“Positive,” I lied, making her huff in annoyance and drop the conversation. This was payback for stealing my Burberry sweater last week and spilling a strawberry margarita all down the front. That overly-sweet sugary shit was hard to get out.

“Do you have class today?” she asked. I raised my eyebrow. She probably didn’t even know what day of the week it was.

“Yep,” I said distractedly, eyeing the bright green apple on the kitchen island. “First day of the new semester.”

“Nice,” she replied half-heartedly. I continued to stare longingly at the Granny Smith apple on our kitchen island, mentally calculating its nutritional value as Shelby continued. It looked to be about seven ounces. One hundred and two calories. Twenty-four grams of carbs. If I skipped the bus to class and jogged for about twelve minutes, it would be enough to burn it off.

Shelby was rambling about something, but doing mental food math took all of my brainpower. My stomach growled, and I reached for my water bottle to take a drink. “Amanda,” Shelby said, drawing my attention back to her. “Did you listen to a word I said?”

No. I didn’t. But Shelby took it personally when she felt like I was ignoring her, so I lied. “Yep.”

“So you don’t mind? Awesome! It won’t be full nudes. I’m thinking a couple of shots of him in a towel and—”

“What?” I cut her off. I wasn’t exactly sure what I’d agreed to. Shelby sighed in annoyance before explaining.

“I found the perfect subject for my next exhibition. It’ll make a huge statement about the human body and resilience.” Her voice had that faraway quality to it that she usually got when she spoke of her art.

“So basically, you found a hot guy with a six-pack and lured him here for a photo shoot.”

“You know me so well,” she deadpanned. “He’s an athlete actually. I’m going to do some commentary about how we sell our bodies for higher education. It’ll be great.” Shelby waved her hand for emphasis, and I forced myself not to roll my eyes at my eccentric roommate.

“Well, I’m supposed to start my internship today, so I’ll be late.”

“Perfect,” Shelby replied. “Can we use your room? The layout in there is perfect for my lighting kit and—”

“Absolutely not.”

“Right. Right,” Shelby said with a tight smile and a wink. She was totally going to take nude photos on my bed. My door didn’t have a lock on it, either. I was just about to yell at her when I saw my phone ringing. Mom.

“I gotta go to class,” I told Shelby, swiping the apple off the countertop.

“Yeah, yeah. Get out of here so I can go nap,” Shelby relented.

Once I was outside of my apartment, I quickly answered my cell phone and made my way down to the street. “Hey, Mom.”