𝘼𝙇𝙇 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙎𝙏𝘼𝙍𝙎 • 𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣 𝙭 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧

chapter one: grapefruit lemonade

🧾 june 7th, 2024
🕰️ july 30th, 2023, 5:2 p.m.
📃 11.8k words

You raised your right hand to shield your eyes from the blinding sunlight and bent down slightly to look through the passenger side's window. "Thanks for driving me, Dad," you smiled, waving shyly with your other hand.

"No problem, sweetie," he smiled back, although his smile was a bit weaker than yours. "Call me sometime next week, let me know how it's going and how the classes are."

"Will do," you assured him, slowly removing yourself from the side of the car and walking to the back to fetch your luggage. It was 5 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon, the sky was red and the air was standing still.

A few other cars were driving by and dropping students off, and some people were leaning against the walls of different buildings or sitting on the floor, chatting with their friends or saying goodbye to their parents.

After lifting the suitcase out of the trunk with great struggle, you adjusted the handbag that hung over your shoulder and walked back to the window.

"Bye honey," your father sighed, still sounding downhearted and giving you a sorrowful look. "Take care of yourself. I love you."

"I love you too, Dad. See you soon," you replied, gathering all of your strength to turn around and walk away, even though every muscle in your body was fighting against it. You pulled your phone from the back pocket of your jeans and checked your notes.

"Room 204," you muttered to yourself, sticking the phone back into place and starting your search for the dorm building.

The building was impossible to overlook, thanks to the copious amount of signs that were pointing the students in the right direction. They weren't necessary if you paid attention at orientation, but you knew that even this was too much to ask of some people.

You climbed up the staircase with great effort until you arrived at the head of a long hallway, deserted and sterile without any noise to be heard.

Room number 204 was almost opposite from the staircase, only requiring few steps to be reached. You checked your notes again to be safe and then took out the key you had picked up from school a couple of days prior.

Carefully sticking it into the keyhole, you turned it to the right and gently pushed the door open with your hip. You dropped your bag on the floor and pulled your suitcase behind you, your jacket still hung around your left arm.

The kitchen came into view after taking merely two steps, and you froze as your eyes spotted a short-haired girl, sitting on the kitchen aisle with her back turned.

She must have heard you enter because her head swiveled around at the sound of the door falling shut behind you, revealing a wide smile that she wore proudly.

Her strawberry blonde hair didn't reach her shoulders and instead framed her pretty face perfectly while she continued to beam at you.

She quickly hopped off the countertop and hurried towards you, leaving the bottle she was drinking out of on the spot she had been sitting in.

"Oh my god! You're my new roommate!", she squealed.
"Yeah, looks like it", you answered, glad that your roommate seemed to be friendly and quite outgoing, from what you were able to see.

"I'm Y/n, nice to meet you!"

"I'm Hitch! Hitch Dreyse. Nice to meet you too! Wait, let me get you something to drink!" she offered, jogging to the fridge and taking an identical lemonade bottle out of the fridge.

She pulled a bottle opener out of one of the kitchen drawers, opened the bottle, and handed it to you.
"Cheers!" she giggled, grabbing her own bottle from the counter and lifting it into the air.