After Dark

1.

When I stepped into my dorm for the first time, I felt relieved and a twinge of sadness. I was starting off the second semester of college at my second school, there was a lot of adjusting for within such a short time frame. Since I was closer to home, I drove myself; sparing myself from my parents endless bickering and allowing myself a cry session or two. It appeared that my roommate had already been moved in. Likely from last semester, I hope she didn't think I was intruding on her space. I began to unpack, making my bed first, then putting away clothes. That really was the bulk of it, other than the essential and some décor, I didn't bring that much with me this semester.  Somehow I got lucky and it took just a little over an hour.

I felt the sadness of being alone wash over me, it wasn't that I wasn't independent, it was just being thrown into new places where I knew no one often overwhelmed me. Since I was in the mood for a good cry, I took out my laptop and put on wedding videos, at least it would be a feel good cry session, right?

I was deep into wedding videos when the door burst open. The room immediately filled with laughter and chatter, bringing happy vibes and life to the room. "OH! I'm sorry!" a girl gasped. She had short platinum hair, and big winged eyeliner, behind her was a boy with green hair, freckles galore, and hipster glasses to boot. Embarrassed, I quickly wiped my eyes and stood up. "Oh, honey! Is everything okay? Who do I have to beat up?" I liked her already. She reminded me of my old roommate.

"I was just watching wedding videos..." I stammered sheepishly.

"Good, if you already had beef with someone on your first day, I would have to request a new roommate. Kat by the way, and you must be Juniper?" her hand jutted out in front of her. I took it in my own, hopefully not giving a crappy handshake.

"Just June," I smiled. 

"Cool. This is Jake, my boyfriend. Don't worry, we wont be gross and all over each other in here, we have his place for that," she smirked at him.

"Nice to meet you June," 

"So... there is this party tonight off campus. Kick off the new semester, you in?" Kat had a grin so big I couldn't let her down and say no, as much as I wanted to stay in. I needed to be social though, and what better way to make friends?

"I'm in," I agreed. She began to squeal.

"YAY!! I can't wait for you to meet everyone!" One night, I would be okay. I wasn't new to drinking, but I had never been to a college party before. My old school had three hundred kids total, and my only friend had been my roommate. Parties usually got busted unless they were off campus, but since my roommate didn't like to go out, we never got invited. Jake ended up leaving, so it was just the two of us. Kat put on some music and began taking off her make up and reapplying it. "Don't be shy tonight, everyone is so chill here. Plus you are cute, so the boys will be all about you," she seems quite the chatter box, "Are you going to clean up your makeup? No offense but your mascara is all smudged from crying..." 

"Yeah, I'll go wash my face, isn't it a little early to be getting ready though?" she turned to me with a mischievous grin.

"Oh girl, we are pre-gaming don't you worry. Jakes on his way to get some drinks for us,"

"Oh, okay, cool," with that I went to our bathroom, how cool was it that we had out own bathroom. It really is the little things. I decided to straighten my hair, first impressions are everything. It took a while because I had such long thick curly hair, but when it was done, it looked pretty good. I swiped on some mascara, my favorite pair of jeans, an old t-shirt. Kat  had on a tight little black leather skirt, and a matching black brallete. She took one look at me and started laughing.

"Oh honey, oh honey! You are so pure, don't you want to slut it up?" she was looking me up and down.

"Nah, that's not really my style,"

"We can work on that," she smiled before dousing me in way too much perfume. I began to choke on the smell. "Sorry honey! Everyone is going to smell like booze and butts so you have to stand out some how,"

"Gee... thanks..." I managed between coughs. Kat was caring, albeit in an interesting way. However, I was grateful for her kindness and how quickly she accepted me as one of her own. I was nervous that she would see me as a puppy dog, following her around tonight. I wasn't good at making friends, but everyone would be drunk or high or both, so hopefully they wont remember my awkwardness.

Jake had came back with Nalgene bottles for each of us. Kat went right for it, gulping down the entire contents of her own before I could even think about opening my own. She exhaled deeply and gave me a wink. "Honey, tell me you have experience," she was jokingly pleading with me.

"I have some, but alas, I am no expert like you," I  smiled before taking a drink of my own. it tasted like rum, stronger than what I was expecting, so I began to cough. 

"It's a good thing you are cute," Kat came towards me, engulfing me in a hug. "Now lets get cracking!"