"Aspen Greenwood? Seriously?" I ask the desk worker again as if he'd be able to give me a new answer. Fifth time's a charm, right?
"Listen," he pushes through nearly gritted teeth. "I understand you want a different roommate, but roommate assignments were finalized three days ago and are non-negotiable. Unless your current roommate has made you feel unsafe or in danger in any way, you won't be able to make any changes until next semester."
Although sharing a room with Aspen Greenwood is undoubtedly the last thing I want, there's nothing she has ever done to truly make me feel in danger. Not physically, at least. Academically? Now that's a different story.
"I just," I try one more time. "I really don't feel comfortable sharing a space with her."
The man at the desk just sighs with no sign of any enthusiasm toward helping a student with an issue, despite his job description. "The only thing I can do for you is give you this transfer request form to fill out. Someone will review your case and assign you or your roommate to new rooms, but the process won't start taking place until the start of September, due to housing policies. And at that point, it'll take an additional couple of weeks for everything to be observed and for changes to be made."
"So, you're saying I won't be able to get away from her for at least a month?"
He shrugs slightly. "Maybe sooner if everything goes smoothly. Are you still interested in filling out the form?"
Although waiting an entire month to finally be rid of Aspen completely seems like torture, it sounds like a much better deal than being stuck with her for the entire semester. So, with a long, exaggerated sigh of irritation, I begin filling out the stupid request form.
"Here," I say with a flat voice, handing the paper back as soon as I finish it. Ryan, which I quickly learn is the name of the man at the front desk after looking at his name tag, skims over the document and tells me he'll be right back before he steps into the office behind the counter. In his absence, the front doors of the lobby push open, and because I have incredible luck—full sarcasm intended—in waltzes a carefree, clearly overdressed Aspen Greenwood.
Her signature blonde box braids are neatly groomed like always, though instead of the short curls that usually finished off her braids, light, summer-colored beads take their place this time around. The beads are probably her idea of making a change for college—trying to "start fresh" in a way despite her objectively unhealthy control problems. After all, if tryhard could be personified, it would look just like her. And maybe me too—just a bit.
"Cara," Aspen's voice greets me coldly, completely butchering my name after all these years and almost stepping on my moving bags as she moves to meet me.
"You know it's pronounced car-uh," I glare at her, "not care-uh."
She just shrugs. "Tomato, tomato."
We've been in the same vicinity for less than thirty seconds and I can already feel myself starting to lose my mind. Her voice brings back memories from high school that I so desperately wanted to leave behind me; as soon as I heard her first words, it was like déjà vu. A crappy, unsettling version of déjà vu that made my skin crawl and my lips twitch.
"Don't bother with that," I tell Aspen as she starts to reach for one of the housing transfer request forms. "I already filled one out."
"Did they tell you how long it would take?"
"A month, give or take."
"Jesus Christ," she mutters. I raised my eyebrows in agreement before she continues. "Well, let's get this over with then."
Nothing else is said between us as we wait for the man at the desk to return. Then, when Ryan hands each of us keys to our dorm and mailboxes, he wishes us luck and a great day, though I think the only thing that makes that smile on his face genuine is the fact that he doesn't have to talk to us anymore.
I walk begrudgingly beside Aspen all the way to room 157, where the front door instantly opens to a small, open room with two doors on the back wall and one in the indented corner. I'd been so caught up with essays and letters of recommendations that housing was simply just an afterthought when I applied—hence my lack of knowledge when it came to the whole roommate thing—and I didn't realize we were lucky enough to have a shared common space outside of the separate bedrooms. It's like our own mini-living room.
Our door—I already hate the sound of that—is to the left, marked with a big, bolded 'A' on a piece of paper taped to the front. Beside room A is room B, where two other girls share a room—our suitemates. I still haven't met them, clearly, but I'm sure anyone is better than Aspen Greenwood.
Just as we open the door to reveal the damned room we'll be sharing for the next month, an older man with a scruffy white beard and pale skin hauls in a cart with some boxes. He makes eye contact with Aspen immediately, then smiles as she begs him not to hug her yet, and I instantly recognize him as her father.
Henry, Aspen's dad, was spotted at every volleyball game we played. Every awards ceremony, every science fair, every field trip, he was there. He and Aspen's mother, Riyah—they were always so adamant about us addressing them by their first names rather than Mr. and Mrs. Greenwood—and their other children. I remember the first time I met Maxwell, their youngest. He was just born our freshman year when Aspen and I weren't on nearly as bad terms as we were now. We weren't exactly friends, but she and I were the only two freshmen in the advanced English class that was meant for juniors and seniors, so we'd at least had something to bond over back then. Too bad it didn't last.
"Cara Jasper, is that you?" Henry asks, nudging my shoulder as I dress my bed with my new sheets.
I smile at him warmly, despite the complicated relationship I have with his daughter. "In the flesh."
"You two are roommates?" he asks with a bit of a concerned chuckle, knowing all too well how we feel about each other. I've always loved his kindness and acceptance toward me, even if Aspen doesn't like me. He never fails to make me feel seen and heard, just like his own daughter, and always tries to provide me with a safe space to feel comfortable around him. Every time he sees me, he smiles, and it is so refreshing.
