The Degrees of Obsession

Chapter3

"What the f**k is in your suitcase? A dead body?" Koko grunted, trailing behind as she struggled to lift Marilyn's suitcase over the stairs leading to her room.

Marilyn laughed. "It's just my clothes, hang in there, we are almost....ah! Here it is." She said multiple boxes in her arms. Just when she was about to use her elbow to push the handle down, the door swung open, revealing a tall girl with a blonde pixie cut. She had piercings above her right brow and a nose ring.

"Woah, let me help you with that," she said and grabbed one box from the top and opened the door wider for both Koko and Marilyn to enter. After they both helped Marilyn set her things down, they both introduced themselves.

"Thank you. You must be my new roommate," Marilyn said with a smile.

"Yeah. I'm Alyssa, but you can call me Ally." She smiled, revealing a dimple on her left cheek.

"Nice to meet you Ally, I'm Marilyn." Then she gestured to Koko, who was leaning on the wall, trying to catch her breath. "And that's my best friend, Koko."

Koko gave her a thumbs up with both hands, still panting.

"Nice to meet you both."

After a few minutes of talking about their majors and what year they were, Alyssa finally said, "I was actually heading out before you came. I should go now, it was lovely meeting you once again."

"Likewise. Alright then, bye, we'll catch up later."

Marilyn scanned the room; the walls were plastered with pink and green floral wallpaper, her bed sat against the wall on the right, with a wardrobe and a dresser with a mirror. On the left was Ally's corner. She had posters on the wall of unfamiliar rock bands and one of Michael Jackson.

"You're so lucky," Koko finally said, just as Ally shut the door.

Marilyn crouched down to unzip her suitcase before whipping her head around to look at Koko, who was now sitting on the bare mattress.

"What do you mean?" Marilyn asked, looking away from her best friend to continue sorting her things.

"You have a normal roommate! She's friendly and she actually speaks." She threw her curly dark hair into a ponytail and got up to help Marilyn unpack.

Marilyn sighed and got up with a blue bedspread. "What's your roomie's name?"

Koko pursed her lips and threw her hand up in frustration. "Are you even listening? She doesn't talk, except for a simple "hi" when I moved in. I don't know her name, all she does is either stare at me or sniff something. I don't want to jump to conclusions that she's a junkie, but I'm a doctor, I know a junkie when I see one."

"Wow, that's actually creepy; the staring part. Have you submitted a request for a change of room?" Marilyn unfolded the bedspread and proceeded to lay the bare mattress with Koko helping her to tuck the sides in.

"Yeah, I did earlier today. I have to wait a whole week before I get a response. I just hope she doesn't murder me in my sleep before then."

Marilyn chuckled and tossed a rumpled piece of paper at her. "You're so dramatic, just be patient. Besides, you can stay here with me for the time being."

"You don't even need to tell me twice, I already planned on bringing my bags up here when I'm done helping you pack."

An hour went by in a blur, with dusting, cleaning and stringing fairy lights. They were both exhausted by the time Marilyn's corner was all set up, so they plopped down on the neatly made bed and drifted off to sleep.

*****

A week had passed since Marilyn moved in to her dorm. Her schedules revolved around clinical rotations, gynecology ward, academic assessment, tutorials and lots and lots of coffee.

Done with lectures for the day, she decided to sit at a table outside her faculty to go through her notes from IUD insertion and removal models before heading back to the dorm. Koko was sitting across from her with her black rimmed glasses perched on the bridge of her nose, typing away on her laptop and occasionally writing in her binder.

Marilyn rubbed her tired eyes and closed her notebook.

"I need to take a break."

Koko looked up at her from her laptop. "Okay, do you wanna go back now?"

"Yeah, but when you're done with yours, we can leave together."

"Are you sure you can wait?" she asked.

"Of course, I'll just rest my throbbing head on the table for a while." She moved her notes aside before placing her head on it.

"Okay. I'll be done soon anyway."

Koko replied and went back to scribbling in her binder.

A few minutes went by and Marilyn raised her head and rested her chin on her hands, looking up at Koko.

"Any idea who's now going to be taking us Reproductive Endocrinology?"

"I have no idea, no news about that yet," she said and shut her laptop before getting up.

"You ready to go?"

Marilyn nodded and got up to get her things before they made their way back to her car.

"You should drive," Marilyn said and tossed her car keys to Koko, who fumbled to catch them.

"You know clearly that I'm a terrible driver, I'm not going to listen to you when you start screaming for me to drive carefully." She warned and opened the door.

They both slid in and Marilyn put on her seatbelt.

"You've improved since the last time you almost ran me over."

She started the engine and looked over at Marilyn, "Okay then, but you still need to brace yourself."

Marilyn chuckled. "Jesus, we have a few months to graduate, don't kill us, I'm just so tired to drive right now. Just go, I'll guide you."

Koko smiled in return, "Okay then."