Easy

Chapter One; Roomie

"Dad, I think you took enough pictures." My father snaps another on his old flip phone.

"By the time you're done taking pictures I'll have missed the whole damn semester." I roll my eyes though a light smile's on my lips.

"Okay, okay, I'm done." He shoves the phone back in his pocket before pulling me in for yet another bear hug, "Don't forget about your old man while you're out here 'living it up', alright?"

I chuckle, "Dad, you're like 36 and don't look a day over 30, shut up with the 'old man' stuff."

"I have to admit, I do look good." A female professor walks by, her eyes glued to my father along with a small smirk displayed on her lips. He wiggles his eyebrows at me, causing me to giggle. "Remember though," he goes on, "Be the best you can be Ana. College has uh, many, uhm, distractions."

I put my hands up, "I feel this taking an awkward turn, you can stop there." He goes a light shade of red.

"Thank you, that would've been awful." He says while setting my duffle bag and suitcase infront of me. I packed extremely lightly, not bringing much at all.

I feel a pair of familiar, strong arms wrap around my waist from behind. I look up, meeting Luke's striking green eyes. He plants a kiss on my cheek rather than my lips considering my dad's not one for physical contact when it comes to boys and I.

As of last week, Luke and I have been together as a couple for three years, nine as friends. Where ever he is, home is. The fact that he won't be attending UF with me but FSU (a good 2 hours away), makes me cringe. College without Luke seems unimaginable. I've been with him and nobody but him for as long as I can remember. He's been my rock, my comfort zone.

He smiles and looks over at my father, "Ready to go, Rob?" My dad nods, sniffling.

I smile sadly, "I'm only four hours away Dad, I'll see you next weekend." I grip the handle of my one suitcase, glancing around worriedly, not so ready to leave them. I swallow, my sub-conscience telling me to suck it up and stop being a baby. With one last smile, a few kisses and a reminder for Luke to call me when he gets home, I finally begin my trek towards the dorms.

***

As soon as my head hits the pillow, I'm out like a light. For the past three hours I've done nothing but unpack, scrub, clean and polish my side of the small room. It's not much of a room, just two beds and desks, a small closet, a chest of draws and surprisingly a microwave along with a mini fridge. Complements of my room mate, I'm guessing. I even took it upon my self to clean the communal bathroom shared between the four rooms on this side of the dorm building. The neat-freak side of me that I acquired from my mother tends to kick into overdrive when I'm nervous. I shouldn't be nervous. I'm 19 and very much capable of living on my own. I should be excited but here I am, doing eveyrthing in my power to keep my self locked away in this room.

The door slams shut, causing me to jolt out of bed and right onto the floor. I groan, not even trying to get back up.

I hear loud bellowing laughter, "Sorry to scare you love." I open my eyes when hearing the friendly, somewhat southern voice. A tall, thin girl with long blonde hair and shades tower's over me.

"Analeigh?" She asks, confusion laced in her words.

"Uhm, yes." I stand up and fix my self, "Analeigh Torres." I stick my hand out to be polite. Instead of accepting the handshake like any normal person would, the girl pulls me in for a hug, squeezing the life out of me. God, I'm tired of all the hugging today.

"Oh-emm-gee Ana it's you!" She squeals into my ear. I stand there awkwadly in her embrace, stunned. She finally lets go, removing her glasses.

"It's me, Audrey you idiot." She beams. I finally take in the warm welcoming voice, the blonde hair, the green eyes. My own eyes practically fall right out of my head.

"Audrey, holy crap!" I tackle her into a hug just as she did me, "It's been what, three... four years? You're hot! You're southern!" She laughs and I join her.

Audrey's an old friend I had back in middle school. Actually, she wasn't just a friend. She was my sister, my partner in crime . Nothing came between us except for the fact that she was moving to Texas half way through the 9th grade. We tried to stay intouch but it just didn't work. She seems to be the same happy, loud Audrey I knew back then but she's definitely changed. She used to have horribly crooked teeth along with her small amount of baby fat and a bob rather than the hair she has now. Even in a high pony tail it touches the middle of her back.

"Still a midget though." She stands next to me to prove a point. She really hasn't grown, still the 5'4 midget from the old days who threw assorted chocolates at a teacher's car for failing her and the same girl who out-pranked the seniors in their own senior prank day as an 8th grader, "But look at you! How are things? Tell me everything! Any boys around?" She plops herself down on my bed. I join her, crossing my legs.

"Luke." I grin. She gasps, dramatic as always. It's what I love about her though. I nod before going on, "Right after you left he asked me out. Been together ever since."

She leans in, "Did he get even cuter?"

I chuckle and look away smiling, "Broad shoulders, five foot eleven, six-pack and to top it off... an awesome a**."

She lets out bellowing laugh. For the rest of the night we do nothing but catch up for hours. Audrey's mom remarried, hence the reason why I didn't recognize the last name when I was told who I would be rooming with. She has a boyfriend, a sophomore, going here too. From the sounds of it, highschool without me was pretty much awesome for her. She has all these crazy stories and pictures to go along with them. Throughout highschool she fell in love with photography. The Polaroid pictures she shows me are absolutely breathtaking, capturing every aspect and emotion of the moment.

When she asks about me, I just sheepishly shrug. Nothing remotely "big" has occurred in my life. Things used to be exciting when she was around. We got into all sorts of trouble back before she left. Then, I became I so occupied with getting into college and majoring in English to even think about having fun. Free time was usually spent with Luke watching movies or simply hanging out. Now that I think about it, he's never been that exciting at all.

Audrey shakes her head in disbelief after I tell her Luke and I haven't slept together, "What is wrong with that boy? Is he gay? You're still together?" I nod, ignoring the first two questions.

"Let's see how long that lasts." she smirks, "I have many guy friends to introduce you to my friend."

"Oh no no, Luke and I are fine." I shake my head rapidly and stand up from the bed, glancing at the clock. It's already after 8.

"Have you ate dinner yet? I'm about to order pizza." I say to Audrey, grabbing my cell phone. Eight missed calls; two from my dad and six from Luke. I chuckle at the fact that my own father gives up after two tries while Luke's so damn set on being persistent like always.

"I'm starving, pepperoni please. By the way, I'm taking you to this barbecue tomorrow and I'm not taking no for an answer." She states.

I chew on my bottom lip, "I dunno..." Audrey sticks a long red manicured finger up to silence me,

"You're coming and that's that. Classes start in a week. If you want to make any other friends besides muah and not be a loner for the rest of the year, you need to actually leave this dorm room."

I sigh, "Fine, does that involve bikinis?" I look up to see a humorous grin on Audrey's face. I fall onto the bed, letting out a loud groan, "Joy."