I'm Your Wreck

4- Quality Over Quantity

I hit my head on the sloped ceiling of my bedroom two times on Monday morning as I tossed on a pair of basketball shorts and a black tee. On the second thud against my temple, I let out a curse under my breath, slung my school back over one shoulder, and headed downstairs.

There was just enough time for me to toast a bagel in the kitchen before it would be time to head to my first class of the day, sports marketing. Not a class that I was particularly looking forward to, but one that came highly recommended by my adviser.

While I waited for the toaster to finish its job, I pulled out my phone to check a message from my sister.

Quinn: Knock 'em dead, baby bro!

Liam: Not my first day of kindergarten, Q

Quinn: Still. One step closer to being a real adult!

"Hey," Banks greeted me with a deep yawn as he walked through the archway of the kitchen. He went straight for the fridge and pulled out a sandwich wrapped in paper towels. "I was thinking, since we have this first class together and I have no idea where I'm going, we could walk together."

"Sure," I said, trying not to grimace at the thought. He wasn't really that bad, from the few conversations I'd had with him so far, but the comment he made yesterday about Walker really rubbed me the wrong way. "Didn't Ollie show you around?"

"He tried to, but we got distracted by the Wing Stop across from the Union, so we didn't make it very far," he explained with a shrug, tossing the sandwich into the microwave. "You know they have like forty different wing sauces?"

"Yeah." I couldn't help but laugh at how eager he was about sauce. "That's not the best wing place near campus though, no matter what your idiot cousin says. Wingin' It doesn't have as many sauce combos, but their wings are objectively better."

"Sauce is more important than wing. Everybody knows that."

"Quality over quantity."

"Alright," he said with an easy laugh. "I guess I won't make a final decision until I've had both."

The toaster ejected my bagel with more force than necessary, so I grabbed a paper towel and slathered on some cream cheese. "Walker likes the wings at Poppy's Pizza, but they're basically cardboard."

As if remembering the awkward conversation from yesterday when he insulted my friend, his shoulders slumped and he went quiet. Luckily, the silence was cut short by the beep of the microwave and then we were on our way, leaving through the front door and following the sidewalk that led us to the bustling campus.

"Hey, about Walker. I really wasn't trying to be a dick," Banks said through a bite of his breakfast. "His girlfriend is objectively very hot, I meant it as a compliment."

I chewed my bagel as slow as I could to avoid having to respond right away.

"It's like in Parks and Rec, you know?" he kept going. "Everybody makes that joke about Jerry, and everybody loves Jerry."

"I've never seen Parks and Rec."

"What, like not even one episode?" he asked with his eyebrows knitted together in concern, like I just told him I have three weeks to live.

I shook my head in the negative. "Nope."

"What about The Office?"

Again, I answered with a shake of my head.

"Okay, I'm not saying they're like, the best shows ever, but they are culturally significant. The origin of 'treat yo self' and 'galentine's day'," he explained to me. Even at nine in the morning, the guy really liked to talk. "What shows do you like to watch then?"