Dalliance - Z.M. (An Exquisites Original Story)

2; Don't Threaten Me With A Good Time

Chapter 2

"Champagne, cocaine, gasoline — and most things in between."

(Raine's POV)

After setting the last flower on the windowsill, I take a breath of accomplishment, stepping back to admire my completed half of the room. Neat, white bedsheets, a few pillows with logos of different bands, my laptop and phone are set neatly on my side table next to my stereo, plants lined up perfectly on my side if the window, the curtain I hung up only covering my half of it, a few posters taped to my wall to make it feel more like home, and honestly I couldn't be more proud.

The right side of the room, however, is still a mess. It's been a solid three days since we moved into our dorms, and Anaya has yet to get her shit together. Which is why I took the liberty of buying blue tape and dividing the room up perfectly in half, starting from the wall, down the window, all the way across the floor. Her side of the room is so messy you can't even see the carpet, while mine is so clean you could eat off the floor.

Some would call the fact that I cleaned exactly half the room petty, and I'd have to agree because it was. But what can I say? I'm not used to sharing a room, especially with a girl who can't even throw her food wrappers away despite the fact that there is a trashcan not too far from her bed. It's fine, though, because now I can get out of my dorm room since I had spent the last few days cleaning it.

So I decide to treat myself with a warm shower in the freshly cleaned bathroom, and once I'm out, I wrap the towel around my chest and walk out of the bathroom and towards my closet, trying to find clothes to wear.

Suddenly, the door bursts open. Looking over my shoulder, I see Anaya walk in, another can of Red Bull in her hands to add to the collection of the twenty on her floor. She notices the split in the room and laughs, shutting the room door.

"Seriously? What, you a perfectionist or something?" She asks, walking over to her bed and sitting on it, pulling out her phone.

"No, I just like my space." Digging through the drawers, I pull out a pair of denim shorts and an off the shoulder, flared top. "What are you doing here?" I ask Anaya as I dig through my underwear drawer.

"This is my dorm," she tells me as if I couldn't already tell.

"No shit, Sherlock," I nearly scoff, but I don't, because I want to try to like her. I do live with her for God's sake. "But you never usually come in until, like, eight."

She laughs. "You've lived with me for, what? Four days, and you think you know my entire schedule?"

Sighing impatiently, I slam my drawer shut and spin around to look at her, gripping my towel tightly. "Alright, Anaya, listen." She looks up at me, cocking an eyebrow. This only angers me more, and I decide I can't ignore the elephant in the room any longer. (Obviously, there's no literal elephant in the room, but if there were, I'm sure I'd know whose side of the room it would be on.)

"You don't like me? That's great, I don't give a shit, because I don't like you either." I shrug. "But, we're going to live with each other for the next year, so you'd better learn to have a decent conversation with me, clean your shit storm, and smoke less because the room reeks of tobacco every time you walk in."

She glares at me. "And you have to learn how to deal with my messy side, realize I hate conversation and know that I'm not going to stop smoking any time soon."

I have the sudden urge to lunge over the blue border I had created and dump her Red Bull all over her. But, since I'm a patient person, I decided against it. I'll give her a week more before she actually starts listening to me, otherwise, I have a lot of annoying traits that I'm dying to show her. too. So I nod at her then turn around, opening my underwear drawer again. A few minutes later, there's a knock on our door, and the optimist in me thinks she's a good enough person not to open it when I'm basically naked in our room, but she gets up and opens it without even asking who it is.