noodles and a cheap-ass tomato sauce to cook whatever the hell I was about to cook. A little fun fact — I don’t know how to cook. Okay, maybe not homeless-style spaghetti, but anything else? Nope. I was never taught how to cook. I should sign up for those little classes. How come I have such a good memory but can’t keep track of a boiling egg so it ends up exploding? Eh, whatever.

42 minutes or so passed by and I just let Carmilla use my TV. For some reason, she knows the pin code to my Netflix account. The one shared with my family. I never told her shit.

“Raveeeeeeen!”

“I am 10 meters away from you. Boiling noodles. About to finish. You could’ve at least just called my name normally.”

“I don’t care. What do you want to watch later? I’m staying over.”

“Wha– I never gave you a go signal for you to stay over.”

“You have another room, don’t you?”

“Yeah, so? It’s filled with boxes of my stuff though.”

“I’m moving in next week, so I want to get used to the ambience.”

“What the– MOVING?” Okay so… she never told me shit. Moving? Like, switching places? What in the world? “Milla, you never told me anything. First, you come here unattended. Second, you tell me you’re moving?!”

To be fair, I am excited for a roommate. I’ve been living alone since my senior high days; It’s not easy managing the budget. Hehe, Carmilla as my wallet doesn’t sound so bad. Okay, wait, don’t think of me as a bad person — I’m just really tight on money right now. You’d expect me to have tons just because I have my own dorm room, but that isn’t really the case. This room was a “bet-it-all-on-red” type of move. Why am I even describing my financial situation? Crazy.

“Bro, did your mom not tell you shit?”

“I haven’t talked to my mom in 3 months.”

“Wow. Dork.”

“The hell is that supposed to mean???”

“Look, I don’t even know, BUT I am moving in. Period.”

“Then where’s your stuff?”

“BITCH DO YOU EVEN LISTEN TO MY WORDS?”

“I was stuck on the “dork” part.”

“Dumbass.”

“See? That word fits me much better.”

“I… I can’t even say anything else to counter that. Win-win situation, I guess.”

I finished making the so-called spaghetti in around 50 minutes or so. I’ll be honest, it looks like a poor person made it. It’s just sauce, pasta, and salt. There was meat in the sauce. Don’t take that out of context.

“Mil, food’s ready,” I called to get her attention.

“Finally, what took you so long?”

“The noodles.”

“Y’know what, that’s a pretty fair point.” Who knew she’d be a little considerate today? That’s the first time in weeks; weeks feel like years with this girl, it’s insane. “Hey, if this tastes like shit, I will piss on your shirt right after.”

“I hope you rather not.”

“I’ll bet ya 20 bucks.”

“Deal.”

“What a cheapskate.” Okay, never mind. There goes the “considerate” thing.

I served her the pasta and we began eating right after. I saw a rather relieved look on her face when she took her first bite. The kind of look that gives off “turns out the food I’m eating right now isn’t poisonous.” Good enough. I was thinking of adding laxatives though, but I’m too nice to do that to her. Maybe with my other friends, but not to her.

“It’s not poisonous, I’ll give you that.” Fucking ironic. You just love to hear it.

“Thanks, I didn’t really try to make it.”

“...What is wrong with you?”

“A lot.”

“I should’ve expected that answer. Fuck.”

“Too late, dumbass.”

We had a few conversations here and there, but in the end she just kept watching stuff on my Netflix account after we finished dinner. Eventually, I let her stay the night. I did mention that the other bedroom is pretty much my storage room, so it was either letting her sleep on my bed and me sleeping on the couch or both of us sleeping on my bed.

We chose the latter.

I don’t know how uncomfortable both of us were, but sharing the same bed and being under the same blanket with a person you’re only platonic with is pretty… uhh… awkward. Like, REALLY awkward.

“You really had to choose to be in the same bed with me, huh? You’re a freak, Raven.”

“I’m not sleeping on the fucking couch, Carmilla.” A slight pause after that sentence. Both of us went dead silent. My nerves are racking.

“Ooh, tension. Can you feel it?” she said to break the silence.

“Shut up. Don’t you even bring up the tension we’re both feeling being in the same bed.”

“To be fair, this is your bed — not ours. Whatever we do on this bed is your responsibility.”

“It’s not like I’m going to touch you in my sleep.”

“Huh, that’s weird. You immediately thought of touching me.”

“Wha– No, I mean like I won’t do bad sh–”

With her index finger, she placed it on my lips, as if to shush me from whatever I was going to say. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

“You can really feel the tension now, hm?”

“Carmi, please–”

“Carmi? You’re so nervous you made a new nickname for me? Adorable of you~”

“Dude, GO TO SLEEP. I DON’T WANT TO DEAL WITH YOUR BITCH-ASS UNTIL THE WAKE OF DAWN.”

Screw this sorry-ass life of mine. Good thing it’s a Saturday tomorrow. I can’t believe I have to deal with this monster for the rest of my college days when she moves in.

“Fine, holy shit. So annoying.”

In the end, she fell asleep in my arms and we cuddled each other to sleep. As friends. As friends. I never knew her face could be so cute when she isn’t so rowdy. It was nice to see that side of her; I wish she could show it more.