Conflate

Chapter 3

As I stepped through the door of my dorm I could still feel the musty scent of the city lingering on me. I notice my roommate wasn't here and also noticed I didn't even get her name. Oh well.

I decided to take this moment as an opportunity to take a shower. I grabbed my black and white toiletry bag, a light blue towel, and some clothes to sleep in.I slipped my black flip flops on and headed down the hall to the showers.

I wasnt really too happy that I had to use the public shower but I mean my mom worked hard to get me to even attend this school. So I decided to just shut up and use the showers.

I opened the door to one of the showers and set my stuff down on the bench. The bathrooms were actually a lot better than what I had been expecting. Making sure to lock the door I took my clothes off and turned the water on.

"Shit." I hissed as the scolding hot water poured onto my back. I made the water colder and pumped shampoo onto my hand. The refreshing tree mint smell of the shampoo reminded me of my old bathroom back home.

I finshied contiditoing my hair and washing the soap from my body. i then dried myself off and got dressed into my i love new york shirt and some black boxer shorts. After brushing my hair out and my teeth I emerged from the steamy shower complex and made my way back to the room.

I hit the home button on my phone to see the time was 10:00 p.m. At this point the best option was to go to sleep. Im tired as hell anyway. I guess plane rides tend to do that to you..

I turned off the light, locked the door, and slipped under my white comforter. It felt so nice to just stop for a moment. I closed my eyes and slowly drifted off to the low buzzing of the city and the dim moonlight peaking its way through the beige curtain I put up.

****

"What the fuck" I said as I was woken up by the bright lights of the dorm to find blondie nonchalantly walking through the door.

"Excuse me?" she said in an offended manner.

"Oh Im sorry, its totally okay of you to walk in at midnight and turn the light on meanwhile Im trying to sleep." I retaliated back sarcastically.

She ignored my rude comment and walked over to her dresser. This shit is too stupid to be wasting my sleep for. I just pulled the cover over my head until 10 minutes later the light finally went off. I guess you could say im fucking ecstatic to be living with her..

****

My eyes slowly made their way open to the sound of my alarm blaring throughout the room. Across the room I heard blondie groan. Good. Just for the sake of pissing her off I sat and let the irritating noise continue. I couldn't help but let a smirk across my face.

I eventually got up and turned my alarm off and made my way to the community bathrooms with my shower necessities in hand. I showered, put my pajamas back on and walked back to the room.

By instinct I turned the light on. More groans were heard from her bed.

"Oops" I laughed.

I dimmed the lights and picked up my phone. The screen showed I had a goodnight text from my mom. As I was texting her good morning I remembered the café and Becca. It was 7:30 so I figured I should probably call her soon. I pressed the home button and pressed my finger down on the calling app. I quickly grabbed her card and dialed her number in. 905-376-2552

"Hello this is Becca!" she said in her recongnizable cheery voice.

"Hi this the girl who was wondering about a job position and you were in quite a rush so you gave me your card and told me to call you."

"Oh yes hi hi hi! You seem like sweet young lady we would be happy to show you around at the cafe! When can you come in?"

"Well I have a class at 1 pm today so maybe 9:00 am? Would that work?"

"Sounds like a plan! I'll see you in about an hour and half!"

"Okay see you then. Oh and thank you Mrs. Horan."

"Its no problem at all love!"

With that the I tapped the end button and got up to get ready.

She didn't exactly advise me on what to wear but I'm pretty sure I could figure it out. I slipped on some denim jeans and rolled them twice at the bottom. After that I took my white collard shirt off the hanger and pulled it over my kakai bra. Shit. I couldn't find socks.

After what felt like years rummaging through my suitcases I finally found a pair of socks that say Thursday on them even though it was Monday. I'm grateful to even be wearing matching socks for all I give a shit. I quickly ran to my purse eventually digging out my makeup bag. I dabbed on concealer, shaded my lids with beige eyeshadow and swiped mascara over my eyelashes. Before leaving I tied my long brown, loosely waved hair into a high ponytail and grabbed my ray ban glasses.

I made my way out the dorm complex and out onto the semi-familiar sidewalks of NYU. Eventually I found the busy street I managed to walk on yesterday. Looking down at my phone I noticed I was 30 minutes early. I figured I would go to that record shop to kill time.

My feet carried me down the street passing an expensive jewelry boutique, a small New York pizza parlor, and eventually a record shop.

I swung opened the door and quickly engulfed myself in the warm compounds of the shop. looking around I noticed there were racks lining the entire store with records neatly stacked. I noticed a few workers at the back of the shop and one at the front fiddling with a record. My eyes wondered a bit further until coming upon a record my dad, sister and I would always dance to. Don't Be Cruel- Elvis Presly. I picked up the slightly worn record and even though I didn't have a record player, I decided to buy it.

As I walked to the register, record in hand, I couldn't help but notice the employees direct gaze upon me. Fuck, what did I do wrong now...

"Hello? Anyone in there at the moment because I would like to make a purchase." I said with a smile on my face hoping he new I was joking.

He had a beenie on which appeared to be hiding his brown curly hair and a pleasant shade of green eyes. My eyes were instantly caught by the tattoos creeping there way through his white shirt and slightly down his arm.

I was broken out of my observations when I heard clearing of his throat. I'm pretty sure he just saw me burning holes through his inked body.

"Thats gonna be 9 dollars." He said plainly in what seems like an England accent. I reached in my bag, grabbed 10 dollars and handed it over to the rude employee.

"You can..uh..keep the change." I said trying to maintain a pleasant tone because he was starting to piss me off.

"No it's okay." He said handing me back the one dollar in change.

"Um..Okay then..Well thanks" I said with a smile. All I got in response was a roll of his eyes. Wow, Look at me making lots of friends.