All The Small Things

145

[Luca POV]
On Wednesday, I couldn't sit still the whole day. I knew I only had one day left in Meadows and Jacob was coming to visit me that day. I had recently started getting to know my roommate, who was a black guy with long dreads whose name was Jayden. He was really calm. Almost everyone here is involved in some kind of drama with another patient or staff over something so small and insignificant, that wouldn't even matter in 2 weeks, but me and him weren't. Ashley wasn't either, but that was because she hardly even talked.
"You're seeing your boyfriend today?" He asked as he rolled up his newly washed socks and put them away.
"Yeah. Sorry, I know that's all I talked about last night," I apologized, only just realizing it might've been annoying.
"Nah, it's cool. I'm seeing my sister today," he told me.
"Does she live around here or is she coming from out of state?" I asked. I have a few questions to ask during conversations and a couple conversation topics, but past those I'm really awkward when speaking to people. So I just have to hope the conversation doesn't last long.
"She's a couple towns away, but she's 'bout an hour out," Jayden answered as I fixed my socks.
"Do you want me to grab your hygiene while I get mine?" I asked, stopping at the doorway of our room.
"Yeah, thanks," he answered. Even if you don't bring your own hygiene in, the facility has to give you your own personal collection of items like toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, a hairbrush, and soap. I walked down to the nurses station and grabbed both of ours, stacking his on top of mine so it was easier to carry, before walking back to our bedroom. I could hear people down the hall screaming at staff, but tried not to listen since it wasn't my business.

"Do you wanna shower first?" I asked, starting to grab my clean clothes from the plastic shelves they give you as a little dresser.
"Nah, you can go ahead. I gotta eat breakfast before hygiene," he explained, sitting on his bed. I grabbed my clothes and towels before stepping into the bathroom. It had a door, but it didn't lock. And the shower curtain was velcro so you couldn't hang yourself off of it. I started the water and began brushing my teeth while it heated up. After I got in, I started spacing out. Honestly, I couldn't help but let my mind wander while I cleaned myself. I ended up thinking about Kayden. Mostly about the big incident with him, but also about what he had done to Jacob that morning when I woke up in the middle of them making noise. I only snapped back to reality when Jayden knocked on the wooden door for an extended period of time.
"Yo, we've got 15 minutes til breakfast. You gotta hurry if you wanna eat," he warned me. I felt sorta embarrassed he had to give me a time check like I was a fucking child, but I figured I'd tell myself off for it later. I quickly rinsed off both my body and my hair before stepping out and grabbing my towel.

It didn't take long for me to dry off and get dressed. What took half the time I had left was trying to brush out my hair. It took over 5 minutes, which isn't ideal when I'm on a time restraint, so I had to rush when getting my clothes on, deodorant applied, and my hygiene stuff put back. I felt grossed out that I could feel my wet hair on the back of my neck, but I just stayed silent so I could try and process it. We only had two more minutes before lining up to head to breakfast, and I carried Oliver with me like I had carried him everywhere the entire time I've been here. On the way there, these two guys started arguing over something I didn't care enough to learn about. We stopped in the middle of the hallway, which pissed off most of the people just trying to get breakfast.
"No, you don't say that about someone! It doesn't matter whatever your lame ass excuse was, you just don't say it!" one of them yelled. I plugged my ears and lightly hit my head against the wall. I was really just leaning on the wall and it was farther away than I expected, so it hurt a little. I couldn't hear anymore what they were arguing about since I was pushing against my ears so hard, but I saw a staff member have to call for assistance over a walkie-talkie before our main staff told us to start walking again to the cafeteria.

I got a tray but wasn't gonna eat anything off it. I just want the orange juice and milk, but I always give Sammy the actual food. That didn't change today, even though it looked fine. It was just waffles and sausage. Jacob says I'm too picky about what I eat and that I need to still eat while I'm here, so I only do lunch and dinner. Sometimes when snack is good I have it too. I sat down across from the blonde boy at the same table as always, my ears still covered. There was also this chick that keeps trying to talk with me ever since I got here, but I really don't want to anymore. I didn't really mind the first couple times, but she would get really close and say stuff I'm pretty sure was supposed to be flirting. Things like 'you're way too handsome to be single, do you got a girlfriend?' or just make sexual jokes whenever anything was said that she could twist into an innuendo. Her name's something with an 'M'.
"You're okay, it's not loud anymore," he reassured me. I mostly read people's lips when I have my ears covered, so it's become pretty easy for me to tell what they're saying without actually hearing it. I thought about it for a second before slowly pulling my hands away. Sammy spent most of the hour we have here talking at me while I zoned out, thinking about the same thing as when I was in the shower. When he stood up to get back in line is when I zoned back in, seeing he dumped my tray for me and deciding to just get in line too. I thanked him before we left the cafeteria.