We Go Way Back

chapter five

WHEN MY ALARM rings this morning, my body feels like it's giving up. My back is stiff, my shoulders ache, my hips are starting to bruise. I lift my head from the ground and my neck cracks loudly. Sleeping by the window was a bad, bad idea. I slowly get up to my feet and stretch until some of the rigidness has dissipated. It must have snowed all through the night, because when I look outside, the whole city is covered in a blanket of pure white, chunks of it floating on the bay.

I smile, I love snowy days, even if they are the worst to train in. Today, though, I'm pretty sure we won't launch the boats, so we'll be warm inside. I zip down the puffer coat I used to sleep and chuck it on the sofa. I retrieve my usual equipment — the running shorts, a fitted top and a sweatshirt — and take it to the bathroom to change. When I return, I shove a change of clothes into my duffel bag, along with my work uniform.

My once short hair is now almost waist-length and wispy. The back is matted, and it takes me long minutes to get it to untangle. Two braids should keep it from getting knotted again. A little puff of perfume, a spritz of whatever hair spray I have left, and I'm ready.

I'm starving, but I don't want to eat Corbin's food. He hates when people touch his things without asking — I got literal slaps on the wrist whenever I took anything from him. I decide to eat on campus, it's safer.

I have my hand on the front door's knob when I hear his voice behind me.

"Morning."

I pivot on my toes to face him. The living room is dark, the sun is still very much hidden under layers of dark threatening clouds, but even in this dim lit room, I see a younger Corbin than the one I met yesterday. His hair is freed of gel, messily falling around his head. The ringlets are much shorter, before they used to cover his whole forehead, ending in front of his eyes. His dad used to call him Poodle because of it. Now, they have been shortened, but they still offer him that same boyish look.

"Hi," I mumble, finally looking him in his glasses-free eyes. Those glasses really make his irises appear smaller than they are. He's wearing a dark grey tee that's decidedly too tight for him and a pair of pajama pants he's owned since he was fifteen. The seams have given out in certain parts, opening up holes on his right hip and knee.

"Are you not having breakfast?" He asks me, turning towards the kitchen. He stops in front of the cabinets and his hand flickers through several cupboards open, jars and boxes are placed on the counter.

I hesitate, shifting my weight from one leg to the other as he moves to the fridge to grab a carton of milk. "I can have breakfast at campus."

Corbin nods. "Okay."

I open the door and exit the apartment. Just being a door away from him allows me to breathe better.

It's quicker to get to the university from Corbin's apartment than from the hotel, which is lovely, at least that. Still, my main goal right now is to find a place for myself. I focus on exactly that on the few free hours I have before my first class. I scour the internet for sensible ads — I mean, I just now started working at Angie's and it's not like I can ask my parents for money. I don't want them to move into a tent just so I can get an apartment.

I find a few studios that would be just perfect if they didn't cost upwards of seven hundred dollars. Even just renting a room would be exponentially more costly than my previous living arrangements. I really was stupid, I thought that living for free with a man seven years older was a great idea, it would help me save a lot of money. Yeah, right.

I close the fiftieth website and sigh, resting my head down on the library table in front of which I'm sat. I am tired, stiff, homeless, and overall done with life. While my teammates are having the times of their lives, I am in this mess, about to slam my head against the wall. Since I'm out of luck when it comes to the real estate market, I turn to my overdue assignments. Before I head to the Humanities building, I finish two essays and plan out a third one and I even make time to stop at the family planning office at campus to collect my test results — no STIs, hooray!