Haven- 01
"yeah, the paper and pen were my two best friends 'cause the sad songs understood me..."
Ella.
Navigating the city of Boston was one of those pre-decided things you'd classify as a struggle.
Foreigners, tourists, natives, and anyone with a remote reason to be in the city seemed to be here now. Having not visited in years, it was easy for me to forget how busy this city gets. The large brick buildings surrounding me are such a change from where I was 5 hours before, boarding a flight from New York City.
I settled for calling for a cab, being nearly professional in the act, whistling through my teeth and waving my hands. The cab driver gave me one of those 'wait, really?' faces when I directed him to take me to North campus, Harvard. I gave him back a dull nod, silently asking him to step on it.
Maybe the nerves were finally kicking in.
I was able to take in the populace on the sidewalks while I sat in the back seat. My eyes roamed over families, couples and your occasional person who felt it was their duty to show off the latest runway outfit, could be found wandering the streets of Boston.
The cabbie made a few more turns, many stops, and some occasional grunts of frustration towards the traffic (I had a feeling he did that often with his occupation), and before I knew it we were driving along the gravel road to campus. After paying my over priced fair and hopping out, I walked to the administrative offices to get my dorm paperwork. When I first thought about just getting an apartment in the area, I reevaluated that choice. Somewhere deep in me, I felt like truly going for that ridiculous and seemingly stereotypical college feel. Otherwise known as sharing a dorm with a faceless person.
Walking atop the sidewalk, I looked around me, taking in the beautiful landscape that surrounds the many Harvard buildings. Even with my distraction, it didn't stop me from being mentally reminded of just how hot Boston gets in August.
When I walk through the door to the administrative office the blast of air conditioned air hit me and I sighed, grateful. "Name, dear?" the elderly receptionist questioned when I walk up to her mahogany desk.
"Ella Mason," I replied.
She took an extraordinarily long time searching for my paper work and I could only supply my impatience with the fact that there are a lot of people attending this college. Which, in turn means a lot of paperwork.
I was admiring the chic artwork in the office until she finally breathed, "Here you go, if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. Or you could ask anyone on campus... I'm sure they wouldn't mind helping you, since you're new, dear." I nodded along in the right places after she gave me a small stack of papers, thanked her, and walked straight back out into the stuffy air.
Looking around again, I was genuinely floored by the beauty of this campus. I realized Harvard has it's reputation to fulfill but the immaculate cut bright green grass and freshly planted tulips every corner wasn't what I was expecting. I thought back to every time my mom would show me a picture of the campus online. The pictures didn't nearly do any of this justice, and I find myself thinking about how much I would've loved for my parents to visit.
The small pain in my chest acquainted with the all too familiar sting in my eyes at the thought of them was easier to deal with than the larger, more detremental feeling I dealt with years ago.
I walked around absentmindedly reading the papers in my hand, skimming through the basics. The contract for my dorm setup is six pages long and I inwardly laughed at wondering why it needed to be so extensive.
I mean, I get it. I lived with someone, who I was a stranger no less, to for quite some time, and I'm sure that fact was easily deemed to need a list of the do's and don't's that come with the responsibility.
I looked up again when I come to a stop at a water fountain in the middle of the garden. The fountain is an original design and it's colored an alluring baby blue, the water spewing out into the expanse. I sit on the edge, taking in everything and nothing in particular. I could get used to this, as long as I get past the excruciating heat of the summers.
"It's pretty, isn't it?" an unfamiliar voice asked. The person standing in front of me was luckily blocking the bright sun making it easier to tilt my head up, meeting his blue eyes. His blond hair was styled tall and he wore a plain white t-shirt and grey sweatpants paired with Jordan's. A typical college boy outfit, yet dare I say it, it looked great on him. He didn't give me time to answer before he started talking again. "I'm Niall. I haven't seen you around. Y'new?" he continued. I shook his outstretched hand with a smile. It was now that I recognized an accent of sorts. Not just the normal Boston accent I was fairly accustomed to hearing around here.
"Ella, and yes, actually just got here. Nice to meet you."
"Ah, great. You're not from around here are you? I recognize 't accent."
"That was my line," I laughed. "I'm just from New York. You?"
I've been told of my Queens accent before, but I didn't expect anyone to pick up on it. Especially someone who only heard me say a couple sentences.
