Dorm Room 210 [Original]

Dorm Room 210: An Inner Peace

A/n: updated and edited on 25th December 2019 - Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! 

Chapter 30:

An Inner Peace

"You still need a resume," Raven says to Rachel. "It doesn't matter if Mr Bolognese said you'll get the job if you call him. There's still a chance you'll get asked to submit one."

"It's Blaese. And he said when I'm ready I can send some pieces over to him before there's an interview."

Nicole and I listen to Rachel argue with Raven while going over her short stories on my bed. She met Mr Blaese during Noah's birthday party - an accident from the way Rach described it - and had asked to submit a snippet of her writing. Nicole's currently writing as a hobby and uses her creative perspective to enlighten Rach's stories. She's hoping to send them in tomorrow.

Across from us, Noah and Jesse play a gory zombie game, ignorant to everyone in the dorm. They seem content in their own world. Jesse briefly looks over to check on Rachel here and there, but doesn't interfere. I think he's trying to give her some space.

Raven sighs and massages his head. "You always need to be careful with these blokes. They'll scam you."

"This is coming from the same guy who said I couldn't eat a sundae for dinner."

"Rach, it's logical advice."

"It's stealing freedom of choice."

Jesse swears. "They're coming from the sides!"

"My shields are down." Noah presses frantically on the control's buttons, eyes wide and heavily concentrated.

Nicole moves to lie on my lap, squinting at a paragraph. "Rach, I'm not sure if Lucy is supposed to admit that she robbed the bank or if Robbie wants her to admit it. This sentence isn't clear enough."

I can't help but smile.

What a mess. 

My mess.

Weeks fly by and Noah and I hand in our project on its due date to our teacher's office.

Protected by garment covers, each piece has a label with both mine and Noah's name on it. We also hand in the theory's folio work that goes with it. Other students hand there projects in at the same time as us.

The moment we hang our items on the rack and leave our folio on the desk, we embrace each other.

"We did it, sunshine," Noah says in my hair. "All the hard work, paid off."

I smile into his chest. "It's a relief."

On our way out we see Vanessa with her partner carrying their own project, concentrated faces the entire time. I doubt they see us, probably too busy with making sure everything gets handed in with a careful manner.

I pull back on Noah's hand in the hallway, signalling a waiting motion until I see Vanessa coming back out again, high-fiving her partner as she lets out a victory expression, hands in fist shaking in the air. I honestly want to join her.

I know what I want to do. Mentally I prep myself; quickly rehearse the words I want to use, the questions I want to ask, the usual responses she might ask back - anything and everything that works into a conversation and mold it into the greatest conversation I can master with so little time.

My hand reaches for my phone...

I dig my nails into my palm. No, I'll have to do without it.

Taking a steady breath I wave at her until she heads towards us. 

"Hey," I say, projecting as much happiness as I can, "how did you guys go?"

"As good as it can get," she replies, waving goodbye to her partner. "I stayed up to get my side done. We're hoping we aimed high, but there's a part in the theory work we didn't extend as much as we should so not much hope there."

She tucks her hands in her jean shorts, shrugging. Dark circles play along underneath her eyes. Just how long did she stay up for?

"How did you two go?"

"Good," Noah and I both say, moving to the side of the hallway to allow students to pass through, a few shouting "We did it!" and "It's done!" as they make their way out of the building. My body relaxes when Noah steps beside me, and joins in on the conversation. "Can't say we found anything difficult. It'll be interesting to see what will happen next year."

Vanessa's shoulders sag. "Right. I'm not coming back next year. Too much for me to handle. I applied for my mum - she works with the fashion industry and always wanted me to join her. It's not my passion. I should've left before first semester ended."

"I get that," Noah says. "We can't do our parents wishes, no matter how much they want us involved."

I place my hand on Noah's arm. If anyone understands, it's Noah. Aaron had wanted him to take a business course instead of following his desire in the arts, but after my demand that the family talk it out on Noah's birthday Aaron stopped mentioning it.

"What are you doing after?" I ask her. Right. This is what I prepared myself for.

"Sleep." Vanessa laughs. "Watch some YouTube videos. Might grab food later. Why, what's up?"

My hands shake as I reach to grab my phone within my back pocket. "I was wondering if you're free you want to get food with us. Bring anyone you want, we'll bring our friends. Maybe go get Mexican." I shrug. "I think Nicole has a thing for Mexican food tonight."

Vanessa shifts on her other foot. "That sounds pretty awesome."

My cheeks hurt from smiling. "Great! Add yourself in my contacts, I can let you know when we're thinking of going."

"Cool." When she finishes, she hands the phone back. "I'll give you a message after my nap. We can talk then."

"Looking forward to it," I say, as she parted ways.

I watch her leave until Noah takes my hand and leads us out of the building. Trying so hard not fail over my words with Vanessa I forget that Noah witnessed what happened until he quietly laughs.

"So," Noah stretches out, heading back to our dorm, "you think Nicole will be nervous when she finds out Vanessa is joining us?"

I grin as we head past the cafeteria towards Building E. "I think so. She might want a head's up before we head off though."

Noah gives me a side-eye. 

I give him one back. "Oops we forgot?" I suggest.

He laughs out loud and pulls me to the side of him, wrapping his arm around my waist and planting a kiss on my head. "God, you're amazing. First you're making friends, and then you're trying to play match-maker. Good job, baby. I'm proud of you."

I kiss the area next to his heart where mine beats uncontrollably. "It's a start."

I'm well on my way to becoming who my inner-person wants to be. I hope I meet her soon.