So I made the one shot from Controlla where Demi and Odell are in college into a short story. And I mean short. It's like eleven chapters and it's already finished so if you guys like it, let me know and I'll upload the rest.
College was supposed to be the most exciting time of your life. It was supposed to be a time where you discovered who you are and worked to make a difference in the world. It was supposed to be a time of freedom and opportunity, but nestled in her dorm room on the 6th floor of College Hall North, she didn't feel excited. She didn't feel like she was discovering who she was. She didn't feel free. Demi Lovato felt tired and drained, and even though she hated her home, she wanted nothing more than to be on that plantation-turned-millionaire-dream-house right now because at least it was familiar. Everything around her was too new.
She heard her door unlocking which meant that her roommate was back from whatever she was doing. They were both cheerleaders there on scholarships so they spent a lot of time together. They moved in a week early because they had practices all week long in preparation for the big welcome back to school pep rally that happened every year. Even though they had only known each other for a week, Demi knew that she was the complete opposite of her roommate. Ariel was loud and snobby while Demi was quiet and calm. It wasn't that Ariel was a bad person, but she wasn't necessarily someone that Demi would purposely choose to hang out with. They just spent a lot of time together because they were roommates and cheerleaders.
"What are you getting dressed for? Another party?" Demi asked as she picked up the book that she had been previously reading. Her dad had given it to her before she left and asked her to read it. She wasn't one for following her parents' orders but it looked interesting so she found herself reading it anyways.
"No, there's a football scrimmage tonight. You should totally come. Besides practice and orientation, have you even left this room?" Ariel asked as she exchanged her diamond studs for a gaudy pair of hoops. Demi had no idea how they ended up being roommates because they were complete opposites. Ariel was at a party every night while Demi liked to stay in her dorm and mind her own business. It wasn't that she was too good to party, it was just she didn't like being in an environment where everyone seemed so out of control.
"Yeah, I left to get some food earlier," Demi smartly replied.
"Whatever. You should totally come to this scrimmage. The entire team is going and you'd be the only one not there...like a loser," Ariel said as she pulled her yellow and purple LSU sports bra over her head. Demi chewed down on her bottom lip to refrain from letting a snarky remark leave her mouth. Her and Ariel were stuck together for two whole semesters, they couldn't be at each other's throat all of the time.
"Fine, I'll go," Demi said, setting her book down and hopping off of her bed. She grabbed her LSU sports bra and black spandex to wear, since that's what Ariel was wearing, and quickly changed. She felt too naked though so she slipped a lightweight hoodie on and combed through her hair.
"Look whose gonna leave the dorm for once. It's a miracle," Ariel giggled as they left the room. They took the elevator all the way down to the lobby and showed the security at the front desk their IDs before leaving. In ten minutes they were at the football field and it was clear the game had already started. All of the cheerleaders were sitting on the first row of bleachers so Ariel and Demi joined them.
"Look at number 13!" Ariel pointed out, nudging Demi to look up from her phone. Number 13 had taken his helmet off to drink some water and Demi finally looked at him while he did so. Demi certainly wasn't a prude but she didn't come to college for one night stands and boyfriends. But number 13 was definitely majorly attractive, especially because of the way that all of the girls were practically swooning over him.
"That's Odell Beckham Junior. He's here on a football scholarship. He was one of the first players that they scouted out...and he's a total hottie," Tinsley, Demi was sure that was her name, said with a wide smile on her face. Demi raised her eyebrow but didn't say anything. She wasn't here for boys, especially not athletes. Athletes were a completely different spieces of men and she didn't have time for their egos or their games.
The game lasted way longer than Demi expected it to. They left the dorm when the sun was still high in the sky and by the time the scrimmage was over, it was completely dark outside.
"Let's go say hi to the guys since we'll be cheering for them," Ariel suggested. They all stood up and walked down to the field where the boys were all standing around after their win. But as soon as they saw all the girls walking towards them in their sports bras and spandex, they were immediately paying attention.
"Great game," Ariel boldly said, directing her attention to Odell. "It'll definitely be easy cheering for you guys if you play like that at every game."
Demi chuckled and stepped back a little bit while all of the girls basically huddled around the guys and began to talk to them. She read through her emails, looked through her Instagram, and texted her best friend back while waiting for their little interaction to be over. They had practice at 6am tomorrow and Demi would not be yelled at for being late.
"Hey," Demi looked up from her phone in surprise as she saw Odell standing in front of her and smiling down at her.
"Uh, hi," she said then looked back down at her phone, waiting for him to walk away.
"I'm Odell...you are?"
"None of your business?" Demi responded with a little smirk on her face. Odell chuckled and scratched the back of his neck.
"So it's really like that, baby?"
"I'm not your baby, and yeah it really is. Not to be rude or anything but I have to go. You played a great game though, Odell," Demi complimented, because she really wasn't trying to be rude. She just didn't have time for guys, nor was she craving any attention from them.
"Well thanks. Hopefully since you'll be cheering for me, I'll be able to really impress you this season," he said as Demi just shrugged and turned around to walk away.
"I really can't get your name though?" He called after her, causing her to turn her head.
"I'm sure you'll learn it eventually. Good night Odell," Demi gave him a three finger wave before leaving the field. Clearly Ariel and the other girls were going to stick around but she'd rather go back to her dorm.
Classes started two weeks ago and now they had their first official game coming up. All Ariel could talk about was Odell though. She was always bragging at practice about how much they texted each other and how they had danced at one of the parties and how they were pretty much dating. Demi didn't really care but she wished she would shut up about it. All Ariel cared about was Odell, partying, and cheerleading. She was already skipping classes and they had only been going to class for two weeks.
