The disheveled room was just like Karter had pictured. Light grey walls, linoleum floors, and a window that wasn't quite big enough to throw someone out of it.
In Karter's opinion, it looked nice; yet Flynn's comments made it sound like they had just uncovered a rotting corpse in the mattress or something—and no, he didn't appreciate the American Horror Story reference Karter made.
In fact, Flynn steamed the mattresses for two hours the night before and refused to sleep until the bedding was as clean as they could get it. It was easy to say they didn't go to bed until at least three and Karter wanted nothing more than to test out the new window.
That morning Karter was paying for his stupid comments. If he would have just shut up he wouldn't be waking up to the smell of lemon cleaners and the lovely sound of vacuuming.
Really, right now? He thought, trying to go back to sleep—even if he knew it was hopeless.
He should have taken Ember up on her offer to stay in her dorm for the night when they were messaging back and forth about their roommates.
"Fuck off. It's six in the fucking morning you four-eyed Leffel!"
Karter wasn't really sure why he called his cousin a four-eye spoon but he didn't overthink it. One of the only words he remembered while growing up in an Amish state.
Several of his neighbors he'd cook with—mainly as a punishment for doing something irresponsible. He learned a few words from the nice Amish ladies and their kids. Leffel (left-lee) just happened to be the only one that stuck.
"Shh, you might wake the neighbors. Now that you're up though, get dressed or you'll be late for your class." Flynn's voice was calm as he spoke.
He shoved the small vacuum into his side of the closet and fixed his appearance. Flynn was dressed smartly, unable to notice how broke he really was.
His blue sweater and ironed pants complemented his sparkling green eyes. Even with his glasses on Flynn's eyes remained just as bright and determined.
"Oh, and it's not six. It's nine."
With that information, Flynn grabbed his bag and walked out of the dorm. He locked the door behind him leaving Karter alone in a sudden state of panic.
"Fuck!" Karter yelled forgetting he had neighbors and the walls were always thinner than they appeared.
Karter jumped out of bed not bothering to make it and looked through his bag for something clean. To his luck, everything was more wrinkled than his grandmother's ass.
So like the poised and professional man he was, he threw on the mess of clothes that first came in sight. Black jeans, a black hoodie, and black boots all of which looked like he had thrown them under his bed for a month before throwing them on.
Before leaving Karter played a game of: Where did he put the keys he had no more than a minute ago. It was not as fun as it might have sounded.
Once he found them he was five minutes late as he walked out of the dorm and then ran in the wrong direction for two whole minutes. Karter remembered all the times he cursed himself for skipping gym class.
Fortunately, when he made it to the correct building and class it hadn't started that long ago. Despite all the things he did to get attention set on him he also hated it when he was late to something and all eyes turned to him.
This year Karter was determined not to fuck it up—he wanted to stop being himself for a moment and actually focus on his schooling. Hell, maybe this year he would get a job and not have to steal—borrow things so much.
"That's why today we are going to be discussing some of the new discoveries Marine Biology had made in the last year," the professor spoke.
For once it was a class Karter could focus on and the professor seemed nice enough, yet stern with her students. Unlike some of the other professors, the woman only talked about herself for a moment at the start of the lesson before going right into her teachings.
It was enough to learn why she did what she did and the passion she had for what she taught, but not too much to get bored with her whole life story.
Easily the hour came and went. Karter headed out of one building and into another that looked nearly identical to the last. Karter walked past the mass of people all doing the same as him, though some of them looked to be walking into the heaven of all rooms in Karter's opinion—the cafeteria.
It didn't help that he skipped breakfast and his stomach was not happy about it. The whole walk there it was as if his stomach was just obnoxiously yelling at him.
It wasn't that Karter wasn't hungry or had issues with eating, it was the fact he couldn't afford the snacks on campus let alone a full meal that expensive and he didn't exactly have time this morning to take something from his dorm.
Karter was poorer than the homeless guy down the alleyway of his old apartment. At least the man was living his life up with feeding all the strays that he could with the little food he had left.
While the next few classes were much less interesting in Karter's opinion, the teachers not only talked about themselves for way too long but in turn the lessons were two minutes of useless information.
With boredom getting the best of him, Karter sat in his third class of the day and took out his phone. He swiped through the handful of contacts he had and sent a picture to Ryan.
Surprisingly, it was not that kind of picture—though the thought had danced along in his mind.
The picture was simple, a selfie-like image was sent instead. It was the best Karter could manage without making it obvious he wasn't listening to the professor as he dragged on about his whole life story.
[ Too bad I'm not under your desk right now. 😋 ]
13:41
Rye Bread 💕:
[ Such a little slut. ]
13:42
[ No idea what you're talking about... I am an angel, bitch. ]
13:42
Rye Bread 💕:
[ Ah yes, angels go around saying "bitch", all the time. ]
13:43
[ Shhhh, they totally do... ]
13:44
Rye Bread 💕:
[ Pay attention to class before I have to punish you. ]
13:45
The last text might have made Karter grin a little too long. The person beside him looked concerned for Karter's well being.
There was part of Karter that wanted to know what kind of punishment was at play, what would happen if he continued to text him and ignored his class.
In the end, he didn't. The anxiety of it however won. He didn't need to seem needy and bother him any longer and he was right about focusing on class.
[ Fine, at least for now, Daddy 💖 ]
13:49
Karter hesitantly put his phone away into the pocket of his hoodie as he watched the chubby man known as his professor talk about his cat Mittens and how she liked fish.
Interesting stuff.
By the time Karter was able to go back to his dorm he was slowly becoming more and more hungry with every step. If he timed his movements correctly, Flynn would be back from work and home with leftovers.
