Stir the tension

Chapter 5

Leo POV-

I was in the middle of art class, the silence in the room was nice and made it easy for me to concentrate. There weren't many students in this class since it wasn't an obligated subject.

Our teacher Mr. Peterson made us all introduce ourselves as it would make it easier to get along in the future. After having introduced ourselves, he began explaining the upcoming projects that we'll be working on for the current half of the year. Most of the projects were most likely intended for us to be in pairs or groups, but there was always a chance that my judgement of the projects was incorrect.

When I was done with my art class, I texted Claire to inform her that I wanted to meet up. I waited at the lounge room for a while, just looking at my phone waiting for a response. Maybe she was busy doing something else, I figured I might as well go back to my dorm for some relaxation as it sounds like the best option as of right now, if I was to stay alive for tomorrow and the days to come.

As soon as I opened the door, had I realized what time of the day it was, that's right it was one of the best times of the day cause now was dinner time, the realization hit me when the aroma of a delicacy came.
I quickly took my shoes off, my eyes lit up as I hurried over to see what creation only a true food god could create was.

Daniel was standing in the kitchen as I walked in. I put my bag down at the entrance and went over to take a closer look. I put my entire head Infront of him, wanting to see up close what it was he was cooking. The ramen and the broth looked and smelled so good that all I could do was stare with shimmering eyes as my mouth started watering.

''Are you hungry?'' He asked me amused by my reaction to the divine meal. I hurriedly nodded my head, looking up at him smiling as if I were Totoro. He chuckled and proceeded to divide the ramen into two bowls handing me one of them.

I hastily grabbed the bowl as I studied the beautiful dish, surprised that such a masterpiece could be created with such supplies.

''Thank you, this looks so good'' I said brightly. He looked at me and smiled at my excitement. ''It's just ramen, if we had a bigger kitchen, I could have made something much better'' he told me while slurping up some noodles.

I looked at him as I ate the ramen, nothing's better than a warm meal after a long day no matter what. I groaned as the ramen melted inside of my mouth savoring the taste. Daniel eyed me weirdly but probably decided that it was best not to say anything. I smiled sheepishly and continued eating the delicious noodles.

When we had finished eating over some small talk and helped each other clean up the dishes. Daniel went out of the dorm room, and I laid down on my bed, sighing as I hit the soft mattress. I grabbed my phone and watched some doodle inspiration, where I then saw that Claire had texted me back.

Still wanna meet up? - Claire

I texted her saying that I was on my way to her dorm now.

After walking down, the long hall I finally reached her dorm.

I knocked on the door of dorm number 23 waiting for her to open. Once again, her roommate opened the door. This time I wasn't going to let her shut the door in my face.

I said a quick 'hi' and then ran past her inside. I looked around, astonished at the effort that was put into their dorm rooms decoration. Claire's bed was decorated with some lights and a lot of pictures of her family and us. I viewed the pictures, smiling at the flood of memories. Claire was laying on her bed, raising her eyebrow at me as I looked at the pictures in awe.

I felt Alexandra's eyes on me. She frowned with her arms crossed as she leaned up against the doorframe. ''Do you want to maybe go for a walk?'' I asked her, trying to get out of this deeply awkward situation. She sat up in her bed to take a better look at me.

''Sure'' she said as she shrugged. We then both walked out of the door. I turned around to close the door and saw Alexandra smirk, following us with her eyes. I stopped up and looked at her as I tilted my head. She gave me a quick nod as she ran a hand through her hair, and turned her head away.

I slowly closed the door, as I walked backwards, and caught up with Claire who was already a long way down the hall. We were walking around campus and decided to go into the forest. It wasn't dark yet, so we had plenty of time to walk. "So how is it going with your roommate?'' I asked her, the tension from earlier still sitting on me like a heavy steaming hot blanket.

She let out a sigh and then looked at me. Her eyes were telling me that nothing had changed. A few minutes of silence went by with just the sound of our footsteps on the dirt, when she suddenly started talking.

''Her friends were at our dorm today, they seemed like the total mean girl wannabes. I kind of felt bad for her having such annoying friends. But then again, I didn't think she was any better herself'' I knew Claire had never been like all those popular girls. When we were younger the so-called popular girls at our school were so mean to her for literally no reason at all. She pretended not to care about them, but I knew that deep down, what they said to her was painful and hurt her a lot.

''Hello, Leo you still there?'' She asked waving her hand in front of my face to get my attention. I snapped out of my own thoughts and came back to reality, giving her a faint smile. She looked thoughtful at me for a couple of seconds. ''Yeah sorry'' I said, running a hand through my messy hair. "I'm sorry for spoiling the mood" she then said, looking down at the ground. "Hey, don't worry about it. How was your day anyway?" I said trying to make her feel better. She gave me a soft smile and we continued talking.

We walked around the forest for an hour. The trees were in a beautiful shade of dark green and the different lakes made the forest lighten up a lot, making it more alive. When we came back to campus, I looked at my watch and saw that it was already 11 pm. Claire and I went to the main building together and hugged each other goodbye.

''Goodnight'' she said while smiling at me. I looked at her cute dimples and gave her a big smile back. I said goodnight and went to my own dorm.

When I entered, I took my shoes off, Daniel was already asleep. I made my way over too my side and threw myself onto my bed. I was so exhausted after today and couldn't muster the energy to brush my teeth and change my clothes. It didn't take me long before I drifted off into a deep sleep.