My Cup Of Tea

I Can't Keep This To Myself

NOAH

"Yeah mom. Big bro Keyo helped me... move in... yesterday." My voice trailed off as I tried to understand the scene in front of me. Two girls laid on the floor tangled up in the common room of my dorm room. "Sorry, I'm going to have to call you back..."

I had just walked in on two girls straddling each other in my dorm room. Yesterday I was the only one to move in, and my hall advisor mentioned my roommate would be arriving sometime soon. Yet to stumble upon her like this? Both individuals looked embarrassed and separated, a flurry of incomprehensible words regurgitated. It made sense, since I'm assuming I caught them in the middle of the wrestling match of the century. Still though, I looked at both of them as they sheepishly avoided eye contact with me.

How much longer should I wait for my new roommate to introduce herself to me, and to explain what I had walked into?

"I'm Fate," one of the girls finally cleared her throat, being careful to not make eye contact with me. "I live across the common room from you. It's nice to meet you Noah."

Fate tucked one of her box braids hair behind her bronzed ear and looked up at me with pleading eyes. I noticed she had red hair intertwined within her braids.

Pretty.

I sighed and broke down before sitting on the floor in front of the two, deciding to shake Fate's hand. "Nice to meet you." I responded warily, before looking at the woman next to her, assuming she would be my roommate. "I take it you're moving in okay?"

"Yeah, yes." The second woman swallowed hard and nodded, scratching her neck as she looked back at the boxes in the common room. "Sorry about that, Fate tripped and ended up knocking into me." She signaled to a box of spilled things nearby, and I made an ohh sound.

"I thought you guys were fighting for a second there," I joked, and both of them laughed. Maybe a little too hard.

"Nah, not at all. I'm Emily by the way." My roommate finally introduced herself.  I shifted my gaze to get a better look at Emily. She was brown skinned like Fate, and had the softest looking curly black and white hair. Her dangling golden earrings complemented her complexion, and I had to snap myself to focus on her waiting grey eyes.

"Nice to meet you Emily," I greeted, offering a hand. She smiled warmly and shook it.

"Same, and sorry for the scare." And then a change of topic. "Fate and I were chatting before you came in, she's actually a second year here at Linpin!"

"Oh wow, really?" I asked looking back at Fate.

"Yup. I've been looking after Emily since high school, and since you'll be roommates, feel free to ask me anything. I'd be more than happy to help out however I can." The words were kind, and I'm sure she's said it to others before. But her generosity in this strange place was so unexpected, that it touched me.

"Thank you for the offer, really." I responded, my eyes sparkling as they admiring Fate's sincerity. Fate looked on as our banter took off, and it seemed like she was quite pleased to see us all getting along. Even I had to admit that I didn't expect to be getting along with them so well after what I had walked into. "Wait, while you're here," I blurted out, startling them both, "I did have some questions... if you don't mind."

Fate looked at me, surprised but content nonetheless. "Oh? Yeah, go for it. What's up?"

"Wait, whose phone is vibrating?" Emily interrupted. We all looked around, and I began to process that there had been a dull vibrating sound in the background for some time. Everyone checked their phones, and I looked at mine to see that Luna had called me twice. "Not going to get that?" Emily asked quizzically. I shook my head no as I shot Luna a text saying I would be late for lunch. I had forgotten that I had come back to the room for my wallet, but how could I pass on this goldmine of an opportunity to learn more about this school? This insider knowledge was precious for a freshman like me.