Room 37, third on the left-- that's what I was looking for. Yet, unsurprisingly, I couldn't find it. I swear, I have no sense of direction. I knocked at the next door I came to, in hopes of someone to instruct me where this mystical Room 37 was- because I sure couldn't find it on my own.
A few seconds after I knocked, the door was opened by a girl with purple hair- and more tattoos than I could count right off bat. She was beautiful though. "Hey," she said, in an irritated tone.
"Hey, sorry to interrupt you," I said awkwardly, "But, uh, I can't find my room."
She looked at me inquisitively, as if thinking-- why pis there a random girl knocking on my door, asking for directions- while holding 3 suitcases in one hand?
"It's the third room on the left," she said.
"I know, I looked. That's room 22."
"What end of the hallway did you come from?" she asked.
"That way," I said pointing to my left.
"Third on the left-- if you come from the right," she said, laughing slightly at my mistake.
"Oh," I said, trying to break the awkward silence that followed, "I'll just be on my way then," I said.
She nodded, closing the door as I proceeded to haul my three suitcases behind me down the hallway. She opened the door again, and said, "You, uh, want any help with them?" she asked, pointing to my bags.
"Oh, sure," I said, extending the handle of one suitcase to her. She took that one, and also the one I had in my left hand, and began to walk down the hall ahead of me, stopping at my room. I slid my key in, and unlocked the door.
"Alright," she said, handing me back my bags, "You got it from here? Don't get lost again," she teased.
I rolled my eyes, "I should be fine," I answered, "I'm Grace by the way," I said to her back as she left my room.
"Cool," she said, without even turning around the face me.
Stepping inside my room, I greeted my roommate. "Hey," I said.
She looked up from her bags, "Oh, hey. I'm Mamrie."
"Grace," I said, raising my hand in a weird cross between a wave and a salute. My red haired roommate returned to unpacking her clothes from her bags.
"So Grace," she said, "Freshman year?"
I nodded, "Fuck, is it that evident?" I laughed.
Mamrie shrugged, "Eh, a lil' bit. But, don't worry, I'm a freshman too."
After we had both finished unpacking our clothes, we sat in awkward silence. I pulled at the bottom of my red and grey baseball shirt, trying to occupy myself. "I need to shower," I said, grabbing a change of clothes, and all that good stuff.
After I emerged, freshly showered and make up reapplied, I flopped down on my bed. "Hey," Mamrie said, "You got any plans for tonight?"
I shook my head, "No, why?"
"I made some friends today, and we were going to go to dinner tonight. Then, we'll probably come back to this room for drinks after. Wanna tag along?" she asked.
After getting over the fact that someone asked me to go somewhere with them, I replied, "Sure. But, I... I don't actually have any nice clothes- I didn't think I'd be going out."
"No worries, man," she said, "I'll loan you one of my dresses," she said. She pulled out two dresses from her closet- one blue, and one green with white accents. "Which one you want?" she asked. I took the green and white dress by the hanger and laid it out on my bed.
Mamrie retreated to the bathroom to change and shower and do her make up, and whatever else. I quickly changed out of my baseball shirt and blue jean cut-off shorts, and into my borrowed dress. I looked at myself in the mirror that hung on the wall. Not bad.
Mamrie emerged again from the bathroom, dressed, and looking pretty damn good. "Ready to go?" she asked. I nodded.
After a short walk to the diner type restaurant, Mamrie, three of her friends, and I crowded into a booth. Thank God I was on the outside, so I could move a little bit without elbowing someone else in the ribcage.
I glanced around the dim diner, as we waited for our food to be brought. I sipped on my CocaCola from time to time, looking at all the college students here. One person caught my attention.
She was sitting alone in a booth in the corner. It was the girl from earlier-- that girl with the purple hair and tattoos.