Smoke Break /Georgenotfound/

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Usually, I don't sleep for longer than 10 hours - especially when I have exams. But today, I completely ignored the sound of my alarm cause in my half-sleeping state, I thought the noises were coming from next door again.

I slowly opened my eyes when it was already midday, squinting at the clock on my wall and having to blink repeatedly to adjust my vision.

Why does it say 12:30? Is it broken, or am I blind?

Oh shit, maybe I'm broken.

Oh well, if there was a chance of saving the situation before, now I'm certainly going to fail.

I practically fell out of my bed and ran to the bathroom, turning on the shower and hurrying to take off my clothes as if I was wasting time by being slow when in reality all the time had already been wasted sleeping. Now, I was just being dramatic with my hurried motions.

Stepping into the shower, I wasn't surprised by the freezing cold water raining down on me. I didn't give it enough time to warm up properly, what else would I expect?

And even though I was trying to play it cool and take a cold shower, my muscles shriveled up and begged for mercy.

But they didn't stop me. I started doing my shower routine, shooting daggers with my eyes at the shower head as if that would make the water magically heat up faster.

Hilariously, as a faint flicker of warmth teased my skin, I was already done showering. Well, I wasn't done showering. I was done with showering.

I wasn't sweaty anymore and that's all that matters.

I powered through the entire day without even stopping to eat or getting sidetracked by anything. Till 7 p.m., it was just me and my textbooks. And you know what? The neighbors must have sensed something because they actually kept it down. No more booming music or pointless arguments, just blessed silence. It was like the universe was finally on my side.

And everytime I even try to think of positive things, something bad happens.

I flicked through the pages to count how many were left and almost gave myself a papercut from how unexpectedly the beat dropped next door.

"Are you fucking kidding me." I whispered to myself as my hand clenched into a fist on my book.

I was about to lose it, but took a deep breath and told myself to calm down and just take a break from studying. I haven't eaten today. Maybe by the time I finish eating, they'll be finished playing music.

Wrong.

They're never going to stop. And the music was different from yesterday too. Somebody was playing the same song on repeat. The same fucking song.

At least it was Taylor Swift.

By 9 p.m. I had tried everything. Studying with headphones didn't work at all.

Going to the balcony was efficient for a few minutes, but then I realized that even though the vibrations from the beat aren't that prominent in here, the music itself is way louder from here.

I even thought about leaving the house and finding a peaceful place to study but couldn't get myself to do it. My books weigh more than me, no way I'm carrying all of this stuff anywhere.

Yeah, nothing worked out.

Counting the pages and the days left till the exam settled a strong sense of panic inside of me. It forced me up on my feet. I started taking determined steps towards their door again, already feeling the deep sense of regret, which wasn't strong enough to stop me.

I don't even care if I'm being annoying anymore. They'll probably call me a Karen or something, but I don't care.

My knocks were so loud this time that my whole hand cramped. I must've damaged a nerve or something. Apparently they were efficient enough to make the music stop and that's all I cared about. I heard heavy footsteps hurrying towards the door and hoped to see the same guy from yesterday.

But it wasn't him. This one was so much taller and looked even more confused than the last guy.

"Hey," I stared right into his green eyes, which probably creeped him out.

"Hello?" He looked behind me, to my sides, then up and down my height.

"Could you turn down the music, please?" Even though I added the last word not to sound too aggressive, still, the way it escaped my mouth did me no favors, "I'm trying to study, and it's really loud."

He furrowed his brows and parted his mouth, "Oh, sorry about that, didn't realize it was that loud."

I can't tell if he's deaf or just making excuses.

"It's okay, just turn it down a little bit," I smiled, annoyed that he's acting as if the same thing didn't happen yesterday with his friend.

"No worries, I'll make sure," he nods vigorously, as I thank him and proceed to go back to my apartment, "good luck on your studies tho!" He smiled cheerfully, giving me deja vu from yesterday.

But the way he was so nice to me made me finally drop my attitude and give him a genuine look of gratitude.

I really hope this is the last time I have to do this.

I refill my water bottle and get back to my book. To my surprise, no animalistic noises distract me this time - well, except for the occasional screams and thumps. And by 3 a.m. my surroundings became as quiet as it gets, making me think that everyone went to sleep except for me.

It might've been the constant staring at the letters or the fact that I only ate once today, but I felt extremely nauseous and light-headed. It's not like it never happens to me though, usually a breath of fresh air is all I need in situations like this.

So I went to the balcony.

But apparently I couldn't catch a break. The air reeked of cigarettes - it almost made me throw up.

And the reason behind it was standing in the balcony next to mine, blowing clouds of grey smoke, which the wind brought right to my face.

I looked at the person, thinking it'd be one of those two guys I met, yet I didn't recognize this one. All I could see in the darkness was that he had dark hair, was wearing an oversized black shirt and grey sweats. He was too focused on his phone to notice me, and the thick smoke blurred his face from my vision. All I could really see was his silhouette.

I parted my mouth and shut it back up immediately. No way in hell I'm saying anything this time. I'm so annoying that I'm already annoying myself.

I'll just go back inside.

And that's exactly what I did, hoping to fall asleep sometime soon so that I could wake up early next morning.

Or just not wake up at all. Sounds like a better scenario.