Indigo
: Preceding the Storm
:
1st step…Roommate
3:30 pm:
Alex
arrived at the dormitory in the afternoon.
Despite the heat of the summer sun she dressed in all black. In this instance she wore a black tee and a
billowing black shirt. Her thick, dark
hair was draped over her face like a mask as she slouched from point to point.
Shana
accompanied her, being kind enough both to drive her there and help her move
in. It didn’t take too long; Alex didn’t
have much. Her room was directly across
from the entrance, which made for a short trip.
The number on the door read ‘405.’
Ten minutes
after arrival Alex was alone in her room staring at the walls. The room was small and square. It had a bunkbed against one wall, a shared
wardrobe, and two work desks. A small
sink was tucked in the corner. There was
a mirror above the sink and a mini-fridge next to it. Below the beds were two
dressers, one for each student.
The window
gave her a view of the fields nearby.
She looked outside and watch Shana drive away. It felt like the final nail. Thus, Alex started her first year of college all
alone.
3:50 pm:
Alex
unpacked. She filled one dresser and
made up the top bunk. The wardrobe was
partitioned down the center. She took
the left side, filling it with her things.
Then she chose the desk closest to the window and put her things on it.
The door
burst open, and a leaning tower of boxes came stumbling in. The woman at the base of the tower was tall
and blonde. She had big blue eyes and
long, long legs that she showed off with a pair of cut-off shorts.
The door
came swinging back and hit her as she staggered. This sent her spinning and the boxes came
tumbling down around her. Alex watched
impassively from the side of the room as the woman took her lone remaining box
and set it on the desk and gave a huge sigh.
She kneeled
down and started stacking her boxes.
Most were filled with clothes.
While picking up, she looked at Alex and gave a smile so big that it consumed
the lower half of her face. “Hi there,
you must be my roommate,” she said while setting some more things on the
desk. She held her out her hand. “I’m Ellen Summers, it’s a pleasure to meet
you!”
4:45pm:
It took
Ellen nearly an hour to get settled in.
She didn’t have any help and had to make more than a few trips. Once everything was in the room, she wasted
time chatting aimlessly about how excited she was to be in school and how much
she looked forward to the year. Alex
sat, her back against the wall, and watched.
Ellen brought
a lot of clothes, so many that she had to leave some packed. After she was done unpacking, the two
discussed their living arrangements and any rules they might have. This mostly consisted of Ellen pointing out
where Alex put her things, and Alex agreeing that she did put her things there.
“Okay, then
I guess I’ll take everything else,” Ellen said cheerily.
Once
finished, Ellen finally took the chance to sit down. Alex enjoyed the brief silence. It lasted only until Ellen caught her
breath. Then, she insisted, rather
loudly, on taking Alex out to eat. Alex
turned her down initially but gave in after five minutes of pleading.
5:00pm:
They went
to a small diner named “Greasy Ed’s.” It
was located at the edge of downtown, a few miles away from the campus. It was a shack looking stout enough to
survive a weak gust of wind at most. The
interior was dim and, true to its name, greasy.
Everything was red or yellow.
Tacky paintings shared wall-space with an assortment of knick-knacks.
They found
a booth looking out a window and they sat across from each other, Alex staring
out at the road and looking bored, Ellen wondering exactly what the stain on
the table was and if she should take the time to try and wipe it up.
Their
waitress was a hefty woman with a mole and a handful of missing teeth. It took her a few minutes to notice
them. When she did, she waddled over and
took their drink orders. Ellen wanted a
coffee. Alex ordered water.
They sat in
silence until their drinks arrived.
Ellen tried hard not to stare and instead kept glancing in Alex’s
direction. Alex successfully ignored
her.
“So,” Ellen
said as she stirred her coffee. She
glanced again. Alex still hadn’t moved. “Do
you live around here?”
“About
thirty minutes away, in a small town.
You wouldn’t know the name.”
“I might,
try me!”
“I’d rather
not.”
“Oh,” Ellen
said. She added some sugar to her coffee
and continued to stir. “Do you have any
siblings?”
“Nope,”
Alex said absently.
Ellen gave
a big smile and a laugh that suited a mother rather than a college girl. “Same with me, I’m an only child, too. What’s worse, I’m the product of two only
children, and let me tell you, my parents hate it. They’re so afraid that the family name will
end with me. I suppose it makes sense, after all, I’m a girl.”
She stopped
stirring and set the spoon to the side.
Staring into her coffee, she grabbed the mug tightly and sipped. Then she forced a smile back onto her face
and said, “They keep insisting that a man can’t take a woman’s name, but I
figure I’m a new age kind of lady. If I
want my man to take my name, by God as my witness, he will.” She looked at Alex expectantly and, when the
social obligation to respond went unmet, added, “I mean, I don’t even know if
I’m going to marry anyway. Know what I
mean?”
Alex
shrugged and sipped her water. Cars
zipped by outside.
“Alex? Right?”
Finally,
Alex turned her head and looked at Ellen.
She nodded, and then promptly looked back out the window. Ellen flexed her hand nervously and wondered
if Alex was shy or rude. She took a deep
breath.
“Listen,
Alex, I thought about this a lot before I came up to the school.” Alex looked at her again, and Ellen put on
another big, award-winning smile. “See,
I don’t want to be roommates who are just sort of there. The kind who don’t speak and aren’t really
friends, they just live together. So, I
was thinking that we should be pals.”
She paused and offered her hand for the second time that day. “So, what do you say? Friends?”
At first
Alex seemed disinclined, but she went along anyway. Ellen was bubbly and perhaps a bit strange,
but she wasn’t a bad person. They shook
hands and Alex said, “Friends.”
Ellen’s
smile broadened, became real, and she whooped with joy. “Friends? Great!
Cool! Awesome! Great!”
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