Supportive friend
1026 Words
Ethan stood near the door for a moment, like he wasn’t sure if he should come in or quietly leave again.
I quickly wiped the rest of the tears from my face and pushed the bracelet and ring back into the small bag. The hoodie stayed on the bed though—I didn’t have the energy to fold it again.
“Sorry,” I said quickly, my voice a little rough. “I didn’t mean to make the room… weird.”
Ethan shifted slightly and held up the paper bag.
“I mean… technically the room was already weird,” he said. “Two strangers sharing it and all.”
Despite everything, a small laugh escaped me.
That seemed to relax him a little. He walked over to his desk and set the bag down before pulling out a chair.
“I got burgers and fries,” he said. “The dining hall was chaos.”
“First day,” I said.
“Yeah,” he nodded. “Apparently everyone decided they needed food at the exact same time.”
I pushed myself up from the floor and sat back on the bed. My eyes still felt puffy, but at least I wasn’t crying anymore.
Ethan opened the bag and slid the fries toward the middle of the desk.
“You can take some if you want,” he said casually, like he wasn’t making a big deal out of it.
“Thanks.”
I stood up and grabbed a few fries before sitting back down.
For a while, the only sound in the room was the crinkle of paper and the quiet noise of eating.
Strangely, the silence didn’t feel as uncomfortable as before.
Ethan leaned back in his chair, glancing toward the window.
“So… day one of college,” he said. “How’s it going so far?”
I shrugged.
“Not exactly how I imagined it.”
He chuckled. “Same.”
Another quiet moment passed.
I noticed him glance briefly at the hoodie still lying beside me, but he didn’t say anything about it.
Instead he said, “My friend texted again while I was getting food.”
“The crime documentary one?” I asked.
“Yep.”
“What did he say this time?”
Ethan picked up his phone and read from the screen.
“He said, ‘If you two end up on the news, I’m not acting surprised.’”
I shook my head.
“He sounds very supportive.”
“Oh, extremely,” Ethan said. “He also told me I should install a lock on my suitcase.”
I laughed again, a little more easily this time.
The tension that had filled the room earlier was slowly fading.
After a moment, Ethan looked over at me again, a little more carefully this time.
“Hey,” he said.
“Yeah?”
“You okay?”
The question caught me off guard.
I hesitated.
Normally I would have said yes immediately, just to avoid the conversation.
But something about the way he asked—quiet, not pushing—made the answer feel harder to fake.
“Yeah,” I said finally. Then I added softly, “Just… first day stuff.”
He nodded slowly like he understood, even if he didn’t know the full story.
“Fair enough.”
I picked up my phone again and stared at the screen.
The message was still there.
I miss you.
Unsended.
Ryan still hadn’t written anything else.
Ethan stood up and tossed the empty burger wrapper into the trash.
“College is weird,” he said suddenly.
I looked up.
“How?”
He shrugged and leaned against his desk.
“It’s like everyone expects it to be this huge life-changing moment. New place, new people, new everything.”
“Isn’t it?” I asked.
“Maybe,” he said. “But right now it mostly just feels like being dropped somewhere random with a bunch of strangers.”
I considered that.
He wasn’t wrong.
Earlier today I had been excited walking onto campus, imagining all the things that might happen.
Now I was sitting in a dorm room with a stranger, crying over someone who wasn’t even here.
“Yeah,” I admitted quietly. “It does feel like that.”
Ethan glanced at the hoodie again before quickly looking away.
“You don’t have to talk about it,” he said. “Just saying.”
I appreciated that more than he probably realized.
Sometimes the worst thing someone can do is force you to explain something you’re not ready to explain.
So we didn’t talk about it.
Instead, Ethan grabbed his laptop and sat down at his desk again.
I lay back on my bed and stared at the ceiling.
The room wasn’t silent anymore. The soft tapping of his keyboard filled the space.
Strangely, it made the room feel less empty.
I unlocked my phone again.
The message still sat there waiting.
I miss you.
My thumb hovered over the send button again.
Across the room, Ethan suddenly spoke without turning around.
“You know what the weirdest part of today is?”
“What?” I asked.
“That this morning I thought my biggest problem would be finding my classes.”
I smiled faintly.
“And now?”
He leaned back in his chair and glanced over at me.
“Now I’m sharing a dorm room with someone I met four hours ago.”
I looked around the small room.
The beds.
The desks.
The half-unpacked boxes.
Everything about it still felt unreal.
“Yeah,” I said softly.
Same.
I looked down at my phone one more time.
After a long moment, I slowly deleted the message.
Maybe tonight wasn’t the night to say it.
Maybe some things needed time.
I set my phone down on the bed beside me and pulled Ryan’s hoodie a little closer without thinking.
Across the room, Ethan continued typing on his laptop, completely focused.
Two strangers.
One very small dorm room.
And somehow, the first night of college had turned into something neither of us expected.
- Writer
