Prerequisites For Love (Sample Chapters Only)

Chapter 1-1

I take the stairs to our campus apartment way too fast. Stacy and I have been living here since we started college a year ago. She insisted we get a three-bedroom apartment, so she can use the extra room for the new clothes she anticipates buying. Stacy, Brad, and I grew up in the same bubble community in LA. The place where only money and perception matter. My mother is firmly in that bubble, and Stacy is happy living in one too. Stacy is a shopaholic, but who am I to judge, because I was just like her a year ago. But since we've moved in together and we're spending even more time together in college than in high school, my patience is thinning. And it takes patience and effort to keep up the fake life.

Brad is the hot boy-next-door. His family has always lived next to us, and we went to school together. One day, my mom set me up with him. I complied because that is what's expected from me. Dating him during high school helped me avoid the other guys. If it weren't Brad, my mom would've matched me with someone else. Someone who met her prerequisites.

I sigh.

Stacy is standing in the middle of our living room, her long blond hair coming down in waves on her shoulders. Her eyes are bloody red. I haven't seen her since I left the bar last night while she was playing pool with Brad. I assume she has a hangover. Given the moaning I heard late last night, I'd say she'd picked up someone from the bar and brought him here, which happens often. Her longest relationship was two weeks.

"Are you okay?" her voice is a whisper.

She's acting weird, too. By now she would've already hugged me and opened up a bottle of wine, which we would drink in the next hour, discussing how all men are mean and heartless. I've done it with her enough times. But instead, she's grounded in her spot.

I lean on the kitchen countertop and groan. "Honestly, I didn't see myself with Brad forever. I don't know what I was thinking, Stacy..." I trail off when I see her mouth moving, but words don't come out.

"You're not mad?" she finally manages to say. Tears start gushing down her cheeks, but as I look closer, I realize she's been crying for a while. My stomach churns.

"I'm mad at Brad, but... I guess I'm mad at... myself too."

Stacy's eyes are widening, and she puts her hand on her mouth as a loud sob escapes. I freeze.

"Listen, K."

I swallow a bitter taste. Somehow deep down, I've known it all along but denied it. My chest tightens.

"Brad didn't tell you, I assume." She's stuttering, trying to take a breath. Her lips are pale and dry, but her cheeks are streaked with mascara.

My lungs are not letting air in just as my brain is not letting her words in.

"I'm really sorry...so sorry, K."

I can barely understand her from her loud sobbing. I'd usually run to her for a hug, but I can't bring myself to even move an inch toward her. A dull pain settles deep in my chest.

"Stacy. Tell me what's going on."

All color has left her face. "Brad and I hooked up last night." Her voice is a whisper.

My hand flies to cover my mouth. The moans. "Oh, God. That was...you two?" My throat constricts. I thought my heart couldn't take on more, but here I am again with a stabbing pain in my chest.

I put my hand over my chest as if I can stop my heart from bursting out. But then anger overtakes me, flooding my already-injured soul. My hands shake, and I squeeze them into fists.

"Why would you do this to me? You threw all our years of friendship out the window." I can't recognize my hoarse voice, which is full with frustration.