"I can't believe this is happening" You exclaimed in excitement as you carried your suitcase inside the two bedroomed dorm.
"You and me both" he said as he lugged the heavy baggage behind you. Though he agreed with you, the tone was the complete opposite of yours.
You plopped your bag down in the middle of the hallway and sat on the couch. He glared at you as he noticed the suitcase and continued to drag the bags he was carrying to your room.
"Can you please put it in your room?" he sounded tired.
"I'll do it later" stretching your legs you leaned back on the couch.
"No! now" maybe he didn't mean to be loud but you flinched which he didn't see as he was already in your room.
"Geez, fine. Calm your tits" you mumbled under your breath as you picked up the suitcase.
You walked in to your room slowly. It wasn't much. A bed, a floor length mirror and a study table with a chair propped under it. The only good things were the wall closet and the attached bathroom.
"You can decorate it how you want. Tyler took almost everything with him" he sighed as he walked out of the room.
He sat down on the couch and stretched his whole body like a cat before leaning back against a cushion. You sat yourself next to him.
"I still can't believe they are doing this. How romantic" being the hopeless romantic you were, you almost had sparkles in your eyes when you thought about your best friend and the day she came up to you to ask if you would be ok with switching rooms so that she could share your dorm with her boyfriend. Tyler! You met Tyler a couple of times and he was an absolute sweetheart. He was a gentleman. The charming protagonist in every Hallmark movie you've watched.
His best friend however, was a whole different movie altogether.
"Romantic??pfft" he scoffed while pushing his hair back. "Inconvenient is what it is. For you and me"
Not gonna lie you found him very handsome. You almost fell in love with him at first sight. Almost!!! That was before he opened his cynical mouth. He was everything that Tyler was not. Only emotionally though, because physically, he resembled how you imagined men would look like in all your "Dirty books". He had the height, the face, the hair and the body. Oh! The body. You were drooling over him at your first 'Hi'.
"Love is a beautiful feeling. Too bad you don't have a heart" you gave him a disappointed look while pursing your lips.
"I do have a heart. Why else would I help you carry your rock collection?"
"My what?"
"Well going by the weight of the bags I carried, they can only be rocks."
"Or books. They were books" you corrected him "I'm getting water. Do you want?" you asked him as you got up.
"Yes please. Chilled" he closed his eyes as he let out a loud breath. You bit your lip as you looked at him. Maybe the books were really heavy. You probably should be a bit more grateful.
You walked over to the fridge and grabbed two bottles.
"Should we discuss how we are going to do this now or later?" you asked him handing the bottle.
"Do what?"
"Live together. It's your place, but I live here too now. And rules may change." You pointed out to a list which was pinned on the fridge.
"Ah that!. I don't think anything should change" he said as you looked at him disbelievingly. "If Tae could do it, so can you. Technically you are replacing him so.." he shrugged his shoulders and leaned back again on the couch.
You got up and brought the list back in to the living room.
"Public areas should be clutter free at all times? What the hell does that mean? Was Tyler that messy?"
"It means whatever shit that belongs to you shall remain in your room at all times. If you use the kitchen you will clean it up as soon as you are done. So on and so forth. You get it right?"
"Can't I have a book in the living room?"
"When you are sitting here reading it, yes. Otherwise, no" he sure seemed to like having a clean house.
"OCD much?" you mumbled under your breath "but I like to have things to read when I eat"
"You eat at the kitchen counter"
"What about watching a movie while eating?"
"Like popcorn?"
"Like a burger?"
"You are going to be trouble aren't you?" he ruffled his hair and giggled. His giggle was adorable. He should do it more often, but you weren't going to tell him that.
"Fine let's do this" he straitened himself and looked at you "Try this for a week and we'll see where you struggle. Then we can change some stuff"
"Honestly I will struggle with all of this. But yeah. Let's give it a try" you smiled and sat next to him on the couch again.
...........................................................................…
The sound of your alarm blared through the room waking you up. Your first class wasn't on for another couple of hours but you needed to time your route from the new room.
