A Drop In The Lake

dead of night

Cameron

"Bang!"

"What the—" I begin, wiping the sleep out of my eyes.

I turn to look at my roommate, Peter, to see if he has an answer to the sound in the hallway, but judging by his empty stare, he is as confused as I am.

"What the fuck was that?" Pete asks groggily, shoving his blankets aside to investigate the noise.

Peter is the dorm supervisor of the Willing North dormitory and even though he is a relatively quiet person, he is a huge sickler for the rules.

Pete swings our door open letting a spotlight careen its way into our room, blinding me. With my ability to fall back asleep now void, I creep up behind Pete, acting as physical backup to Pete's mental strength. When the hallway comes into view, I see a girl hunched over on the ground, her long brown hair splayed out over knees and her head in her hands. I walk over to console her until I recognize her.

"Brooklyn?" I question, cautiously.

Her head snaps up, revealing her blood-red eyes and tear-stained cheeks.

"What's the matter?" I continue when she doesn't respond. I crouch down to her level and touch her arm comfortingly.

"Brooklyn, what happened?"

She attempts to respond, but chokes on her tears. Moments later, she finally collects herself and says, "It's. It's nothing."

I eye her suspiciously, but concede.

"Do you need help getting back to your dorm?" I offer, wanting to remove her from whatever situation caused this reaction.

When she doesn't respond, I offer up my arm. She grabs onto it and I help her to her feet.

I turn to my roommate. "I'm gonna help her back to her dorm. Okay Pete?"

"Yeah. Sure... I'm gonna go back to bed and I'll leave the door unlocked, just make sure you lock it again once you get back."

    I nod in contention and then lead Brooklyn to the dorm lounge.

"Um... What dorm are you in?" I question, uncomfortably.

"Amber." She mumbles.

I quickly grab my key fob from my cubby-safe in the lounge and lead Brooklyn out of the dorm. When the mechanical doors whirl behind us, a crisp breeze runs through my teeth, reminding me that I'm only wearing a thin shirt, plaid pajama pants and socks. Though it's the dead of night, the campus lights illuminate our path leading me across center campus and to yet another set of mechanical glass doors.

"I need your fob." I prompt, standing awkwardly in the entryway to her dorm.

"Oh yeah. Here." She replies coyly, grabbing her fob out of her back pocket and scanning us in.

Afraid to let her just continue on her own, I open the heavy door and maneuver her inside. Taking the lead, she drags my supportive arm after her and towards the elevator. After a silent ride up to the third floor, she leads me down the hallway towards room 303.

Before she is able to unlock her door, a familiar voice demands behind us, "what the hell are you doing here?"

We both turn around, like a kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar, to come face-to-face with Alessa.

"Well hello to you too." I answer, a small smile playing at the corner of my mouth.

She doesn't look amused however, and instead turns to Brooklyn.

"Brook, what the hell is he doing he—'' She is cut off by the sight of Brooklyn turning around. When Broolynk's puffy cheeks and lazing red eyes come into view, Alessa continues. "Oh my God! Brook! What happened?"

She pushes me aside and gathers Brooklyn into her arms. While silently sushing Brooklyn, Alessa looks up over her glasses.

"What?" I mouth, not wanting to disturb the now sobbing Brooklyn.

She doesn't say anything, and instead, stares me down with discontent flaming in her eyes. Unwilling to leave without an explanation, I stand there in the hallway as Alessa pushes Brooklyn into her room and wishes her a good night.

"What?" She demands the second she gets back into the hallway.

"Let me explain." I plead

"As you were." She replies mockingly.

I stare her down seriously, pleading with her to just hear me out. "I don't know what happened, but I woke up to a loud bang coming from the hallway. When Pete and I went to go see what it was, we saw Brooklyn curled up in front of Anthony's door."

Her gaze immediately softens. "Sorry. I thought—. I don't know."

"It's all good." I reply, relieved to see her comfortable in my presence.

We both stare at each other awkwardly for a moment until a thump comes from Brooklyn's room. Alessa dismisses me quickly as she runs to help her friend. Not knowing — for the first time — how to act, I take my leave and trudge back to my dorm. As the campus lights light my way through the haze of sleep, I am left to my own devices, pondering the flicker of electricity that passed between us. She must have felt it too, because as I went to leave tension re-consumed her body, showing me that the comfort I felt in her presence was vulnerably recipericated.

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Heyyyyyyyy. Just me, chiming in to see how it's going. I hope you're enjoying the story so far, and just wanted to say thank you so much to all of you for reading my work. Many times, in the past, I have attempted to write a book but have just gotten caught up in, well, life. Being so invested in this story has created an amazing outlet for me as not on a writer, but a person. The world of Cameron and Alessa is so freeing and fun.
Tune in next week for a pretty, shall I say, interesting, chapter. ✨uwu✨