In Halls

Outfits

I hauled myself up the stairs after another early swim. I was beginning to quite like heading to the pool the morning after a night out. Moving smoothly through the water enabled me to smooth my thoughts out as well, letting go of moments of awkwardness and frustration, moving into the new day. I felt refreshed, if still fatigued from sleep deprivation. The rest of the flat were always asking me how I managed swimming with a hangover. I told them I was lucky, I didn't really get hangovers. I didn't point out that this had something to do with how little I was drinking, compared to them.

My plan was to do my usual, sneaking straight from the front door into my bedroom, but when I got into the hallway, Elizabeth was standing there. She looked like she'd been thinking about knocking on Tara's door, and she was twisting her phone in her hands in the nervy gesture that I had now learned was typical for Elizabeth.

"Oh, Ellen, hi!" she said, a slight frown on her face resolving into her usual sweet smile.

"Good morning! You're up early?"

We wandered down to the kitchen together as we spoke.

"Oh, I was trying to get myself a bit organised. Hey, have you figured out how to use the laundry yet?"

There was a communal laundry room in the basement, shared by all the flats in our block. There was some kind of a system for loading credit onto an online account that I hadn't looked at properly yet. I hadn't even been inside the laundry room at all yet, in fairness. Honestly, it smelled kind of damp and looked a bit creepy.

"Not yet, but I need to," I grimaced, "I'm basically out of clothes already. I thought I brought so much stuff!"

"One hundred per cent!" said Elizabeth, vehemently. "I don't even have an outfit left for going out tonight."

"Same!" I said. "Although, I was thinking of skipping it actually, maybe getting a bit of rest?"

I slumped down on the kitchen sofa as I spoke. A night off would be so very appreciated by my body right now.

"Oh, but you can't skip it," exclaimed Elizabeth, as though I'd suggested skipping my final exams at the end of the year, "It's the last night of Freshers Week! You have to come out."

I sighed.

"Guess you and I are going to have to figure out this laundry room business then, so we'll both have an outfit for tonight," I said, trying to feel enthusiastic about this development in my day's plans.

"Actually, I had another idea for that, if you're free?" said Elizabeth, nervously.

I nodded, and Elizabeth rushed to join me on the sofa, opening a tab on her phone.

"I was reading this article about ethical shopping around here and look at this, there's this row of charity shops like a ten minute walk away from here and they all look so cute. I was thinking about maybe going to check them out?"

I took the phone off her. The article, hosted on a local student news site, showed a few pictures of quirky shop window displays and rows of clothes sorted by colour. One of them was a second hand bookshop. Bingo.

"Wow, Elizabeth, these places look amazing! And they're only ten minutes away? You want to pop down this morning? I bet there's a cute café nearby too, we could get a coffee?"

Elizabeth looked relieved as I handed her back her phone.

"Sure! I think it would be fun."

"Definitely. It's about time we explored a bit of this area other than the night clubs. I'm free all day, we can leave whenever?" I paused, remembering how she had been standing outside Tara's door when I came in. "Did you... want to ask Tara as well?"