Waiting Game: 3

The walk to the store seemed shorter than the walk back but that was most likely cause she now had her hands full. ~And the stairs, so many damn stairs~. At least she knew the freshman maybe avoided simply by going up and down from her room. After getting to her room, she set down the detergent and got her wallet back out and slipped her ID back into the door lock. Upon entering the room she noticed the scent had changed. It now smelt far too similar to the store Victoria Secret in the mall mixed with bath and body works. It overwhelmed her nose. She was used to pine and cheap toiletries smell. She really didn't have anyone to impress so whatever got the job done. Until she was someone, she really didn't want to impress anyone. She wanted to focus on school and moving up in life, not romantics. It looked like a professional decorator had taken over the room decorating it from head to toe, minus the small bubble around her area, but including all the "shared space".

Her stuff remained untouched though so she was ok, she could ignore the pink frills, the posters of super models and half naked male models, and the lack of anything educational on her side. The one big addition to the room was the mini fridge now situated under a television and entertainment console. Seeing a small note on the fridge Claire read it. >The bottom shelf is yours, don't leave anything gross in it. I WILL THROW IT OUT!< Opening the mini fridge she saw just as promised an empty shelf for her. She'd thought she'd need to store her milk in the floors community fridge but she lucked out. Sliding her milk in and a bottle of water to get cold she then stood up and put away the rest of her snacks, mostly cheap granola bars and nuts. Taking the small shower caddy she'd made herself at the dollar store she grabbed her towel and her change of cloths and went to shower. Luckily they weren't far from the showers.

The shower felt like heaven, she'd not had time to get one before she'd left the shelter in her rush to get to campus on time.

After finishing, she brushed out her long hair and braided it down her back. She never blow dried it or did anything fancy rather letting it air dry. Grabbing the dollar store moisturizer she worked some over her body stopped briefly to focus on the scar that was on her right hip, she had it for as long as she can remember and it never went away no matter how much she tried to get rid of it, not that she was willing to splurge on fancy scar creams. She pulled on the loose lounge cloths she'd brought with her collected her items, stopped to brush her teeth and headed back to her room.

"Uh, hi" a soft voice came from the common living space right before she'd reached her room. "My name is Kate. There's not many people here that didn't come here with their high school friends". The girl was shy she could tell. "I was uh, I was hoping you wouldn't mind hanging out with me maybe watch some Netflix while I go through all the orientation stuff".

Claire knew the loneliness this girl was exuding. She had to give her credit though, took some courage to approach a complete stranger. "Sure. My name is Claire. Let me set my stuff down and grab my stuff to review and we can see if our schedules match up at all". The girls expression changed from borderline panic to relief so quickly it made Claire smile.

Turned out Kate and Claire had almost the exact same schedule, both were in general education/ undeclared major currently so they got very similar generic schedules. Kate had pulled up a streaming service and played Game of Thrones, something Claire knew of but never watched herself while they logged into their classes online portals and took notes of their syllabuses and schedules. "Oh! Let me go get us some hot chocolate, I'll be right back"! Kate hurried off before Claire could agree.

She was nice, shy and simple but very nice and Claire appreciated that. ~Hey, that's one friend in the books~. Just then a particular graphic part of the show aired and left Claire speechless. "You've never watched GOT have you?" Startled by the sudden male voice coming from behind her she jumped. "Oh my bad, didn't mean to startle you, just your open hanging open catching flies kind of gave you away". Flushing a bit, she turned to look at the person the voice was coming from. "My name is Ben, I'm the RA just wanted to introduce myself. You're Claire Smith?" she nodded, uncertain just how he knew who she was. "It's displayed in large print across the top of your computer screen on the school login".

"Ohhh, haha my bad. Yes I'm Claire Smith." Stretching out a hand to shake his. Taking her hand he created her back.

"I know you are rooming with the princess, which is it's own battle ground on its own so just let me know if you ever need anything ok?" He chuckled as he walked away to make his rounds down the hall.

"Oh my god, I didn't know Ben was going to be our RA"! Kate was scarlet red. ~Major crush alert~.

"I'm assuming you two know each other?"

"Not exactly" looking down at her hands holding the two cups. As if realizing she handed Claire hers. "I've known Ben since I was little but I doubt he's ever taken notice to me". She shook off her embarrassment and made herself comfortable back in her chair.

"I thought you didn't know anyone here"?

"Oh no, I know plenty people here, lots of people who come here are locals from town like me. Gives us a couple years of independence before returning and taking a place in society ya know." As if realizing she had more questions she continued. "Most people here know my family, but I'm the youngest in my family and the only girl so no one remotely pays any attention to me. Forgotten about, but it's ok. Now we got each other".

"Yeah, we do". They spent the rest of the night talking, watching TV and sorting through their school papers before going back to their rooms to call it a night. "Here's my phone number, I'm still working out the kinks cause it's a new phone so give me a bit haha". Kate beamed and said good night. ~First number in my phone besides 911~.

"Hey alpha, yeah it's Ben, I got the information on Claire Smith you wanted. Sending it to you now." Bing, email sent. "Yeah, she's become friends with Katelyn Moores, I'll keep an eye on both of them as you wanted".

"Good".