Overslept
799 Words
At some point during the night, the thoughts finally stopped.
I didn’t even remember falling asleep.
One moment I was staring at the wall, listening to the quiet sounds of the dorm and trying not to think about Ryan… and the next moment everything faded into darkness.
The day had been too long.
Moving in, the awkward roommate situation, the emotions I had tried to ignore all day—it all caught up to me at once.
Sleep came quickly after that.
⸻
The next thing I knew, someone was calling my name.
“Mia.”
My brain barely registered it.
“Mia.”
A little louder this time.
I groaned softly and buried my face deeper into my pillow.
“Mia,” the voice said again, closer now.
I forced one eye open.
Ethan was standing beside my bed.
For a second I just stared at him, my brain still foggy with sleep.
“Why are you in my dream?” I mumbled.
He blinked.
“I’m… not?”
That’s when my brain slowly caught up with reality.
Dorm room.
College.
Right.
I sat up halfway, rubbing my eyes.
“What time is it?” I asked groggily.
Ethan looked at the clock on his phone.
“Uh… 9:40.”
My brain froze.
Then it exploded.
“WHAT?!”
I grabbed my phone so fast it almost slipped out of my hands.
9:40.
My first orientation session started at 9:00.
“Oh my gosh,” I groaned, running both hands through my hair. “Oh my gosh.”
Ethan stepped back slightly, looking mildly alarmed.
“I’m guessing that’s bad?”
“I was supposed to wake up an hour ago!” I said.
He frowned.
“Didn’t you set an alarm?”
I stared at my phone screen.
The alarm app was completely empty.
My stomach dropped.
“I forgot,” I whispered.
Yesterday had been so chaotic that I hadn’t even thought about it.
I flopped back onto the pillow for half a second in defeat.
“This is great,” I muttered.
“Hey,” Ethan said quickly. “At least it’s just orientation.”
I looked back up at him.
“Just orientation?”
“Yeah,” he said. “From what I heard, half the freshmen skip it anyway.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better.”
He shrugged apologetically.
“I tried.”
Despite myself, I laughed a little.
My head still felt heavy with sleep, and my hair was probably a complete disaster.
“How long have you been up?” I asked.
“Since eight,” he said.
My eyes widened.
“And you’re only waking me up now?”
He raised his hands defensively.
“I didn’t know if you had class or something later. I figured you set an alarm.”
Fair point.
I sighed and sat up properly.
“Thanks for waking me up though.”
He nodded and stepped back toward his side of the room.
“No problem. I just noticed you hadn’t moved for like an hour.”
“That’s slightly creepy,” I said.
He laughed.
“I promise I wasn’t staring at you sleep.”
“Good.”
I grabbed my hoodie from the side of the bed and stood up, stretching my arms.
My body still felt tired from the emotional rollercoaster of yesterday.
For a moment I forgot about everything.
Then my eyes landed on the small bag beside my bed.
The bracelet.
The ring.
Ryan.
My chest tightened again slightly.
I quickly looked away and grabbed a brush from my desk instead.
Across the room, Ethan was tying his shoes.
“You heading out?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “There’s a campus tour thing at ten.”
I glanced at the time again.
9:43.
“I guess I should get ready too,” I said.
“You still have time,” he said. “Unless you plan on walking there half asleep.”
I gave him a look.
“Too late for that.”
He smiled slightly and opened the door.
“See you later, roommate.”
The word still sounded strange.
But somehow it didn’t feel as awkward as yesterday.
“See you,” I replied.
When the door closed behind him, I stood there for a moment in the quiet room.
Day two of college.
And it had already started in the most chaotic way possible.
I grabbed my phone and checked my messages one more time.
Ryan still hadn’t replied again.
My chest sank a little.
But I pushed the thought aside and headed toward the bathroom.
There were bigger things waiting for me outside that dorm room.
Even if part of my heart was still stuck somewhere in the past.
- Writer
