She blinked several times, and then rubbed her eyes. Her mother had always told her not to do that, but seeing as her mother wasn't here with her at the moment, she decided she didn't particularly care. Glancing once again in her finger print stained mirror, she saw her own murky green eyes staring back at her. She definitely needed food.
Via hadn't eaten since that morning, struggling to cram writing five different essays that were all due by ten am tomorrow. It wasn't her fault that she had pushed it to the last minute, really, it wasn't. She had lost herself in her blog entries. One hour had turned to another and several days followed that. While she was supposed to be writing her five essays, she was redesigning her blog and drafting several new entries that really should have been uploaded months ago. She had even slacked behind on blog writing—Via really couldn't believe herself.
She didn't bother to make herself look presentable; she was only going to the convenience store. Besides, it was currently two am, and no one in their right mind would be there, save for Via. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't be seen doing this.
That was a definite lie. Via usually went to the store at late hours like this.
Pushing open her door, she was greeted by a gust of the A.C and she shivered, stuffing her hands into her pocket. She blinked again, allowing her eyes to adjust to the brightness of the hallway, and then hurried down, realizing she was wasting time to write her essays. She wasn't surprised though, as it was something she typically found herself doing.
What did surprise her though, was a boy, around her age, laying in a sleeping bag, right outside what appeared to be his room. He seemed to be mentally counting down.
Via, who had considered interacting with people a work-in-progress for her, felt the strange urge to talk to this brown haired, blue eyed boy.
"What—" She had to clear her voice from hours of not using it, "are you doing?"
The boy glanced up, surprised, "My roommate's fiancee is over. As great as she is, I'd rather not be in there right now," he wrinkled his nose in disgust. Via let out a bark of laughter as she eyed his sleeping bag.
He scowled at her, and his cheeks blossomed bright red as he continued explaining his situation, "so that's why I'm out in the hallway, trying to sleep. But the damn A.C. is so loud and apparently, they need the lights to be this bright at two am when everyone is supposed to be sleeping."
"Not me. I'm going to the convenience store to get snacks."
"You're batshit crazy," the boy gave her an incredulous look, to which she shrugged off.
"I, like Rudyard Kipling, work best in the late hours of the night."
"One, it's the early morning. Two, I'm like two hundred percent sure that's code for 'I did nothing all day and am paying for it now.'"
"Jumping to conclusions now, are we, Mr. I-Speak-Fluent-Bullshit," she cocked an eyebrow at him, but could feel the corners of her mouth lifting.
He did not look impressed by his new name, "It's actually Remington."
"Remington—who the fuck names their child Remington?"
"Well what's your name, you special snowflake?" He gave her a glance that stated he did not appreciate her disdain for his name.
"Via."
"Via?"
"Short for Olivia. I hate that name," she said, quickly taking a glance at her phone to check the time.
"Well, Olivia—"
"Do not call me that," Via glared.
"Oops. Honest mistake," he said, grinning from ear to ear, "Anyways, Via, if you'll excuse me, some people actually enjoy the wonderful practice of sleep, so I'll be getting back to it."
"In the middle of a fucking hallway," she deadpanned.
"In the middle of a fucking hallway. With an A.C. on. In the winter. Don't forget the bright lights. Oh, if only someone would take pity."
Via rolled her eyes at his melodramatic antics. She took pity on the poor boy, and before she knew it, words were flying out of her mouth. Words she would've never said to anyone else, "Okay, Remington—"
"—it's actually Sage. I wanted to see your reaction to my middle name though."
"—will you shut up? I'm trying to be generous here. I guess you can sleep on my sofa—"
"Oh, thank you thank you thank you! I would like to thank not only God, but Jesus as well. You are my savior."
"On one condition. Jesus Christ, you don't let anyone finish, do you?" She stared at him, annoyed, "And that one condition is that you have to write two of my essays."
"Deal."
—
Via and Sage had headed out the back way, where the filtered A.C air gave way to the crisp, biting winds of the night. Via shivered as she quickly sped ahead. "Which one is your car?"
Sage, illuminated by the parking lot's street lights, stopped and gave her a strange look, "my car? Hell no."
"Too bad. You don't have a say in this. I'm letting another human being sleep in my cramped dorm that can barely hold me in it. We're driving your car."
He groaned, opened his mouth to complain, and then seemed to think better of it and began walking in the opposite direction.
