"I can't help you if we're both having the same problem, Rat." I groan, frustrated with my own lack of problem-solving skills when it comes to the page of applied mathematical equations that we've been struggling with for the past half an hour.

"Well sorry for checking in to see if you've gotten it yet, seeing as you haven't done anything but whine since we got here." Reed sticks her tongue out at me and goes back to pressing her pen to the paper without moving it.

"I don't whine," I mutter. "And we both know that we wouldn't still be stuck here if we had just called—" Reed cuts me off by standing up abruptly from her chair and gathering her things. I put one of my hands over hers, paste an understanding smile on my face, and look up at her. "I know you think space will help—" She opens her mouth but I rush to finish my sentence "—and maybe it would if both parties knew what the purpose of the space is? I know you think he doesn't care, but he does." I tell her, trying not to reveal the extent of it, feeling like I've already betrayed the bro code in some way.

Reed looks down at me and slumps in her chair, crossing her arms on the table and hiding her face in them. "I don't know what else to do. Even having a boyfriend didn't help last time." She mumbles and I grimace at the thought of Garrett, her ex.

"How could telling him how you feel possibly be worse than this?" I ask softly. I'm leaning closer when her head snaps up, eyes wide with disbelief.

"Are you serious? We could come back from this. If I told him..." She shakes her head, eyes wide and on the verge of bloodshot. "I love him, Xan. Not just like that...but like family. He's my safe place." Her eyes are watery and red and I have to stop myself from cursing aloud. I've never once seen Reed cry, not even when she and her long-term boyfriend broke up last year on less than good terms, causing her to seek comfort with us in our room more often than not.

"I know. C'mere." I hold my arms out and she does, walking into them. Sitting down, my head only reaches her stomach, but she wraps her arms around my head. Feeling her restrained sobs from the convulsing of her stomach muscles I squeeze her hard, wishing that there was something that I could do to help my friends. They need to fix this themselves because my involvement would only make it all worse. I can be on the sidelines as support for each of them.

"Well, it looks like I showed up at the perfect time. Let me in on this." I hear and reflexively squeeze Reed harder, knowing that she'll want to run. Before she can pull back from me and look at me with the betrayal that I know fills her dark green eyes, I shake my head against her stomach and whisper "didn't call him" before letting her go.

I stand up to put space between Reed and Farris, and my guess is that she's trying to pull herself together while she can hide behind my back, before Farris can see her like this. "Enough hugging. Reed was just about to sleep off this assignment, but I need all the help I can get." I dismiss her as casually as I can and feel a soft hand on my back through the fabric of my t-shirt. Farris tries to peek behind me, hope in his eyes, but I try to distract him with my math textbook.

Spoiler alert, it doesn't work.

"Hey Buttercup. Stay a while." Farris says casually, but it's impossible not to hear the slight pleading in his tone. Reed looks relatively composed when she turns around and smiles, sitting down as if she's entirely unaffected but the tension between the two is obvious and palpable.

"I'll stay long enough to use you for the answers to this damn assignment." She laughs stiffly and plays off his effect on her, subtly avoiding eye contact with Farris as he pulls up the seat on the other side of hers and gravitates closer to her, the same way they've always done.

"Use me all you want, baby. I'm yours for the night." Farris says and my eyes widen. I want to throttle my best friend for being so fucking oblivious, but Reed doesn't react, externally anyway, laughing it off like everything is back to normal when in reality, it is far from it.

"All right. Enough, I don't know what angel sent you here, but we've been here long enough. Let's get this over with." I say, taking the lead in explaining the equations to Farris so that he can get started in helping us with solving them. It pays to have a mathematics major as your roommate.

Farris attempts to win Reed over the entire time by being extremely patient, completely unlike his usual self. He even limits his playful and teasing nature, probably able to predict the outcome of that. I understand his behaviour, I'd feel insecure in my relationship if I were in his position.

"Beach day next Sunday? Before the weather gets too gloomy?" Farris throws out randomly and I look to see Reed, whose eyes are glazed over and zoned out, nodding in agreement. I don't think she even knows what she signed up for, and I resolve to get her out of here before she unknowingly commits herself to anything else.

"Thanks for coming to help us out, Fare. I promised Maddie that I'd bring Reed over, so I'll be back to the dorm in a bit? Order a pizza and I'll pay." I say in a rush as I help Reed gather her things and leave out the back entrance of the library before Farris can get a word in.

Reed looks up at me with relief and my shoulders slump. "I can't keep doing this. Helping you hurts him. Helping him would hurt you. You gotta figure out a way for everyone to win." I point out unhelpfully and she nods, lost in thought as she toes the lines in the pavement.

"I know." She sighs. "I know. I will. We'll talk. I'll talk to him...figure something out." She says but I don't get my hopes up. Reed doesn't realize that as hard as she tries to save their friendship, the way she's doing it will only make it worse. She's playing a losing game, and it seems that I've signed up to be collateral damage.