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793 Words
One week later, college still didn’t feel real.
The campus was less confusing now—I could finally find most of my classes without checking the map every five minutes—but everything else still felt strange.
The dorm.
The people.
The constant noise.
Even having Ethan as a roommate had somehow become part of my normal routine.
Not that we were close or anything.
We still mostly stayed on our own sides of the room, speaking when necessary and occasionally making random conversation about classes or food. It wasn’t awkward anymore, but it also wasn’t deep.
We were just… existing in the same space.
Which honestly worked fine.
At least neither of us was weird about it anymore.
By Friday, we had developed an unspoken system.
If one of us had an early class, we tried not to make too much noise in the morning. If someone left for food, they sometimes asked if the other wanted anything.
Simple things.
Roommate things.
But we still didn’t really know each other.
I still didn’t know who Ethan texted every night that made him smile at his phone.
And he still didn’t ask why I sometimes stared at my screen too long before locking it again.
Though recently, I had stopped doing that as much.
After that night by the lake, something shifted in me a little.
Ryan still sent reels sometimes.
Not as many as before, but enough for me to notice.
The difference was… I stopped opening them.
At first it was difficult.
Every notification still made my heart jump automatically.
But eventually I got tired of feeling upset after every video.
So now they just sat unopened in our chat.
And honestly?
Ryan didn’t seem to notice.
That part hurt more than I expected.
No “Why aren’t you replying?”
No actual conversation.
Just random reels sent into silence.
Lily texted me once in a while too, but we were both busy adjusting to college life. Most of our conversations were short now.
How’s your roommate situation?
Still alive.
Any cute guys yet?
Please focus on your own college life.
Things like that.
Sometimes I missed her more than I admitted.
But everyone here seemed busy building new lives already.
Including me, I guess.
At least I was trying.
Friday evening was unusually quiet in the dorm room.
Ethan sat at his desk with headphones on while typing something on his laptop. Meanwhile, I was sprawled across my bed pretending to study while actually rereading the same sentence over and over again.
My attention span had completely disappeared.
After a few minutes, I gave up and tossed the textbook aside.
Across the room, Ethan glanced over after noticing the sound.
“Studying going well?” he asked.
I sighed dramatically.
“I think my brain stopped functioning thirty minutes ago.”
He nodded seriously.
“That happens.”
“You sound experienced.”
“I gave up on math homework an hour ago.”
I looked over at his desk.
“Then what are you doing?”
“Pretending I understand it.”
I laughed quietly.
The room fell comfortable again after that.
Not silent exactly.
Comfortable.
Which still surprised me sometimes.
A week ago, the idea of sharing a dorm with a random guy felt impossible.
Now it mostly just felt normal.
My phone buzzed beside me suddenly.
I glanced down automatically.
Ryan sent a reel.
I stared at the notification for a second before flipping my phone face down without opening it.
Across the room, Ethan noticed the movement briefly but said nothing.
He had gotten used to not asking questions.
And I had gotten used to him not asking.
After a few moments, Ethan pushed his chair back and stood up.
“I’m going downstairs,” he said. “People are ordering pizza in the lounge.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“You know people already?”
“Not really,” he admitted. “I just overheard them talking.”
I laughed.
“That’s actually kind of sad.”
“Survival instincts,” he corrected.
I shook my head, smiling faintly.
Then he paused near the door.
“You can come if you want.”
The offer surprised me slightly.
I hesitated.
Part of me wanted to say no automatically.
But another part of me remembered sitting alone by the lake last week watching everyone else make friends while I stayed invisible.
Maybe Ethan was right.
Maybe everyone here was just pretending to know what they were doing.
“Maybe for a little while,” I said finally.
Ethan nodded once.
“Cool.”
And somehow, for the first time since arriving at college, the idea of being around new people didn’t seem quite as impossible anymore
- Writer