"Some luck, huh?" he teases us. Aspen rolls her eyes and I just shake my head with a smile. "I didn't even know you were going to Barington. Did you have a safe trip?"
"Yeah, I flew in last night and stayed in a hotel."
"Is this all you brought?" He asks, gesturing to the three moving bags on the floor under my bed. They're huge and bright blue and carry everything I needed to bring from home outside of groceries. The best part is that they were able to fit inside whatever Uber I had to take to get here from the hotel.
"Yeah, it has everything I need," I tell him.
"Okay honey," he says, triggering a smile on my face with his endearing nickname. "Let us know if you need anything."
"Dad," Aspen interrupts sharply, shooting her dad a disapproving look. He shrugs with a smile and she shakes her head while I finish up my bed.
An hour passes by the time I'm done unpacking and organizing only one of my three bags and my stomach starts to growl louder than I'd ever heard it before. I glance over at Aspen, who is deep in thought while trying to decide which side of the bed she should put her ridiculous stuffed animal on, and I hate the idea of asking her to go get food with me. So instead, I decide to leave on my own. After all, independence is why I moved all the way across the country, right?
As I step outside of the room, I take a look at the door beside us, which is now open after being closed when we first arrived here. I peek inside just a bit, surprised to see a very tall, platinum-blonde, hyperfeminine girl typing away on a laptop. Instead of sitting at her desk like a normal person, she stands beside her bed, doing what looks like super difficult homework. The weirdest part, however, is that her room is completely put together—including her roommate's section of it. How in the world did they get all unpacked so quickly?
"Oh, hi!" The blonde suddenly says, snapping me back to meet her gaze. "You must be one of our suitemates. I'm Norah."
I smile calmly at her. "Hey, yeah. I'm Cara."
"Are you just now moving in?"
"Yeah, I just flew in from Vermont."
"Vermont? Oh my god." Her eyebrows furrow as she continues. "That's so far."
I shrug, not knowing how to respond. What am I supposed to say? Yeah, I know it's far—that's the whole point.
"Well, that's really cool! I'm from the area so I've already seen at least thirty people I know only in the last month that I've been here."
"You've been here for a month?" My voice comes out much more shocked than intended, but I can't help it. "Did you apply for early move-in or something?"
She just chuckles. "No, no. I just did a summer school course that gave me a scholarship for on-campus housing."
I nod with a short raise of my eyebrows. "What's your major?"
"Creative writing," she says. "I'm actually working on my novel right now, do you wanna hear about it?"
"Oh, I—"
"Don't put yourself through that," an unfamiliar voice calls out from behind me. I turn around to meet eyes with another beautiful girl with a dark complexion and an equally dark fashion sense. She's curvier than Norah, but just as tall—though, I realize it's probably thanks to the giant platform boots she has on.
The girl crosses her arms with a smirk as she gives me a cautious stare. "She'll go on for hours and you'll never finish unpacking."
"Oh, stop that," Norah responds, waving her hand at the other girl. "Cara, this is Opal, my roommate and best friend."
"Nice to meet you," I tell her with a smile. She seems much less outgoing than Norah, which makes me feel a bit more comfortable around her. After all, socializing with my peers was never one of my strongest qualities. And I have a lot of those.
"Nice to meet you too, Cara," she smiles back. "Did you wanna head out to a dining hall? You look starved."
Oh my god, she is a mind reader.
"Yes, please!" I beg. "Do you know which one here is the best?"
"Of course I do," she smiles. "What about your roommate? Are they hungry?"
I pause for a second, frozen in my stance. How am I supposed to explain to these perfectly nice strangers that my roommate and I have been competing with each other for years and can hardly stand each other?
"Um, we can ask real quick."
Opal nods and makes her way over to our room, where she immediately introduces herself to Aspen with a polite grin. Norah follows after her, and I come last in the lineup, wanting to avoid her as much as possible this next month.
"Hey, you're Aspen, right?" Opal asks.
Aspen takes a moment to finally tear her eyes away from the stuffed bear and smiles at Opal. "Yeah, I am. You guys are our suitemates?"
Norah nods happily, cutting into the conversation, "Yep! I'm Norah; this is Opal."
"We were wondering if you wanted to take a little trip to the dining hall with us," Opal offers.
Aspen's eyes wander over to me, to which I respond by immediately looking away. There is no way I'm going to let her think I was the one who wanted to invite her.
"Yeah, I'd love to join you guys," she says anyway. "Let me grab my ID."
author's note:
hi guys!! i know this first chapter is a little info heavy but i just want to say thank you all so much for your patience & i'm so excited to be starting a new sapphic romance with you all!
i'll plan on updating TFTF once a week to stay consistent (fingers crossed it works this time) but i'm not sure what day would be best for my schedule yet, so that's still to be determined.
but for now, i hope you enjoyed the first chapter, and i look forward to seeing your initial thoughts! have a beautiful day my loves <3