In Halls

Timetables

"Hey, Ellen," said Ed, with a small smile. He was leaning against my door frame with his dark hair flopping forward across his face. "I keep looking out for you but I only ever seem to see you at pre-drinks... are you alright?"

His question was probably prompted by the sight of a flushed girl clutching a dead plant and a sharp implement, staring at him in complete surprise.

Chill, Ellen.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just having a bit of houseplant-related drama." I waved the pot for further confirmation.

Ed chuckled.

"Yeah, I noticed your cilantro is looking a bit grim," he said.

Cilantro? Fuck, my kitchen herbs! I hadn't even been near the kitchen windowsill all week. The thyme and rosemary would be okay, but it had been so sunny, the coriander would have wilted.

My redoubled distress appeared to cause Ed further amusement.

"Yeah, I thought as much," he said. "Don't worry, I watered them for you."

I rested my head against the door, suddenly tired. A week of low sleep and excessive social interaction had worn me down, and now I was here, being found guilty of plant abuse by a guy who couldn't even recognise coriander.

"Ugh, I am such a bad plant Mum," I groaned.

"Yeah well, you've had five humans to look after," said Ed, giving me a patronising pat on the arm. "Without you making sure no one gets lost or injured, the flat would probably be a man down by now. I'm sure the pot plants will forgive you. Anyway, I just came to see if you'd looked at your timetable yet."

My timetable? I'd been emailed a link on maybe Monday or Tuesday, but I'd never got round to following it.

"No, not really," I said. "Why?"

Ed raised his eyebrows at me.

"Because lectures start the day after tomorrow? We'll have all the same compulsory modules, I just wanted to see if you wanted to head over to lectures together, maybe check our seminar and lab groups and stuff."

"Oh, sure. Yeah, you're right, we should do that." I stared distractedly at the depressed sundew in my hands, thinking about my other plants on the kitchen windowsill. "Do you mind if I just run to the kitchen and I'll meet you in five minutes?"

Ed chuckled again.

"Wanting to check on your plant babies?"

I nodded.

"See you in a bit then. I'll be in my room."

I headed up the corridor. The damage in the kitchen wasn't so bad. At least these guys had had a bit of light. And it did look like they had been watered. If they'd survived then, it wasn't down to me.

"Thanks for taking care of them," I told Ed when he opened his door to me a few minutes later.

"You're welcome. Timetables, then?"

He waved me in and I dumped my laptop on the desk next to his so that we could cross-reference our screens. Glancing around his room, I noticed a few changes since my bed linen assistance visit. The oversized backpack was gone, replaced with a basket of laundry. One of his pin boards was half-filled with a map of Central America. And his bed was different too. Instead of the university standard bedding pack in shades of dull blue, he had a new set with a funky leaf print design. That meant he'd actually changed his bedsheets. Heck, even I hadn't changed my bedsheets yet.

"So it looks like we're together in the Jacob Stevens lecture theatre on Monday at 10am, and two more times next week for the same module," said Ed, drawing my attention back to our laptops. He pulled up a map in a new tab. "That's in the Gloria Desmond building, which looks like it's right here."

I leaned into the screens alongside him, following where he was pointing on the campus map. Our shoulders bumped together. He smelled of aftershave or perhaps men's deodorant. The kind of scent that's almost unpleasant at first, but gradually grows on you.

"Our seminars straight afterwards are in the same building," I added. "But it looks like we might be in different rooms? I'm in 2.9 and it looks like you're in 2.7?"

We continued to scan through the timetables. We were in nearly half our teaching sessions together. Our lectures were the same, but we were in different seminar groups most of the time. That seemed good to me. Given his behaviour all week, I wasn't keen for us to be glued at the hip. We were in the same lab slot, though, but that didn't matter. From what I'd heard from the guys on the BiochemiClub committee, you were allocated to a lab bench and that bench basically became your family, so other than walking over there together we wouldn't have to hang out. After the first few weeks, we'd probably sit with our lab team in lectures too.

But despite the player antics and the general sense of arrogance, I was glad that I'd have Ed to hang out with for the first few weeks at least. There was something intimidating about showing up alone to a massive lecture theatre, and now I wouldn't have to. Neither of us would have to. We could be a team.

"It looks like it'll only take us 10 minutes to walk over to the first one on Monday," Ed said, with a final glance at the screens.

"Great. So, if we meet in the hallway at like quarter to?" I said.

Ed straightened up, and turned to face me. This close together, I had to notice that he was a good shade taller than me. I took a step back.

"In the hallway at quarter to," Ed confirmed, gesturing me towards his door. "Don't be late."

Shorter chapter today - it was originally joined onto the last chapter, but it made it really long and awkward. I was tempted to cut both chapters completely but I did want to show these things happening (so if they're really boring, let me know!) Next chapter will be the last night of Freshers Weeks, and then the trouble really starts. Hope to see you there!