Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 73940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
I opened my door and found most of my room still dry and intact. Unfortunately, the bed had gotten soaked, along with a few of my textbooks. Which… whatever. My laptop and other electronics were fine, though. I tossed everything into my book bag and dumped my clothes into a suitcase. The room wasn’t grand by any stretch of the imagination, but I was going to miss the privacy of it. My room was one of the only singles available, a string my dad had pulled for me and just another reason in the long list of reasons why I had felt so damn indebted to him.
I rolled my happy little ass across and down the street, the wheels of my suitcase clicking over the cobblestone path. The night air tasted like salt, the breeze fresh on my skin. Sherman Hall was down the street.
I pressed my key card against the pad, and the door clicked open. I walked into a bright and airy common room, posters all around the room advertising different clubs and dances and sports. The couches were a deep maroon and looked way more comfortable than the ones at my dorm.
My room was on the second floor this time. I went up the stairwell and out into the pale blue-painted hallway. I reached my room and knocked, wondering if they had already told my new roommate that he was having a guest. I wasn’t sure how long this temporary assignment would be, but I had to assume it was going to take a while to fix the damage in the dorms.
“Hello? Anyone home?”
No one answered. I shrugged and pressed the key card to the lock. It clicked open. I slowly opened the heavy gray door, giving my roommate one last chance to say he was naked or something.
The dorm was empty. And much smaller than my last one, even with this dorm being for two people. Two twin-sized beds pushed up against either side of the wall, with a shared nightstand between them, the wood chipped and scratched from years of use and zero care. One bed was bare of any sheets, the dark blue mattress sitting on a raised wooden platform. The other bed had its black-and-white-striped sheets neatly made.
Hmm, interesting…
I looked around for any photos or posters that could tell me a little about this guy, but there was nothing. It was as if he’d recently moved in too. Which was weird since normally fall and spring semesters had us stay in the same dorms. Considering we were starting spring, I would have thought this place looked a little more lived in.
Maybe the guy’s some kind of killer. Or an assassin. Hah, that’d be cool.
A tiny kitchenette was to my left, with a microwave and a hot plate and a door that opened to a small bathroom.
At least it wasn’t shared with the entire floor. That was nice.
The door opened, someone asking, “Hello?”
I backed out of the bathroom, turned around, then nearly fell back into it.
Holy shit. Holy fucking shit.
“Jay.”
He looked shocked, holding a box of pizza that was about to fall to the floor. “Ryan?!”
The box slipped from his hand, a greasy and delicious cheese pizza falling onto the floor with a wet slap.
Chapter Three
Jay
I was so fucking excited to inhale this pizza in bed while I watched my shows. I had decided to stop by the pizza place on the way back to my dorm, needing a cheesy emotional support slice after the trauma I’d just been through. I had to wake up early anyway and hand out flyers for a protest I heard was happening this week. It was against a local representative trying to cancel Drag Queen story hours.
Redpine Global? Fucking seriously?
I should have stayed at the party and turned it into a protest. Maybe the message would have gotten across if it was delivered directly to the CEO’s spoiled and annoyingly hot son, with his big arms and thousand-watt smile and mesmerizing green eyes.
Activism and change was all about thinking outside of the box. It was about having the courage to swim against the tide, even when that tide was being tainted by various oil spills and fracking incidents and kegs of cheap beer.
I reached my dorm and unlocked the door, pushing it open. I was surprised to see the lights still on. I always turned everything off before I left a room. Hm, maybe I was in such a rush… wait a second. Whose suitcase was that?
“Hello?”
I seriously wasn’t expecting an answer. I’d been living in this dorm by myself for the past couple of weeks, ever since the semester started. The RA told me that I’d likely end up having the room to myself for the rest of the semester.
Guess I shouldn’t have gotten too used to it.