The Space Between Us

Chapter 4 ~ Ramen

---River's POV---

I stared at her. "Excuse me?"

"You took an awfully long time to open the door. My hand was cramping from holding the pan," the girl explained, crossing her arms.

I didn't know what to make of her. This nerdy, scrawny girl almost hit me with a frying pan in my apartment. And now she's talking about keys?

"Yes, I'm bad with keys," I finally answered.

"Interesting."

My jaw set. "I'm still not convinced that you didn't make a mistake and got the wrong place."

"Why would I carry all of my suitcases into an apartment that's not mine?" she asked incredulously.

"Because it's mine."

"Wow, how very humble of you," she said, flipping her blonde ponytail off her shoulder. "Even your craziest fangirls wouldn't do this."

I didn't want to correct her. I didn't know her or her intentions yet, but I'd get to the bottom of it.

"Let me see your contract," I said.

"What?"

"Are you dumb? Your contract for this apartment." I didn't mean to be so rude, but I was not in the mood for being kind. My heart rate was too high, and the room was beginning to get blurry, as though reality was going in and out of focus. I concentrated on breathing evenly.

Ten minutes later, after frantically looking through all her binders and books that had been packed, this girl finally found the contract.

We sat at the small kitchen table. She bounced her leg as I read over the contracts, scanning for any sign of a roommate mentioned. Her presence was making me irritated.

"There are too many pages..." I muttered as I flipped through them. "I can't find anything wrong with the contacts."

"Nothing that says it would be shared?" the girl asked.

"No," I replied with a scowl, "and the landlord won't be available until tomorrow..."

"Maybe that's why it was so cheap," the girl said, thinking out loud, "and we both happened to miss the part where it talked about roommates."

I didn't say anything. I simply looked at this random girl, trying to find any sign that she was messing with me. She looked innocent enough, and the longer I looked, the more I realized she was quite pretty. Her round glasses were cute.

This was a bad situation.

"Are you sure you didn't know this was my place?" I asked, looking at her dead in the eyes. She had blue eyes.

"Of course not," she said. "I thought I'd be alone."

"So did I..."

"It's getting late. How about we deal with one night and then see what we can do about this tomorrow?" she offered.

I ran my hand through my hair out of annoyance. I didn't see another option for tonight, though I was extremely hesitant to sleep in the same place as a random girl. She could want anything, try anything, do anything to me. I had to be careful.

"Fine. But if this is your idea of a prank, I will get the police," I said in my most serious tone.

"And if you are pranking me, then the same threat goes for you!" she said, trying to be intimidating and failing miserably.

It almost made me smile. Almost. A sharp pain in my palm brought me back to reality.

"I'll be in this room. Don't bother me," I snapped.

I grabbed my suitcases in the hallway, pulled them into the room on the left, and slammed the door shut.

I had fingernail marks bleeding on my palm. I clenched my fist and focused on my breathing again, though that made my ears pound.

I locked the door. And then I moved half of the dresser over to block the door, just in case she tried anything.

A few times I wondered if I should call one of the guys and ask to stay at their place for another night, but then I realized I'd rather take my chances here than stay with them any longer.

I was tired. Tired of it all.

And this was only the first day of the school year.

---Holly's POV---

I closed the front door and paced the room.

Did I have anywhere else to go? Not Alice's, since she was babysitting, and I was terrible with babies. And not James's, because he was in a full dorm on campus. No, I had nowhere else to go.

I also realized that River didn't try to stay somewhere else. Maybe he didn't have anywhere to go either, although that was hard to believe, given how popular he was.

It was 8 p.m., and I wondered if River had really turned in for the night. Did he have dinner already? Maybe he was hungry?

I sure was. I decided to cook some ramen. I had brought some leftover ramen packets in my suitcase, and it was perfect to cheaply make enough for both of us.

I walked to his room with a bowl of ramen and stood outside.

I knocked with my elbow. It was a dull, clunky knock.

"Uh... River? I made ramen. Do you want some?"

There was no reply. I put my ear to the door. Maybe he had headphones on?

"River? Are you sleeping?"

"Go away."

I jumped slightly at his sudden voice. "Are you sure? I made enough for both of us, so-"

"I said to go away, didn't I?"

I huffed and spun on my heel. Whatever. I was just trying to be nice, but he didn't deserve my ramen.

I ate it all by myself - both packets - and then cleaned up the kitchen and got ready for bed. Then I locked myself in my room. After pulling out my sheets, blankets, and pj's, I flopped into my freshly made bed and stared at the ceiling for a while.

What a day. How did it end up this way? Is River Alves really sleeping next door to me right now? As much as I hated to admit it, the thought of the school's celebrity staying in this same apartment was rather... thrilling. Even if he was a total jerk, at least now I had a story to tell.

It was a shame that it would only last a night, I thought to myself. I could've used more story content.