White Washed

Chapter Three | Habit

The next week was as uneventful as it was fun. Nothing happened but that didn’t stop Laurie, Jess, Spencer and I from having fun. Laurie and Jess were both outgoing. Jess was giggly and Laurie was a straight-faced joker. Both made stupid bathroom and ‘your mom’ jokes every chance they got and both were fun to be with. Jess was so carefree it was impossible to be unhappy in her presence and if Laurie caught you being unhappy, she’d do her best to cheer you up. From what I gathered, it almost always worked.

Spencer was a different story. He didn’t talk much but when he did it wasn’t easy to not be cheerful. Not only was his accent completely dreamy, but everything he said was intelligent and he had a really good sense of humor. After about a week, he started to take more and open up a bit and I guessed that he was just shy because he didn’t know me very well.

I thought a lot about Alix that week, but I didn’t see him again. Stupid questions that I knew I couldn’t answer plagued my mind, keeping me up at night and distracted during lessons. One of the most common was: How did he know my name? He had come off as a jerk, but after I had thought about it for hours on end, I decided that he was probably annoyed, and for good reason. After all, I had bumped into him and made him drop all of his stuff. Another voice in my head argued that he had seemed quite full of himself, too. Of course, I’d talked to him all of once. I couldn’t judge him.

Why did I even care, anyway? Maybe it was because he was one of the only boys I’d talked to here. Or maybe it was because he was beautiful and mysterious. Not that it mattered. He was a conceited jerk and that canceled out everything else. If he really was a coneited jerk, that was.

Laurie and I hadn’t gotten the chance to go shopping until today, since we’d been quite busy settling in and getting ready for our classes. My roommate and I had been getting along better since we had established our rules. Today was Saturday and it was beautiful outside. Well, I thought so, anyway. It was cloudy and cool with a light breeze but it wasn't cold. Laurie was pouty when she saw the sky.

Jess had to work today so she couldn’t come shopping with us but we promised to go with her some other time. After Jess rejected our offer, Laurie immediately ran to Spencer’s room, planning to ask him to go with us.

Of course, since we were running and laughing and not paying attention in general, I had to crash into someone, knocking us both down. The guy dropped his stuff and swore under his breath.

“I’m so sorry!” I apologized, reaching down to help him pick up his books. The one I picked up was an old text about Folklore, which I assumed was for an English or History class he was taking.

That was when I realized who it was.

“Just watch where you’re going, alright?” Alix demanded, glaring and shuffling his other books to one arm so he could take the one I had.

I nodded, not sure what to say. I’d said I was sorry and it wasn’t like I’d purposely run into him. What was with him?

He brushed by me his shoulder bumping mine, shooting one cool look at Laurie. Laurie raised her eyebrows at me for a second before sticking her tongue out and mocking him as he walked away.

I restrained a giggle and pulled her along, down the hallway. We jumped into the elevator and pressed number two. When it opened we bounded out of it — and right into Spencer.

“Hey, I was just coming to look for you guys.” He said.

“Oh really? Well sorry, but we’re looking for this guy.” Laurie joked, leaning around him to look down the hallway. I looked after her. Out of the corner of my eye I saw his eyebrows pull together slightly.