Jerome's P.O.V.
The moment I heard that there was going to be three people crammed into a tiny, 2 bedroom dorm room for an entire year, I groaned and shuddered. Sure, they were taking some money off Mitch and I's rent to make us accommodate this other person, but neither of us particularly wanted them. We knew each other and had for years but now we had to share a room with a complete stranger- for a year.
Mitch was less than impressed too but right then he was more focused on enrolling in his second year of classes- an art major, so he needed plenty of space to spread his paintings across the floor and I knew that from first hand experience. I just hoped that our new roommate would mind and would also keep to his space, because even if we didn't get along we couldn't just move, there were no more rooms.
"I hope he's alright with us." Mitch mumbled, leaning over to rest his head on my shoulder. "Cause I don't know if I'll survive otherwise."
"It'll be fine." I whispered, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "I'm sure it will be."
We were meeting him tomorrow, for the first time, as we moved into our dorm room. We all had a week to get settled and get to know the campus again- all three of us were second years- join clubs, things like that before classes started up and both of us were nervous, unsure what he would be like. All I wanted was for him to accept us as we were but honestly, he wouldn't really have any choice.
"And even if it isn't, we'll work something out."
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Mitch and I arrived earlier that he did, managing to set up our stuff to cover just over half the room, our beds pressed right together, clothes in the same dresser but two separate desks, one already covered in Mitch's art supplies and the other with my folders. Being a law student ended with a lot of paper and organisation was key- as well as being slightly insane. But I enjoyed it, for some reason.
We were just settling down on our beds- bed, really- our legs kicked up over the others, laptops in our laps, when there was a soft knock on the door. I got up to answer it and wasn't surprised to see our new roommate on the other side, looking shy and nervous with a suitcase in either hand. He was alone, his parents had likely seen him off at the entrance.
"Hey, you're our roomy yeah?" He nodded slowly, showing a toothy grin.
"Yeah, I'm Preston, what's your name?" He was about my height, tan and with a slight Texan accent, soft brown hair and a smile that went right up to his eyes. I could tell he was nervous, but that quickly faded as I introduced myself.
"Jerome, and the other roommate is my boyfriend, Mitch." There was a yell of "yo!" from in the room and although he looked confused for a second, his furrowed brow quickly changed to a smile when he realised. I nodded back, opening the door up to let him inside. His bed, dresser and drawer were already there.
"Hey, I'm Preston." He said to Mitch, smiling. "I'll be back in a minute, I've got another bag with bedding and stuff."
He dumped his stuff and went to do exactly that, and I turned to my boyfriend, smiling.
"He's not bad, he seems nice actually!" I said cheerfully, flopping back down beside him. "I have a good feeling about this."
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It only took a few days for the three of us to settle into a comfortable routine, and we all got along great. Preston wasn't the type to party, nor was he the type to bring random girls to the room and he was tidy as well, keeping his stuff to his side of the room. He also didn't seem to mind Mitch spreading his paintings everywhere.
The semester began with no troubles but it was only then that Mitch and I discovered that Preston was an english major, focusing mostly on the history side of things, and organization was also key to his degree. So we kept to our spaces, and pretty much let Mitch have free reign of the floor because I didn't blame him for not wanting to go down to the studio every day.
But while we were organised, it was also pure chaos.
Honestly Mitch caused pretty much all of the chaos on his own with his art and panic about deadlines but once we got further into the semester and the work piled up for both Preston and I- it turned to shit. I felt like screaming some mornings when I woke up to see the mess but it was a little better when I turned to see Mitch lying beside me, sleeping peacefully, and Preston sprawled out on his bed on the other side of the room.
So what out life was crazy, so what we were barely making it through all of our work, we had each other. I had my boyfriend, Mitch had me, and Preston was floating around the two of us, now a very close friend because of the amount of time we spent together.
"Babeeeee!" Mitch whined from the bedroom as I stood just inside the bathroom, organising the cupboard. I poked my head around the door.
"What?" He was lying sprawled on his bed, shirtless, arms up above his head, pouting. I rolled my eyes at him with a smile on my face, averting my eyes. "Babe, put a shirt on."
"Nah." He mumbled. "Don't feel like it. And I'm bored."
I sighed but came into the room, carefully stepping around and over his paintings to crawl onto our bed. Preston wasn't there, he was due back any time soon. His arms quickly tightened around my waist and I realised that he wasn't really bored- he just wanted cuddles. I smiled to myself, letting him bury himself in my chest.
"You right?"
"Mm. Stressed." He grumbled, his head pressed right into my shoulder. I could feel his lips against my skin. "I just wanna sleep." I laughed.
"It's only 3! But I guess you can if you want. I don't have anything to do." He took that as permission to completely relax, closing his eyes.
"You're amazing." He whispered, kicking his feet under the covers.
"I'm just letting you have a nap." I laughed, but it was nice to have a break from work and have some cuddles. Mitch was a snuggle bug a lot of the time.
Mitch was asleep by the time Preston got back, still tucked up tight against me and I was attempting to watch a movie on my phone over his shoulder, struggling quite a bit. Preston saw me and laughed quietly, carefully avoiding Mitch's paintings.
"You a bit stuck there?" I only rolled my eyes, pulling my arm out from underneath my boyfriend where it was being slightly crushed. "How long's he been asleep?"
"Bout an hour, he said he was tired and then fell asleep on me." I groaned, shifting underneath him.
There was no more talking after that, Preston flopped down on his bed to watch some videos and I continued to cuddle up against my boyfriend, occasionally running a hand through his hair when he moved. I plastered his face with kisses too and even in sleep he smiled a little, shifting against me.
It had been a good year. I might have been apprehensive in the beginning about sharing a room with Preston as well as my boyfriend but now... I was glad I did it. We had gained a new friend, a lifelong friend, and I was looking forward to the rest of our time together, and once we moved from the dorms it was already decided we would look for a house together.
We were both looking forward to it, really.