Across The Hall

Monday morning. Usually the worst morning of all the days of the week. Usually. This Monday morning, however, couldn’t have arrived at a better time. After one of the longest, most stressful, most emotionally draining weekends of Christen’s life, the morning was the light at the end of the tunnel. The fresh start. The time to put last week’s unfortunate occurrences behind her and take whatever comes next in stride. As long as whatever comes next doesn’t heavily involve a certain tanned goddess who happens to live in the room directly across from hers.

Christen rises from bed with extra pep in her step, determined to start this day out on a positive note. She strips off her pajamas, drapes her robe over her body, slips her feet into her shower shoes, and grabs her keys and shower caddy on her way out the door. After gently closing her door, careful not to wake one sleeping Kelley O’Hara, Christen strolls down the empty hallway. The only noise comes from the smacking of her flip-flops against the bottoms of her feet. One of the benefits of being a morning person in college is virtually having the floor to yourself in the early hours of the day.

When christen reaches the bathroom, she has her pick of any of the shower stalls. She opts for the third one from the end. In her past few days here, Christen has discovered that this particular shower stall has the best water pressure and the most consistent temperature. She quickly deposits her caddy on the tile floor of the shower and closes the curtain behind her as she enters. Then she peels off her robe and hangs it on the hook just outside the stall, along with her towel and keys. As she turns the knob to the shower and feels the warms water as it rains down onto her bare skin, Christen sings with reckless abandon, knowing full well that she has the entire bathroom all to herself.

About fifteen minutes later, Christen turns off the water and dries her hair and body. She wraps her robe around herself and pulls its strings into a tight knot around her waist. She tugs the curtain open and snatches her shower caddy, keys, and towel as she follows the steam away from the shower stalls.

When she arrives to the doorway of the bathroom, another girl enters at the same time she tries to exit.

“Sorry, excuse me” Christen instinctively utters as she attempts to squeeze past the girl.

“Whoops, my bad” the other girls apologizes at the same time. That voice.

Christen looks up and only confirms her fears. Tobin stands just a few inches in front of her as the two pause in the doorway. Tobin seems to recognize her only a moment later because a pleasant smile grows on her face.

“Oh, good morning, Christen” she greets, her voice sounding a little lower and scratchier than usual, her vocal chords seemingly yet to wake up. A pang of arousal floats through Christen. Her voice in the morning, it sounds so…wow. Then Tobin’s eyes leave Christen’s and seem to trail up and down her body, curiously taking in this new version of Christen she’s never seen before. At that moment, Christen becomes acutely aware of just how naked she is under her robe and how close Tobin is in front of her. She can practically feel Tobin’s breath against her wet skin.

This is when Christen panics.

“Um – uh – good morning” Christen rushes out as she urgently scoots through the doorway and back down the hall. Her shower shoes rapidly squeaking as she picks up her pace and arrives outside her door. Once inside, she takes a deep breath and tries to calm her racing heartbeat. That’s definitely not how I wanted my day to start. Christen frowns to herself. This is gonna be harder than I thought.

Tuesday morning comes and goes much more smoothly than the morning previous, much to Christen’s delight. She’s managed to go a whole 24 hours without running into she-who-must-not-be-interacted-with. Christen smiles as she feels a sense of pride for overcoming a seemingly impossible feat.

She walks down one of the main sidewalks on campus with an extra bout of confidence. I’m actually doing this, I’m pulling it off. I haven’t even thought of Tobin in hours. Shit, now I just thought of her. Oh well, this is different, this is progress. Yeah, progress. I’m progressing with my life without having to worry about embarrassing myself or feeling extremely awkward in front of one very attractive girl. Ok, I still worry about it but not as much as I did yesterday, or the day before. It’s getting better, time is fixing this. If I can just keep this up, in no time I’ll be able to completely forget about –

A strong, muscly arm wraps around Christen’s shoulders. What the hell? Who the hell is –

Christen looks to her left and finds that the culprit is none other than a smiley brown-eyed girl with flowy hazel-colored hair that blows perfectly in the warm fall breeze. Shit.

“Hey there, Christen” Tobin happily greets, “How’s my favorite Freshie doing today?” Christen continues walking while trying her hardest to maintain the poker face she’s been preparing for moments such as this.

“I’m good” Christen curtly states, training her eyes to remain staring dead ahead.

“That’s good!” Tobin enthusiastically acknowledges as she steps in time with Christen. “So what have you been up to? I feel like I’ve hardly seen you these past few days.” Oh, you know, just trying my absolute hardest to avoid you.

“Nothing much” Christen replies with a hint of disinterest in her tone. Tobin hums in response as the two continue walking. Tobin’s arm feels like its burning into Christen’s shoulders more and more with each step they take together. Kelley’s words from the past weekend begin to echo in Christen’s mind. ‘If she’s overly friendly, be blunt and leave the situation.’

“Hey, are you alright?” Tobin asks after silently observing Christen for a few moments, “You seem kind of… distant. Like your mind is somewhere else right now.” Is it that obvious? I seriously need to cut and run before this conversation can go any further.

“Yeah I’m fine” Christen unconvincingly declares. Tobin nods but she doesn’t seem to fully buy Christen’s answer. “Actually, I just remembered I left some of my books back at the Library, I should turn back and get those.” Was that a believable enough excuse to leave?

