After waking up with a bad crook in my neck, and a painful slip in my side- I gave myself an easy 5 minutes to actually stand. I must've slept in the most absolutely painful position possible.
Oh right. I slept in the tub.
I gave off a groan of annoyance, slowly leaving the bathroom to remember what had gone down last night. I wasn't too upset anymore, after all, it is a Friday. I was just fearing what my roommate would say about the slap. IF he even decided to talk to me.
Not like I cared if he did or not.
I looked around the dorm, spotting that both my bed, and my roommates bed were vacant. Where had he gone off too?
Just as I stepped away from the cracked open door, a hard force came down against my shoulder, making me jump out of my socks.
"Jesus Christ!" My roommates voice sounded in return to my.. Abnormal feminine-like scream.
I turned quick enough to shoot him a frustrated, yet shaken, glare.
"Don't do that!" I barked.
He cocked a brow, then crossed his arms slowly and gave off a sickeningly attractive smirk. Not attractive, did I say attractive? I meant stupid. Him and his stupid face.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" I looked him up and down furiously.
"You slapped me last night, didn't you?" He pointed at me as if he were an interrogator, seeming like he didn't even believe his own words. "Right across the cheek."
"You were being rude, what else did you expect me to do?" I looked away.
"I don't know, maybe cut me a bit of slack? Haven't you ever been high? You say some crazy shit. I may have even forgotten that you would've hit me on the first place if I didn't see your scared little face peeking out of the bathroom when I was cooking toast."
"No, in my case, I've never been high." I scowled. "Smoking is a disgusting act that should've never been created in the first place."
"Hmm.. Tell that to the slave owners back in the 1800's." He grinned, as if he had caught me in a trap.
"So, Mr. Death Wish knows his history. Maybe your not so useless after all." I wrinkled my nose in distaste, crossing my own arms.
"Oh trust me, the second you try and convince me that my life isn't how I want it to be- I'll line you up like a football and punt you out the window. Loser." The pad of his finger pressed into my sternum, sending a jolt of discomfort through my chest.
"Well thanks for the tip. I wasn't interested anyway." I hissed, then turned to grab my bag.
To spare myself the uncomfortably thick silence, I decided to skip breakfast, and headed directly to the door in an attempt at a fine escape with the last word. Unfortunately, this guy was a snake in human clothing.
He slithered his way in front of the door to slam it closed right when I opened it a crack. He glared down at me with a fiery rage that I'd never seen anywhere else. A pit formed in my stomach, as the fear began to settle back in. That's when I realized something.
He was just another person. An invaluable, annoying, procrastinating, drunkard who wouldn't give a damn if his arms and legs were cut off.
"Get out of my way." I ordered, reforming my position to stand my ground.
The boy seemed surprised, but he didn't show it, only through those dark eyes. Those deep dark eyes, swirling with curiosity, confusion, and... Sorrow? Maybe I was seeing selfishness.
"Do I have to repeat myself? Move." I demanded once again.
"Not until you tell me who you think you are." He narrowed his gaze, clearly threatening me.
"Well, I think you're insane, and I need to get to class-" I reached for the handle again, only for his firm grip to wrap around my wrist.
"Hey, let me-" I tugged at my hand in an attempt to set it free from its restraint.
"Tell me who you think you are." He lowered his voice to a demanding growl.
A cold shiver ran down my spine, and I fell silent. The dominance that severed his tone made my entire frame of courage that I had built, melt into a puddle of hopeless dreams.
My weakness must have been a sign for him to regain his confident, cocky stature. He pinned my wrist up against the wall, followed by my second to glare down at me- smirking soon after.
"You really are a nothing.. Huh?" He stated through a calm, mocking lace.
I opened my mouth to respond, but he cut me off again.
"You know, you're kind will always take the blunt end of the stick. Good for nothing, know-it-all, suck-up's that only care about themselves and their education. Why waste the time on yourself? College isn't just a place to learn you know. You're just too dull to see what it can be at heart."
A small part of me wanted to lash out at him, shove him off and curse him out. The other half was just... Listening. The words he'd spoken, although painful, made sense. Maybe I do focus on my education too much...
No. He's wrong.
"Get off me." I squirmed with a snarl.
A scoff of disappointment led me into a pit of confusion, before it was quickly replaced with anger as he shoved me into the door. When I say into, I mean into. My body thumped against it, and all he had to do was practically flick me a foot to the left.
He must work out. Wait, no. He's just specialized in the art of being a jerk.
He stomped off into the kitchen, leading me to my escape as I headed off down the hall. I was relieved to be out and away, but a sliver of me was still curious as to what I would've done if I'd stayed and confronted him again. He'd probably hit me. I don't feel like having a broken nose for the next month. I think I made the right choice.
