Alive For The First Time

Chapter 1

I leaned my head on the cool glass of the passenger window of the car. I closed my eyes and tried to drown out my older brother's singing. He was tapping on the steering wheel as he belted out the Backstreet Boys. To say he was a little excited to be driving away from our hometown would be an understatement.

I, on the other hand, was a ball of nerves. I started taking deep breaths to calm down the simmering anxiety that was pushing to the surface. I was on my way to start my first year of college. I had lived in the same house my whole life. Had the same best friend since Kindergarten. I had never been on my own before and I was terrified.

Ok, so I wouldn't be completely on my own. I was attending the same school as my older brother, Tyler. He was a senior and lived in a house with 3 of his friends. I would be living in the dorms with a roommate I had never met. He promised to help me get adjusted and to keep an eye on me. He was always a little overprotective. Our father died a few years back and Tyler took it upon himself to step into the role.

"Lils, we're here!" Tyler's voice snapped me back to reality. I opened my eyes to see we were currently parked in front of a large brick building. I assumed this was my dorm. I gradually opened the door and stepped out. My overly excited brother was already pulling my bags out of the trunk. I always knew he was happier here than at home. In fact, if it wasn't for me, he probably would have just lived up here permanently.

I opened the door to the backseat and grabbed as much of my stuff as I could hold. After pushing the door shut with my hip, I followed Tyler through the entrance and into the lobby area. There was a table set up with a few older students seated behind it at the far end of the space. I guessed this was where I checked in. I took a spot in the line behind a boy who looked to be about my age. I guess it was a co-ed dorm. Tyler would not like that.

He stood next to me with a scowl on his face. I rolled my eyes at how much of a hypocrite he was. My brother had a reputation. He hooked up with every girl he came across but yet, he expected me to be his sweet innocent sister for the rest of my life. If any guy even looked at me, he would scare them off. I know for a fact that he made sure every guy in my high school was too scared of him to ask me out. Therefore, I was eighteen and I had never had a boyfriend.

Things had to change here. There is no way he could police my life at a huge university. Plus, he had his own life here. Hopefully, he would be too busy to care what I was up to. It's not that I needed a boyfriend. But I, at least, would like to have the option. It was time that Tyler accepted that I wasn't a little girl anymore. It was time for me to live my life and make my own choices.

I finally made it to the front of the line. I gave my name to the girl at the table.

"Lily Hart.....looks like you are on the fourth floor which means I am your RA. My name is Meg. Here is your key to your room and this folder contains lots information like the dorm rules and how to get your student ID and how to activate your dining plan. If you have any questions, please feel free to stop by my room anytime. I'm on your floor in the room closest to the elevator" she explained as she handed me a pile of stuff.

I returned her smile and moved to the side so the person behind me could check-in. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Tyler checking out my RA. She was very pretty. She had long reddish-brown hair, fair skin with freckles, and bright blue eyes. My brother totally had a thing for redheads. I elbowed him to bring his attention back to the task at hand.

"What was that for?"

"My RA is off limits Ty," I explained. I shouldn't even have to tell him that. I could only imagine the trouble he could cause me if he played his usual games with Meg. I pulled on his arm in the direction of the elevator. He hit the up button and a minute later the doors opened. As we stumbled on with all of my stuff, a very cute boy followed us on. I hit the four and he leaned over to hit the five. He glanced up at me and smiled. I shyly smiled back until I heard Tyler loudly and rudely clear his throat. Geez, I can't even smile at a guy!

When we got to the fourth floor, we made our way out of the elevator and walked down the hallway to what would be by home for the next nine months. I had an explosion of butterflies in my stomach. This was it! The beginning of the next chapter of my life.

The door to my room was slightly ajar so I pushed it open to reveal a half-decorated space with a window. I saw lots of pink and flowers. Not my style. There was a petite girl laying on the bed on the decorated side who jumped up when we came in.

"Oh my God, you're finally here! You must be Lily! I'm Sophia! We're roomies!" She giggled and bounced in front of me.

She pulled me in for a hug and I heard Tyler snicker beside me. He knew I wasn't fond of physical interaction with people that weren't family or close friends.

When Sophia pulled back, I finally got a good look at her. She was a little shorter than me with dark hair and dark skin. Her eyes reminded me of dark chocolate. She was beautiful and I could tell she had a personality to match.

She glanced at Tyler and her eyes went wide. My hot shot brother strikes again. Every friend I have ever had has had a crush on him. In fact, there were a few who I'm pretty sure were only my friends to get closer to him. Girls loved his all American look. Like me, he had blonde hair, blue eyes, and slightly tanned skin. Unlike me, he was tall and muscular. Basically, he could have any girl he wanted. It was so annoying.

I dropped by bags on the other bed while Tyler introduced himself to Sophia. She was giving him what I call "flirty eyes" and I rolled my eyes again at his hypocrisy.

I finally interrupted their chatter. "So anyways Ty, I'm sure you need to go drop your stuff off at your house. Are you still taking me to Target later on?"

I gave him an innocent smile but he knew I didn't like him flirting with my roommate.

"Of course! I'll pick you up around 6. We can grab dinner while we are out. Trust me, you want to put off eating the food in the dining hall. Blah!"

He stuck his tongue out to demonstrate his disgust for the food here and it didn't make me feel any better. He placed the rest of my bags on the floor by my closet before quickly hugging me and leaving me alone with my new roommate.

After he left, I started unpacking while Sophia talked my ear off. She was very different than me. It sounded like she was super outgoing and liked to get involved in activities. She talked about joining a sorority and going to frat parties. Basically the opposite of want I wanted to do with my time here. But she was nice and really that's all that mattered to me.

Having a roommate I could get along with was a huge relief and now that I felt less anxious, I was excited to be here. I was excited to start my life. I could understand now why Tyler loves this place so much. It was easy to forget everything being here.