Sensation (h.s)

Chapter Twenty Three

"Yeah, sure." Brandon answers with a sweet smile. We both step inside and the heavy door shuts behind us as we begin stripping off our jackets.

"So have you just been hanging out by yourself all week?" He asks as he looks around the small room. It's slightly messy on my half of the room with clothes draped over my bed and my makeup laid out over the desk, but I don't think Brandon will mind.

"Yeah. Well, for the most part. My friend Harry was here for a few days hanging out with me then he went to see his family for Christmas." I take a seat on my unmade bed and smooth out the messy sheets as if it will make the room appear less messy.

"Harry Styles?" Brandon asks in return, catching me off guard completely.

"Yeah... How did you-"

"I have his class. And, I've seen you guys together a few times. There's a pizza place by my apartment I've seen you two together at before." He shrugs his shoulders and sits down on the other end of my bed. I look over him skeptically.

Harry and I are typically very secretive when we're out in public together. We always sit in the back of a restaurant, and we have a habit of me walking into whatever the business is first and scoping out the area for students before Harry accompanies me. The last thing we're trying to do is make whatever our relationship is public.

"Oh. I don't think I've seen you there before." I pick at my nail polish and stare inquisitively at Brandon. He seems to panic slightly for a moment before shrugging. There's something slightly off about him, but I choose to blame it on the fact that we barely know each other. There's always going to be immediate judgements about someone before truly getting to know them.

"Oh, weird." He dismisses the topic and sighs quietly as he glances around the room once again.

"So, where's Lena at?" He asks after a moment. My head snaps up to look at him again while my brain runs wild with questions. He seems to know quite a bit about me even though I don't know one thing about him besides his name.

"How did you know Lena's my roommate?"

"Kate, we go to the same school. I know Lena and I know you. It's not secret information that you're roommates." He gives me a look as if I'm asking absurd questions, and I suddenly feel like I am going a bit far with the interrogation. I suppose it's not difficult to find out someone's roommate.

"You're right. Sorry. I've been cooped up in here for a few days and I think it's messing with my head." I brush off the subject and Brandon laughs along with me. With a soft sigh, I collapse back onto the mattress below me. A whiff of familiar cologne hits me and I immediately am back to thinking of Harry-- as if he hasn't been the only thing on my mind for the past three days.

As the thoughts circulate my mind once again I grab for my phone on the nightstand. The screen is still blank when I press the button the light it up, which indicates I have no new messages. He's probably busy with his family and I'm overreacting completely. He's not my boyfriend and I definitely might seem a bit crazy if I admitted I was waiting around for him to text me back like a madwoman.

"What do you do for fun?" I speak up once again, propping my head up to look at Brandon. He's leaned back on the bed now with his shoes kicked off and seemingly much more comfortable in the room. It's odd to be spending time with someone new, but also slightly refreshing.

"I don't really do much. I watch movies, read, and drink more than I should. That kind of sums up my entire life." He answers jokingly and we both laugh.

"That's almost exactly what I do too."

"We should be great friends then." He moves over to where I'm at and I watch him while continuing to smile.