Gemotions

"Did you take my pen?" Chloe asked, her voice sharper than she intended. She was looking at her roommate, Jess, who was engrossed in a novel. The pen, a sentimental gift, had been on her desk the previous night. Now it was gone.

Jess looked up, a casual shrug on her shoulders. "Nope," she said, without even glancing away from the book.

Chloe’s chest tightened. She knew, with a certainty that chilled her to the bone, that Jess was lying. The journal, she realised, had been a mistake. She had bared her soul to that book, and now, that vulnerability felt like a betrayal.

She turned away, fighting the urge to tear the book from Jess’s hands. She didn't want to see Jess. She didn't want to be in the same room. A throbbing headache started to bloom behind her eyes.