"Born in Ireland," he proudly grinned. I nodded, finding his smile contagious.
"I've always wanted to visit. I hear it's great."
"Oh, 'tis. I miss it loads but Boston is quite nice," he replied, sitting next to me on the fountain bench. "So since you're new did ya need help finding something?" His pronunciation of the word 'something' sounded more like 'some tin' and I had to hold in my amused laugh.
I racked my brain. "My dorm, actually," I said. "You wouldn't happen to know where Building.." I trailed off looking at my sheet, "F is, would you?"
I saw him nod from the corner of my eye before I turned to him. "Actually, I know a few mates in that building. You're in luck."
"It must be the strong presence of the Irish," I teased. He laughed loudly, his hand clutching the end of the bench we were sat on, while he leaned over, and I found myself laughing along to the sublime sound.
"Come on, I'll walk you," he said, recovering but still chuckling lightly. Niall already felt like someone who was easy to be around. That person you couldn't help but magnetize yourself towards even if you were in a room full of people.
Following after my new friend I was able to see a lot more of the campus. They definitely went all out on the specialty flowers, and shrubs. Undoubtedly the entirety of the college was beautiful from what I could see. The buildings architecture was something that looked like it belonged to the 1890's, yet so beautifully kept and maintained.
After a few minutes of walking in a very relaxing silence filled with little of other students chatter or banter, we arrived to Building F. The letters were in bold, and I really hoped I could find it easily in the future now that I know a little more about the layout of this place.
"After you." Seemingly, Niall was a gentleman. After he held the door open for myself and my suitcase, I murmured a thank you and made my way up the set of stairs. With Niall still following behind, I found my room number in the stack of papers I had and saw the door to my room in the middle of the long hall.
"Well shit," Niall said from behind me, "you're right across the hall from one of my mates." I put my key in the door handle, and turned it. I took in what he said as I entered the dorm. I was pleasantly surprised with what I could take in. My 'roommate' seemed to be absent at the moment which gave me time to think of a reasonable greeting for her. The half empty space before me wasn't messy, or dirty in any way which I was overly thankful for, and it looked like the perfect size to fit two people without over crowding.
I turned back around after setting my suitcase on the bed that didn't have sheets. "Thank you for your help Niall, honestly. I probably wouldn't have been able to find this on my own. I'm pretty horrible with directions," I admitted.
"Oh yeah, it's no problem," he shrugged. "If you'd like, my brother is throwing a party tonight... Kind of a 'last party before the semester starts' type of thing," he used his fingers to make air quotes, and I found it oddly adorable, what with his blue eyes shining brightly and all. "It should be fun, and it'll give you a chance to meet more than just me. I'll probably bore you after a while if I'm the only one you know around here." He chuckled, wavering at the doorway of my dorm.
"I'll think about it, thanks again."
He nodded with a small smile "'Course," he murmered, and was out the door.
I was left to unpack the little I brought in my luggage. I didn't feel the need to bring a lot of things, thinking it was better to keep it to a minimum. My apartment in New York City was fully furnished when I had moved in so quickly those months ago. I'd wanted to get out of the one suburb that reminded me so much of my parents, and fast. So, the month after I turned 18, the entire plan was set in motion. My aunt/god mother, who had taken me under her wing when her brother and sister-in-law died, supported my independent ways. That apartment will always hold some of my dearest memories of finally finding myself under the thick layer of rubbish I had been covered with for too long. That apartment was the roof over my head during some of my lonliest hours.
I put the sheets on my bed, my phone charger in the wall, and my clothes in my closet, which was the extent of my necessities. My clothes were always comfortable; sweatpants, sweatshirts, sweaters, jeans. Not exactly Boston summer type of clothing. I made a mental note of going out to buy some shorts and tank tops. I made a second mental note that I really needed to work on my tan if that was ever going to fly.
A sudden turn of the door handle to my dorm made me perk up and stop my current activity of putting away my shoes.
The girl that walked in gasped. "You're here! You must be Ella, I've been looking forward to this day! I'm Abigail Woods, but you can just call me Abby. It's what everyone calls me. Oh my, I finally have a room mate!"
