Smoke Me.

Chapter 41: Alien

After I was able to stand up without feeling like gravity was punishing me for past decisions, I had finally managed to leave the dorm room without Jimin's help.

Greeted the new classmates with a real enough smile. Faced the teachers who have never heard my name with what I had hoped was believable remorse. Made a trip to the campus store by myself after the last class finally reached its inevitable but beautiful end.

Went back to the dorm room and had a beer. Two beers. Three and then at some point. Lost count and fell asleep.

Repeated to do the same thing for the following two weeks.

And then I saw Jungkook walking next to V first thing in the morning. Smiling and chatting away.

I saw red.

So, I turned on my heel and skipped class. Convinced Jimin it was a health-related issue and not an emotional one that made me leave him alone for the rest of the day, only to secretly go on a drunk expedition to find whiskey or vodka outside the university's gates. Since the small store inside the campus didn't sell it and I had built an annoying tolerance for anything that had only 5 percent alcohol. Succeeded in finding the biggest market I've ever seen after walking for two hours straight.Not because there wasn't any other store on the way, but because I just couldn't stop walking.

Drank some on the way back and most on the floor next to my bed. Collapsed in the communal bathroom and was carried back by a kind stranger after I've recalled the room number which took two embarrassing, unwelcome intrusions into the rooms next to the right one.

Since that eye-opening day, I used the long way to that store to motivate me to jog again. Started eating a lot of meat and good carbohydrates to gain muscle. Yet continued to buy strong liquor from that store for two-whole months, despite eating healthily and exercising to an unhealthy extent.

It started with two hours a day and then I would only stop when my body wouldn't let me get up or the room wouldn't stop spinning. The silver lining was that I looked stronger on the outside. Even though I felt sick on the inside.

Started paying a classmate religiously, so I could copy all the material he had or got from anyone else. And attended class sparingly after I figured out exactly how much one could skip and how much I had to study to obtain grades that would be high enough to keep my scholarship.

For a while, it turned out to be a bulletproof plan. My body was busy with exercise and my mind was busy with retaining information until the liquor made it all blurry.

However, on one sunny day, I went back to my room and threw the books on the floor one by one after I've attended the only class that day. The class that all literature majors had to attend. The one Jungkook was also part of. And he didn't even look my way. Something that I thought I was used to by now. But for some reason I couldn't logically find a reason why that day in particular... it bothered me.

Therefore, I packed all my frustration and went to bed after jogging until the sun went down, and yet, couldn't fall asleep or find it in me to do anything but stare at the ceiling. That's when Jimin came stumbling inside the darkroom with a guy. They drunkenly giggled and kissed on his bed for about half an hour. Then the bed started making squawking sounds for about fifteen minutes. And then it stopped.

My vision went red again.

I walked out without saying one word and when Jimin asked me why I wouldn't sleep there anymore, I'd change the subject. Days escaped through my fingers as I got drunk and slept in Malek's bed. But Malek didn't seem to be feeling as comfortable as I was in my new room.

I suspected it was mainly because he's been sleeping on blankets stacked on top of each other on the floor. And that was one of the many reasons he was constantly complaining.