Letters to Victoria

Chapter 5

Beep. Beep Bee-
Michael quickly turned his alarm off as to not wake Jack. He slithered out of his bed and hit the ground with a soft pat, he got on the floor and dug under his bed to find his yoga mat. He carefully removed it, then ever so gently he removed the elastic straps and laid the mat out. He sat down and began stretching, he put his legs together and leaned forward, stretching his back as far as it would possibly go.
Jack jolted up. "Dude!" He said groggily "it's so early. What are you doing?"
Michael turned his torso towards Jack, "Sorry." He said apologetically "I just wake up early so I can stretch and warm up for the day." Jack sighed "Oh" he shook his head "Is there any possibility you could turn your alarm volume down a little bit?" Michael blushed in embarrassment "sorry, I'll turn it down." Jack gave a tiered smile and turned his back towards Michael. He checked his watch "4:15? If I fall asleep now, I can get 4 more hours of sleep." Jack closed his eyes and attempted to fall asleep.
Michael continued his morning stretches, he allowed his body to wake up and he focused his energy into feeling his muscles stretch out.
Once he was finished he rolled the mat up, grabbed some clothes, and hopped into the shower. He briskly cleaned himself then proceeded to get dressed. He tip toed out of the bathroom and into the common room, there he opened the cabinet and got out a jar of overnight oats, he sat on the couch and ate his breakfast.
***
Michael rushed into the humanities building and down the dance hall, as he arrived he saw there was a group of students standing in a circle chatting, and a group of students stretching, Michael heading towards the students stretching. He sat next to a rather slender woman who was carefully stretching, her hair was slicked back into a rather tight bun and she had a joyous smile on her face. "Are you new?" She asked folding herself onto her knees, Michael was shocked, "uh, yeah." He uttered. She turned towards him and gently smiled "Well welcome, I'm Veronica." She delicately reached out her hand, Michael shook it carefully. She turned away and continued stretching, Michael, still slightly surprised that someone talked to him, began stretching as well. As he was finishing up his instructor walked in, he quickly hopped to his feet and prepared to listen.
***
After his unfortunately early awakening, Jack began getting ready for his day. He didn't have a fancy morning routine like his roommate, but he made sure he was showered and ready to go for the day, he grabbed a cereal bar and was on his way. He scurried into his first class, basics in writing, only to be greeted by Alonzo, who sat in the back left corner, Alonzo was motioning for Jack to sit next to him. Jack headed to the back and sat next to him, he gave him a smile "good morning." He stated warmly. "Morning" Alonzo said with a smile. God he had the most precious smile! The way his cheeks pushed into his cloudy blue eyes, and the way the corners of his lips curled, set Jacks heart on fire. Jack tried to shake the feeling off "So, are you willingly taking this class or are you required?" Jack questioned, "What the fuck was that dude?" Alonzo shook his head and chuckled, "I'm willingly taking it." Again, another smile lit up his face. "What about you my dude, are you here at free will?" Jack blushed, "Yeah. I'm an English major, so this is kind of important?" He softly chuckled, "I don't know man." Jack turned towards the front and noticed the professor had walked in.
Once class had finished Alonzo bolted out of the classroom, he hadn't even realized he had left his keys behind. Jack saw the keys sitting on Alonzo's desk, he quickly picked them up and darted out of the class to find Alonzo. From a distance he could see his white beanie, so he followed the white dot, Alonzo turned down the hall and Jack sprinted after him. "Alonzo!" He called, but Alonzo didn't acknowledge him, so he got closer "Alonzo!" Alonzo stopped and turned only to see Jack. "You left your keys in the classroom." He panted, he walked closer to him and handed them to him. Alonzo's face lit up "Sweet! Thank you so much!" He took the keys and then waved goodbye.
***
As Michael got out of class he noticed that a storm had just blown in, unprepared as usual, Michael tried to devise a plan to get home without getting drenched. He searched through his backpack to see if he had anything to keep him dry, nothing, so he decided he'd just try to wait it out. He took out his phone and sat in the seating area located at the front of the building. He mindless scrolled through his phone, occasionally checking to see if the rain had stopped, but the rain was only getting worse. He shook his head and grabbed his things, he was just about to leave when he heard a joyously booming "hey!" Michael turned around and spotted Tyler holding an umbrella and smiling at him. "You heading home?" Michael's face flushed "uh, yeah" he stuttered softly, he looked up to Tyler, "are you?" He nodded, he gestured for Michael to follow him, "Come, you don't wanna get drenched right?" Michael softly chuckled, "No.-I mean, yeah- wait no." He blushed "I don't know what I mean, uh, coming." Tyler laughed, "You are something else, kid." Michael blushed harder. The two walked out of the building, Tyler opened the umbrella and Michael followed closely behind.
