17

-flashback-

"Come on, that is like the third time you've changed your attire this morning," Brian, his roommate, said, growing impatient with Nate.

"I just need to look nice, okay?" He had insisted, walking to the mirror to see if the colours compliment each other well.

"Alright man. Five minutes and I'm out," he was warned. He just shrugged, taking the pants off and going through the clothes on his bed for something to wear. He spotted some white sweatpants along with a black tight fitting t-shirt, one that exposed his muscles well. He threw that one on and slipped on his new white Nike trainers.

He walked out of his room, checking his phone and slinging his bag over his shoulder. "You've got to be kidding me!" His roommate snapped, taking in his attire.

"You don't like it?"

"That's the fucking outfit you first had on."

Nate looked at what he is wearing, realisation hitting him. "Would you look at that," he chuckled, earning a harmless stink eye from his roommate. Nate just grabbed an orange and put it in his bag before following his roommate out their room, locking behind them.

The campus was having a field day, those taking business and economics studies having a showcase; some were advocating, some selling foods and stuff.

Every semester, each faculty organised an event to raise awareness and funds for the students themselves.

"You heard from Janet?" Brian asked, refreshing his messages.

He perked up. "The one with the nice ass?"

"Which other Janet do you know of?"

"There's the one with the nice tits, there's the nerdy one, there's-" Nate tried to continue but was stopped by a hand.

"Okay, okay, there are quite a few Janets from around 'ere," Brian said, releasing a frustrated sigh as they walked around campus.

"What's wrong?" Nate finally asked.

"Seems like there's something wrong with my phone," Brian said, a serious look on his face that caused Nate to be concerned.

"Yeah? What's the matter?"

"There's no messages coming in," came Brian's reply. Nate had to do a double take, trying to see if what he heard was what just came out of Brian's mouth. When he saw Brian's face, he lost it. He doubled over in laughter, hitting his leg as he tried to breathe.

"You- dude, you for real?" Nate said, calming down slightly before picking up again. "Man, you are the realest, damn." Neither guy realised that there was a short brunette walking in the opposite direction with earphones in, lifting her cup to take a sip of her drink.

"C'mon, cut it out," Brian deadpanned, shoving Nate to the side. Nate didn't bother keeping balance as he was still catching his breath. He bumped into someone who shrieked as her entire cold drink landed on her blouse.

"Oh shit!" Brian said, slipping away quietly. He wasn't one to deal with confrontation; he usually depended on Nate for that. He spotted a group of friends and decided to go join them while he waited for Nate.

Oh the other hand, Nate was speechless, his mouth slightly open as he stared at the girl that spilled her drink on herself when he was pushed into her. "I am so sorry, ma'am," he said, grabbing a few tissues from the front pocket of his bag and handing them to her.

"Oh don't worry about that," she kindly replied, accepting the tissues and wiping her hands and phone first. She was glad it was waterproof.

When she saw the confused look on his face, she giggled. "I mean, I'm used to drinking from a cup so it's going to take a while getting used to drinking from my shirt."

He took the hint that she was just messing with him and chuckled at that, "There's a first time for everything."

"Wouldn't peg you for the cliché quotes guy."

"Really? What would you peg me for?"

"The guy the offers me a clean, dry shirt to borrow for the day?" She smirked, already feeling the sticky substance against her skin.

She was taking a risk because he could either walk away and leave her with a ruined shirt or he could tell her off. She wasn't sure which one she preferred more. But remaining in this shirt was out of the question.

"I could drive you to your place to change," he offered, glancing around for Brian to tell him he'll take a while and that he shouldn't wait up for him.

"I don't have a car."

"We could walk."

"Some ten kilometres? I'll pass."

"How do you get to school then?"

"Subway then cab," she said, shifting her weight to her other foot.

"I live around campus, you think you can come with me up my apartment and change?" He offered. She accepted immediately, happy to be going out of the sticky shirt.

"Alright. This way," he said, quickly pulling his phone out to compose a text.

