Oh My God, They Were Roommates

1 | Gotta Go My Own Way

Freshmen weren't generally known to lease apartments, but Ray was a special case. A transfer student, in fact, from a university near his hometown. It seemed like the logical solution at the time—close to home so he could commute with the major he wanted to pursue—but that changed rapidly over the course of the first semester.

His first semester in uni wasn't fun—at all, really—which meant that transferring was yet another hassle on his plate of credits to manage.

To top it off, he was moving.

On his own.

For the first time.

It wasn't like he planned it to happen like this, not really, anyway. His first semester at uni was trouble enough for his aunt, so he may or may not have intentionally signed a lease that put the move-in date conveniently over one of Aunt Natalia's business trips.

"You sure you've got everything?" she said, peering skeptically through the windows of Ray's car. He stepped in front of it with a sheepish smile, holding his arms out. The last thing he needed was Aunt Natalia realizing that he didn't pack the twelve hundred sweaters she bought him over every holiday.

"Yup! Got everything," he promised.

She perched her hands on her hips and pursed her lips. "And you'll call me the second you get to San Francisco?"

"Maybe not the exact second—I'll be driving when I get there and all that..."

"Then the second—the very second!—you get to the apartment?" she said, and Ray hummed his ascent. The deal was sealed with a kiss on the forehead before Ray was released to the world as one spritely, independent adult amidst the chaos of California.

Ray galloped to the driver's door and swung inside with one last wave to Aunt Natalia. She waved back, a nervous smile on her face as she watched him pull away from the airport drive-in. She hiked up the handle on her suitcase and gave one last wave to him. He smiled, his throat tight with emotion as he watched her in his rearview mirror standing on the edge of the curb.

The closest thing he had to a mother was Natalia. That much was certain.

"It's okay. You can do this," he told himself, both hands clenched tightly on the steering wheel despite how his hands and arms shook. "You. Are. An. Adult! Time to do adult things! Be eighteen and prosper."

It was difficult to prosper, though, when he was a freshmen outside of the dorms. Dorm life was where everything happened, and he really did want a dorm room for once with a roommate. But after the shitshow that was his first semester... a studio apartment was a good option.

A safe option.

So perhaps it was better that the dorms were full for that semester. The office could call tomorrow, or next week, or next month with an opening and Ray could cancel his lease and swoop right in. He was a people person, dammit, and even if he wanted this one-person apartment to work, he couldn't deny how much he wanted to mingle. Just thinking about it had him vibrating with anticipation, dancing in the driver's seat as he sat in standstill traffic just outside of San Francisco, three hours away from Aunt Natalia.

"And this'll be great," he told himself, firmly, with conviction. "It's not every day a single apartment crops up in San Fran for only fifteen hundred a month! Definitely doable." Sure, it was pricey, but it was nothing when he saw the gorgeous pictures and the virtual walkthrough tour with the realtor. It was a dream come true. Downtown San Francisco, a freshmen in college! For only fifteen hundred a month! He never heard of anything so perfect in his entire life!