"I apologize, there must have been a mix up of some sort."
His head is spinning. He's barely slept last night.
He got caught in the rain on the way here. He'd nearly lost all his luggage and had to chase the bus he left it in. He slept in and hasn't been able to eat anything all day.
His ex-boyfriend is getting married in two months, at twenty-two years of age.
Not that he cares, but -
But it has been a long week.
Words echo in his head, distorted, nonsensical. He latches on to what he understands and repeats, slowly, word after word.
"What do you mean, a mix-up?"
Honestly, he should have been used to it by now. Mix ups and mess ups and giddy ups - no, wait, perhaps not those, but the first two ones yeah - those things happen to him on a daily basis. There's no reason why something wouldn't go wrong today too.
In his mind, Tony is already scripting his next video touching on this subject.
"I'm really sorry, Mr. perry , but it appears that we have wrongly placed you in a room with a first year student."
Tony's stare is blank and he finds that keeping his eyes on the lady behind the counter becomes a struggle. She's in her forties, he estimates, plump but not overly so, blue-eyed, apologetic. Dark roots emerge from her scalp, an inch later turning into a platinum blonde. She's wearing a brown dress that melts into the wood-covered walls behind her, creating the illusion of her being just a floating, curly-haired head.
Normally, that thought would be the slightest bit amusing. Right now, it is not.
He takes a deep breath and protests, keeping his voice neutral and polite.
"That can't be right. My friend and I have been sharing since we started here. Tyler Jones is his name, please look it up."
He's asked to spell TJs name out for her, which he does. If there is one upside to this, it's that his drowsiness is slowly dissipating - replaced by the urgent, racing beat of his heart.
The woman behind the counter - the tag on her shirt says Eleanor Willis, Junior Secretary - frowns and shakes her head ever so slightly.
"No, I'm sorry, Mr... Mr. Jones is assigned to another room."
This is the third apology he hears, but it doesn't settle him down in the least.
"Surely we can just swap, right? So that I can be with Tj and this first year student changes rooms?"
Her face grows stern at this and Tony immediately shrinks back.
"Actually, this student has already lived here throughout the summer, so I'm afraid that's not possible. We'd hate to disrupt the life of a person that has just settled in; surely you understand."
Something inside Tony is screaming it's you lot who messed up, but he does not say it out loud.
"What about the guy Tj is paired up with?" he tries, "Can't he move in with my roommate? I'm on my third year and this has never been a problem..."
"We don't permit mid-semester changes without explicit reasons."
Tony lets out an exasperated sigh, biting back a is this not an explicit reason, weighing his options.
He lives in San Diego. Renting an actual flat in this city would cost him his entire lifesavings for one month, even with Music bringing a bit more money these days, so scratch that, too. He could crash at a friend's, but not for an entire semester. He could try to rent out a room or try another dorm, but classes are starting tomorrow, and he's already paid for an entire year here at the dorms.
