Love After Love

Chapter II

My flight leaves at night, 19:32 hours to be exact. This gives me enough time to finish packing and to say all my goodbyes. I spend the day with my parents, who surprisingly took a day off from work, Emma and James. We get to the airport at 16:30, to be sure we have enough time for everything. When we get to the point where they can't come with me anymore, I hug each of them like ten times. All I can think is how on the following months I won't be able to. When I'm about to leave, James calls me separately and we sit on a bench to say goodbye.

"I'll call you every night, okay?"

"Okay."

"How are you feeling?"

"Scared, I'm so scared!"

"That's what I thought. Moon, I want to give you a gift. When I was a kid and moved to the neighborhood, I was really scared too, it was a new place with new people and everything changed suddenly. And so my mother got me a stuffed llama, and it made me feel less alone, I could talk to him and I would feel better. Today I want to give it to you, so that you remember your best friend is always there for you." 

He pulls a blue stuffed llama which looks like it had been repaired more than a couple times out of my hand luggage, and I wonder how he got it in there in the first place. It might be old and everything, but suddenly I felt tears rolling down my cheeks, this is probably the nicest gift I have ever gotten from anyone.

"Thank you, James. You really are the best friend someone could ever ask for."

"You are too, Moon. Text me when you get there, all right? I'll miss you."

I hear his voice crack, and he hugs me. I hug everyone one last time, even tighter than before, and go through the large glass doors. After going through all the last procedures, I get inside my plane and find my seat, 9A. It's a window seat, luckily. Once we're flying through the dark, I look out the window and find a sky full of stars. It's just one of those sights that evoke the need to make a wish, and so I do. I wish I wish with all my might, that self love finds me during this months away from home. The flight continues normally, and we reach our destiny at 22:48 hours. I take a taxi to the Ladford campus, and the first thing I do is text my parents and James as I promised, even though my parents surely won't even see it until tomorrow. A guy that looks about twenty-two leads us newcomers to our dorms. When I get to room, 294, my roommate is already there. Before today, all I knew about her was her name and other basic stuff we talked over e-mail, now I am able to see she is quite tall, maybe 1.72 meters tall. Her hair is curly and black, and she has a bright pair of green eyes that combined with her olive skin make her look kind of like a cat. She has already taken her side of the room and decorated it in a very minimalistic fashion. Everything seems to be white except for a painting by an artist I don't recognize hanging up on her wall.

"Hi! I'm Deirdre, and you must be Moon. Sorry I took this side of the room, I have some feng shui issues, I hope you don't mind."

I stand there, taking it all in. It's a relatively large room, painted white, with two twin size beds, two small closets and a bathroom.

"We get our own bathroom?" I ask, not trying to ignore her words but out of surprise. I always imagined college with a common bathroom, like in the movies. I guess I've watched too much TV.

"Yeah, that's nice about these dorms isn't it?"

"It is! Hey, I feel bad for disrupting your pretty white aesthetic with my crazy posters and pictures..."

"Oh, don't! The room is for both of us and we should both feel comfortable in our space. I can help you put them all up if you want to. By the way, I like your hair!" She seems like one of those girls that are all sweet and gets hyper about everything, but instead of seeming annoying, it's nice.

"Oh, don't you worry, I'll do it! And thank you! I had a hard time choosing the color."

"Well, I think blue was a great choice." She states.

I start pulling random things out of the boxes, everything from notebooks to shampoo and a lamp, and slowly see my side of the room take shape and personality. There is a clear division between the clean white Deirdre chose and the crazy, kind of messy I made my walls look with a combination of pictures of home, band posters and art prints from all my favorite artists. It does make me feel a little bit more at home to dress my bed with my galaxy coverlet, my pillows and of course the blue llama. I feel childish next to Deirdre, but I feel like me. I guess I am a little bit childish, after all.

All the time I'm decorating my room, the girl is sitting on her bed watching me carefully with that pair of emerald green eyes.

"Do you take pictures?" She asks, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, well, for fun. I just capture what I love, the people I love and the special moments."

"And the sky." She adds, pointing at the sunset corner, as I call it.

"Yeah" I say smiling at the fact she noticed "And the sky"

When I'm done with my wall, she breaks the silence that has again fallen over us.

"Aren't you hungry? Did you eat dinner?" for the first time in about seven hours, I realize how hungry I am.

"I guess I am, I was asleep most of the flight and didn't have time to eat. Is there anywhere we can go?"

"Well, a few buildings away there is a sushi restaurant. Want to go there?"

"Sure, I love sushi!" I have not eaten it in months, because Emma turned out being allergic to uncooked fish, and that's what sushi is about after all. We walk through the lighted paths of campus and get to the restaurant. It seems pretty full, I'm guessing that's because it's a Friday and everyone arrives today, but luckily it is not hard to get a table for two. We order and start talking, trying to get to know each other. When we walk back to the room, I have learned things ranging from that she loves to eat melted ice cream to the fact that she was raised in foster care. Since we still have three days until class starts, we will have time to know each other better and get accustomed to living with another person. Of course, the first thing I do when we go back is call James as I promised, but apparently he is already asleep considering he doesn't answer.

"Were you calling your booooyfrieeend?" Deirdre asks, sounding just like Emma would.

"You know, you just sounded like my thirteen year old sister" I say laughing "and no, he's my best friend, and he's gay."

"Ohhh, plot twist" we both laugh, and I feel like I've known this girl forever. She makes the exact same jokes I do, although maybe she is a little bit more enthusiastic than I am. She does give off the vibe she can be serious when it's needed, though.

"I made you out to be kind of uptight, but I think we will get along greatly now that I know you are not."

"Yeah, I think we will, you seem cool too. And I like your wall! I like your music taste, I love Keane and The Calling too!"

We continue bonding over little stuff until like 2:00, and then she falls asleep. As I had a nap on the plane, I'm not tired, so I stay up listening to music and thinking of home. I write all about what I left behind and all that will come in my notebook, filling pages with words and not feeling the time go by, but when I see the sunlight start creeping in from the blinds, I finally decide to go to sleep. I have to if I plan on doing anything productive tomorrow.