As the girls dragged me to the campus café during lunch break, I was about to pass out from lack of sleep. I let myself be dragged because unlike them, I hadn't planned to stay at school. Since I hadn't slept the night before, I'd planned to go home and pass out the moment my morning classes ended.
And the reason for my sleeplessness was preparing study notes for the upcoming exam week. Exhausted, I glanced at my friends who had clung to both my arms.
"Please, for the love of everything, let me go home and sleep. Is it the last day of school or something? We can hang out tomorrow."
"Cut it out, Red! A few more hours without sleep won't kill you! We haven't seen your face since the party."
Seeing that Feyza had zero intention of showing mercy, I turned to Aylin with my sweetest smile.
"Aylin, my favorite friend, save me from this Hitler. I'll buy you your favorite cake on the way home. Promise!"
"You know I'm on a diet, Duru. And sorry, but Sapphire is right. We're not prying, but try to understand us too. We miss you, girl!"
I bowed my head in defeat. Without protesting, I let them drag me into the café and seat me at a table with wide, comfy chairs. Even as I stared at the chair thinking, "so soft, perfect for curling up and sleeping," my eyes were already closing.
"Don't even think about it, Duru. Aylin, order her a tar-black coffee so we can actually see her eyes."
Aylin laughed and called the waiter over. After ordering, both of them fixed their eyes on me.
"What? What now?"
"Don't you think it's time you finally talked?"
I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes at Feyza's words. I couldn't believe I'd fallen for the 'we missed you' lie. Clearly, the goal here was to interrogate me.
"Don't you two have studying to do? You know, with exams being next week and all—might come in handy."
"Says the girl who has to be tied to a desk to study."
I was about to respond to Aylin's jab when a cheerful voice chirped right beside us, making all three of us turn.
"Duru! I've been looking for you for days. Where have you been?"
Apparently all my bad karma was being cashed in on the same day. When Nil excitedly sat beside me, I forced my half-closed eyes open and muttered tiredly,
"What's up? Did something happen?"
"I wanted to thank you for saving us from Burcu."
I didn't think I knew anyone by that name. Stifling a yawn, I asked again:
"Burcu?"
"Kerem's girlfriend. Well… ex-girlfriend."
Under the drilling stares of Aylin and Feyza, I protested with whatever energy I had left.
"Don't look at me like that! I don't know any more than you do."
Then I turned back to Nil. "Please just explain everything properly from the beginning!"
Without hesitation, she happily launched into the story.
"Burcu and Kerem started dating at the beginning of the first semester last year. Kerem soon realized the girl wasn't normal and broke up with her, but she couldn't accept the breakup and became obsessed with him. She didn't just follow him everywhere he went—she also drove both him and us crazy with constant jealousy fits.
"Naturally, the same thing happened when she saw you and Kerem in the kitchen at the party. She waited for everyone to leave and then caused a huge scene when we were alone. The weird part is, Burcu usually never gives up easily. She would've normally kept calling all of us one by one until Kerem talked to her again, but since that night, she hasn't bothered any of us."
Perfect. Now the girls were looking at me like they were about to murder me. There was no doubt they were misunderstanding the "she saw us in the kitchen" part. So I rushed to defend myself.
"Nothing happened the way you're imagining! When I left you to go to the bathroom, I realized I was hungry. Naturally, I went to the kitchen to grab something to eat. Right after me, Kerem showed up. After a short three–five sentence conversation, just as I was about to return to you, someone who acted like Kerem's girlfriend walked in.
"When I noticed she was bothered by me, I didn't drag it out—I just left them alone and went outside. Then the strong drinks I'd had on an empty stomach made my stomach hurt, so I decided to go home. That's all there is to it. I didn't even know the girl's name until just now."
Nil laughed cheerfully and slung her arm around my shoulder.
"If you only knew how many times I wanted to tear that girl apart but kept quiet for Kerem's sake. But thanks to you, we're finally rid of her."
Sighing in exhaustion from repeating myself, I muttered, "I don't get why you all think this has anything to do with me. I'm glad she isn't bothering you anymore, but there's no way their breakup has anything to do with me."
At that, a hesitant expression appeared on Nil's face.
"To be honest, we haven't exactly figured that part out either. Burcu kept talking as if Kerem was cheating on her with you. She rambled about a sketch, a sleeping girl, and a bunch of other nonsense. Then she crossed the line completely and exhausted Kerem's patience. When she went as far as insulting you, Kerem didn't even let her keep talking—he ended it right there."
As soon as I got over my shock, I snapped in anger.
"Cheating? We can't even talk for five minutes without getting on each other's nerves—forget that, I didn't even know what Kerem looked like until two weeks ago! Is she insane or what?!"
Just then, the waiter set our orders on the table. I grabbed the mug placed in front of me and took a huge gulp of coffee in frustration.
"Ah! Hot!"
"Calm down, Duru."
As I wiped my mouth with the napkin my friend handed me, I spoke in defeat.
"You try being calm, Aylin! Cheating, she says! What nonsense!"
"What cheating, sweetheart? They weren't even dating. It was all just the girl's fantasy. And here you are, stressing over a relationship that never even existed."
When I sighed unhappily and leaned back, Feyza chimed in to support Aylin.
"Aylin's right. Don't stress over something that has nothing to do with you. From what Nil said, she sounds like a seriously unstable type anyway. She's not worth taking seriously."
"I'm sorry, Duru. It was my mistake. I didn't look at it from your perspective, but I guess you're right to be upset."
I turned to Nil, who was looking at me guiltily, and shook my head with a forced smile.
"Don't worry. The problem has nothing to do with you. I'm just extremely sleep-deprived, so I probably overreacted."
"I know exactly what will cheer you up."