The Distance Between Us

One.

"Fuck."

I mentally cursed at myself for forgetting to pack a textbook for one of my classes. It had been the only textbook that was sent to my house and not my dorm by accident, courtesy of me not checking the address before completing the purchase.

I sighed and sent my mother a quick text about it and if she could please ship it to me the following day since I go to college on the complete opposite side of the country. Thankfully, she responded quickly and said she'll have it sent out to me promptly.

I was currently about to embark on my third year of college, the place I've called my second home and have loved since the moment I took a tour of it during high school. My parents were uneasy when I told them I wanted to apply here since it was so far away from home, but here I was after a tremendous amount of convincing and compromising with them.

The first week was always difficult for me when coming back after break, but I quickly adjusted after unpacking and seeing all of my friends. I met my best friend, Elle, during my first year and we've been roommates since then.

I had been close to unpacking all of my belongings when the door to the room had been swung open, causing me to jump and a slight gasp to escape from my mouth.

"Why the scared look? I don't think that I got too tan during summer break," Elle pretended to act hurt but quickly giggled as she ran towards me and embraced me into a hug.

"I missed you so much Elle, I literally haven't seen you all summer. You promised you were going to try to come and visit me and you never did."

"Emphasis on the word 'try.' I had so much going on with my family there was definitely no way I was going to be able to sneak out of there, and I mentioned that to you on the phone when we spoke about it when it had first happened Lily."

Elle gave me a sympathetic smile and I returned the same look as I hugged her once more before changing the topic.

"Since we have so much to catch up on, you and I are going out tonight with some friends to Pat's to celebrate the start of a new semester."

Since Elle and I hadn't been able to speak much during summer break, I happily agreed to her plan even though I wanted to stay in for the night. I had wanted to get a good nights rest since the first day of classes started tomorrow, and I knew I was going to need all of the energy possible for a long day. But, it was also my third year of college, so who cares- it's just one night.

The rest of the day was spent unpacking and decorating our dorm to perfection. I always admired the contrast between our dorm- my side contained a pink girly aesthetic, while Elle had a more grunge aesthetic. Even though I liked my pink decor, I also was very fond of Elle's style since I also had my grunge moments, I just didn't seem to show it off as much.

Elle and I love the same bands, and we both joined a band during our first year called "Daydream." Evan is the lead singer, I am the lead guitarist, Elle plays the bass, and Victor (who prefers to be called Vic) plays the drums.

Our band mostly played at the local bar, and we happened to be one of the most liked bands in town. Our campus was pretty isolated, but the neighboring town was a 10 minute drive, so that's where all of the college students liked to gather on weekends.

I stared at my clothes for what felt like an eternity, until Elle saw me struggling and helped pick out an outfit for me. I quickly changed into the outfit and did my hair and makeup, then helped Elle to quickly curl her hair and do two mini braids on each side of her head.

We heard a car beep from outside, so we quickly ran out to see Evan and Vic already waiting for us in the car. We entered the car and all exchanged hugs as we all took turns talking about our summer break and how we needed to do a practice session before the weekend, which is going to be our first performance since coming back to campus.