Game Theory × NH

017 | chlorine

× Horan

It was Monday the next morning and I was wide awake.

In the mornings of important days that were filled with tests and required sporty footwear and suffocating conversations, I was harder to wake. But today was different.

The blinds on the window were closed, but the sun was still finding a way inside and blinding me. It was rare to have it be sunny in London, and whenever it was, it found a way to annoy me.

I looked across the room without moving and saw that James still hadn't come home from the bonfire, his bed still a mess of blankets from when he got out of it the morning before.

Our hall is what any university kid's room would look like. There was a cork board next to my bed with a calendar tacked on it that was flipped to the month of August with my class schedule and when I should study, if I were to ever study. I had my small collection of snapbacks hanging up along the wall and some road signs I had stolen in my teen years. My desk was cluttered with my homework and loose papers as well a skyscraper tower of textbooks I payed an arm and a leg for that I don't even use. There was a mini fridge in the corner of the room stocked with soda, beer, and James' large collection of "God's gift to man kind" as he likes to call Lunchables.

Then there was all of James' shit all on his side. Stuff from comic books to this tattered old blanket he sleeps with to his god awful array of cologne and random crap he insists on keeping like a Sports Illustrated poster with a nearly naked woman posing on a beach tacked on the wall and a navy blue beanbag chair that smells like cat piss.

After five minutes of laying in bed and trying to fall back asleep, I moaned with frustration as I found it useless.

When I shifted my position, I felt something on my upper body. I looked down and saw a hand on my chest, wrapped around my torso loosely. I grabbed it and flung it off me, hating the soft touch on my skin.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes. The sleeping body beside me stirred and curled into herself before going still again. I couldn't remember her name. I couldn't even remember if she even told me. It didn't matter though, it was irrelevant.

I met her in the lobby of the Hall after dropping Lynn off at her place. I was pretty sure we only exchanged two words before we were on each other. I didn't really remember coming back to my room, but I wasn't surprised. My room was where I always ended up with a girl.

Right then, my laptop dinged and I tugged on my boxers from the night before and got off the bed, walking over to it. It was a request to chat over Skype with my brother, so naturally I pressed ignore. There was no way in hell I was going to talk to him so early in the goddamn morning.

I was left with the biggest hangover that I've had in years, except the last time it was due from too much alcohol. This time... this time it had something to do with Lynn Mercury.

I didn't know why, but she could give me the biggest nuisances sometimes. All last night after I had dropped her off, I just kept thinking back to when she ran away from the fire like she had seen a ghost.

A soft voice spoke through the quiet room, breaking me away from my thoughts.

"Come back to bed?" the girl asked with a sleepy smile on her lips. She wrapped the sheet around her naked body and propped herself up on an elbow. Her blonde hair was a mess and her brown eyes were looking into mine, almost pleading for me to keep her company under the sheets.

Before I could respond, the door swung open and a stumbling James came in, slamming the door shut behind him, loud enough that I was sure the people next door could hear.