I held in a laugh at her ramble. She looked to be the same height as me but her legs were long; something we didn't have in common. Her hair was a beautiful wavy brown and her eyes were a brighter matching brown. She was still stumbling in the doorway with a stack of textbooks in her arms by the time I got off my bed and spoke.
"I'm-um.. yeah. I'm Ella, but you already know that," I stammered. Abby laughed. "It's nice to meet you."
"You too! Okay, so how do you like Harvard so far? It's so nice isn't it? I'm a sociology major, and my minor is in business-- if you were wondering. What're you studying?" she asked with a smile.
Although she is gorgeous, I am extremely relieved the person I'll be sharing living space with is not a bitch who ignores my very existence.
"Oh yeah, from what I've seen it's nice," I smiled back, trying to remember all of what she asked me, and in answer in the same order. It's an understatement, but I didn't want to go into detail. "English is my major," I added.
After several more minutes of questions, or tips when it comes to campus Abby put me through I decided to sit down on my bed with Of Mice and Men, and relax until I decided whether or not to go to the party Niall suggested. I highly doubted Abby would be the type to party hard-- she seemed more like the type for slumber parties instead-- and I didn't even have Niall's number. He seemed like a really nice guy, and I'm sure the party would be fun, but if I was completely honest, I was just whipped from the flight I had this morning and I don't think I'd be all that much of service to Niall.
It must've been at least midnight when I found myself waking up with a start to a loud noise, almost sounding like a crash, outside the dorm. I didn't even remember falling asleep, and from looking at the book I have on my chest, it wasn't part of my plan. I turned to my left and found Abby sleeping soundly in fluffy cotton pajamas, bundled in warmth not even affected by the disruption. Thinking it was just my imagination, I snuggled deeper into my comforter and closed my eyes again until another crash sounded.
Despite not wanting to admit it, I'd never been one to make extremely wise decisions, and I tended to regret a lot of things because of my curiosity getting the better of me. Curiosity killed the cat, after all. And while I threw my blankets off my body, making my way to the door of my dorm and twisting the knob, I had a feeling this would be another one of those things I regretted.
Once I opened my door I came face to face with an eerily silent hallway. Okay, now I felt dumb-- there it was again! The same noise, only slightly quieter this time.
The crash was coming from in front of me, the dorm across from mine. I frowned and hesitantly began walking the short distance, and knocked thrice, putting little strength into it. After nearly a minute of nothing, I knocked again, becoming more tired by the second from being woken by the odd disruption. I wondered if anyone else on our floor had woken, too.
Slowly but surely the door opened, revealing brown curls first, and then the entire tall body of a man. A very attractive man. Immediately, my eyes narrowed in on his vigilant ones. They were rimmed a pale red, giving away his indecent state, but you couldn't miss the bright green color of their irises as they widened upon discovering me. I stood still, confused, as he took me in head to toe.
"W-what do you want?" his choice of words came out slurred. Immediately I figured he was drunk, as if his breath that reeked wasn't enough confirmation, he could barely stand.
"Are you okay in there?" I decided to use my calm voice to override his demeaning one. Maybe he was an angry drunk. I wasn't sure, but he didn't look all that amused at the vision of me standing in his doorway.
His eyes searched mine, then dropped and hitched to look at every other inch of my tired face, as if trying to place a name to a body. He stood--the best he could while grasping onto his door frame--staring, while I waited in the hall, staring back. His eyes never once left my face. He was studying me, and I didn't know what to do, or how to counteract it.
After what felt like minutes passing, his features became dazed, and he finally spoke. "Yeah," was his breathy reply before he stumbled back enough to close the door without another word, leaving me gazing at the motionless piece of wood.
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"...all of my demons are kickin' and screamin' but i'll never leave them behind. yeah, maybe i'm crazy but don't try to change me 'cause i've never felt so alive..." -the cab
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SOOOOO hello! basically, if you've just read this that automatically means i love you, and you're my new friend. so with that being said, i reaaaally hope you liked it (and please be patient with this story bc the first chapter may not be a lot but i can guarantee i have some crazy ideas for this story :D)
anddddd remember to vote and comment. it may seem like a small act but it means so much to me! thank you, love you. oh and if you want to give me song suggestions for the chapter songs (i always put one in) then tell me!! i love listening to new music soooo yeah.
ok i'm done now *inserts salsa dancer emoji*