Roommates with Benefits [COMPLETED]

Chapter 2 - A new friend

Emma

The quad is one of the busiest places on campus. Even with the days slowly getting colder, there's lots of people about.

I warm my hands on my mug filled with terrible coffee and ignore the computer in front of me. I've snagged a table at the small coffee shop. The tables are the only reason they get any coffee sold at all. Nobody drinks it. Not unless they're desperate. I'm not. I stopped by Dirty for a real coffee before I came here.

I try to pretend the paper I'm writing doesn't exist and watch the people around me. A couple walk hand in hand. He's carrying her books and I sigh as she smiles up at him. Not that I'm jealous. I'm not. I have no intention of ever falling in love. Love is a setup to cause as much pain as possible. Trust me, I've seen it firsthand. But there is something nice about having someone there to at least offer to carry your books.

As I glare at the paper that refuses to write itself and close the computer, I notice a girl carrying her own books. She's also got a coffee mug on her stack of books. It takes me a while to recognize her from my organic chemistry class. She's always sitting by herself.

I put away my computer and toss the untouched coffee in the trash. It's almost time for class. The girl with the books takes out her phone. She's plain looking, with straight, brown hair and very little make-up. She's dressed in jeans and a gray hoodie with whales on it.

I'm searching my bag for my lip gloss when I hear a delicate scream. My head snaps up in time to see the girl land on her hip. Her stuff has dispersed over the ground and she's glaring at a trash can as if it deliberately tripped her.

"Are you ok?" I ask and hurry to her.

"Fine," she grumbles and takes the hand I offer her.

A couple of guys walk by, grinning widely and chuckling to themselves.

"Should have gotten that on camera," one of them says.

"Oh, fuck off." I raise a finger and squint after them. The girl turns beet red and starts picking up her things. I bend down to pick up a slightly soggy book. "I think we can save this one," I say with a smile and hand it to her.

"Thanks," she says and eyes the spilled coffee wistfully.

I spot her phone, an older model. The screen is still lit up, so at least it still works.

"You have organic chemistry now, right?" I say. She nods and wipes the phone. "I'm Emma."

"Hannah."

We walk together to the classroom and when she sits in her usual spot, I only hesitate for a moment before I sit next to her. She's still wiping at her books with some napkins she found in her bag when a shadow stops in front of us.

"Edwin," I smile up at him. "I'm sorry about Ann-Marie, did she tell you?"

Edwin went to the same high school as me. He was in the same grade, but as far as I can remember, we never talked. He's studying to become a marine biologist and, although I'm majoring in nutrition, we have some of the same classes. We had another class together last semester and spoke a couple of times. Since then, he always comes to say hello when he sees me.

He's an average-looking guy with ears that border on too large. He's grown out a short beard, barely more than some scruff, since he came to UNI, and it suits him.

"Yeah, I guess it is what it is." He glances over at Hannah.

"Oh, this is Hannah. Hanna, this is Edwin."

He nods. "We have classes together."

Hannah blushes. "Hi," she says.

"Again, I'm sorry things didn't work out with Ann-Marie."

"Not a problem." He nods again and goes to sit down with his friends.

"So, you know Edwin?" I say to Hannah.

"Not really. He's never spoken to me before, but I keep running into him since we have the same major."

"Oh, so that's why you have whales on your shirt."

She looks down at it and notices a coffee stain on one of the animals.

A few girls walk in and laugh as they take their seats. Hannah eyes them the same way she eyed the spilled coffee.

"Do you know them?" I ask, but she immediately shakes her head.

I get the feeling that Hannah very much keeps to herself.

The teacher walks in and all of my attention goes to trying to understand what he's talking about. When the class finally is over, I blink at my notes.

"Did you understand that?" I ask. "Are we supposed to calculate this reaction... like how much the result is?"

Hannah is already putting her stuff away. "No, we need to figure out what the proportions are." She pauses for a moment and I can tell something difficult is happening inside her. "I can help you, if you want."

"You know what?" I pack up my things. "If I'm going to have any chance at understanding this, I need a coffee. And if you can help me out, I'll gladly buy you one as well. You want to hit up Dirty?"

For the first time since I met her, Hannah smiles at me. And instantly her face brightens, and she becomes a lot prettier. "Sure."

"So, marine biology, huh?"

"Yeah, I watched Free Willy when I was a kid, and decided that's what I wanted to do. What about you?"

"Oh, I don't like fish. The thought of touching one freaks me out." I shudder at the thought.

"I mean, what's your major?" She laughs a little.

"Nutrition." I hesitate. Then I decide I might as well open up. "I had a friend when I was a teenager. Well, we weren't really close. I barely spoke to her, but we would occasionally hang out with the same people. She was always going on about food and how unhealthy everything was. I didn't really pay attention. I just remember she would always cut her apple into tiny pieces and take a long time eating it. It took much too long for me to realize it was part of her eating disorder."

We cross the quad and avoid the group of guys who seem to think that every weather is frisbee weather. Until it's time for snowball fights. I'm half convinced somebody pays them to hang out on the lawn just in case some tourists or parents come by so they can see that this is a real university, just like the brochures.

"What happened?" Hannah asks.

"There were some rumors about her and then one day she didn't come to school. I think her parents sent her someplace to get help. She's better now. At least she was the last time I heard anything. But I read up on eating disorders after she had to drop out. I kept thinking I should have seen the signs. Somewhere in the process, I just realized that it was all very fascinating and something I could see myself doing."

"So you want to work with people who have eating disorders?"

"Not necessarily. I could also see myself working with people who just want to be healthier or at a care facility like the one my dad works at. He's a doctor." We turn away from the quad and head down the street to Dirty. I spot my brother Noah and his friend Knightley across the street and wave at them. Noah flips me off and Knightley gives me a nod. I roll my eyes at them.

"So, Hannah," I say as we get our coffee and find a table. "What's your deal?"

"What do you mean?" She looks slightly terrified as she sits down.

"Are you single? Seeing someone? Married?"

She looks down at her coffee. "Single."

"Gay? Straight? Bi?"

Her eyes go wide. "Straight."

I nod, and she looks relieved.

"And are you looking for someone?"

"Why do you ask?" There's a slight blush on her cheeks.

I shrug. "Just getting to know you. How about we have a look at that equation?"