Until I Met You

chapter four

Five months later...

Nova

I wake up in a familiar bed and I like it. It's not the bed I have to roll over in, open my eyes, and take in the view of Warren passed out, shirtless and stinking of stale sweat. This bed is like heaven compared to the one in my dorm room. The mattress is soft but firm at the same time, and the sheets are as comforting as cashmere compared to my scratchy ones. The room also smells like a freshly brewed vanilla latte instead of old books, Sharpies, and a sweaty gym bag that's never been washed. There's also a massive window that has a spectacular view of the city and allows copious amounts of sunshine in.

Julia's apartment is a luxury.

I never expected to become friends with Julia. When I first met her, she annoyed me. I also wasn't a fan of her when she broke the news that I would be sharing a room with Warren until September, even though I knew it wasn't her fault.

My point of view changed when I stepped into my first creative writing class the following Monday. Just like any other person, I gravitated toward her because she was a familiar face. She greeted me with open arms and we started talking. The first question she asked me was how I was liking Vancouver so far. The second was how my first couple nights sharing a room with Warren had been.

All I did was sigh.

That man...he's an inflexible dilemma that has a high temper, is arrogant, and despises being told what to do. Sharing a room with him has been quite the experience. Since January, we've had several petty fights about what is and what isn't acceptable, ranging from ridiculous to logical. Food was and still is a problem. The cafeteria is made for eating and our dorm room is most certainly not. He has a terrible habit of ordering takeout or bringing his meals to the room and leaving his dishes laying around, creating a disgusting mess. On a daily basis, I also question if he was ever taught how to dress as a child; he continuously lounges around without a shirt and it disgusts me.

But the bathroom is the worst of all. He never puts the toilet seat down; I find remnants of hair from when he shaves stuck in the sink; the mirror is always splattered with shaving foam and spit. There have also been many times where he's forgotten to knock before entering, catching me in nothing but my bra and underwear. This usually results in me screaming and him leaning against the doorway to stare at me.

I miss having my own bathroom.

However, through all our petty arguments, we managed to agree on one thing. In order for Warren to uphold his bad-boy reputation, I agreed that every Friday night I would find somewhere else to stay so he could bring someone home, so long as she was gone by the time I got back. It's worked better than I ever thought it would, and it's the reason I'm at Julia's apartment.

It's been great, having a friend like her. I never realized I missed having this type of relationship with another girl. We've spent our Friday nights sipping glasses of wine and eating caramel popcorn while talking about how ridiculous life can be.