The Dorm

Chapter One

*Thunk!* My head slammed onto my keyboard. "Fuck!"

Noelle's head poked up from behind a ridiculously huge canvas. "Su? You ok?"

I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath. Forcing myself to calm down, I slowly pulled my head back up. "Yeah, just stressed. Fuckin' teacher gave us an essay yesterday and it's due on Tuesday."

My girlfriend got up and walked over to my desk, gently running her fingers through my short brown hair. "I'm sorry, love. How many pages?"

"Twenty."

"Oh, jingles, that's a lot."

I grunted. "Tell me about it." I forced myself to take another deep breath. "It's ok. I'm almost done my draft for the first ten pages. I promise I will take a break after that."

Noelle kissed my forehead, sending a shiver down my spine and a blush across my face. "Thank you love."

"I- um... n-no problem..."

Five years and I still get as flustered as I did when we first started dating. Noelle is much better at this "relationship" stuff than me. Yeah, I take her on dates and hold the door for her and shit, but I'm still so easily embarrassed by just a kiss on the forehead. But she never judges me for it. God, I love her.

The deer standing next to me brushed a piece of my hair out of my eyes. "Do you want me to make you a cup of tea?"

I took another deep breath, remembering shit my therapist had told me to do. "Yes please. Golden flower please, my deer."

Pressing another kiss to my forehead, Noelle walked over to the kitchen area of our dorm. She filled and started the electric kettle her mom had given her as a "Congrats On Going To College" gift. It sounds stupid, but it's literally a life-saver. It makes making tea and coffee SO much easier.

I glanced down at the watch on my wrist. "Shit!"

"What?" Noelle asked, worry in her voice.

"It's 8:30. My alarm didn't go off again."

Noelle sighed. "Love, you can set it to go off every day. Give me your phone and I'll do it." I got up and dejectedly handed Noelle my phone before pouring myself a glass of water. "Don't forget, you put them on top of the bookshelf."

"Yeah, I remember," I said to her over my shoulder as I reached up to grab my pill bottle. The fucking inspector made a surprise visit a few days before and accused me of taking drugs when he found it. So now I have to take random drug tests until my therapist writes me a note saying they're my fucking anti-depressants which might be a bit because she won't answer my fucking email. But whatever.

I quickly swallowed one of the pills and downed my glass of water just as the kettle started to whistle. Noelle poured the boiling water into my favorite mug (it says "Yeah I Played Baritone in Marching Band Fuck You") and dunked in the tea bag. She handed me the mug, kissing my cheek. "Careful love. It's very hot."

"Thank you, Noe. I'll be careful, don't worry."

Noelle huffed and pushed my hair out of my eyes again (I really needed a haircut). "You know that's not possible. I always worry."

I gave her a quick kiss. "I'm ok, I promise." I walked back to my desk before she could say anything else. "Just need to get through the next few years and I will be back to my unstressed self."

"You have literally never not been stressed."

I rolled my eyes. "Ok, mom."

Noelle snorted and went back to her painting. I focused back on my essay. It was supposed to be analyzing some stupid law and its impact on different groups of people, but the amount that I cared literally didn't exist. Like, ok yeah, this is the shit I signed up for with my major, but it's not like I actually ENJOYED it. The material is so fucking dense and long and... it's just boring.