Page 6 of No, For An Answer
Black stars dance in my eyes before everything goes black.
Ashley
Idrop the large cardboard box onto my bed. The last of my stuff from the delivery to my college dorm room. My mother was far too busy to help me move into the dorms as she was out with ‘Skip.’ That’s not his name, I just call them that because they never stick around for too long and always end up skipping town on her. Not that there’s anything wrong with my mother, she’s stunning.
She’s just a glutton for punishment when it comes to men that are no good for her. But this time it worked out in my favour. It’s one of the reasons why we moved up here in the first place. I was lucky enough to get a spot at Brown halfway through sophomore year, thanks to the man my mother is currently dating. I tip the delivery guy who helped me bring everything up and I watch as he looks down the front of my black vest.
“Aint nothing in there for you.”
The smug bastard simply smiles at me like he has the right to. I usher him out of the room just as another girl -who I’m assuming is my roommate- barrels in almost knocking me on my ass. Grabbing my shoulders she steadies me, giving the delivery guy a stink ass look.
“Shit. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine.” It’s really not.
Fit in Ashley. Remember.
Make sure everything goes to plan while you’re here.
“I’m Mia. You must be Ashley, right?” A wide grin stretches across her face. Great, she’s one of those happy ones. Why couldn’t I just be paired with the goth kid down the hall. I need to make this work, I need to at least try and fit in while I’m here. For the small amount of time, I plan to be here anyway. Then I can go back to being my miserable self. Like I’ve been for the last twelve months.
“On all accounts.” I mirror her smile, holding out my hand and trying to act as normal as possible. I look nothing like I used to a few weeks ago. Everything about me is different now and after everything, this is how I’m going to fit in.
“Ew, no.” She smacks my hand out the way and pulls me in for a tight hug. Yeah, this one’s bubbly. “We hug here.” Pulling back from the overly tight embrace she looks at the boxes strewn across the room and grimaces.
“I’m sorry,” I wince, tucking a strand of my wavy, shoulder length hair behind my ear as I bend down to pick up a box. “I’ll make sure this is all done before the end of the day.”
“Girl, it’s fine.” She waves her hand in front of her face. Dismissing my worry and I instantly relax. She doesn’t seem so bad so this could work. “You want some help?”
“Uh, sure.”
The both of us work in silence to start off with. I separate the boxes she can help me unpack from the ones she doesn’t really need to touch.
Like my underwear or personal items. It takes us pretty much all day and considering classes don’t start for me until Monday. I’m free to look around campus and town for a bit. Get my bearings on where everything is so I can make sure I’m not late to any of my classes. I didn’t expect to be finishing mysophomore year here ether but luckily my grades were good enough to transfer me too and they surprisingly had an opening.
“So, tell me, Ashley,” Mia begins. “Where you from?”
“Ohio originally. You?” I rip open the box beside her.
“Right here in town.” She laughs, opening up my box filled with trainers and placing them neatly in what seems to be my side of the wardrobe. “What brought you here in the middle of your sophomore year?”
“My mother,” I chuckle. This acting normal bullshit doesn’t come easy, and I give myself the ick just trying to come across like that all-American, cute valley girl. “She got into a new relationship. This time, I was lucky enough to benefit from it. The guy she’s dating got me in as he’s a big donator to the school or some shit.” I shrug, placing my underwear in one of the three drawers in the dresser that’s available to me. “My mom loves men.”
“Yeah, my dad has that problem. Except he does it while still being married to my mom.”
“Jesus,” I frown.
“Nope. Just an asshole,” she chuckles dryly from beside me. We continue to put everything away and spend most of the time talking and getting to know one another. She’s not bad for a roommate. At least being in this dorm situation will be a little easier. Mia doesn’t seem like the nosey type which makes things a lot better for me. The less she asks, the less I have to lie about why I’m here in the first place.
I was supposed to be here with my best friend Maisy. I always promised we would share a room together when we got accepted into university. When she got accepted into Brown and I to Penn State, we practically lost our minds. But here I am now. Even if it is a little late.
“Oh, cute.” Mia sings from beside me. I turn from where I’m bent over a box and see her holding a photo frame in her hand.Thephoto frame. “This you?”
She smiles broadly as she looks over the image in the black frame. Standing up, I walk to her, taking it out of her and looking down at it. Nobody would be able to tell this is Maisy considering we’re both eight here.
“Yeah, me and my best friend.” I smile. Both of us with an arm around each other’s shoulders, an ice cream in the other.
“So adorable. You guys close?” She asks as she continues hanging my clothes in the wardrobe.
