"HEY, JAMES. Long-time no see."
James was Milo's best friend. Just like Ava and I, they were close friends since birth. In fact, I don't think they even considered each other as friends. They considered each other as brothers.
They were always seen together, jostling each other around as they exchanged humorous banter. But oddly enough, James wasn't with Milo.
"Indeed, it has been, Hads," he agreed in his normal voice, his tone soft and smooth as he swept me off my feet, taking me by surprise.
James twirled around as he trapped me tightly against his chest, his arms wrapped around my waist.
I giggled in response and when James returned me back to my feet, through my peripheral vision, I caught Milo glaring in our direction, but mostly at James. Weird.
I'd never seen Milo like that towards James, even when they would occasionally get into arguments back home. The way his eyebrows were scrunched tightly together while his eyes took on a darker shade than normal hinted that Milo was upset at James for something else other than the fact that James had just spun me around moments ago.
There was something deeper going on between the two of them.
"So how's campus life been treating you so far?" James questioned, returning my gaze back to him.
"Good so far, I guess. I just got here about half an hour ago, so I haven't really done anything yet," I explained. James also let out an amused laugh and nodded.
Sensing that the conversation was coming to an end and an awkward silence would soon ensue, I asked, "Do you know where the Admissions Office is?"
"Yup," he responded. My lips pressed together as I gave him a weird look, wondering if he'll tell me how to get there.
"Did you want me to tell you how to get there?" He asked innocently.
"Yes, that would be nice," I wryly remarked and nodded slowly.
"Well, why didn't you just say so?" A playful smirk tugged on his lips.
"Uh, that's kind of why I asked you where the Admissions Office is," I said amusedly, rolling my eyes with a smile.
If someone didn't know James like I did, they'd think he was a rude and arrogant douche, but he's far from it. Most of the time, he's a sweet and charming guy upfront, even a bit flirty at times. But sometimes he's a bit sarcastic when he wants to be. That's just who he is.
"Come on, right this way." He steps to the side and drags his hand out in front of me. Suddenly, a pair of hands crashed down onto my shoulders from behind, making me gasp as I jumped out of my skin.
"Thanks for ditching me back there, Hads. This girl came up to me and shoved a paper in my face wanting me to join her sorority," Ava panted. Her gaze flickered up and in between breaths she said, "Hey, James...It's good to see you...Man...I need to start working out."
I chuckled at Ava as James greeted her with a hug. Taking a hold of her wrist, I said, "Come on, James is gonna show us where the office is."
James led the way as I dragged Ava along, who was slowly beginning to catch her breath again.
A few minutes later, we arrived at the Admissions office and met with the registrar. He gave us a folder with all of our information like our schedules, dorm room key, and a map of the campus.
Thankfully, the orientation for new freshmen like us wasn't until tomorrow, so Ava and I had the entire day to explore the campus and surrounding shops.
On the bright side, Ava and I were fortunate enough to be in the same dorm room; but on the downside, we had one more girl in our dorm as well. Hopefully, she was nice and we'd be able to become friends.
â
"THIS IS IT," James said, stopping in front of a tall, white building. There were two long buildings with three floors of windows attached to a tall rectangle sitting in the middle, joining the two buildings together. A sign above the glass, double-door entrance read, Lerwick Plaza.
"So do you know who your other roommate is?" asked James.
I turned to him and shook my head. "No, we'll just have to wait and see," I said with disbelief and a bit of anxiety.
As Ava and I made our way towards the dorm after thanking James for his help, he stopped me after my first step, placing a gentle hand on my forearm.
"Hey, listen," he said gently. "After you and Ava settle into your new dorm room, do you guys wanna go to the coffee shop across the street and catch up?"
"Sure," I replied with a soft smile, quickly catching up to Ava who was already waiting for the elevator, oblivious to what had happened moments ago.
"So where's our dorm room again?" I asked Ava, too lazy to take out the information folder in my bag and find the answer.
"On the third floor, Room 310." Hearing the elevator ping and watching its doors open, we stepped inside and I leaned against the mahogany wall, mirrors lining the sides and the ceiling of the elevator.
"Oh god, Ava. Has that always been on my face?" I asked, slightly mortified as I glanced at myself in one of the mirrors. A small, black speck sat on my cheek. Upon closer inspection, it was a tiny gnat.
"Ew," I whispered to myself and quickly wiped it off. "Why didn't you tell me there was a gnat on my face?"
My cheeks flushed with embarrassment as I realized that I probably had that gnat on my face when I was talking to James.
"I didn't see it," Ava shrugged apologetically. I huffed in response and walked out of the elevator. Could this day get any more embarrassing?
Two signs hung from the ceiling when we stepped out of the elevator, one with an arrow indicating that Rooms 300 to 310 were on the left and the other pointing to the right with the rest of the room numbers.
Ava and I reached the end of the hall and saw a plaque with the number 310 on the door. I rummaged through my bag before finding the key that the registrar gave us earlier. I twisted the key to the left and the door opened with a pop.
Opening up to the kitchen, a few cardboard boxes with our names greeted us at the door. Ava and I had our things shipped earlier so that when we arrived, we could start unpacking immediately.
A granite top protruded out of the wall with bar stools to our right, and adjacent to the kitchen was the living room. Sitting in the middle of the room was a white, fluffy rug with a coffee table sitting on top of it. A couch was pressed against the wall, and a TV sat across from it.
"Woah, this place is huge," said Ava as she walked through the doorway on the right. "I guess our roommate beat us to it. They've already set up their room."
I frowned, hoping that Ava and I would've had first dibs.
A short hallway to the left led to two rooms facing each other. We heaved the boxes into our rooms, and I took a quick glance out the window as Ava unpacked her things in her room.
A tall tree with dark green leaves swayed gently as I observed many people walking across the quad. A guy with dark brown hair abruptly caught my eye and I spun on my heel, making my way back to the boxes sitting on the wooden floor.
After unpacking almost half of my boxes, Ava came into my room and plopped herself onto my now covered bed, deciding to take a short break.
"Wow, I didn't realize how much shit I owned. It feels like it's taken me longer to unpack than when I had to heave all of this crap into those boxes," sighed Ava, leaning back as she used her hand to support herself.
Suddenly, we heard a pair of keys jiggling before the lock on the door emitted the same popping noise it made when we first entered. A pair of voices followed and we sprung to our feet simultaneously, sprinting out to the living room.
Ava's jaw immediately dropped, and I had to restrain myself from doing the same.
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A/N: hello again! I know this chapter was a bit uneventful except for the part at the end, but I will try to change that in the next one.
thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed!
-Karlee ð