“Oh, ok” Tobin responds understandingly. Yes, she bought it! Now to make my get away. “I’ll go with you.” Damnit!

“No it’s fine, I can go by myself” Christen returns, hoping desperately that Tobin will take the hint.

She doesn’t.

“Really, I don’t mind” Tobin insists warmly as she stares intently at Christen. Give me a break!

“No, it’s good, I’ll just go on my own” Christen retorts as she shrugs Tobin’s arm off of its new home on her shoulders. The pair slow their steps until they come to a complete stop in the middle of the sidewalk.

“Oh, ok” Tobin responds sounding a bit discouraged, “I’ll see you later then?” Tobin’s eyes peer into Christen’s as they seem to be begging for Christen’s confirmation. They look both vulnerable and hopeful at the same time. The powerful gaze is enough to shatter Christen’s heart, and it nearly does.

“Bye Tobin” Christen brings herself to say before she quickly turns around and fast-walks in the opposite direction. Tobin just watches Christen leave with confusion and the slightest bit of hurt.

That was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do.

Christen scales up the steps to Hingst Hall on a beautiful Wednesday morning. She was determined not to be late this time around and so far her mission has been successful. As she enters the building and glances at one of the clocks in the hallway, she smiles to herself. Five minutes early. Fuck yeah.

Once she walks through the entryway to the lecture hall, her eyes scan the room for somewhere to sit. Even though she’s early, the room is still relatively packed. As her eyes jump from one back of the head to another, her gaze finally lands on one with a backwards snapback and light brown hair cascading down its sides. Christen stops dead in her tracks. She’s early too? This is just my luck!

Then some random girl with curly blonde hair smacks into Christen from behind. She drops the books that were just in her arms and several students turn their heads at the sound of the commotion. Christen bends down to help the girl collect her books, muttering a regretful ‘sorry’ in the process. The girl just seems to shrug it off as she continues into the room to find a seat.

When Christen rises, she glances over to the section she was just inspecting and finds Tobin’s eyes glued on her. She looks relieved to see Christen as a small smile plays at the corners of her lips. Tobin’s eyes dart from Christen to the empty chair next to her. Christen takes this opportunity to quickly scan the room for another seat. Fortunately, she spots one on the far left side of the room.

Before Tobin has a chance to wave her over, Christen lowers her head and makes her way to the farther seat. Once she settles down in her new spot, she dares to steal a glance in Tobin’s direction. The smile that was just on Tobin’s face has since faded. Christen can’t help but feel the guilt that begins to well up in her stomach. This is for the best Christen tries to convince herself. This is going to make things easier… But why does it still have to be so hard?

Dr. Stevenson enters the room and interrupts Christen from her thoughts.

“Good morning, class” he projects, “Ready to get started this morning?”

Yes. Please. Anything to get my mind off of her.

In the blink of an eye it’s Thursday. Or ‘Thirsty Thursday’ as most of the students around campus like to call it. Apparently, having one day dedicated to boozing and beer pong is a part of the unofficial curriculum. College and alcohol go together like young adults and poor decision-making skills.

This morning, Christen decided to put off her morning routine just a little bit in hopes of avoiding a certain neighbor of hers. When she strolls into the bathroom, she’s relieved to see that Tobin isn’t there.

As she washes her face, Christen thinks back to the previous days of the week and how to amend her plan so it works out with less ‘bumps in the road.’ Ok, so I just need to get ready a little later in the mornings, take less direct routes to campus, and sit in a different seat in class. Then I should be good, right? I mean, I’ve hardly shared more than a few words with her over the past few days so that should be a good indication. I just have to keep laying low and everything will fall into place. The situation will fix itself. If I trust my better judgement, good things will come. I just know it.

Christen dries her face and swiftly brushes her teeth, leaving them their typical pearly white. She collects her toiletries from the counter and exits the bathroom. She walks down the hall and pauses outside her door. After a few moments of fishing around her pockets for her key, she pulls it out and goes to unlock her door. Then she hears the loud creaking sound of the door behind her, causing Christen to jump. She instinctively turns around and is met by a sight she was not prepared for.

Tobin stands before her with just a towel wrapped around her toned body. Christen’s eyes don’t know where to look as they dart from one defined muscle to another. If Christen didn’t know better, she’d guess that Tobin’s calves alone had been sculpted by an ancient Greek virtuoso. I could stare at those legs all day… Oh shit, I’m staring!

Christen’s eyes shoot up to Tobin’s. Tobin releases as satisfied smile as she definitely just caught Christen checking her out.

“We have to stop meeting like this” Tobin jokes as she sends a wink in Christen’s direction. Oh god, she winked. This is flirting. This is definitely flirting.

“Heh, yeah” Christen forcedly chuckles. Tobin’s eyes linger on Christen for a second before she nods and shuffles down the hallway. Christen desperately attempts to unlock her door. Eventually she has to use both hands to keep the key from shaking. Once she hears the lock click, she rushes into the room and closes the door loudly behind her, not even caring in the slightest if she wakes Kelley. Then she deposits her toiletries on her desk and takes the last few strides before diving onto her bed and burying her burning face into her pillow.

This girl is going to be the death of me.