{August 26}
EJ had to admit it, the campus was pretty. It was spacy with a clean, rich, feel to it. The Duke University chapel bells rang through the distance and the building walls were lined with beautiful brick and stone. He breathed in the crisp autumn North Carolina air and tried to brush away the feeling of dejection and disappointment deep down within himself for being here. At least it was satisfying his dad, and at least it wasn't Saint Louis or Salt Lake City.
A couple of months ago, a gap year back in Utah felt like the safest option. He could stick around what was familiar and give himself some more time to figure out who he was and what he wanted outside of his father, but now all he wanted to do was run away. To start fresh somewhere else and not think about the past, Gina, and the rest of his heavily distant friend group which he was not sure if they shut him out of or he shut himself out of. Most of them have been cold towards him since his break-up with Gina and he didn't even blame them. He knew he had neglected her in the process of trying to appease his dad, he knew he didn't treat her the way she deserved to be treated or wanted to be treated, he knew he had been acting jealous and selfish, and he knew he let the pressure of the Documentary get into his head and let it gear him slightly in the direction of his old self. He knew that this cycle seemed to repeat itself with every girl he has ever dated and all his relationships ending were to his own demise. And worst of all, he was back to doing the thing again where he'd let his father control him and suffer in silence because it was the easiest thing to do.
EJ arrived early to unpack his belongings, entering an empty room with no sign of a roommate yet. He and Ashlyn were both carrying a cart full of bags and suitcases while his parents came in mostly empty-handed, just his dad wandering around him with a camera in hand gushing about his son leaving the nest for the "Big Blue" and following in his freaking family's footsteps. I guess you could say he felt like a little girl on a pageant show getting exploited by his parents, doing what makes them happy, living through their child.
When EJ's parents insisted on shoving their hands into his belongings and adding their input on how to decorate his room without listening to their son's opinions, that's when Ashlyn rolled her eyes, covered her hand around their petty little expensive camera lens, and straight up told them "why don't you guys go get yourselves a glass of wine and leave us to do the unpacking." Thank God for her brashness sometimes.
He waits until they're out of the room before sitting down on his bare mattress and sighing, "I let myself down, I told them I wasn't coming here last year and I gave in anyways."
His cousin bit her lip and gave him a look of sympathy. "You know you can always transfer. You don't have to stay somewhere that feels wrong and makes you unhappy," she told him sitting beside him with an encouraging half-smile.
"I don't exactly have many options, this is the only out-of-state place I got into and I didn't even truly get in, I got bought in. But I'm sure as hell not going back to Salt Lake right now," he replies gloomily and eye contactless, starting at the blank wall in front of him where his future roommate would eventually settle. One who he knew nothing about and didn't even get to meet before agreeing to live with.
"Well, whose fault was that for thinking Duke was a lock and not applying anywhere else besides one safety school," the other relative responded bluntly with the same brutal honesty that they have been giving each other their whole life. He loved her for it despite hating it right now.
"You know I'm really not in the mood for your smart-ass comments Ashlyn," he quickly shot back at his cousin.
"Yeah yeah, I know. You know when you're wrong but you don't like to admit it."
The man kicked her in the shin playfully and shot her with a daggering glare.
"Sorryyy" she edged with a little hint of sarcasm.
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