"Girls, as you all know we have the tradition at LSU of each of the cheerleaders wearing the football player's jersey, and the player gets to request which cheerleader they want to represent them," Coach Hilliker explained after making all of the girls sit down.
"So when I call your name, please come up and get the jersey. You'll be wearing it on game day and during the actual game with your black spanks and white shoes," she finished off. She started naming girls off while Ariel was talking about how she would definitely have Odell's jersey. Demi rolled her eyes and wondered if they would let her switch roommates or at least have a single. She didn't think she'd be able to tolerate Ariel for the whole year.
"Demi Lovato. You'll be wearing number 13's jersey, which belongs to Odell Beckham Junior."
"WHAT?" Ariel screeched, turning to Demi and shooting her a deathly glare as Demi simply shrugged and stood up to grab the jersey. Even though Demi wasn't trying to get caught up in any drama, she wished she could've taken a picture of Ariel's face when coach announced that she would be wearing Odell's jersey. She would've printed it out and hung it up in their dorm room.
"Demi, you don't even leave your dorm. He doesn't even know your name! Why the hell did he choose you to wear his jersey?" Ariel demanded as she paced back in forth in their dorm room while Demi was fixing her makeup.
"I don't know. If it's really that big of a deal we can switch. Who cares?" Demi responded with a roll of her eyes.
"No, he obviously picked you for a reason and everyone knows he picked you. Switching will humiliate me. Are you trying to make my life here hell?" Ariel demanded as Demi shook her head.
"Ariel, it's not that deep. Just put your jersey on so we're not late. Maybe you'll have time to ask him about it before the game." Demi said as she grabbed her duffle bag. Ariel huffed and grabbed hers as well but didn't say anything else. They walked in silence to the stadium and into the locker rooms where everyone was getting dressed and stretching out. Demi easily slid down into her splits and did her other stretches while everyone else was putting their makeup on or fixing their hair. Twenty minutes later they were in the tunnel getting ready to go out onto the field. The football players arrived and Odell immediately sought her out.
"You look nice in my jersey, Demetria," he put extra emphasis on her name since she hadn't told him what it was the last time they had seen each other.
"It's Demi and I'm surprised you wanted me to wear it," she corrected as he smiled again. She couldn't help the blush that filled her cheeks. He had the cutest smile.
"I couldn't picture anyone else but you wearing it." They heard a scoff behind them and both turned to see Ariel standing there.
"Seriously Odell? You couldn't picture anyone else wearing it? That's not what you were saying last night," Ariel hissed.
"Uh, I'm gonna go. Have a good game," Demi said before walking away from the situation. Not her drama, not her problem.
Immediately after the game, Demi rushed into the locker room and packed her things up to avoid Ariel. She was still pissed about the jersey situation and Demi was pretty sure she had tried to purposely drop her during one of their stunts. She had told her that she could wear the jersey but she declined and Odell obviously didn't want her to wear it so Demi didn't understand why she was on the receiving end of all of her anger.
"Hey, wait!" She stopped in her tracks when she heard Odell behind her and turned around with a strained smile on her face.
"Damn, you avoiding somebody?"
"You kind of made my roommate mad with the whole jersey situation so yeah, I am, and it's you. Sorry, but I gotta go," Demi said but Odell grabbed her hand before she could leave.
"Look. You're obviously not here for a relationship or anything and I can understand that. But can we at least be friends? We're obviously gonna be seeing a lot of each other," Odell said as Demi sighed and looked around. None of the other girls had made it out of the locker room yet.
"Yeah we can..."
"Cool, so as a friend can I invite you to the after party?"
"Honestly? I'm not much of a partier. Can we get something to eat instead? There's a Tasty Burger around the block," Demi suggested, knowing that she probably sounded extremely lame but also not really caring. It wasn't like she was begging him to hang out with her or anything.
"I love Tasty Burger. Let me go get changed then I'll meet you in front of the school in about a half hour?" Odell said as Demi nodded. He ran off to the locker rooms so she decided to back to the dorm to drop her bag off and change into something a little bit nicer. Thirty minutes later they were leaving the campus and walking towards Tasty Burger.
"So where are you from?"
"I'm from New York on the Upper East Side. What about you?"
"You're from New York with all those prestigious Ivy Leagues and you chose to come here? Why?"
"It's complicated...where are you from?" Demi hoped that Odell would just drop the subject because she hadn't talked to anyone about her family situation and she wasn't planning to either.
"Uh, I'm from Louisiana. Baton Rouge. My family has been talking about LSU since I was in the womb. What's your major?"
"I'm actually undecided. I've been having a bit of an issue deciding what I want to do with my life but I'm leaning towards criminal justice or something in the pyschology department. I guess I'm just feeling a little lost right now," Demi admitted, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear as they waited in line.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'm undecided too. The only thing I'm sure about is football. But they can't expect us to make a decision when the decision making part of our brain isn't even fully formed yet," Odell said as Demi's eyes widened as surprised.
"You mean the frontal lobe?"
"Yeah, did I impress you?" He asked as Demi nodded her head.
"You actually did. You don't look like you'd be interested in psychology...no offense."
"None taken. My sister was a psych major and she came home on the weekends so I used to help her study for her tests. So if you do decide to be a psych major, I can totally help you out," Odell said as Demi smiled at him. She was glad she gave him a chance because he really wasn't that bad.