𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙖𝙜𝙚, 𝗇𝗂𝗄𝖺 𝗆𝗎𝗁𝗅

XV. blank page

july 15, 2021
storrs, connecticut

jayden shuffled awkwardly as she sat in the office, trying to get comfortable in the chair. it was not a soft fabric.

an older lady by the name of deborah sat across from her at a desk, writing in cursive slowly. she cleared her throat, speaking quietly, "so why'd you say you were here, again?"

she took a breath, mumbling. "my friend wanted me to come because she was worried about me."

deborah wrote more down. the sound of the pen scraping on the paper was enough to drive jayden insane. "can you tell me about this friend?"

jayden nodded, pressing her lips together. "yeah, uhm... her names olivia. shes part of the basketball team that i manage."

the lady smiled softly, "do you know why shes worried about you?"

jayden let out light laughter, "probably because my dad died and stuff... apparently i haven't been myself lately."

"do you want to talk about him?"

jayden thought for a second, "no."

deborah leant down and opened a drawer of her desk and shifted around, pulling a composition notebook out. she placed it lightly on the desk and slid it over towards jayden, "i want to you to write down whatever's going on in there," she spoke sweetly, pointing at her head.

jayden mumbled a complaint, "right now?"

"no, just write some stuff between now and our next appointment. it will give us something to talk about, okay?"

she nodded slowly, picking it up and placing it in her bag. "are we done?"

deborah tilted her head slightly, pressing her lips together. "not technically. would you like to be?"

"yes," she stood up from the chair, leaving without saying goodbye. she weaved through the hallways, a sigh of relief washing over her as she opened the door. summer air weaved around her body as she walked through the parking lot.

once she reached her car, she remembered the state of it. her entire life was packed into the backseat in boxes.

they were choosing roommates and dorms today and since evina decided to live off-campus for her last year, there was an uneven number of girls. naturally, jayden offered to room with somebody.

she pressed play on the radio, her summer aux playlist pulled a small smile onto her face. she twisted the dial up, humming along to the music as she started her car.

the office wasn't that far from the dorms, about 8 minutes. so, about 2 good songs. she arrived quickly, pulling into her favourite parking spot, right in the middle of the lot by the lamppost that she had hit thrice.

jayden hopped out of her car, walking towards the group of girls outside. nika instantly ran over to her, "jayds, please."

she furrowed her eyebrows, "what?"

she grabbed her shoulders softly, looking into jaydens eyes. "can you please be my roommate?"

she nodded slowly, leaning around the croatian to look at the group. paige stood in the middle, jaw dropped, staring at nika with an upset look in her eyes. "okay... i wanted jayden."

"too bad!" she wrapped her arms around the shorter girl, swaying back and fourth. "beat you to it!"

jayden murmured quietly to the girl, trying not to laugh, "niks, be nice."

two days later

jayden sat at the small desk in the room, staring at the pages of her journal. she had been trying to write something down for almost an hour.

as soon as she had gotten a few words in, the door to the room opened quietly, pulling her out of her thoughts. she didn't look up from the paper, though.

nika walked up behind the girl, leaning over her. a ragged breath was heard from below as nikas front pressed into her back. "whatcha doing?"

"i've been trying to write for an hour," she complained, leaning her head back onto nikas stomach.

"why don't you get some sleep? its getting late." nika suggested sweetly, hand resting on her shoulder.

jayden turned around on the stool, melting slowly into her. the girl wrapped her arms around jayden, pulling her up onto her feet. she spoke quietly into her ear, "i'm gonna take that as a yes."

"mhm."

authors note
once im done with this story i want to make another one. i was thinking paige or kate or azzi or anybody help. lmk please.