"𝙔𝙚𝙖𝙝, 𝙄 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧, 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡
𝙊𝙧 𝙄 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙
𝘿𝙞𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙗
𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙙𝙚"

-ˏ͛⑅　‧̥̥͙‧̥̥ ̥ ̮ ̥ ⊹ ‧̫‧ ⊹ ̥ ̮ ̥ ‧̥̥‧̥̥͙　⑅ˏ͛-

(Two weeks after Chapter 3)

Resting on my bed after a long day of classes....well, I say long day, but I only had three classes. And it was only noon.

So maybe....resting on my bed after a short day of relatively easy classes? Yeah, something like that.

I was just laying there, staring up at the ceiling. My Walkman was on my chest, the disc inside spinning quickly as it played the "This is Your Bloody Valentine" album by...what was the name again? The band name was "My Bloody Valentine".

"This is your Bloody Valentine".....by "My Bloody Valentine." It wasn't the most creative name, but hey! I liked their music.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the door to the room open, and a flash of red entered the room. Ah, that would be none other than my roommate, Jessica. She was relatively young, only 18 while I was 21. But she was pretty alright. A bit annoying and chirpy, sure, but that was only because she hadn't lost her will to live yet. When she turns 20, she'll mellow out a bit.

Without lifting my head up to fully look at her, I raised my hand up and waved.

I assumed that she was only coming back to grab some homework she forgot- maybe her purse. She normally had classes until 5pm, making the rookie mistake of trying to pack in all of her classes in one semester. The poor thing was already shaking under the weight of her workload.

But Jessica leaned over my bed, her dark red hair flowing onto my face like some sort of curtain. She wore a curious look, her dark eyes wide and her mouth opened. She was saying something, wasn't she? Too bad I couldn't hear. Thanks, music.

I frowned and hit her hair off of my face, closing my eyes to pretend like I didn't see her.

No such luck. My headphones were yanked away.

"Hey!" I cried. This was an outrage! Inexcusable! Hair in my face was fine, but taking away my music? The only thing that was making life bearable in this exact moment? No way! "I was listening to that, you jerk!"

I sat up and tried to grab the headphones out of her hand, but Jessica hummed and took a step away from my bed, where she was just out of reach.

"I heard you've been hanging out with a boy!" She said with a funny little hopping motion- she hasn't gotten rid of her high school gossip dance, it appears...

I only raised my brows, scoffing under my breath "Oh yeah? And where'd you get your information from? Who's your source?"

"Me!" Jessica said with a roll of her eyes "I say 'I heard', but I've seen you hanging out with a guy! I never went up to you to ask, so I just asked around with the upperclassmen to see what was up, and they said you've been going out with Mickey Altieri?" Her eyes, miraculously, went wider, and she leaned in a little closer, as if she could smell my growing wariness.

"Uhm, first of all," I started, snatching my Walkman and headphones out of her hand as she scooted closer "It's none of your business who I hang out with. Second of all, why did you have to go around campus asking for the dirt on me? And third!" I held up a hand, letting it fall onto the bed with a soft thud "Why did you not just ask me?"

Jessica gave a giggle, practically skipping to her side of the room and jumping up on her bed "Well, I couldn't just ask you! I mean, that's not how girls work. Especially not with boys! Plus, I felt...I dunno, like a detective, going around getting the inside scoop!" She began to fidget with her long and straight hair, twirling a strand in between her finger.

I blinked. This was so far out of her business, she had to climb a ladder to stick her nose in it- but what was I supposed to say? If I refused to tell her anything now, she'd only get more curious and then she'd go around asking for MORE dirt on me.

"Look, we're not going out, as you so gracefully put it," I said with a sigh "We're just friends. Sometimes not even that, he's annoying as hell."

"Mmhmm, and you're such good 'friends'....is that why you sneak out so often to see him?" She hummed with a grin. "Is that why you spend all your free time with him? Even though he's just sooooo annoying?"

I froze, narrowing my eyes at her. I had...yes, I had snuck out of the dorm once or twice to meet up with Mickey. Just for a late-night snack, nothing weird. And I suppose I had been spending quite a bit of time with him the past week or so.

After our first time getting coffee together (even though we ended up getting water), it seemed like we solidified a friendship by dumping water on the other. Like some sort of secret ritual had been performed that made us "besties", as Jessica would say. Even after I signed off on his "campus buddy" points, he kind of stuck around me, almost forcing me to hang out with him. Not that I had too much of an issue with that. He even asked me to helped him with some video shots for his film class, dropping a few hints that he would love to have some more "film" of me. But every time he mentioned that, I punched his shoulder, only forcing Mickey to make even cruder jokes hinting at sexual meanings.

And, yes, I guess I have been spending every free minute I had with Mickey. He was pretty funny, despite how annoying I claimed he was. Being around him made me feel like I did when I was a kid: no worries, no stress! He acted like he didn't have a single care in the world, and his attitude rubbed off on me eventually. And even if I started to get annoyed with him, he had introduced me to his own personal circle of friends, so I could easily pass him off on them like an unwanted child or ditch him to hang out with Sidney. Or Randy. Or even Hallie.