"So, where ya from?" Tyler questioned walking closely to Michael.
"Oh, Postum." Michael said nervously.
"That's wild I'm from Postum! I mean I'm sure you kinda assumed that, with Jack being your roommate and all. But that's really cool." Tyler gave Michael a smile, he could tell that Michael was nervous but admittedly, Michael was kinda cute when he was nervous. "What are you majoring in?"
"I'm a dance major!" He stated proudly, he pulled back a little "and what about you?"
"It's a mouthful, but I am a performance arts major with a focus in music. Trust me man, I'm gonna make it one day!"
Michael chuckled softly, he tried to think of something to say but he just kept chuckling nervously.
"You have any special interests?" Tyler asked.
"Um, I know it's like super dorky but I really like musical theater." Michael blushed, yet again.
"Ya do it in high school?"
"Yeah, I was usually a dance captain."
"Oh cool! I'm also partial to theater myself, more of a behind the scenes kinda guy though."
"Oh, did you also do it in high school?"
"Nah, but I got into it here. I was stage crew last year for like all 3 shows. Are you planning on continuing here?"
Michael blinked slowly "I never really thought about it."
Tyler stopped dead in his tracks, "Dude! An expert such as yourself should totally audition!"
Michael smiled, "I'll think about it."
Tyler took out his phone, "How about you give me your number and I will text you all of the information." Micheal quickly obliged, Tyler handed him his phone and he typed in his number.
"Thank you!"
"No problem, man!"
The two approached the residence hall and entered, Michael held the door open for Tyler. "Thank you, sir." Tyler said with a wink, Michael blushed. "Thank you for walking me back!" He said softly.
"No problem!"
"Well, uh, I guess I'll see you around." Michael said shyly. Tyler chuckled, "Yeah, I'm sure you will." Michael raised an eyebrow but simply shook it off and waved goodbye, he started walking to his dorm, Tyler followed him. Michael was confused but paid it no mind, he climbed up the stairs, Tyler followed closely behind, "Hey stranger!" Tyler said jokingly. "What, you couldn't get enough of me?" Michael responded, Tyler cackled. "Oh you wish! We live on the same floor." Michael turned bright red, "oh" he said quickly, he faced forward and kept walking. The two arrived at the second floor, Tyler held the door opened for Michael, and he scurried in. They approached the hallway, Michael went to the left and Tyler the right, Tyler waved goodbye.
As Michael entered the dorm and was greeted by Jack and Demi sitting on the couch watching a movie, Jack with his arm around her.
"Hey!" Michael said politely but in semi shook.
"Hey!" The two said in unison.
***
Jack had just finished his classes and was getting kind of hungry, so he decided to go to the cafeteria. Upon entering he spotted Demi, she was sitting alone at a booth, silently eating a sandwich. Jack walked over to her, "Hey!" He warmly remarked, she was mid-bite. She swallowed her sandwich and giggled "Hey, stranger!" The two smiled at each other, "Mind if I sit here?" He questioned.
"Nah, go ahead!" She said with enthusiasm. He set his stuff down and went into the cafeteria to get his food.
Once he returned, the two started chatting.
"So what's bopping?" Demi asked.
"Oh, you know, not much. Michael woke me up like really early this morning, so that was not tight." Jack said biting into his sandwich.
"Ooff. You get any sleep after that?"
"Ah, I got a little bit, but not much. It's whatever though."
Demi inhaled sharply, "Angie and I had a girls night last night. She painted my nails," she extended her hand to jack, "she did a pretty good job."
"Well that's very nice." Jack said warmly. Demi retracted her hand "Sorry, I didn't really know what else to contribute to the conversation." She softly laughed.
"Don't worry about it, it's totally fine." Jack softly chuckled "You doing anything after this?" He questioned. She was mid-chew so she just shook her head no, she swallowed. "Nothing I can think of, why?"
Jack looked around then looked back at her, "Wanna come back to my dorm and watch a movie?"
Her face flushed. "Sure." She said with a smile.