Once I enter my floor, I hear Jessica my RA call out to me.
"Alba, wait up a second."
I met her my first day and she is very sweet. Every morning this week she has stopped by to say hello and kept me up-to-date on my roommate situation. When I turn around she is walking towards me with a vase full of white lilies and a smile on her face.
"These were sitting outside your door this morning," she says handing them to me. "I didn’t know when you would be back today and didn’t want them to get knocked over just sitting there on the floor, so I kept them for you."
Who would be sending me flowers? Taking them from her I notice the small envelope attached. Before I can inspect any further Jessica grabs my attention again.
"Oh, the roommate you were supposed to have this semester finally called. She ended up finding off-campus housing, so it looks like you’ll have the room all to yourself." She cheerfully tells me.
I suppose most people would like to have a room to themselves but, for me not so much, which got me to thinking about the other night when Leah mentioned she is not getting along with her roommate.
"Is it possible for a student to be reassigned to another room by request?" I ask her.
"Well, I suppose so. I mean as long as the request is approved by student housing."
"Great. Thanks, Jessica."
Too curious to wait until I get to my room, I pluck the small envelope from amongst the flowers and pull the small card from inside of it and read—
To my beautiful Alba.
That’s it? I flip the card over and the other side is blank.
My sister wouldn’t send me flowers saying something like that and Gabriel doesn’t seem like the type of guy to send flowers. I’m baffled.
"Are they from your boyfriend? They’re very pretty." Jessica asks.
"I don’t have a boyfriend," I mumble
"As pretty as you are you don’t have a boyfriend? Ooh, you have a secret admirer. That’s romantic."
No, it’s creepy.
I set the flowers down on a table to my left against the wall in the hallway. I don’t know why, but I want nothing to do with them.
"You don’t want your flowers?" Jessica calls out to me as I continue towards my room.
"I’m allergic," I lie.
"Oh. Well, okay. See you later, Alba."
Upon entering my dorm room something feels off. Glancing around I see everything is how it was when I left this morning. Why am I being so paranoid? This is ridiculous. I chuck my bag over onto the empty bed and sit down. Taking a deep breath and yawning I decide to lay down for a few minutes and rest.
I’m woken by a soft knocking on the door. Rubbing my eyes, I sit up and look at the clock hanging on the wall. 1:00pm? I slept for four hours? Getting up I open the door and see Leah is standing there.
"Hey, I tried texting you a few times, but you never replied back." She says.
"Sorry, I fell asleep. I’ve been so tired lately, but I didn’t mean to sleep so long. Come on in." Leah walks in and sits down on my bed.
"I figured we could get some lunch together before meeting up with Sam later."
"Sure, I’m pretty hungry. Let me freshen up really quick and we can go." I tell her with a smile. I feel better. The four-hour nap helped.
Finishing up in the bathroom, I grab my light blue cardigan pulling it on. We leave the room and make our way out of the dorm. Halfway toward the campus food court, Sam comes jogging up to us.
"Hey ladies," he greets, giving us his signature smile that usually makes all girls fawn all over him. "You both still game for going out?"