Changes and Choices

A hideous dress, and then some.

"Wow, it's small" I state.

"You're such a ray of sunshine." Hayley remarks, rolling her eyes. The room had two beds, one on each side of the room. Between the two beds, there was a small window, it's view was of the whole campus. Beneath the window was a small drawer cabinet. Other than the drawer, there was no other furniture.
On each side of the room there was a door. One led to a small narrow closet and the other led to the bathroom.
Yes, every student has a bathroom in their dorm. I checked before applying since there was no way in hell I could deal with a community bathroom.

While placing my suitcase on the left bed, Hayley adds "It's not like we're going to spend much time in here, anyways."

"Speak for yourself, Hales. I know for a fact I'll be laying on my bed at night, either playing video games, reading or studying." This is what I was afraid of.
I haven't even started classes or met anyone yet, and I'm nervous of putting myself out there.

"Nope." Hayley says, popping the 'p'.
When I look at her, confusion evident on my face, she sighs. "This is not why we worked our asses off for, Riles. We could've just gotten into any uni back in Philly. We came here for a whole new start, in a whole new place. I won't sit here missing out on everything, just like we did back in high school."

"We have to keep up our good grades though." I reply.

"And we will, Riles. Don't even worry about it. We will go out. We will have fun. We will find cute boys to date. And we will keep up the grades, okay? Stop worrying and start living your life." She sucks in a sharp breath after her mini rant. I love the fact that she was so sure about dating cute boys, it made me internally giggle.

"Are you done?" I ask, raising my eyebrows. She nods, smirking.
"I guess you're right." I state.
"Don't go smiling like that, it's only a rare occurrence." I add when I notice her smirk turns into a full on smile.

* * *

The next day was the first day of classes. Saying I was nervous would be the understatement of the year. I woke up an hour and a half early, just to make sure I was fully prepared. To deal with my growing nerves, I decided to take a cold shower.

Ten minutes later, I was standing in only my towel, staring at myself in the mirror. The short girl standing in front of me looked anxious. Her round brown eyes were filled with worry. What was I actually worried about? Meeting people? Having a bad day?

Shaking these thoughts out of my head, I start brushing my long black hair and try to maintain it as much as I could. My hair pretty much has a mind of it's own. One day it's wavy and the next it's as straight as it can get. Today it landed on beach waves, and i don't really mind it anymore.

I grabbed my makeup bag and started to apply some eyeliner and mascara. Not too much though. I didn't like that spider legs lashes some people aim for.

As I reach for reach for my Yves Rocher cherry lip balm, I get rudely interrupted by my psychotic roommate pounding on the bathroom door. I'm pretty sure our dorm neighbors can hear the banging. It may have even woke some of them.

"RILEY. What's taking so long? Have you found a secret passage to our hot neighbors room?" Our neighbors were hot?

"No, Hayley. No secret passages in here. The only thing I found though, was your disgusting underwear on the floor. I promise you, if I see that ever again I will ask for a new roommate." I state, applying my lip balm.

"You wouldn't dare!" She fake gasps.

I open the door and look at her dead in the eyes "Oh, trust me, I would." She smirks, knowing damn well that I could never. Mumbling some rude stuff under her breath, she pushes me out the door and tells me to get dressed. As if I was going to walk around campus in only my towel, that dumb psycho.

I pad my way over to the closet but notice a short yellow dress on my bed. What is that hideous thing doing on my bed? It's covered in some sort of flowers and petals. Grabbing it, I take another look at it and scrunch my nose. How can someone design such a horrible dress? And who in their right mind would even buy it?

"Hayley, stop putting your stuff on my bed!" I yell, hoping she'd hear me over the sound of her shower water running. I bet our neighbors in dorm 247 hate us already.

"Which stuff!" She yells back, her voice muffled by the door, the sound of water still running.

"That hideous dress!" I respond. The sound of water stops and I hear the bathroom door open abruptly. I whip my head around to see her head peeking from behind the bathroom door.

"I put 'that hideous dress' on your bed for a reason, moron." She narrows her eyes at me.

"What was the 'reason'"? I question, genuinely confused as to why she'd place it there.

"Wear it." She demands and I laugh. Surely she must be joking. This is definitely a prank. A few seconds pass and she's not joining in on the laughter.

"You're joking, right?" I raise my eyebrows.

"I'm dead serious." She replies.

"You want me to wear...." I look at the dress "that?"

"What's wrong with it?" She asks.

"Hayley, it's disgusting." I say.

"Suit yourself. Just know it was the last one in the store." She says, and goes back inside to finish her shower.

"They must have burned the other ones, then" I mumble.

"I heard that!" She says from inside and I giggle. "Hey, Riley?" She calls.

"What now, Hales?"

"Can you go get us some coffee from the café, please? It's a five minute walk, I promise." She asks.

"Yeah, sure. Let me get dressed first." I reply.

My outfit consists of a black long sleeved crop top, some black ripped jeans and some huge white sneakers. I grab my phone, headphones, keys and some change, which I shove in my back pocket. Yes, it all fits. I don't know how but it just does. I make my way to the café, music blasting in my ears.

After a while, I realize I forgot to ask Hayley if she wanted anything besides the coffee. Getting her a muffin would probably make her forget about the whole 'dress accident'. I decide to get her one, just to make sure we're all good. The way to her heart is always food.

* * *

The walk to the café really did take only five minutes. Wow, Hayley has been right twice now. If it happens one more time, I'd have to start listening to her more. Who am I kidding, my dog would never listen to that dumb psycho giving him advice, he'd know better. So, why should I?

The guy at the cashier register looks a bit older than anyone in university but he was so sweet. I ordered two medium sized coffees and two muffins to go. The café was empty since it was this early, so I didn't have to wait long for my order.

Making my way back to the dorm, I was so focused on not dropping the two coffees while also holding the bag of muffins that I wasn't aware of my surroundings. That is until someone crashed into me. On the bright side, the coffee didn't spill on me and the bag of muffins was unharmed. Unfortunately though, the coffee did spill on the ground. $5 wasted.

My plans of not dropping the coffees ruined, I looked up to see what kind of asshole doesn't watch where he's going.