11:07, Me: taking this girl back to the room to change. don't wait up.

11:08, Brian: getting some ass without your best friend? How dare you!

11:10, Me: The only ass you'll be getting is mine if you don't shut that hole

11:09, Brian: oh reALly? my phone is working by the way.

11:11, Me: wow, what was your first clue?

"Nice place you guys live in," he heard her say next to him, but he was too preoccupied to think of a response.

"Wow, what was your first clue?" He said out loud before facepalming himself when he realised who he was talking to. "I'm sorry. That came out wrong," he started but stopped when he heard her chuckle.

"It's okay, I do that a lot too," she reassured him as they stood in front of his room. He unlocked the door, letting her step in first.

"So it's not the neatest place ever," he said casually, dropping his bag on the counter and watched as she copied him. He lead her to his room.

"Wow," she expressed when they stepped into his room.

"Like I said, not the neatest place ever."

"Not judging, probably looks better than mine," she said, picking some clothing items and arranging them neatly on the bed while he searched for a shirt for her to wear.

"Now you're just saying that," he chuckled, passing her a shirt that would at least fit her. She caught it, bringing it to her nose subconsciously. She raised and relaxed her shoulders as she inhaled his strong scent.

Rain and forest.

"Thank you," she said. "Can I take a shower?"

"Sure, third door to your left in the corridor."

*

"I feel warm," he heard her speak as she came from his room. He had left some lotion and deo on the vanity for her. He also folded his clothes away. More like shoved them in this closet but she doesn't have to know that.

He emerged from the kitchen with two cups of coffee and a packet of marshmallows held between his teeth. "Let me help you with that," she said, getting up and taking one cup and the packet from his mouth.

"Thanks. You want to chill here instead? My roommate won't be back till midnight." He figured even though they didn't know each other and had literally just met, they'd just hangout and chill the day away. It's not like they had classes anyway.

"Uhm," she said, glancing towards the door and seeing the key still in the keyhole.

What if he's dangerous? She thought. Her mom taught her not to trust anyone so easily.

She then glanced to her bag but it was no longer on the counter. She looked back at him to ask where her bag is only to see that he's playing with the marshmallows in his cup. She looked closer and saw that it was instead hot chocolate.

"So, what do you say?" He looked up, a content smile decorating his beautiful face. She swooned internally. She sat with her legs crossed under her as she gently took the mug in her hands and allowed him to add a handful of mellows. He moved to sit next to her and folded one leg over the other.

"Sure, I can stay. Let me just text my mom about my whereabouts," she said. She watched his face for any warning signs that he has ulterior motives but came to a blank when he thoughtlessly handed her his phone.

11:40, Me: Hey mom, I'm staying at a new friend's place for a while. He lives at 140 Retrofit Skiks aprtmnt no.17

She sent the text and deleted it once it said it was delivered. She didn't want to him to know that she doesn't trust him. She gave his phone back and laid back, sipping on her drink.

"She replied," he said, handing her the phone. She read the text and almost chocked, setting the cup down and deleting the text from his phone.

11:43, (506-971): alright sweetie. use protection. I will need to hear all about the juicy details later! *Wink*

"What's wrong?" He chuckled, rubbing her back. She just breathed and shook her head for him not to worry about anything. Thing was, his messaging app had a recycle bin where everything deleted was stored in there for 30 days before being permanently deleted.

If he wanted to, he could just retrieve her messages himself. But he told himself not to. He had no right to, even though it was on his phone. It was her private exchange between her and her mom.

Instead, he just sat back and started up a conversation to get to know each other. "I'm Nate. Nice to meet you," Nate said politely, which caused her to laugh out loud.

"We're not doing that," she said. "I feel like we don't need to do those polite things. Call it instant friendship if you will."

That brought a smile to his face, how confident and comfortable she is being around him."I also feel like it's too natural for us to be free around each other," he admitted, looking down at the rug before perking up, "What's your name again?"

"Sandra. Sandra Lee."