Reneé Rapp one-shots

Stressed out (comfort)

It's raining as I walk back to the dorm. I've spent the whole day following classes and studying. My backpack weighs heavily on my shoulders, stuffed with textbooks and notebooks. All I want is to collapse onto my bed and sleep for days. No stress, no pressure, just resting. But I can't, I still have a lot to do. My pace is slow as I don't want to study more.

I walk into the building and to our dorm. When I open the door I'm met with the familiar scent of my roommates. Their laughter fills the air and warms my heart. They all sit in the common room, talking about their day. I smile at them. "Hi guys". They all greet me, I notice a twinge of concern in Leighton's eyes.

"Man you look like shit, you been sleeping?" Bela says, straightforward as always. "Yeah I'm fine, just busy. I'm gonna go study." I tell them and make my way to Leighton's and I's room, leaving them a bit worried.

I fall down onto my chair, behind my desk. My satchel hits the ground. I grab my English literature book and a notebook. I have to write another essay. I sigh as I feel this overwhelming feeling creeping into my body. It's too much and I know it is, but I have to do it. I push it down and start studying, blasting music in my ears for distraction.

Half an hour later, I heard a knock on the door, it creaks open slightly and I see Leighton there. I take my headphones off and look up at her. "What's up?" "We're going to get dinner, you coming with us?"

I hesitate for a moment, a break and food do sound good. Spending time with my friends and... Leighton, Who I might have a tiny, itty bitty crush on, Sounds amazing. As I'm about to say yes, I look down at the work in front of me. I sigh and shake my head. "I still have a bunch of work to do, I'll eat later."

Leighton's gaze lingers on me for a moment longer, concern visible, before nodding and closing the door. I hear them leave the dorm. I continue writing. My hand is starting to hurt, my pen is running out of ink as well. I grab my phone, open Spotify and play Stranger in the Alps, by Phoebe Bridgers. I put the volume even louder and continue writing.

Even though music is blasting in my ears I find my mind wandering. How Leighton's posters fully represent her personality, the way she made the effort to tidy her bed before leaving, the way she smiles, how she genuinely looked concerned when she left for dinner, her soft hair. The list goes on.
I try to continue but it's like I can't think anymore. I look back at what I wrote, the sentences don't even make sense. It's all worthless. I correct the mistakes and sentences and sigh. I take my headphones off when I hear Bela and the others enter the dorm again. Are they already back? Did they forget something? I look at the clock only to see that an hour has already passed. I sigh, I barely got anything done.

There's a knock on the door before it gets opened. Leighton walks in, her hair is up in a bun and she's wearing a brownish sweater. It must be at least 800 dollars. I give her a soft smile. She walks over to me as she takes her hair down, letting it fall onto her shoulders. I try my best not to melt at the sight of it. "Are you seriously still studying?" She asks me, not in a sympathetic way. More pitying me.

I look up at her with tired eyes and nod. "Yeah well I still have a bunch of shit to do but the words don't even make sense anymore." I tell her, my voice is tired and soft and it's clear that I'm done with everything and utterly drained. Her expression turns to one of concern, a soft side of her, that we rarely see, comes up. She looks at me in the eyes:"Have you eaten yet?". I shake my head shamefully and look down. "I haven't had the time to, I need to finish this essay."

Leighton hesitates for a moment before walking over next to me, closing my books and notebook and putting my pens away. "I think you've studied enough". I frown and look up at her "no but I ha-".  She shakes her head and cuts me off. "No but's, come on." She helps me up and guides me to the common room, she pushes me down onto the couch. I have no choice but to oblige. "Wait where is everyone?" I ask Leighton as she walks over to the fridge. "A theta party". She opens the fridge. "But what about you?" I look at her, confused and surprised. She walks back over to me with a bottle of water, handing it to me. "I wasn't going to let you stay up here all night by yourself, studying."

I'm a bit shocked to say the least, she has never done that for the others... My crush on her might be growing. Leighton sits next to me, quite close. She grabs her laptop, puts it on the coffee table and turns on a movie. I'm not even sure which one it is. I'm very confused but I keep my mouth shut, trying to just enjoy this. During the movie I find myself leaning into her body more and more. Just as our sides start touching, there's a knock on the door.

She gets up and opens it. "Thank you" I hear her say. She closes it and comes back with a box of pizza. She sits back down and hands me the box. I look at her in surprise. "Yeah well you haven't eaten yet and I know how much you like pizza." A smile forms on my face. "Thanks leight"

I open the box and start eating, she wraps an arm around my shoulder and I lean into her as we continue watching the movie. She grabs a slice and begins eating, I look at her. "Are you stealing my pizza right now?" She grins at me. "As a matter of fact, I am. Though I paid for it so" I smirk and take a bite of her slice, she huffs, clearly amused, and shakes her head. We continue eating pizza as I melt into her touch. We stay like that for hours, until the rest of our roommates come back.