Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Carson slid her keys into the lock and turned the keys to open the brown wooden door. She walked into the room and closed the door behind her. She was instantly greeted with a reflection of herself. She stood about 5’4 with pale blue eyes identical to her mothers and short wavy blonde hair that met her shoulders. She approached the naked mattress on the far left side of the room and rested her luggage atop of it. One by one she pulled out her clothes and placed them in the drawers beside the bed. Under garments in the top drawer, sleep wear in the middle, and casual wear in the bottom. She hung up her more dressy clothes in the closet near the door as well. The last thing left to do was make her bed, the place she would be sleeping for the next nine months. Making her bed was always something she hated she could never get the fitted sheet on quite right and the covers were never as straight and she would have preferred. At least she didn’t have a roommate that could easily see her mess of a bed. Carson made it quite clear that she could not have a roommate she didn’t exactly play well with others.
By the time she had unpacked it was nearly 10pm and she was beyond exhausted. She decided to text her mother to let her now she was safe and packed away. After the message was sent she quickly changed and did something she had been thinking about for the last hour, jump in bed and go the hell asleep. She hit the mattress with such force the bed made a small screech. Setting her head on her plain black pillow which matched her bed sheets she closed her eyes and started to slowly drift asleep.
She was awoken the next morning due to the bright sunshine that shown through her window. She was definitely going to have to buy some curtains. Getting up she stretched and let out a dinosaur like groan ,followed by taking off her night clothes and putting on a simple black short sleeved V-neck shirt and a basic pair of blue jeans. She grabbed her hygiene bag and headed to the bathrooms.
After picking one of five open sinks she turned on the water and brushed her teeth, the minty toothpaste filling her mouth. Shortly after finishing she heard the door swing open and in walked in another girl, one with long black hair and emerald eyes. She stood about the same height as Carson possibly an inch taller. The other woman gave a small wave and smile to Carson and Carson couldn’t help but smile back. The other woman disappeared into a nearby shower and Carson left the bathroom taking with her a mental picture of the other girl.
Entering her room again Carson couldn’t decide what to do with her day. Sure she could go buy her textbooks for the semester or buy some new room décor because to be completely honest her room was beyond bland, the basic white walls and plain carpet as simply just not going to suffice. However she had no motivation to actually go out and do anything remotely productive. With a million things to do before the start of classes she came to a decision. She sat on her mess of a bed and pulled out her silver MacBook and opened Netflix. Scrolling through the endless number of TV shows and movies she settled on a classic show, FRIENDS.
Carson must have watched about six episodes before she could feel the tug of sleep come upon her. How can I be so incredibly tired when classes haven’t even started yet, she thought. Carson would not allow herself to fall asleep this early in the day. She needed coffee and she needed it now. She sat up and attempted to rub the sleep out of her eyes. She closed her laptop and stood up, the room immediately went fuzzy.
“Wow stood up way too fast,” she said to herself.
Slipping on a simple pair of blue Vans and grabbing her wallet as well as her phone she exited her dorm room. Closing the door behind her and locking it with the dull gray key she was handed the night before. Sliding the key into her pocket she headed off campus.
As she entered the city she realized that she had absolutely no idea where anything was. All she was looking for was a simple coffee house even a Starbucks would satisfy her. Looking around she noticed the city was entirely way too busy for a Tuesday. She then spotted a young man possibly in his mid-20s sitting on a bench reading what looked like the daily newspaper; she made the easy decision to ask him for directions to a nearby coffee house.
“Hey, sorry to interrupt” Carson tapped the man’s shoulder.
“Hello, it’s no problem” the young man greeted back.
“I’m new in town and I was just wondering where the nearest coffee is, do you think you could point me in the right direction?” she asked
“Yea, no problem, what you want to do is take the next left onto Central and walk down the road till you hit Third Street and Marcy’s Coffee Shack should be on the corner. I recommend the caramel cappuccino.” He said kindly.
“Thank you so much. Have a nice day,” she wished the man.
Walking in the direction the man had just given her she opened her mind and took in all the surrounded her, the tall buildings, the noisy cars, and the thousands of people around her, all kinds of people, loud people, quiet people, tall people, short people. She even noticed a very elderly women talking to a trashcan.
“Listen here, sunny, don’t go tryna pull that again,” Carson heard the older women say. Carson let out a small giggle as she kept walking.
Finally after a few short minutes of walking she reached the coffee house. She stepped inside and the interior was small and cozy. The coffee house only had about five other people within it. The walls were painted a deep red with a hardwood floor. The tables were black, short and round accompanied by matching chairs. The counter was pure white and standing behind the counter was a tall blonde lady who looked to be about the same age as Carson.
Carson carefully observed the small but inviting menu. She made the easy choice and trusted the man she had spoken to earlier.
“Hello what can I get you?” the blonde lady behind the counter asked in a Texan accent.
“Small caramel cappuccino please,” Carson responded
“Coming right up, that’ll be $2.50, can I get a name?”
“Carson,” and with that the other lady wrote Carson’s name on a cup and handed it to a short barista. After paying the lady behind the counter Carson took a seat in the corner of the coffee house at one of the small round black tables. She closed her eyes and took in everything around her, the strong smell of freshly brewed coffee, the quiet conversations people were having around her, and the way the warm air from felt upon her rosy cheeks. Carson’s eyes flung open when she heard her name being called by the short barista. Approaching the counter again she grabbed her coffee and returned to the place she had been sitting at before. Upon sitting back down she pulled out her phone opening up her email, smiling when she had realized she had received four new emails. She wondered who they were from, maybe her best friend, James, from back home, or her cousin Luke. The smile quickly fell from her face when she found out that they were just spam.
She took a sip from her coffee and was pleased as the hot liquid danced down her throat. The coffee was just what she needed. Carson opened her Facebook and started scrolling through peoples timelines. Even though she had only been gone a day she knew how hard the semester as going to be without her friends, she decided then that if she was going to make it in this city she needed friends and she needed them fast. Almost as if on que a girl with long brown curly hair and green eyes approached her.
“Hey, you go to NYU right?” the brown haired girl asked
“Yea, how do you know?” Carson responded
“I saw you last night outside the dorms, I go there as well. I’m a freshman and judging how Stacy briefly showed you around the campus I’d say you’re a freshman too?” she made and educated guess
Carson couldn’t help but smile. “Yea I am. I’m Carson by the way.”
“Alex. Mind if I sit here?” Alex gestured to the seat directly across from Carson
“Not at all” Carson could already see a new friendship brewing