You stretched yourself and looked around the empty room. Two days have passed but you still had bags to unpack. If only he saw this room right now, you chuckled as his disappointed face popped up in front of you. Rubbing your eyes, you walked out of the room in search of coffee. As soon as you opened your door the strong smell of coffee filled your nose with a hint of bacon and eggs as well. You watched him move about in the kitchen like a pro as he softly slipped the egg on to a plate from the pan. Your stomach growled as you saw the food, but you highly doubted he made food for you.
"Good morning" you greeted him with a soft rasp as you walked past him towards the coffee maker.
"It's fresh, you can have it." he pushed a mug towards you.
You mumbled a simple 'thank you' as you poured a generous amount of coffee in to the mug forgetting to ask if he had any.
You walked around and sat on the counter with your mug in hand.
"You hungry?" he inquired seeing you eye his plate.
"Not really. First coffee. Then everything else" you smiled as you took your first sip. It was delicious.
"This is really good" you complimented him.
"I know. I made it" he smirked as he placed a few strips of bacon and two slices of toast on another plate.
'Jerk' you grimaced.
He handed you the plate and started with his own breakfast.
"So what time is your first class today?" he asked you.
"9.30" you said while biting in to the toast.
"What is your major? I'm doing computer science"
"Communication" your mouth was too full to form sentences.
"Cool. So, you're going to be a reporter?"
"Not really. I want to be a writer. But my parents needed a solid career path. This was the next best choice" you sighed. Your parents didn't expect much from you even as a kid. They have always supported you with everything that you've done. But wanting to become a writer was not a stable source of income in their eyes and they feared for your future like any parent.
He sensed the change in your demeanor and quickly changed the subject.
"I'll walk with you today. It takes about 15 minutes to get to school from here. But it's mainly corridors"
You and Jessica lived on the opposite side of the dorm grounds. It was much further away from the university which is why it took about half hour to get there, but you were glad now the walking time was cut down in half.
After breakfast you decided to make a shopping list for your room. He went back in to his room.
You heard a knock on your door around 9.
"You ready?" he yelled from the other side.
"Two minutes" quickly touching up your lip gloss, you adjusted your skirt. You grabbed your bag and joined him in the living room. He was wearing blue jeans and a white tee shirt. Black leather jacket completed the ensemble. His hair was soft and fluffy and it cascaded around his face when he bent down to tie his shoe laces. You badly wanted to run your fingers through his hair but held back. You mentally slapped yourself trying to push off the crazy thoughts.
"Let's go"
He locked the door and the two of you walked down various corridors as he pointed out places to memorize in case you get lost. Both of you greeted the school guard – Mr. John and entered the premises.
"Ok this is where I leave you. Have fun" he smiled and walked away.
You watched his figure disappear in to the crowd and sighed. There was a couple making out on the side of the path way, and you wished you got a kiss from him before he left you. You were falling hard for him even though you knew you were polar opposites. Maybe if you show him how great love is would he change his perspective? It's not like he didn't know how to care. He cared enough to carry your bags, he cared enough to make coffee and share his breakfast. He cared enough to volunteer to walk you to school. He is a good roommate and could even be a great friend, He just wasn't impressed with the romantic aspect of 'love'.
He slept through most of the weekend, waking up in the afternoon and playing games on his computer. Not wanting to be a bother to him you kept yourself cooped up in your room reading books. Apart from the occasional 'HI's and small nods, the only conversation you had was during meal times, deciding what to eat. You were finding it difficult since you've had an innate habit of talking nonstop and he was the complete opposite.
In the coming weeks, you managed to get him to open up a little bit, which of course you knew he did just so you'd shut up at some point.
The choice of movies to the songs and even the topics he would bring up in conversations screamed 'Anti-Romantic'. He said he doesn't like strolls in the parks or walks on the beach after dark. Star gazing was basically a pointless waste of time. His words. He preferred ordering in to going out. He preferred movie theatres to drive-ins. And he laughed in your face when you said you liked carnivals and amusement parks. Though he did admit he liked going on the roller coaster. The very thing you hated about the parks.
And you realized how different the two of you really were. But in spite of all that, there was something about him that your heart just didn't want to let go. Not without a fight at least. You wanted him and you wanted him to want you.