Going After The Wrong Guy

Chapter 2: R/help: I Can't Stand My Roommate

That was the closest Jen had ever been to perfectionism. She kept touching her lips, feeling Chad's earlier mark on them. They felt holy and light. She smiled, giggling to herself as she walked to her dorm building.

It was past 3 PM, meaning her new roommate had already settled in. If her mom knew she was rooming with a guy due to her lazy mishap of selecting 'no preference' for every category, including gender, on her roommate form, she would have been flying back to Louisiana today. The entire time Genesis was unpacking, she was thinking, 'A guy! A guy! She imagined what he would look like, be like, smell like. 'He was the type to spend his days reading,' she thought. 'He manifested rain. A steady minimalist, a taciturn, or an introvert.' They exchanged texts after the university notified them they would be roommates, about two weeks before moving in, and he seemed brief.

Jen: What movies do you like?

Read 7 days ago

Jen: Are you thinking of getting a job this semester?

James:  No.

Jen: Oh okay. Cool

Read at 6:00 am

Jen opened the door to see her minimalist, introverted, room—oh.

He turned the room into a mess. There were papers stuffed under his desk, royal blue chessmen scattered on the wood floor, random knick-knacks creating a border around the only microwave in the room, and a giant clear airtight container with a hinged lid on her desk filled with photo prints.

Jen sighed. Perhaps he was taking a break rest. He'll clean it later; he's probably just worn down from unpacking after a long trip. She left the door open, her eyes landing on her roommate, who was scrolling through his phone with his socks off.

He didn't look at her.

"You must be James," she had to say something. "I'm Genesis, but most people call me Jen." He still didn't look at her. She looked at his ears, no AirPods. He must be deaf. He had no reason to ignore her.

"So, I was just wondering about your sleep schedule, so I can know when I should shower and get ready for bed," Jen started to say. He groaned and turned towards his side so he was facing his window and away from Jen.

A taciturn. Like she expected.

Jen walked back to her desk and heaved the container of pictures onto the floor. She sat down on the rolling chair that the university supplied her with and grabbed her laptop and AirPods from her backpack. She spent the day previewing course content, while he lay in bed. At around 9 PM, she closed her laptop, grabbed her towel, pajamas, shower caddy, and shower shoes, and headed to the bathroom, keeping their door cracked.

Their suite was a nice size, with eight individual rooms, each housing two roommates, and separate restrooms for boys and girls. Jen walked into the girls' restroom and stepped inside the shower closest to the door. She left her shower caddy outside the shower on the floor to keep it from getting wet, and placed her body and face wash on the corner shower caddy. Then, she closed the curtain and removed her clothes along with the neck lanyard holding her ID.

Chad flashed in her mind.

If you can make my heart skip a beat before the semester ends, I'll date you.

How would she do it? Does he want some kind of sex tease? Or is he looking for something more chivalrous? Fuck him! That's what her best friend Kris would say. Both figuratively and literally. Fuck him because he's hot and then leave because he's probably a red flag. But how do you fuck a hot guy and then leave? No, how do you fuck a guy, loose your virginity to him, and then never see him again? It's not what she wanted. She wanted him to be hers.