"Keys?" She held her hand out and Sage stared at her incredulously.
His voice raised. "Are you joking? It's bad enough we have to take my car, but you are not driving my baby."
"Your baby?" She snorted, "Are you like one of those boys who had two thousand dollar Adidas shoes in eighth grade? And every time a speck of dirt touched them, you yelled out for a toothbrush and some fucking bleach because god forbid something get on your pristine white shoes."
"That's...oddly specific," his brow furrowed.
"You were, weren't you? I bet you even named your fucking car."
"Can you stop attacking Rachel?"
She burst out laughing again, "Rachel? What a white girl name."
"You have really got to stop stereotyping things. And that's gold, coming from you, Olivia."
"You fucking suck," she glared and Sage smirked.
He stepped forward quickly and opened the door to the passenger's seat. "Ladies first."
She gave him a bright smile and climbed in, before shutting the door herself and climbing into the driver's seat. The door opened just in time, and Sage groaned.
"Don't be a Debbie downer. Keys?"
"Shove over," he grumbled.
"Not happening."
In a flash, Sage plopped his whole, heavy body onto Via, which she did not appreciate one bit. Struggling to shove him off of her, she noticed the keys jangle in his right pocket. Quickly, she pushed him against the horn, the sound echoing through the parking lot at two am, and Sage, startled, jumped up. But not before Via's hand reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys.
He glared at her, as she inserted them in with a satisfying click. Twisting them, the engine sounded and she cheekily turned to him, "Either you get in right now, or I'm going to drive off without you. In your baby."
Sage's eyes widened and he ran to the other side, scrambling into the car. "Whatever you do, don't you dare hurt Rachel."
"What if it's an accident?" Via backed out and began to enter the street.
"I will fucking sue you."
She let out a snort, "Sure you will. Like you have the financial resources to make that happen. Will you relax? The store is literally five minutes away, what's the worst that could happen?"
"If it's five minutes away, why are we driving?"
Via rolled her eyes. This boy knew nothing, "Because, Sage, cars go at a different speed than people walking do."
"Asshole," he muttered.
"No shit, Sherlock," Via retorted dryly, "if you wanted to be babied, you shouldn't have come with me."
"You were taking my fucking car! What the hell was I supposed to do?" He said, incredulously.
Via pulled into the parking lot of the store. She pulled the keys out of the ignition and turned to glare at Sage, "Suck it up."
She slammed the door shut and immediately regretted it. Though the car provided little warmth, the night air was even colder. She really wished she had reached for her oversized hoodie, instead of the flimsy windbreaker that currently adorned her body.
She walked toward Sage and tapped him. "Can I have your jacket?"
"Can you have my what- my jacket? You're actually crazy! It's freezing out here!"
"Okay, and we wouldn't have to stand out here if you didn't make it a point to make a debate over everything I say."
He sighed, and took off his jacket, handing it over to her. Via smiled, satisfied as she wrapped it around her. "Oh quit pouting. If you make a run for it, it won't be as cold."
Bracing herself, she sprinted and managed to open the door with her nearly frozen hands, sounding the bell. The clerk, a black haired Korean guy named Leo, looked up, unsurprised. "Hi Via."
She suspected Leo was in college, because who else would be crazy enough to work at two in the morning? However, her suspicions went unconfirmed as she had never seen him around campus, and asking him would make her look very dumb. Not that she got out of her dorm very often.
Sage appeared behind her, breathless. He raised an eyebrow at her, "You come here often?"
"She's the only one who comes in at two am," Leo snorted, much to Via's dislike.
Via wordlessly made her way down to the snack aisle, grabbing at least three different bags of chips and countless more candy. Trying to make as much noise as possible, so that Sage would stop talking in his obnoxiously loud voice, she shoved them all into a basket.
"Oh I see. She's a bit..." Sage leaned in and whispered to Leo, "...if you know what I mean."
"Oh believe me, I do," Leo chuckled. Via glared as she slammed her basket on the counter.
"Hello gossip girls," she said as she slammed her basket on the counter, "you two are terrible, terrible people."
"Now, that's not any way to treat your best friend, is it?" Sage winked, as Leo let out a bark of laughter and Via's scowl deepened.
"Sage, call an Uber," she jangled his keys in front of him before running off. She turned back and could see the slightest glimpse of fear on his face. Score.