Heart of Fury - Stone and Fire # 2 [17+]

Chapter 4

Kingsworth College: First Year

Aurora's POV

The door to my room opens with a flourish, revealing the cluttered-up mess hounding the dorm walls with misery. Bottles of beer, vodka, and liquor sit on the glass table, and bags of chips and cookies lay half-empty on the kitchen counter. Rolling my eyes, the first thing I do is walk past the kitchen, into the hallway, and trudge to the room across from mine, yanking it open. 

"You are such a piece of shit."

My roommate Kaiden lays on the bed with a unknowing look on his face, like he's caught in the most innocent act to exist. He lay under his sheets with his phone above his head, probably entranced in a texting battle with two -no, three, girls. All at once. The phone drops onto his face and he curses before sitting up and giving me a grin. 

"You're back!" His smile drops. "Oh shit. You're back."

"Shut up. Why is the kitchen such a mess?"

He opens his mouth to a grin and stands, his blanket suddenly exposing all of him.

"What the hell, Kaiden?" I whip my head around and instead face the door from which I entered. 

"Oh fuck. My bad." I hear some shuffling of clothes, and then he clears his throat. "I'm good now, you can turn around."

With a sigh, I turn back around and give him my look of disapproval. One I have given to him about a hundred times already since living across the hall from him. 

He ruffles his brown hair, now gleaming under the sunlight coming in through the window, and shrugs at me.

"What? It's not like this is the first time you've seen me naked."

"Right. Like seeing you with my best friend was any better."

"Hey. Not my fault you left us together in one room. With alcohol." He puts his hands up in surrender.

"Well, guess what? I'm not cleaning up that dog-hound." I sigh again. "I was gone for a day, Kaiden. What am I, your mom? I can't clean up all the time."

"In my defense, the whole gang was here last night. I'm talking Kai, Dante.." He starts ticking off all their names on his fingers, "Levi, and oh, Maddox. You know how wasted that motherfucker gets."

I rub my eyes. I was so, beyond tired. A day of camping, meaning living outdoors was clearly taking the toll on me. I was definitely not the type of person to be content with the buzzing of mosquitoes, constant chirp of birds, and sloppy mud stuck on the bottom of my shoes. And don't even get me started on the sleeping situation, because that was a whole other sector of uncomfortable. Matter of fact, I didn't even sleep last night. I was up thinking about whether coming all the way here, although passionate about studying arts, was a good idea.

"Wasn't your trip supposed to last two days? What happened?"

I take a seat on the edge of his bed and flop down on my back, closing my eyes.

"I left a day early. Lied and said I had cramps so bad I couldn't walk another second."

"To be honest, I'm surprised you lasted more than an hour. And with California's summer heat, how'd you even make it to half?" 

I glare at him from my peripheral. "And what'd you do? Marinate in your bed? Fuck a new girl every hour?"

"Jeez, Aurora. Take it easy. You know how soft my heart is." His hand dramatically clutches his chest and he flops down next to me, eyes closed.