A Week of Fame

New Beginnings

Love is something you'd hear about in the movies or read in a good book. Fairytales of a prince falling in love with an ordinary girl swirl around in your head as a constant thought. You know things like that don't work out like they seem. Princes don't pick the housemaid. Some cowboys never find their happily ever after, and celebrities certainly don't fall in love with the small-town college girls. But, what if they did? Just this once?

"Y/N!" Your mom calls to you from the kitchen downstairs. "If we don't hurry, you'll never get moved into your room on time! We still have a 2-hour drive ahead of us!"

"Coming!" You stuff the last picture of your nephew into your suitcase and roll it downstairs.

When you reach the front door, your sister's footsteps are heard following behind you, "Mom, it's 5 o'clock in the morning, do you have to shout?" She wonders rubbing her eyes from being startled awake.

It was hard not to find humor in the moment, after all it was your last day home for a while. You bring your final bag out to your dad, who is packing up the back of the car. He was always so good at Tetris when it came to this sort of thing. Somehow, he managed to get everything to fit perfectly in the small space available to him.

"I think that should do it," you say to him.

"I guess that means we're ready to go," he pulls you in for a hug.

You and your parents get loaded into the car. From the front seat, your mom hands you a travel mug full of coffee. Her beaming smile lit up the dark and dreary morning. Fog surrounded and rolled off the car as it made its way down the road. This was it, your final year of school. After these next two semesters, you'd be inviting your family to watch you walk across the stage with your freshly earned bachelor's degree in Archaeology.

Even at this early of an hour, your roommates were sending your phone into a vibrating whirlwind. Text messages of "I can't wait to see you!" and "This year is going to be killer" loaded your locked screen. Today was a happy day. The two-hour drive lasted an eternity, it felt like. However, once the car went from pavement to gravel, excitement bubbled up from your toes.

You watch out the window as the car makes its stop outside your apartment building on campus. A small, country feel college, in the middle of a big city was just what you were looking for coming out of high school. Small enough to where the walk to class didn't take 10 minutes and a bus ride, but big enough to have access to all the best coffee shops and adventures the city had to offer.

"Ah! I'm so excited you're here!" Your roommate, Adrian, wraps you in her warm embrace. "Can you believe it! Senior year never looked so good on two hotties, am I right?" She turns you so you can both look up at your home for the next 9 months.

She made you laugh, "I see one hottie, and one hot mess, but I'll let you decide which one you are."

She gives you a shove and goes to help your dad grab your things. Arms full of suitcases and home décor, you enter your living space. The apartment had 4 separate bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, plus a community living room and kitchen. It was finally your turn at all the luxury after being forced to stay in the dorms an extra year thanks to your draw in the college's lottery. You watch as your mom fussed over helping you unpack, and your dad worked to rearrange the room exactly how you pictured it. As if they had done this before, moving in barely took an hour.

"What do you girls say to letting us take you out to breakfast? Maybe when we come back the other two will be here," your dad toys with the idea after your wardrobe was safely in place.