Second chances Book 4/6

Chapter 13

Arriving in front of number 109, Clara-Rose stopped while inhaling, hand on the handle, ready to discover her new place of life. Opening the door, she discovered a huge open suitcase, placed on one of the beds and another on one of the desks, as well as several cardboard boxes piling up in a corner.

"Well, my roommate has arrived," she said, pushing her suitcase into the bedroom.

Looking at the belongings of the one who was going to share her room, Clara-Rose was anxious. She had never lived other than with Caity and Harper, sharing her room with a stranger destabilizes her, an intimate, narrow space. She wondered if they would get along well.

Dropping onto the unoccupied bed, Clara-Rose lay down with a sigh, staring at the gray walls.

Awesome.

Her mothers were sad that they couldn't be there for her installation, Shanna being at school, it was Sean who took her. University was starting off well, really well. To be accompanied in a ghost police car, his popularity rating started with a serious handicap. She closed her eyes wondering how things were going with Harper. Caity was in her second year so this was nothing new to her, and with her personality it had to be fine. She missed Harper terribly, she felt like she had been ablated and lived with the constant lack of that part torn from her being. Turning to the side, Clara-Rose closed her eyes for a moment, only to open them when she heard the bedroom door close. Her roommate had just walked in, phone pressed to her ear, her back to her, visibly coming back from the showers, before she dropped her towel on the floor, leaving her in her underwear.

"Hi!" said Clara-Rose as she lay still, watching the platinum blonde's endless legs as she rolled over in surprise. She had beautiful blue eyes, like her mother's, and had a beautiful face.

"Hi. I'll call you back," she said, throwing her phone on her bed, disappearing into a mountain of clothes. "I'm Julia, Julia Lowes," she said, stepping forward with her hand outstretched.

"Clara-Rose Driscoll-Stone, nice to meet you.

— You are super cute! Are you here to study cinema too?

— Psychology.

— Oh. I'm in art, I want to be an actress. With my little angel face, I already have points in advance, right?

— For sure," smiles Clara-Rose, "especially if you show up like that at the auditions.

— Oops. I'm going to put something on my back!" she laughed. "Excuse me, I'm a pretty natural girl. Tell me if it bothers you. I talk a lot too, I know. Where do you come from? I'm from Las Vegas," she says, pulling more clothes out of her suitcase before slipping into shorts and a Golden Knights T-shirt.

"I'm from here.

— So awesome ! A real L.A. girl! You must have seen some stars, right?

— One or two, yes," smiled Clara-Rose.

"I hope we will get along well. Don't worry, I'll clean up my mess... Is that bed okay? Do you prefer the other? We don't see it, but there is one, I assure you," laughs Julia. "I just put my suitcase there.

— It's okay, no problem."

Julia made Clara-Rose laugh, who sorely needed it. She had an impressive speaking rate, but her good humor was contagious. She started to fold her clothes to put them away, Clara-Rose doing the same. Her suitcase was already empty and tidy that it looked like the pile of clothes hadn't shrunk on her roommate's bed, her dresser drawers were already overflowing. Picking up the rest, she put it back in her suitcase, which she closed and dropped on the floor to end up slipping it under her bed.