The Russian Next Door

CHAPTER 9 - The first day of college

The next days passed pretty eventless. The fact that I didn't know anybody around here wasn't very helpful either. The only person I could resort to was the guy next door. But really, he didn't seem to be interested in spending time with me. That was pretty obvious from the day I met him. So, I resumed to spending my time speaking on the phone with Lissa, listening to her telling me about her college experience and how she was dealing with living with that boyfriend of hers. Besides that, I was simply laying on the couch, trying to understand the plot of a shady movie from TV, or scrolling for hours on someone's Instagram. Thank God that you didn't need to understand Russian to enjoy a football game.

When it was finally Thursday I was really excited. It was my first day of college. In fact, we weren't going to take any classes this week. We were going to make a tour of the surroundings, the classes remaining to begin the following week.

Somehow, I managed not to be late, if you can believe that. When I got there, the place was stacked up with people. There wasn't enough space and I had to push and fight my way to our year's tent. The guy supposed to lead us around was standing there, smoking, with a bored expression. To my surprise, it was another student. He had a name tag saying: 'Hello, I am Adrian Ivashkov.'. And he wasn't bad looking either. He was pretty tall, well built. But what attracted me the most were his dark emerald green eyes. And with that sandy brown hair that was styled into a controlled mess, letting the impression that he just woke up like that, and a nicely shaped jaw, his face was absolutely perfect.

After everybody arrived, this dude spoke. And damn, his voice was absolutely stunning. It had a degree of hoarseness, combined with an attitude of I-am-better-than-y'all:

'Okay. So, here is how this all this shit is going to work. You are the reason I had to wake up so damn early this morning after a full night of partying. And I have a hell of a hangover. So, this is what we are going to do: I speak, you shut up. I have one of the worst headaches of my life and I don't need you all to go around talking and asking questions. We make this damn tour and at the end we are going to get back to this tent. Everyone has the chance to ask me one precious question. So use it wisely, fetuses. Understood? Yes? No? Ah, and one more thing. If there is anyone who doesn't like this, I don't care; you can go and complain to someone who cares.' There was completely silence. 'Perfect! Now lets go.' he said clapping his hands.

Oh, boy. I already liked this guy. He was just my type. He was a badass.

The tour turned out to be soooo boring. We went from building to building, and that guy was speaking some nonsense about their historical value or some other crap. At some point, I wasn't even able to keep up with him, but I guessed that even if I would pay attention, that information was going to be long forgotten before I got home. So why even bother? Finally, we got back to the tent, my legs sore, and I was eager to go home. But first, the questioning part. Hell, I would have cut off my thumb or something just to get out of there. It was such a waste of time. Everybody was asking the same questions just in other forms. I think I heard the same response for at least three times already. Seriously, weren't the people supposed to listen? When my turn came, I cleared my throat and asked:

'Are you single?'

His eyebrows lifted in surprise. Then he gave me a devil-may-care smile, and turned around: 'See people? Now that is what I call a good question. Give that girl a cookie or something.'

Everybody laughed. Well, what can I say; I knew how to draw attention.

'Oh, and the answer is yes.' he said, still amused.

On my way home I made some shopping at the nearby market. Well, I got carried away because I was very hungry and I ended up carrying three bags full of groceries. When I got to the entrance of my building, as I was struggling to open the door, one of my jelly bags decided it wanted to escape and landed on the pavement. Simply perfect. Now, trying to keep the door open, I bent to pick it up. Then this happened: half of my groceries landed on someone's shoes. And my luck made that the shoes belonged to my chatty neighbor. 'Shit!' I declared as I begun picking up everything, releasing the door. He helped me.

'So many healthy choices' he said, shaking a bag of M&M's in his hand.

'Hey, give me that. These are my favorites!' I said snatching the bag from him.

After putting everything back, he took my bags and said: 'Here, let me help you.' Wow, it seems that chivalry wasn't as dead as I expected. We got upstairs in silence. My brain was too busy searching for a reason why he was so nice to me, even though I have been nothing but an annoyance. Before entering my apartment I mumbled a thank you and that was it.