Catch Me If You Can

<Chapter 2>

"310...310...310!" I reached the door and swiped the room card I was given, pushing the door open.

The first thing I noticed when I stepped in was the girl sprawled out on her already-made bed. Her eyes were closed, and earbuds were in her ears, so I didn't bother to acknowledge my presence. I moved to my side of the room where my small pile of boxes was.

They were labeled with what was in them, so I found the boxes with more important things in them and popped them open. I began pulling out clothes and moving them into the drawer and worked in relative silence.

That is until my roommate realized she wasn't alone. "Oh shit!"

I whipped around to see the girl sitting up on her bed. She had pulled an earbud out of her ear as she stared back at me. My eyes darted away for a brief second, focusing on the window before returning to her face.

"Um, hi. I'm your roommate," I started, setting the stack of jeans in my hands on my lap.

She fully swung her legs off the side of the bed as her face relaxed some. "Sorry for the reaction. I didn't hear you walk in. Nice to meet you, I'm Ripley."

"Oh, it's ok. I didn't want to bother you. And I'm Paige, it's nice to meet you, too," I returned, smiling.

Her eyes darted over the boxes I had stacked up. "Do you need help unpacking?"

I looked at the same stack. "I don't think so. I don't have much, so it shouldn't be too hard. Thank you, though."

"Not a problem. Just yell my name if you do need anything. It's probably the only way I'll hear you past my music."

I laughed at that. "Ok. Will do."

She pushed her earbud back into her ear and dropped onto the mattress. I turned back to the drawers and quickly finished piling clothes into them. Moving back toward the boxes, I unpacked three more boxes of what I deemed necessary, then called it quits for the day.

Pushing the last few boxes under my bed, I stood and stretched before dropping face-first onto the plastic-covered mattress. My set of sheets was set on the corner of the bed, but I had no desire to make my bed just yet. The last-minute packing, a two-hour drive, moving, and unpacking took most of my energy. It's only four, and a nap sounds good right now.

"Hey, you dead over there?" I lifted my head at Ripley's question.

"No, just tired. I'm trying to decide if I want food or a nap more."

Rolling onto my back, I propped myself up on my elbows to look over at her. She was dropping her earbuds into their case and snapping it shut.

"Food sounds good now. Whaddaya say we go grab something? We can drop dead later," she joked, standing and stretching.

I laughed and stood with her. "All right. Should we go to the dining hall or find someplace in town?"

"Dining hall. I want to see what kinda food they have."

"Lead the way then. Do you have your dining card?"

"Yep, I'm 'bout to get my eat on."

I laughed again and followed her out and over to the dining hall. It was only a couple of buildings over from the dorms, so it didn't take very long to walk over. There were a few students we passed by, but it seemed most were getting settled in their rooms and exploring the campus.

The dining hall only held a few students. It was still early enough that they hadn't started preparing the big dishes. We swiped our cards at the entrance and headed over to the section that had a few choices set out. We snagged a couple of plates and silverware, loading them with a few options.

Walking over to the beverage station, we each grabbed a drink and headed over to a booth seat. As we set our stuff down, Ripley started asking me questions.

"So, what're you majoring in?"

"Um, I'm doing computer engineering. You?"

"Recording arts, I wanna do something with music."

"Cool, do you want to be an artist?"

"That's the dream but I have no clue if I'll actually make it."

"So don't give up on it. Keep going."

She laughed, "You're already a better supporter than a few of my old high school friends. They thought it was crazy that I wanted to go into music; it being a hard job to get into and all."

I shrugged, replying, "If you really like music, go for it. It may be hard but if you like it enough, you gotta keep trying. My brother always likes to tell me that whenever I'm close to giving up on something."

"Your brother sounds smart."

"He is; he's a college professor over at the California Institute of Technology. He teaches kids how to build robots and code programs into them. It's all mumbo jumbo to me but he really likes it so I support him."

She whistled, stabbing a piece of chicken on her plate. "Private school, damn. He must be earning some good money."

As she chewed, I answered. "It's decent but I don't know the exact amount he's paid. We don't really talk about money that often. I just know it's good enough that he can afford a house for our younger sisters."

Her eyebrows creased together. "You don't live with your parents?"

"No, our mom died before Harper, the second youngest, can really remember her. Suri, the youngest, we adopted after her parents realized they couldn't take care of her. Dad's...Dad doesn't really want anything to do with us. Mom's death hurt him a lot more than he wanted to tell anyone and he started to self-medicate with alcohol. We haven't really had any contact with him since then."

"That sucks, I'm sorry I brought it up," she apologized.

"Oh, no, it's all good. I don't mind talking about it. I still have good memories of both of them; they're just from when I was really young," I amended, hoping to move her away from feeling bad. "Um, what's your family like?"

The way her eyes narrowed slightly and her lips curved up, I figured she knew my ploy. "It was good, my parents raised me and my two older sisters the best they could, y'know?"

I smiled and nodded while she continued, "Macy graduated college when I was going into my second year in high school. I always looked up to her. She's the best. Jacky's in her final year of college right now. She's getting a degree in business management. I've always looked up to them but I guess that's kinda 'cause I'm the baby in the family."

"Hey, it never hurts to look up to you older siblings. I look up to Harley because of how much he does to keep us all together. He risked a lot for us and I'll always be grateful for him. I want to be somewhat like that for our younger sisters so they know I'm safe to come to when they need support."

Ripley sat back in her seat, grinning. "Man, we barely know each other and I already know I like you. You almost made me cry."

A surprised burst of laughter escaped me. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry. I just wanted to tell you it's natural to look up to your sisters."

"Yeah, but your story is so friggen' cute." She pretended to wipe away a tear from the corner of her eye. "I'm done with my plate if you are, too. We probably need to head back so you can finish unpacking."

I groaned in semi-melodrama. "I guess I could do that. Hnn, alright let's go."