168 Hours of Miles Fonte

Chapter 2: Saturday

The guy standing above me was shirtless and had obviously been sleeping. He held up a frying pan and was aiming it at me.

"Woah!" I said with my hand still on the wall. Catching my breath.
He looked as surprised as me. He lowered the pan.
"Who are you?...why are you out in the hall this late?" He seemed very annoyed; ducking out the door, checking to see if I was the only one.
"Uhh this is my dorm?" I said defensively, setting the flowers back up.
"No it's not." He said plainly.
"Um yes. It is." I argued. I held out the piece of paper.
He took it, looked at it, and said "give me a minute."
Then shut the door in my face.
That was a fun conversation. I thought.

I assumed it was my roommate's boyfriend being protective or something. It took a moment but he came out again this time with a shirt on and glasses.

"Here, get out of the hallway." He picked up one of my bags and gestured for me to bring the others in.

  The first thing I saw was one full sized bed, then a black, leather couch facing a small tv with cables hanging off it. It wasn't horribly messy, but it also didn't look like he was just spending the night with his girlfriend. Uh oh.

"This is your dorm isn't it." I realized.
"Uh yeah?" He said annoyed, I was inconveniencing him and asking him stupid questions. I felt my face blush.
He turned on another light giving me a better look at him. He had dark hair and blue eyes; killer combo. A ladies man by heart and he knew it.

"You're going to have to go to the help desk and get this sorted out."
Alright. I started picking up my bags. "Thanks for the help." I said.
He stepped in front of me and the door. "Hang on, the help desk isn't open right now."
"Oh." I slumped down.
"Do you have anywhere to stay?" He sighed.
No. I thought. But I wasn't going to tell him that.
"Yeah, I'll figure it out." I said maneuvering around him toward the door. "Sorry about...well if you were sleeping..." I drifted off.
"Whatever." He said before shutting the door in my face, again.
Jerk.

I was back where I started. I sat in the foyer on the cold floor. It's doable for one night. I had rested my head on my knees with my bags surrounding me, to protect my warmth. My cheek rested as I faced towards the tinted window. I didn't notice him behind me.

"Hey." The voice called down from the stairs.
My face turned hot. This was embarrassing. As he walked down the stairs my mind was blanking...what would I say?
"Whatcha doin?" He asked.
"I'm uh...I'm just waiting for someone to pick me up." I said. He looked out the window at the quiet parking lot.
"I'm hoping you're not waiting to be picked up by a stranger?" He asked sarcastically.
I scoffed.
"Come on," he said, "you can stay with me tonight."
"No thanks. I'll take my chances with the stranger."
He rolled his eyes, "Just get up." He said reaching his hand out to me.
I, surprisingly, took it and he pulled me up. He was already taller than me but when he was standing on the stair above me...he seemed giant.
He smiled for the first time tonight. "I'm Miles, Miles Fonte." He shook my hand.
"April, April Miller." I replied. He let go of my hand and reached for my bags.
"Well April it's nice to meet you, I guess." He was already walking up the stairs.
"You guess?" I asked.
"Well considering you woke me up at 1 in the morning, and I thought you were trying to break in...yeah, I guess it's nice to meet you."
I couldn't help but give off a little laugh. I hope he didn't hear. I wouldn't want to boost his confidence.

He had one bed in his room.
"Where is your roommate?" I asked.
"I had a senior roommate last year. And I guess they didn't assign another roommate to me this year."
"Huh" I said. I placed my bags down on a big chair. I sat down on the couch, it made a squeak sound. It was old, black, wrinkly leather. "Do you have a pillow I could borrow?"
He was untying his shoes, he looked up. "Nah you can't sleep on that...it gets really uncomfortable."
"Well I'm not making you sleep on the couch because I'm the one intruding." I replied.
"Another word for intruding is guest...and guests get the bed." He snapped back.
"I'm fine. I would feel bad taking it from you."
"We could share?" He offered.
The thought of that made me blush. "No, I'm fine really." I said. He sighed.
"April, right?" he paused waiting for a response, I nodded, "April, It's one night; I can be on the crappy couch for one night."
"You sure you don't mind?" I asked one more time.
He rolled his eyes. I was starting to think that was his thing; he waved me off the couch. Then we had this weird interaction where I got in his way, he grabbed my elbow and moved me aside; as if I wasn't moving fast enough so he felt comfortable enough to just move me...whatever it was, I instinctively rubbed my elbow.

I was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking around. I wasn't sure what I was allowed to do or not.
"You're annoying me sitting there." Miles said.
"Can I use your bathroom?" I asked.
"It's the door behind me there." He pointed to his left.

I brought my pajamas into the bathroom. Sleeping in a room with a guy on my first night of college. What would my mom say? I shuddered at the thought. Looking at the mirror, I realized how disgusting I looked. I had hours of travel on me. My hair was in a messy ponytail and when I let it down, it was greasy and dented from being in an elastic all day. I looked tired and ironically...homeless. I brushed my teeth, then I saw he had breath mints on his counter. Couldn't hurt, right? I popped one in and took off my makeup. I stared at myself in the mirror and sighed.

When I came out it seemed he was asleep. The only sound was his noisemaker making a soft white noise. The lights were turned off except for a small one near the big chair. I turned it off and I slipped quietly under the covers.
"Took you long enough." He murmured.
"So..." I started, "what were you planning on doing with that frying pan?" I asked playfully.
I heard him laugh under his blanket, which made me smile. We left that question hanging, never to be answered. Instead I just drifted off, being soothed to sleep by his noisemaker.
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