𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐆𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐄 | 𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐢 𝐚𝐮

ONE

indiana. the place where nina salazar-roberts has lived her whole life and now she is leaving it all behind just to go to her dream university. of course nini was excited for her new life in new york, but she was most definitely nervous. nini loved her family and if they had asked her to stay behind and go to indiana university, she would do it in a heartbeat. her mom's were incredibly proud of the women their daughter had become and they were almost more excited for her to be settling into a new state.

a 12 hour drive. that was all, right? if she wanted to go home, she could do so very easily. nini was squished in the back seat of the car, with all her belongings surrounding her. the girl held her book in her hands. she was now nearly on her third book of the car ride. you would think that reading while driving would make you feel sick, but nini was used to it now. she glanced up just in time to read the sign that spelt out, 'welcome to new york'. a smile slowly grew on nini's face as she realised that this was her new home for the next 4 years of her life.

the silence that once filled the car was interrupted by momma c yelling with excitement. "neens! we made it! look at how beautiful your new city is!" momma d gave her partner a very sour look from the driver's seat that she had been sitting in for majority of the 12 hour drive. nini was very grateful that her moms dropped everything to drive her this far from their home state. she knew that she wouldn't have been able to do it on her own.

the colombia university campus was nearing by. nini had now put her book away and was instead anxiously biting at her finger nails. she admired the city from behind the glass of the car window. she then turned to face the other window, which was covered because of the amount of belongings she had brought with her. seeing her pile of goods beside her only made her more excited to unpack into her dorm.

lucky for nini and her introverted self, she had been previously told that she would have a dorm to herself due to her roommate not accepting their offer. nini questioned why you would ever decline an offer to colombia, but she was very thankful that she would be able to have a full room to herself.

"nini!" momma d breaks her thoughts. "look at your new home." she shifts her drivers seat so she can face the brown-haired girl in the back seat. "i'm so proud of you, neens." tears are brimming along the bottom lash line of her eyes. nini pouts, trying to stop herself from crying.

"come on, let's get our baby settled in." momma c stopping all three of us from breaking down in the middle of the car park. it was always something she was good at. the three of them try to collect as much of nini's stuff as they could so they wouldn't have to do as many trips. momma d knew that nini would complain if they had to do anymore than 2 trips back to the car.

"nina salazar-roberts." the small girl smiles proudly at the older man who sat at the desk in front of her. his finger dragged along the white piece of paper that was full of names. the girl carefully watched him as he landed on her name at the very end of the paper.

"ah, yes." he looked back up at her, pushing his glasses back to the top of nose. "you will be sharing one of our lovely apartments with richard bowen." nini's mouth gapes open as the words roll of his tongue.

"are you sure?" she says quickly. "i was told i was going to have a dorm room to myself like 3 days ago." stress laces her voice as the thought of sharing a room with someone scares her, let alone a boy.

"i'm sorry miss. salazar-roberts, but they must have changed the living arrangements again after chatting to you." this old man was very professional, his voice was very... monotone.

"that's okay, neens." momma c perks up from behind her. she almost forgot that her two moms were even here. "an apartment sounds more lovely than a dorm room, doesn't it?" nini doesn't answer her question, instead she looks around at the bustle of all the other students that are eagerly wanting to find out their dorm number and new room mate.

"here is your key, miss nina." the old man speaks up again. "welcome to colombia." he gives the nervous girl a heartwarming smile once more before she walks off. her mother's mutter a small thank you to him before following nini, who looks like she is now wanting to return back to her home town. fun fact: she is.

she drags her black doc martens along the gravel, guessing that her new apartment will be some where that way. "is it too late to drop out?" the girl mutters, loud enough for her moms to hear.

"nina, baby, you are thinking about the worst case scenarios!" momma d reassures her, dropping her stuff on the ground, pulling her into a side hug. thinking of the worst case scenarios was nini's specialty. of course she was a positive person, but she had her doubts in every situation.

"come on, let's get you settled in to your new apartment! how fun!" momma d says in a very high pitched toned as she continues to walk toward the apartment blocks. nini knew she used her high pitch voice when she was trying to cheer someone up. she forces a closed-lipped smile onto her face, trying to show that she was happy to be at her dream university.