Back to December || n.h.

01

Niall Horan walked down the hallway, symmetrical to every other one he had passed. The forest green walls and navy blue carpet didn't seem to improve his mood, only making it seem even more depressing. His faded red backpack was slung over one shoulder, blue eyes kept down on the paper tightly grasped between his white knuckles. Every person he had passed so far had muttered quiet curiosities, seeming as he was "the new boy" at this small school.

"219, 219, 2-" Niall's eyes had moved up towards the doors lining either side of the hallway, their numbers carved into a plaque to the right of the door. Apparently, he was going to be rooming with someone named Arlington Parker, whom he couldn't decide the gender of. Taking one last deep breath, Niall fished around in the pocket of his skinny jeans. He grasped onto his keys (which the old man at the front had given him) and stuck them into the lock.

Arlington Parker had woken up a half hour before, already having took a quick shower and blew dry her violently dark hair. She now stood in the small kitchen her dorm room supplied, wearing only a black Nirvana shirt, planning on pulling on some jeans for class later that day.

Her last roommate, who went by the name Bobbi, had become an utter nuisance. Arlington had grown up in the same small town as Bobbi, but never took the chance to really interact with her. However, when they began to sleep in the same room, Arlington was grateful she had never taken the time to get to know Bobbi. Bobbi moved towns a couple months later, claiming that Arlington had been trouble. In complete honesty, Arlington was fine with it as long as Bobbi was gone.

One week and four days later, Arlington receives a message telling her that she would be getting a new roommate named Niall Horan. She didn't want a new roommate, at any expense. But Niall, Niall was a guy. A possibly horny and sex crazed guy whom she didn't want to even invite into her dorm. Or now, their dorm?

Arlington decided that Niall would be ordinary (or as ordinary as hormonal teenage boys could get). He would have brown hair and brown eyes, a moderately attractive face, and possibly 5'9 at the tallest. She wouldn't even try to guess anything other than the way he looks.

Still deep in thought, she ripped off the top of her plain vanilla yogurt before setting it aside. Arlington couldn't stand when people licked the yogurt off of the top. She thought eating the "lid yogurt" as she called it, was similar to licking wet glue off of a piece of paper. Shuddering, Arlington stuck her spoon into the cup of yogurt, stirring it a bit before eating some.

When Arlington was almost finished with her yogurt, she heard a pair of keys from outside the door. Groaning, she shoved one last spoonful into her mouth before standing up and tossing the cup into the trash.

"I swear, if it's Mr. Geyser complaining about my clothes again...." Arlington jumped towards the bedroom and hastily pulled out the pair of ripped jeans she was planning on wearing that day. Threading her fingers through the belt loops, she began to jump a couple times in order to shimmy the jeans up her legs.

"Hello?" Arlington paused her dance for just a moment, taking in the sound of a voice that definitely did not belong to Mr. Geyser. Sucking in a breath, she realized that the voice must belong to her ordinary, sex-crazed roommate.

"Is, um, Arlington Parker here?" She raised an eyebrow at the sound of his voice. He had a distinguishable Irish accent, which was strange to find in America. Arlington shrugged her shoulders to herself, not letting her mind dwell on it for too long to seem obsessive.

Niall shut the door behind him as he stepped into the small dorm, eyes sweeping the plain white walls. It looked like every other dorm room he had seen, except this one was decorated by polaroid pictures and askew books. He raised one eyebrow at the sight of this, the room looking messy yet organized in a way no one could understand.