EDITED VERSION: Chapter Two

"Audrey?" Darian's voice echoed throughout the hall of our apartment.

Standing in the shower, I sighed, the green tea shampoo in my hair dripping into my eyes. "What?"

"Do you want anything to eat for breakfast?" he yelled back, his voice sounding distorted from me standing under the water.

"No, I'm good thanks, we can stop at a Starbucks to get some coffee," I answered, rinsing the shampoo out of my hair. Quickly, I added, "We don't have much time, we're gonna be late if we eat anyways."

"M'kay," I heard Darian respond and he began to hum to himself once again.

Shutting off the water and grabbing a towel, I started to dry off and get dressed in my first day of university outfit, which didn't really consist of anything fancy, just some leggings and knitted emerald off the shoulder top.

Two weeks have gone by and Darian and I fell into a nice routine of having breakfast together every morning and binge-watching Netflix for most of the day. Grey's Anatomy in particular, has been our go-to show for the past week. Sometimes we go to the bookstore by the apartment, but for the most part, we haven't gone out much. Mainly because we're too anxious to go out and actually enjoy ourselves. Classes start today, Darian was majoring in Film Studies and I was majoring in English Literature. Despite being in different programs, we luckily had our first lecture together, which I was extremely grateful for.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I stared at my reflection in the foggy mirror and sighed. My honey-coloured hair was a tangled mess that I really did not want to deal with at the moment, so I bundled it into a bun on the top of my head.

When I got outside the bathroom, Darian was already dressed in his light denim jacket, beanie, and boots. He was fidgeting with the sleeve of his jacket and bouncing on the balls of his feet. I laughed seeing him standing at the door looking completely unnerved. "Hey, it's going to be okay. At least we have this class together, we'll get through the day, alright?"

Darian gave me an uneasy nod. "Let's just get some Starbucks. I need me some mocha."

Nodding my head, I grabbed my bag and keys. "Let's do this."

A few minutes later, Darian and I were outside the university, sipping our coffees, and attempting to muster the courage to go to the class that starts in ten minutes. I would be lying if I said I wasn't intimidated. The building where our lecture was taking place was one that was made of grey masala stone, standing tall and cold looking. Despite it looking quite modern, there was something about it that made me feel as though it held the same importance as the older buildings on the campus, as there was English Ivy creeping up on the sides, which I found pretty ironic seeing as it was the English building.

Darian's phone chimed, bringing my internal thoughts to a close. "Oh, for shit's sake."

I turned to my roommate, who had his blond brows knitted together, clearly not amused. "You good?"

Darian rolled his glacial blue eyes and sighed. "My brother wants to hang out tonight."

"I take it you don't like him all that much?" I responded, taking a sip of my coffee, peering at him over the cup as I did so.

"No, I do, I guess." he groaned, tilting his head back with his eyes closed. "But I can only take him in small doses."

"Why's that?"

Darian opened his eyes once again and took a moment to text his brother back, then looked at me. "He's an egotistical ladies' man who never fails to make fun of me whenever he gets the chance."

Slow anger started to rise from the pit of my stomach. "Is it because you're gay? Because I will happily dump this scorching hot coffee on his narrow-minded head."

"Oh my God, Audrey," Darian chuckled, raising his hands. "No, he doesn't make fun of me because I'm gay. But thank you for wanting to defend me," he slipped his phone in the pocket of his jacket and took a long sip of his mocha drink. "No, it's because I'm a nerd. I loved school and studying and being this crazy overachiever. It drove him nuts because our parents always compared us to one another."

I nodded my head understanding where my roommate was coming from. "Ah, so you guys are polar opposites? My sister and I are like that too. She became a yoga instructor, but now she's travelling the world doing Lord only knows what."

"Do you do yoga?" Darian asked with a smirk, clearly trying to picture me doing yoga and obviously seeing it was not a good mental image.

"Hell no," I finished the last of my coffee, tossing it in the garbage can by the entryway and started for the door. "Yoga, or any form of exercise, is not something I enjoy."

