Apartment 6F

eleven; late starts and confessions

Walking into a lecture hall five minutes late is most likely the equivalent of death. You're already flustered and not looking your best from rushing out the door, then you open the door quietly expecting to be able to sneak in the back, but then you execute the plan with high hopes and then suddenly the eyes of a million college students are suddenly boring into your face. Noah Archer, time of death: 8:36, Sadly passed away unexpectedly from ultimate embarrassment.
I seated myself in one of the only seats available in the way back next to some guy with glasses and his face buried in the book hidden in his lap. When I started to set myself up and take notes, he looked up (finally) and surprisingly spoke. "It happens to all of us at least once. They'll forget about it by tomorrow." He gives me a weak smile and returns to his book. I sigh in relief and say, "Thank you, I'm actually more relaxed now, besides the fact that this is my first ever college class." The boy smirked into his book and held his hand out to me after looking up. "I'm Levi. Sophomore, semi-experienced in the college world, and here to provide any advice if needed." I couldn't help the smile forming on my face. I shook his hand as a silent thank you and returned to listening to the lecture and he proceeded to read his seemingly very interesting book. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all...

After grabbing the pounds of notes and shoving them into my bag, I made my way out the back door. The pounding in my head reminded me of my desperate need of coffee before my Digital Skills class started. I was adjusting my backpack strap when I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Levi. His thick rimmed glasses hung low on his nose, which I found sorta cute honestly. He pushed up the glasses and said, "You look in need for coffee." I pushed him and we both laughed awkwardly. "Great pick-up line there, I'm so flattered" I replied. He smiled and said, "Come on, I know you want it. You were practically muttering expresso under your breath the entire lecture." Great, my constant need for coffee had once again left me looking like a complete lunatic. However, it did seem to score me a date... Was this a date? Or just a simple, nice gesture? An older guy after me, yah right.
The coffee shop he took me to was only about two minutes away from the lecture hall. I made a mental note of the location for the future, despite my bad past of no direction.

When we got there, Levi bought me a coffee and we sat at a table near a window that looked out onto campus. It was really relaxing actually, to just watch people's lives go by while you sat there and watched. We didn't have long, but Levi was really fun to talk with and be around. It felt good to have another friend, other than Rachel. "We'll have to do this again sometime," Levi said as we were starting to leave. "Yah, I had a really good time. Thanks for the coffee again." He just smiled and we exchanged numbers. "You wanna come to a party tonight? Everyone's kinda going to this "first day" party at my friend's house." A college party... That was definitely not my kind of thing, but something, like a pull in my stomach, was telling me to go, to just have a fun time for once. I never went to any of the stupid parties back home. I always just stayed home and studied. But how did I know they were stupid? I'd never even been to one... It wouldn't hurt to go to just one.

"Great! I'll pick you up at nine. Just text me the details." And with that Levi waved and walked away. Now that I thought about it, he didn't really hit me as the "party-type", more of a book person like me. Levi was incredibly smart, I could at least pick that up from our short coffee shop conversation. He was witty and educated and just genuinely likable. That added up, did result in probably a pretty popular guy. At first glance, I never would have guessed.

My long, incredibly boring day of classes had come to an end and all I knew to do was stand in front of the fridge, contemplating what to eat. The inside was practically bare besides a carton of milk and a few slices of Kraft cheese. Bad time to be lactose-intolerant. I slammed the door in frustration and stomped my way over to the lumpy couch and collapsed. Checking the time on my phone made me realize I had less than an hour to get ready for the party. What the heck do you even wear to these type of things? I was in need of some major help. I quickly dialed the number on my phone and desperately waited for the answer. I tapped my foot impatiently to the ring. "Hello?" Oh, thank god. "Rachel? I need your help, quick." I heard a sigh over the phone, then a door closing in the hallway, and finally a knock at my bedroom door before she bursted in. "What's wrong?" She breathed out deeply. " Well sure, invite yourself in," I said with a laugh. After she caught her breath, she gave me a look of surprise. "The perks of having an annoying neighbor. I thought it was an emergency or something so I ran over as fast as I could, you jerk." Rachel finally laid down on my bed next to me. "Well, I just need your help, and I'm short on time," I replied.

"How may I provide my service, dear queen?" I rolled my eyes at Rachel and pointed at my closet. "This cute guy is picking me-" She cut me off, "Wait, what? Casey, you mean?" Crap. I breathed out nervously. "About that... He's not exactly my boyfriend." Rachel looked confused for awhile before a look of pain came onto her face. "What?" I asked. "You guys aren't... Friends with benefits or something, are you? Ew. I don't want to even think about that." She fake-barfed in her mouth. "Oh my god! No!" I shouted. "We're just roomates, it was a mix-up and he just said that to probably avoid this exact situation. Ew, Rachel!" She let out a sigh of relief. "Thank the Lord. I was about to walk out that door..." We both laughed before she changed the subject, "So, before I, so grossly made assumptions, you were saying you had a date?" Was it a date? "Well, I don't know if it's techinically a date... This guy, Levi just asked if I wanted to go to this party with him. He never really said it was a date, just that he was picking me up." Rachel's hands flew up to her mouth, before she ran to my closet frantically. "It's totally a date! He likes you!" I rolled my eyes of course. "We just had coffee, we barely know each other." She smirked, "Well, despite your amazing sense of humor, he probably liked that butt of yours," Rachel said with a laugh. "Shut up!"

I eventually ended up in a grey tank top with a jean shirt over it and some tight black leggings. Rachel then proceeded to curl my long red hair with a wand she fetched from her apartment. Just as she was finishing the last few pieces of my hair, there was a knock on the door. "Crap! You're not even done with my hair," I shouted. "Calm down! It'll only take a couple more seconds!" Just then, I heard the door open and Casey's voice carrying under my door. Rachel stepped back with her eyes big. "This can't be good... Get out there!" I scrambled out the door to see Casey intimidating a surprised Levi. I can't even imagine how weird it must've looked to him. pushed my way in front of Casey. "Hey Levi, just let me grab my phone." He smiled awkwardly before his eyes wandered back to Casey. I had to make sure he didn't get the wrong idea... This would take quite some explaining later on. I quickly ran back into the bedroom where Rachel was. She ran up to me and said, "What're they talking about? What's happenng?" I made a nervous look and replied, "I don't know, I just walked in on them sorta staring each other down..." She gave me a hug and said, "Good luck, don't get too drunk. I'll head out once you guys leave to avoid further conflict." I grabbed my cellphone off the dresser and Rachel gave me two thumbs up as I left. "I'm not gonna get drunk!" I said on the way out. She rolled her eyes and said, "That's what they all say..."

Casey seemed to have gone back to his room and Levi was standing in the entryway nervously. "Hey, Noah! Thank God." I gave him a smile and said, "Let's go."