The Best Days

Chapter 5

I woke up suddenly the next morning from a restless sleep. And for a few moments I wasn't sure where I was. While in my morning haze I looked around and remembered. Chair, desk, and cork board. I was in college. It was a strange, unfamiliar feeling. This new bed and room would take some getting used to, it seemed. It also didn't help that I was all too aware that just a few feet away Jerkface Strauss lay asleep in his bed.

I glanced at my desk clock and saw that it was already almost noon. The pool party started at 12:30. I reached under my pillow and grabbed my phone only to see that I had two missed calls and 4 new text messages. One call was from my mom—I had to remember to call her later on that day—and the other had been from Kendra.

Two of the texts were from my brother updating me on how far he'd gotten so I quickly texted him back. The other two were from Kendra and Erika asking if I was up yet and if I was I needed to get down to Solaris immediately. That message had just been sent a few minutes before so I wasn't too late to get it.

But I was still so sleepy. The last thing I wanted to do was head down to the pool where it would be hot and the sun would drain me of all of my energy. The only thing that motivated me to get up was my growling stomach. Due to the move in confusion of the day before, I'd skipped dinner.

I slithered out of my sheets, grabbed my toiletries basket, and headed to the bathroom. As I headed out the door I couldn't help but stare at the rising and falling black mass of blanket that was Gavin. He let out a grunt and I jumped back in start. That was my cue to keep it moving.

I can't believe this was happening to me, I thought as I brushed my teeth and scrubbed at my face. I was making a point to avoid the opposite gender yet I found myself rooming with one. The cards were always stacked against me.

I took out my braids and fluffed my hair until I got the desired look of beachy waves I was going for. I went back to my room and searched through my drawers for a suitable swimsuit to wear. In Canada, I had gone to a blowout sale with my cousins and I'd stocked up on a bunch of swimsuits. I was going to be living in Florida after all.

It was between a mono-colored red one piece or an aqua blue two piece. A one piece would be the safe bet but then again I'd missed dinner the night before so my stomach was looking super flat and that was always a rare occurrence.

Still I went with the one piece just to be sure. I'd decided on a suit but was faced with another dilemma. How was I supposed to get said swimsuit on with Jerkface in the room? I glanced at my cork board and attempted to read the rules again. But his writing was nearly incomprehensible. His disgusting scribble was ruining the feng shui of my whole side of the room. Lucky for me, from memory I was able to recall that one of the rules said that either of us would step out of the room when the other was changing.

He let out a groan and rolled over, one of his legs shot out from underneath his blanket. He was obviously still asleep and even though the amount of detest I held towards him was great I wasn't mean enough to wake him up to kick him out the room so I could change.

So, like a ninja, I stealthily changed into my swimsuit from behind a large towel and pulled a long sundress over it. I glanced up at Jerkface from time to time to make sure he hadn't suddenly woken up from his slumber. It was so absurd, really. I shouldn't have to deal with this. I should be free to change as I please. Fortunately for me, he stayed asleep until I was finished.

My stomach let out a growl letting me know that if I didn't get some kind of sustenance inside of it soon, it would be forced to eat itself. So I grabbed my bag and stuck a pair of sunglasses on top of my head.