"I know it's hard to believe," I started after a moment's hesitation "But I can have friends without wanting to hook up with them, alright? I'm not some sex-crazed teen who sees a guy and thinks 'oh, yeah, I'd do him'."

"No!" Jessica laughed "You say that, but trust me, sooner or later it all boils down to one thing~"

"Oh, shut your mouth." I cried, picking up my pillow and tossing it towards the redhead. It hit her with a satisfying thump sound "I think I know more about this shit than you, alright, young child?"

"Ouh-pmh-" She huffed, throwing the pillow back at me with a weak toss "Well, if you're going to pull the 'I'm older than you' card, then fine! Go ahead and strut your stuff with Altieri. But the minute you find yourself next to bed with him, then I fully expect an apology."

"Okay, okay." I promised "I'll give you an apology on a handwritten card, and I'll even throw in twenty bucks, how's that sound?"

"Great. Now I have to get to class, but remember what I said!" She warned, standing up and grabbing her backpack, keeping her eyes focused on me as she began to walk out of the room backwards "Remember...I'm watching you~"

I only rolled my eyes at her. Yes, Jessica was extremely annoying at times, but at least she had a good heart. She wasn't meaning to be rude and nosy half the time- it more often than not came out of a place of genuine concern. But sometimes that concern was ill-timed. Or maybe she just didn't know it in the right way.

As I put my headphones back on and tried to get back in the mood to listening to my music...well, I just couldn't do it. The mood was ruined, great!

I sat back up with a dramatic groan, flicking the Walkman off and tossing it onto my nightstand. Well, what was I supposed to do now?

I glanced at my flip-phone, that sat on the edge of my desk a few feet away. Was it weird to call him after what Jessica had said? Was it only proving her point?

Oh, who cares? It's not her friendship, it's mine!

I stood up and walked over to the desk, sitting down in the small chair beside it and flipping open the phone. The most recent contact was, of course, Altieri, so I clicked on his name and held the phone up to my ear, listening to the familiar chime of an outgoing call.

"Yo what the fuck are you calling me for, I'm in the middle of class," a hushed whisper hissed as soon as he picked up the call.

"Oh, my bad." I said in a monotone, not sorry in the least "Why'd you pick up, then?"

He paused "Good question. What do you want?" His voice was still low, but slightly echoing...my best guess was that he excused himself from the class and went into the hallway for some privacy. Boom, I'm a genius.

"I'm bored." I responded.

"So? I miss the part where that's my problem."

"How about I come up to your class and make it your problem?"

Mickey laughed, a loud sound before he suddenly quieted himself. I could hear the deep voice of an old person speaking, and Mickey saying something in response before he came back to the call "Shit- some old man just started telling me that someone crapped up the bathrooms- like, do I look like the janitor?"

"With that hairline and crazed look in your eyes?" I asked "You betcha."

He grumbled something I couldn't hear "So you're bored- go do something. Leave me be, I have classes to attend. Unlike you, I'm studying for my career."

"Ay, I am studying!" I hissed defensively "I just don't know what my career is yet. Maybe I'll be a film director with a degree in psychology and child care."

"None of that made any sense, you moron."

"Ugh, just come with me to do something, please?" I groaned "I'm so bored, Mick."

"Well, that's too bad. I have plans with a friend after this class."

"This 'friend' isn't a sly reference to me, is it?" I tried.

"No, dipshit, it's Randy." He paused before letting out a sigh "Look, he's having a movie night later tonight. Well, it's a whole thing in the boy's dorm. I hear the RA's even letting a few chicks slide by to make it more fun. There's gonna be beer, food, all that fun stuff. If you're still bored by tonight, maybe you could come to it?"

I perked up. Now that seemed interesting. A bunch of college students drunk off of their asses? With movies? With even the Room Advisors letting girls slip in to party? Fun...

"What time?" I asked.

"Mm, sometime around 6, I guess. I'll swing by your room around 5:40-ish. You can't really get in unless you know someone- lucky you, eh?"

I rolled my eyes "You know what room is mine?"

"Yeah, Room 304. On the third floor." he said without missing a beat "Your roommate put those tacky little flowers on the door."

"Stalker," I snorted "I'll be waiting for you then."

"It's a date."

"Ew, don't say that."

"Oh, yeah, my bad," he hummed "I wouldn't want to go out on any form of date with someone who looked like a chewed-up rat."

"Say what you want, but at least I don't get mistaken for a janitor." I snarked, hanging up the phone before he could have a comeback.

.　 . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆

A/N Note:

My two forms of thought while writing so far:

"No, slow yourself, pAcE the relationship, it's gotta be a friends to lovers slow burn~"

"MAKE THEM KISS AND CUDDLE DO IT NOW- TIMESKIP TO THE KISS PLEASE-"

Anyway, hope you're enjoying the story so far :)