"I've always wanted to learn Tai Chi," my roommate mused teasingly.

Rolling my eyes, we made our way down the long and open hallway, which was completely filled with students. "Well, if you want, I can come with you to see your brother. Whenever he insults you, I throw in an insult of my own directed at him. If he's as egotistical as you say, I'll just say his hair needs some work."

Darian gave me a dazzling smile. "You are the best roommate ever."

I gave him a quick wink. "I know."

After a few minutes of worming our way through the packed hall, we finally reached our class which was closest to the back entrance. Good to know for next time, I guess, but unfortunately for us now, seeing as our class started in less than a minute.

When we entered the classroom, a wave of anxiety hit me. The room looked like it came out of any typical movie you'd see centred around university students. For some reason, my movie of choice was Legally Blonde, despite it obviously not being Harvard. It was a giant lecture room, with a professor's podium, a giant chalkboard with a white hanging screen, and about a hundred red padded seats — most likely more.

The majority of the students had already taken their seats, laptop at the ready. Darian and I exchanged a look and found a seat closest to the back, seeing as they were the only few available. Hastily, we took out our devices so we would be prepared before the professor arrived.

As soon as I had pulled up a blank document to write notes, the plump professor walked in, with a stern look on his face. He was about in his late forties, early fifties at most, with salt and pepper hair, and round glasses that sat on the tip of his nose. "Hello everyone, I am Professor Wellman and I will be your North American Literature professor this year. I hope you all will adjust well to university; it is a big jump from high school. Rest assured, there are resources available for your use, that being said, take advantage of them."

Professor Wellman peered over his glasses to inspect the room as if he was trying to make eye contact with each and every one of his students. Once he saw each of our faces, he took his place at his podium, his stern look gone. "Okey dokey, let's begin."

"Did he just say okey-dokey?" Darian whispered under his breath to me.

Biting back a small laugh, I nodded my head. "I believe he did so, yes."

***

Three hours later, Darian and I were walking back to Starbucks, desperately needing another mocha fix.

"That was the longest lecture of my life," I groaned, barely able to keep up with my quick-paced friend, who thankfully no longer had first-day jitters but instead newfound confidence.

Darian laughed as he pulled open the doors to the Starbucks. "Obviously, you fell asleep for nearly an hour of it."

We got inside and were immediately attacked by the smell of coffee beans and sweets. After we ordered our drinks, we stood waiting for the barista to finish making them.

"I did not sleep for an hour," I rolled my eyes and started to fiddle with the sleeve of my favourite navy blue peacoat jacket. "It was like, forty-five minutes."

Darian gave me a challenging look that said otherwise.

Sighing, I said, "I didn't get much sleep last night. I stayed up late waiting for Kieran to Skype me but he forgot."

The barista finished making our drinks, handing them to Darian and me.

"He forgot to Skype you?" Darian pondered more to himself than to me. "That can't be good."

I shrugged as we began our short walk back to the apartment. "He was out with his friends last night so my bet is he wasn't sober enough to use a computer anyways."

"That doesn't bother you?" My roommate questioned, taking a tiny sip of his second mocha of the day.

"I mean, I can't get pissed that he hangs out with his friends, that would be absurd," I kicked a nearby pebble with my brown heeled ankle boot. "But he is a nasty drunk, so I rather he calls me when he's sober than drunk anyway."

"Nasty how?" Darian cocked a brow, concern laced in his question.

Before I respond, I take a large sip of my coffee, not caring that it is absolutely smouldering. "He just gets angry a lot, which isn't too fun to be around."

"Yeah, I could imagine," my friend muttered. After a few minutes of silence, he said, "Well tonight, it's our time to go out. I promise you it will be the best night of your life."

I let out a laugh, thinking how absurd it is to believe going out with Darian and his brother would be the best night ever. "Meeting your brother will be the best night of my life?"

Darian gave me a smirk with a bit of a shrug, as we continued to walk to our apartment.