After you.

Chapter 2

The hustle and bustle of the airport used to be my favorite thing to watch, but today with the nerves building up inside of me about moving to LA and studying art and photography, a dream of mine for so long is just in front of me. I’m speechless.
“Alright, you have everything you need now? Remember dad and I will go to the post office as soon as it’s opened in the morning and get the boxes in the trunk shipped out to you” My mom asks for the 10th time since we walked inside the airport. “I know mom, I’ve got everything I need right now and if I need anything else from you, I will call you as soon as I land… I promise”, she smiles and hands me the coffee and muffin she fetched at the café whilst me and my dad exchanged the kind of an emotional goodbye.
“Okay, I guess this is it” I breathed outwards and throw my bag over my shoulder side hugging my mom careful of not dropping the coffee down her perfectly ironed white blouse.
“I love you both” I chirp as I walk towards my gate with the largest smile ever.
The flight seemed to be really quick and quiet, probably because I fell asleep while listening to Malibu nights by LANY. Evening flights are definitely something I need to invest in the future. After packing away my headphones and a few other bits that I had to entertain me on the flight. I stood to leave the plane already.
If I remember correctly my dad has arranged for his old college friend Josh to pick me up out front and take me to the residence hall to avoid the “confused” taxi drivers as my dad was calling them. Even though the idea of calling an uber seems fancy, meeting one of my dad’s friends from, Pepperdine University might relax my nerves. My dad attended Pepperdine University where he met my mother. They really wanted me to go to the same college, but I’m a bit more on the artistic side so I will be going to Otis college of Art and Design. I can’t wait until I can open my own art gallery while my photography and some of my paintings, that has been a huge dream of mine.
After retrieving my luggage I head outside to spot Josh, who I had only met through facetime where my dad asked him to pick me up.
“KITTY” I jump and turn my head to a grey-haired man in a suit standing next to a long black car.
“Hiya” I smile as I walk towards him, he quickly helps me with my luggage and I climb in the car.
The car smells slightly of min and is definitely expensive. My dad must have missed out on the part where he tells me he may be the richest person I’ve ever met. Even tho It doesn’t really matter how rich he is, I’m just not used to anything that expensive.
“Alrighty, OCAD huh?” He starts to make a conversation as he follows the exit out of the airport.
“Yeah...I wanted to study art from as soon as I knew what it was and my parents were always very supportive of my choices which I really appreciate. They always dreamed of at least one child to attend art so here I am. Of course, Kai is not really heading in that direction at the moment” I softly laugh and he joins me.
“Well... boys will be boys” He smiles and turns the radio on in the background.
We chat back and forth on the way to Campus, the evening lights of Los Angeles glisten. I discovered that he was married to a woman from college too, together they had five children and remained in California. They divorced last year, he described it as “bittersweet” and that he opened several businesses since then to keep himself occupied. Which explains the fancy car.
“You see that?” Josh points to a white building in the distance and a smile overcomes my face.
“We’re here!” I gasp and he laughed softly, driving in through the gates.
_ _ _

“So give me a call if you ever need anything,” Josh tells me after handing me a small business card with most of his details on It. We exchange goodbyes and I turn to face the building. I throw my bag over my shoulder and grab my suitcase full of my essentials until my boxes arrive.
The campus supervisor sits at a desk in the main lobby almost falling asleep in the late hour. I drop my bag onto the floor and cough to try and get her attention. She sits up frantically and looms at me with a glare before remaining to a soft expression. “Hello, How can I help you?” She smiles and I exchange one.
“Hi, I’m Kitty Jameson, I’m here to get a key to the dorm I’m supposed to be in” I laugh awkwardly and she begins to scan a few envelopes on her desk.
“Ah here, you are on the 8th floor, room 316.” She hands me an envelope “Thank you”. As I thank her I take a deep breath as I’m waiting for an elevator. “Your roommate may already be in there, try not to be too loud” She adds as I’m about to walk in the elevator, I stop for a second and turn with a confused look which she does not seem to care about.
“You alright?” She asks.
“You said, roommate... I applied for a single room” I argue and she laughs obnoxiously. “Single rooms are hard to get, applications for them don’t matter It’s a first come first served bases, and.. we’re fully booked this semester”. “But this is a unisex hall, what if I’m sharing a room with a boy? I did not sign up for that?” I fight and she smiles apologetically. “Boys and Girls can’t share a room without permission from the chancellor and even then he never accepts, so don’t worry about that. It’ll be another girl but there are boys on your floor” I frown but decide not to let It ruin my first week as a freshman, I nod and begin to walk back towards the elevator.
It can’t be that bad. Maybe It’ll be better, I won’t be so alone.
The ride to the 8th floor feels like an hour and finally, I find room 316. I knock first before entering with my stuff. The room is lit up with a small white lamp in between two well-made beds. There are sets of drawers by each bed and desks.
“Hello!” A chirpy voice calls and my eyes lift from the oak wood desks to a small blonde girl jumping off the bed. “Hiya, I’m Kitty” I stick out my hand to shake hers and she lets out a laugh. She comes in for a tight hug taking me by a surprise and I smile, it helped the nerves a lot.
“I’m Troian but you can call me Troi” She smiles in return.
“I thought I was never getting a roommate” She throws herself back onto the bed as I close the door behind me and lift my suitcase on top of my bed. “Well either did I,” I tell her about my situation and she listens sympathetically. After I’m done emptying the suitcase, I push it under the bed and sit on top of the sheets. “But hey...you seem nice enough and maybe it won’t be too bad” she smiles and nods. “I don’t bite” she teases and rolls onto her side.
“So that’s all you have?” she points to the small pile of clothing and toiletries I’ve left on top of the dresser. “No no” I laugh softly, “I traveled from Europe, and my parents just thought it’d be easier to ship the boxes” I explain and she nods understandingly. “Oh, That makes a lot more sense. I grew up in San Fran... So the drives saved the hassle.”
She tells a little bit more about herself, I found out that she is majoring in graphic design and lives at home with her dad alone. I tell her about my parents and about my brother and more about where I grew up, apparently, she has never heard of Latvia, the country I’m from.
We chat for a little while before I gram my toiletries and my pajamas, and I quickly explain that I’m going to take a quick shower before bed, she turns the light off, turns to the other side and goes to sleep.
“Okay but hat is not what she told me” A voice speaks down the hall as I close the door behind me and walk to the female bathroom.
“Why does it matter what she said? Come on Sam...you’re my best friend, you’re really going to take her word over mine?” I hear the voice louder as I turn the corner. At the end of the hall, I see a blonde boy angrily standing over another, who looks just as angry. His brown face flops down his face. I stare without thinking as the blonde boy speaks,” Colby... I’m not discussing this right now but I trust Kat’s word. She’s my f***ing girl” he yells back at who I now know as Colby. I shift feet trying to be quiet but drop my deodorant on the floor. Both their heads turn to me and them back away from each other. “Find another room tonight” I hear Colby call to Sam as he slams his dorm door and Sam walks off down the hall.
I hurry inside the women's bathroom and find a shower. Taking my time to think about what I just heard, I laugh quietly to myself at the drama between two college boys as the warm water drips down my body.