The dorm room was warm and cozy as Karter walked back inside. The small fairy lights, fluffy blankets, and thanks to Flynn candles that smelled like waffles, all helped welcome him. However, the most important thing was the fancy bag of leftovers—technically the mess up orders that just so happened to be sitting on the mini-fridge.
Karter was so engulfed in his own state of hunger he didn't even notice the blonde girl sitting on the floor beside Flynn.
"Karter, meet our hall-mate Holland. Holland meet my cousin, Karter—who is incapable of having manners," Flynn introduced them.
Karter waved, unable to talk politely with half a steak in his mouth. It was delicious with butter and herbs Karter nearly moaned at the taste. Honestly, it wouldn't have been the most embarrassing thing he had done in a while so he didn't much mind.
Whenever he finished chewing he did his best not to be rude and decided to talk to them. He really didn't want to hear another lecture ever again.
"So what are you'ins' doing—I hope I'm not interrupting anything—cause I'm not leaving again."
"You'in's'? Haven't heard that in a while. I take it you're not from the city?" the girl commented.
"No, Flynn and I grew up in Pennsylvania," Karter spoke, flopping onto his bed. He received a disapproving look from Flynn as he messed up the pillows.
Karter grabbed his phone and unlocked it, looking at the new message. The disappointment on his face was apparent as he read the only notification—that was telling him the payment for his phone service that month.
He ignored it and locked his screen again before letting the phone get lost in the blankets on his bed.
"You okay dude?" Holland asked, her tone sweet and caring.
Flynn cut in before Karter could, with his energy drained to the pits of Hell it wasn't all that shocking. "He's just mad it wasn't his sugar daddy," he laughed.
Flynn's laughter was cut short when Karter threw a pillow at him. Karter smiled evilly when it hit his cousin smack in the face. "Don't worry that was just the pillow I dropped in the parking lot," Karter lied.
Even with Karter being the horrible liar he was, Flynn still dashed to wash his face on the off chance Karter was telling the truth.
Karter knew it was rude but then again his cousin did wake him up late so he didn't care.
Holland turned to Karter as if to ask if they were always like this. Karter jumped off his bed and sat on the clean floor with his legs crossed like a six-year-olds or like Shiro from Voltron as he liked to say.
"So what's up with you, bad roommate?" He questioned, making conversation while Flynn was gone.
Karter also had to make sure he wasn't gone for too long, even with the meds he took Flynn still had some extreme habits come out here and there.
"More like an awkward night and she won't talk to me so... maybe—though it could be worse I guess. I shouldn't complain," Holland spoke. Karter wasn't sure where she was from but took note of the southern notes of her voice.
Holland was like a Barbie doll, but not the type that tried to be. Holland was naturally blonde with long hair that came down past her shoulders. Her tan skin, laced with freckles complimented her stormy grey eyes. The only makeup she wore was bright orange eyeliner that created waves around her eyes.
"Like you fucked her, awkward or slept with her boyfriend because if it's the second one you might want to see about switching schools. Girls are very mad when that happens, even when the other party didn't know about said relationship," Karter commented.
Holland chuckled. "More like made out at a party and my sister walked in on us. That was not fun explaining, by the way. Anyway, I just kinda thought I wouldn't have to see her again as bad as that sounds."
Despite just meeting the woman, Karter could tell her sunny personality wasn't just some act. She might have looked like the type of girl that made fun of Karter in middle school or high school, but once she started talking she was genuine and sweet.
The door opened with a disheveled Flynn walking in. His glasses were falling off his nose slightly as he took his seat back on the rug.
"What'd I miss?" Flynn questioned.
They filled Flynn in on Holland's roommate problem and it wasn't exactly shocking that his answer was the total opposite of Karter's.
"Just give it time. Maybe she's just embarrassed or something," Flynn's tone was comforting, clearly going into mothering mode.
Karter didn't know why, but when his cousin talked like that all he could do was picture Flynn as a mother duck from a shitty cartoon.
"Pff, fuck that! Just push her up against the wall and do whatever—like in a cute and consenting way—if she walks then you know how she feels about you."
Karter caught Flynn's look. The type of look that screamed something along the lines of: do you really think that's going to work?! or shut up and stop giving bad advice. Karter didn't know which it was this time, maybe both.
"Stop being such a prude," Karter said dramatically.
"I'm just saying maybe she's shy or something," Flynn said in defense.
Holland shook her head. "She didn't really seem like the shy type. She was the one that pulled me along upstairs, not the other way around."
Karter smirked and against his better judgment he spoke his mind. "It's always the quiet ones that are freaks in the sheets."
Holland and Flynn both burst out laughing. Flynn patted Karter's shoulder. "You must suck in bed then," he said between fits of laughter.
"Oh honey I do—that's not the point, asshat. I'm going for a walk if all you're going to do is insult me and my ways."
Flynn shrugged it off turning back to the game he had on pause. Karter grabbed his phone as Flynn told Holland the rules of the game before handing her the second controller.
Ignoring his words earlier about not leaving, he was in a mood. The type that was good, but also heavy and drained of energy. It was like some kind of rush of something that made him feel excited for no reason.
The dark sky wasn't much help when it came to a light source. Lights around the campus were good enough, as long as he stayed on the sidewalks.
As Karter walked he thought about the events of the day and random things that came to mind. At one point he would have bet money he was being followed by Slenderman or some other cryptid. However, it turned out to be an oddly shaped tree.
For the most part, everything was normal. The darkening sidewalks in some areas made him paranoid that someone was following him with each and every step he made walking farther from the dorms.
Karter didn't have a plan of where he was going. He simply walked around campus and watched the stars. It was nice.
Karter really hoped this semester went well. He did not need a repeat of the dramas and bad grades of last year.
It was just a mess.