Taboo Love

Chapter 1

It was eleven forty-five in the morning. The sun was up and bright, yet the clouds made the world seem cold and shadowed. It may seem depressing and gloomy to one's eye, but mine? It brought joy through the deepest pits of my soul.
I finished organizing my used-to-be single dorm not so long ago, because apparently, according to administration, I was getting a roommate this year, even though that is not what I so willingly spent my college fund on. Really living up to their beloved motto: "University of Florida; where anyone with the ability to make their own choices has the very right to do so." Yeah, okay, whatever you say. Tell that to the damn single dorm that I now have to share.
Probably going to have to continue paying the same cost too, but that's a conversation that I will have to have with the administration.
I was finishing up with hanging my polaroids, that included me with my mom, whom I miss so dearly, and my brother and father, on my freshly painted gray wall when the door of the dorm suddenly flew open.

"Hey! I'm Daniela!", a girl with black wavy hair and beautiful gray eyes with pearly olive skin, who I am assuming is going to be my new roommate. She sounds very... outgoing.

She dragged a couple of her suitcases in, with laundry baskets full of her personal belongings with bags and bags of makeup, placing them on top of her full sized bed, in which the dorm was big enough to give her. She let out a sigh and turned around, her hands resting on her hips.

"So, it looks like you're my new roomie-", she said with the biggest smile as I hopped down from my bed.

"Let's go ahead and get introductions out of the way; I'm sure they bore you as much as they do me. As you know, I'm Daniela, but you can call me Dani, and I am a junior and 20 years old-"

"Wait, hold on-", I cut her off. "A junior? I assumed I was going to be paired with another sophomore. I thought that was policy?"

"Hm, I thought I was going to be paired with another junior too. I guess they must've changed the policy, or just didn't have enough space for others, but I'm ok with that.", she says with a smirk as I raised an eyebrow. "Just means I have more to teach you."

My eyes widened as a giddy smile formed on my face. I take back what I said, I feel like I'm going to like this chick more than I thought I would.

"Well, you were right- I hate introductions so, my name is Victoria, but I go by V or Tori, whichever works for you, and I have an older brother and my dad is the only parental figure as of now."

"What happened to mom?", she asks, and I guess I had this expression on my face when she quickly declined the question. "I'm sorry, didn't mean to get all weird and ask something personal so early into knowing each other.", she says as she intertwines her fingers together in a nervous gesture.

"Oh, no, it's totally ok. If we're going to be roommates, you were going to find out eventually, might as well include it in the introduction. This is my mom." I pointed at a few of the polaroids on my wall. "She was my everything."

"Was?", she asked with a concerned look on her face.

"Yeah, was. She passed away a few years back, right around my fifthteenth birthday actually."

"Oh... I'm sorry. I can't even fathom how much that sucked, or even still sucks to this day. May I ask how?"

I scratched the back of my neck, trying not to bring up memories as I talked about it.

"Pneumonia."

She didn't say anything, she just suddenly embraced me into an unexpected heartwarming hug, which I didn't even realize I needed. She pulled away and rubbed my shoulders, and without any words, I knew what she wanted to say, so I just nodded.
Suddenly, she went to the door and cracked it closed. I furrowed my eyebrows while she turned around and gave me a smile as she pulled out a wax pen from her push-up bra.

"Want a hit? I can tell from your vibe that you smoke hella too."

I smiled as I willingly took it, putting it to my lips as she giggled.

"I know a smoker when I see one."

I exhaled it out and we just laughed.

"I like you already.", I said as I handed it back to her.

"Same here pretty."

I sat on my bed and placed my hands under my thighs.

"Enough about me, tell me about your family."

"Well-", she began as she started to put her folded laundry into her dressers at the foot of her bed. "I have both parental figures, and they're both still married but they fight a lot. It does more of a mental toll on my younger brother instead of me-", she paused when we heard a voice from the other side of the door.

"Dani, you in here dumbass?"

I turned my head to her as she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, come on in.", she said as I hopped off my bed and she put her wax pen back in her bra.

The door opened and all I could say to myself was 'damn.'
A boy, black hair and piercing blue eyes with the same detailed olive skin, his physique slim, but still had enough muscle on him to tell that he works out, entered the room with a backpack and holding a laundry basket filled with a number of things.

"V, this is my brother, Derek."

He looked me up and down, a smirk forming across his face as he offered his hand to me to shake.

"Hey beautiful."