Stockholm Syndrome

Chapter 2: Terrible Two

Diane and I walked up to the elevator and waited for the doors to close. 

A man, who looked about my age, ran up to the elevator, trying to get in. I stuck my arm through the closing doors and pulled him in. He had bright green eyes, the color of the forest at the beginning of summer, there were even little brown streaks. They looked like tiny tree trunks. Cute.

And he was tall, too tall. He stood next to me and it looked like he was kidnapping me. Less cute. Something about him dripped Danger, yet my hand was still on his arm. 

My hand was still on his arm! 

I let go quickly and Diane smiled as I awkwardly cleared my throat. I looked up at him and smiled, not too creepy, not too cute. Well, that was my intention. It ended up being cute. Why must I be so cute?! He’s not cute, well, not entirely. He’s… intimidating. 

“I- I’m Charlie, this is my sister Diane. I’m in dorm 12, you?”

“Ace, Ace Mentez. We’re on the same floor. I’m in 15, 3 rooms down.”

‘I can do math.’ I roll my eyes to myself, cringing at my own subconcious thoughts.

‘His jawline is sharper than a guillotine. But his smile- aww he has a dimple! Oh he has nice tattoos. That looks like Japanese… goddess what does it say? I wish I payed more attention to Duolingo. Wait- did he say something?? I swear his lips moved.’

“What?”

“It says ‘Love is stronger than death.’”

“What does?”

“The tattoo you were going on about. And, for the record, I think your smile’s cute too.”

“I SAID THAT OUT LOUD??”

“Yep!” Diane was laughing at me. Hell, if I were in her position, I’d be laughing too.

“D-did I say anything else?”

“Only that you find me incredibly sexy” He winked at me- ah! Curse my stupid face for blushing!

“Nice try, I didn’t even think that!”

“But you do now.”

And by the grace of the elevator gods, the doors opened and I watched him walk away. Thank the Elevator Gods! See, this is one reason I hate elevators. This and that they always break at the wrong times. 

“Who. Was. That?”

“Not a clue Big-D. Not a clue. Let’s go before I have the urge to find out.” I fixed my glasses and cleared my mind of all things- whoever that was. Picking up my boxes, I marched out the door to Room 12. My new dorm awaited me, all I had to do was open the door. 

So I did. It creaked, and I added that to the To-Do List:

Get my schedule

Unpack

DECORATE!

Fix the squeaky door

Do NOT, what-so-ever, go check out the cute man.

I walked into the room to find it split in three with blue painters tape. 2 parts are already decorated and occupied. Well, at least I know which part of the room I’m sleeping in.

“Hey roomie!” two black haired, blue-eyed look-alikes yelled as I entered the room.

“Uh… hi! I’m Charlie. Are you two, like, carbon copies of each other?”

“We’re twins if that’s what you mean.” / “Why do you ask?”

“Are you both going to be living here?”

“Yes. Got a problem with it?” they asked in perfect unison. It was impressive.

“No! I don’t! I was just asking for reference to my situation. I thought I was having ONE roomie, but this is even better!” I smiled at my fortunate situation. 

“Ah. Well in that case, I’m Lillah (Lee-luh), this is Delphine (del-feen). You can tell me from her because I wear pastel, she wears all black.” She put her hand to the side of her face, as if to keep this part a secret from Delphine. “And I’m the prettier one!”

“Are not!!”

“Are too! Just ask Mum!”

“I will not ask Mum, you know she won’t answer! She doesn’t pick favorites!”

“Exactly, she won’t tell you because it would hurt your feelings. I may be her favorite, but she still loves you. Why, I can’t be sure, but she does.”

The second of the two, Delphine, smacked Lillah on the arm. “Shut up before I make you.”

“Cross the blue tape and I’ll kick your ass.”

Delphine defiantly stepped across the line and ducked down to avoid getting punched by Lillah. They were siblings, that’s for sure. And they are quite obviously twins. There’s no doubt whatsoever. 

I walked over to my part of the room and let them fight. My boxes were heavy, and I wanted to set them down on my new bed. Diane walked up behind me and helped. She opened a box that said ‘PRIDE’ on it, and asked if I wanted help hanging stuff up. I smiled and grabbed my trans flag, excited to start decorating.

“Yes! I need a tall person!”

I grabbed my thumb-tack collection and started hanging up posters. They all had to do with skateboarding and poetry. All but one. The largest of them all was a group photo of me and all of my close friends standing in a line, and we were all dancing to Single Ladies. Every single one of us was smiling. It was the only object I could never replace in my life. I hung it on the ceiling so that when I went to bed, it was the last thing I saw, and when I woke up, it was the first thing I saw. My best friend Katherine and I were in the middle, and she was smiling the widest.