I headed off down the street after finishing up class, aiming for the cafe where Cassidy had planned a meeting. Apparently, she wanted me to help her with math homework, but if you've known Cassidy Farmnook for as long as I have, that will never happen.
I arrived at the cafe, sitting down to wait for her while I ordered myself a banana shake. Shakes and smoothies have got to be my favorite treat, other than ice cream, and although they never live up to the standards of my mothers world class, homemade, icy cold goodness- they're an alright substitute.
Halfway through my thoughts of my mother and her creamy smoothies, the door to the cafe opened- and Cassidy made her entrance. Reflective shades falling over her eyes, black and white stripped crop top without shoulders hovering over her chest, revealing a surprisingly toned middle for a woman who eats so much ice cream. Her black denim shorts that road up to the base of her butt made me want to crack up. But her glossy mane of chocolate brunette hair is what made my stomach flip when it bounced gracefully over her shoulders on her strut in, smirk plastered and head held high. And no, before anyone gets the idea that I'm in love with Cassidy, it is completely and utterly false. She's my best friend, and we stop at that. Of course I think that her complexion is absolutely, incomprehensibly, breathtakingly stunning- but any guy would be able to see that.
"Staring are we?" Cassidy stood in front of my table, hands on her hips as she grinned at me.
By habit, a cherry red color rose to my face, but I was easily able to scarf it back down.
"I mean, I wouldn't be lying if I told you that you look like a million bucks. Are you horny?" I teased.
She only burst into laughter, sitting down across from me.
"Maybe, maybe not. You'll never know." She soothed playfully.
"Ooooo, that cuts deep." I snickered through a sip of my shake.
I noticed a couple of male heads turned in our direction. Well, Cassidys direction. When she had sat down with me however, all eyes seemed to pierce through my head like lasers. I could tell what they all were thinking, and not the oh-so-obvious inappropriate business that couldn't possible get anymore annoying- but rather the fact that everyone who had caught a glimpse of my gorgeous friend, looked like they wanted to kill me for it.
"So, math homework. Correct?" I cocked my head to the side, preparing to fire up my math gears.
"Weeeell," She looked around aimlessly for a moment, obviously concocting an excuse.
I know this girl too well.
"You don't have any, do you." I lifted my head to stare 'down' at her.
"Well I knew you most likely wouldn't have come out of your stuffy dorm if I didn't have another excuse." She rolled her eyes.
"Oh please, I'd kill for an opportunity to get out of the house." I huffed, flicking the tip of the spoon sticking into my shake.
"Bad mattress?" She looked at her nails, clean and filed.
"Not exactly."
"Too small?"
"Almost."
"Bad smell?"
"Weeeell-"
"Come on, what else could it possibly be that you hate about this room? I mean, I've had my fair share of bad rooms in the past, and you sure do complain about a lot of things. A dorm, well, there's no real problem with dorms other than those few things. Of course, you could live in a frat house but that's easily ten times worse than a silly old dorm-"
If it's hard to tell, Cassidy is a rambler. A bad case too. She could go on for hours without stopping to breath. Sometimes, it freaks me out.
I looked past her while she was still talking to spot the door opening. And who could have picked just the right time to walk on in? That's right.
My roommate.
With that smug little grin on his stupid face, that wavy rats nest of a hair dew, and those expensive clothes that scream, 'I'm only here to get laid.' I mean, of course heads had turned to stare. Four hot college guys walking into a cafe to eat in front of a bunch of thirsty girls? How predictable could they be. Of course, I don't think their hot- none of them. I'm just speculating from a professional angle, it's kind of what I do.
"Are you even listening? I'm trying to give you pointers here." Cassidy broke through my trance.
My eyes slowly rolled back to her.
She narrowed her own, then turned around to look at the boy band taking a seat and a nearby booth.
"Oh. My. God," She stared dreamily at them for a moment- then smirked. "You were staring huh?"
"What? No I wasn't." I grumbled.
"Oh come on, you were so staring! You staring at Taylor Lavoil huh? The cute surfer boy with long blonde hair. No? Maybe Darrel Hanson, the handsome smarty on the left. I hear he's a book worm-" She suddenly paused and stared me down like a hungry wolf.
A long silence passed.
"No." She stated firmly.
"What?"
"No, no, no, you were not staring at Lance." She pointed in my face.
"Who?"
"Lance Baker? The male prostitute? Solo el loco? Totally gorgeous, but the biggest playboy ever? Seriously?"
"Doesn't ring a bell." I shrugged, clearly uninterested. I think.
I watched my roommate closely, then the guy to the right. Taylor Lavoil. The guy to the left, Darrel Hansen. The guy in the middle, Vinny Crow. I knew him in highschool. Social awkward, band freak to rocker hair, prankster. Still as nice as ever though.
But that only meant one thing...
Lance Baker was my roommate?