Privacy in Dorm Room 210

Privacy in Dorm Room 210: Closed Off

Chapter 3:

Closed Off

"Oh, shit." Justin pressed his back against the wall, facing the kitchen and away from Aubrey. Her shriek made him shut his eyes.

"What the hell is wrong with you!"

He winced at her piercing voice. He hadn't heard her yell at him for what felt like years. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were in there."

"Couldn't you have knocked?" He heard rustling. "Seriously, what's the point in having a door if we can't bloody... Oh, my - stop looking!"

Justin jerked his head the other way. "I'm not!"

"You are!"

"I'm looking the other way."

"Get out!"

"I'm going, I'm going."

"Close the damn door - don't just walk out without closing it behind you."

"You told me to leave, so I left."

"And then you close the door, like a normal person."

He clenched his jaw, heat rising in his chest. "Why didn't you lock the door in the damn first place?"

"No one was home. You should've heard me, I wasn't being quiet." She let out a huff, caught between a chuckle and a sigh. "But maybe you just wanted to catch me naked. Are you that desperate to catch me off guard?"

She stepped out of the bathroom clothed, hair damp and curled against her face. She wouldn't look him in the eye no matter how long his gaze stayed on her. The heat in his chest remained, but nothing in his mind told him to act out. He wouldn't do that to her.He shifted his gaze at the ceiling.

"I was unaware that you were even here at all."

"Excuses." He shut his eyes. "That's all I get from you, nothing sensible."

"I'm sorry."

The fan in the bathroom was blaring his eardrums. His fingers twitched for some kind of action, anything that wasn't a stand-still. So he opened his eyes - and wished he kept them closed.Aubrey's eyes glazed over, seemingly unimpressed and disappointed. "You don't get to say you're sorry and be done with it. Your apologies are bullshit. You don't get to waltz in and not face the consequences. I'm tired of it. So just leave me alone."

It would've been so much easier if she had yelled, but her monotoned confession left a sting in his lungs, where it moulded into something heavy.

He moved to the kitchen and grabbed himself a glass of water. Aubrey's movements behind him felt loud. Justin headed for the fridge to ignore what was going on, but the cold home appliance's polluting noise carried out an irritable buzz that was driving his mind crazy.

Still, it was a barrier that halted any consideration for what Aubrey was possibly doing.

He really needed to find another dorm fast. Hopefully soon. Hopefully before she killed him.Not that he didn't deserve it.

Justin swallowed what felt like a rock down his throat, squeezing out the images flashing in his mind. He refused to acknowledge them now.

The front door locked in place. He dared to take a shuddering breath.

The shower helped cease the thoughts completely, thankfully, but in doing so left a numbing presence that overtook his mind. Like a zombie attitude, everything he did had no subsidence behind it. So much for that walk to clear his head.