Alan

My roommate was some guy named Phil. He seemed nice enough, and had a very tanned complexion. His hair was semi-long and dark brown. He liked to laugh quite a fair bit from what I could work out in the mere hours I had known him, and was also a fan of Pink Floyd. We had spent the afternoon avoiding Erin and Vic, who seemed intent on welcoming everyone at least four times each and asking how the slow process of getting the room in order was. By avoiding, I mean having the stereo turned up almost as loud as it could go, locking the door and pretending we didn't hear their merciless knocks. If anyone else had wanted to get to know us, too bad. They could wait until tomorrow, or whenever we ventured out into the building.

'So, where are you from?' Phil shouted over the music, helping me drag a bed into position. His was already set up under the window, him claiming it was for "medical reasons". Yeah right, he probably smoked and needed an escape hatch for the stench.

'California,' I yelled back, banging the bed against the wall. Phil rolled his eyes at me, letting go of the bed and retrieving a pile of sheets, dumping them on my bed.

'Where from in Cali?'

'A few hours away, south. You?'

'East, out in Arizona. It's,' Phil's words were drowned out by a particularly loud section of the music. He spread his arms though, smiling widely.

'What?'

'It's how I got this tan.'

'Really?'

'No. I'm from a place near San Diego.'

I began to make my bed, doing my mother proud as I tucked in the sheets. Phil has discarded one of his, only putting on the mattress cover and a duvet. I didn't make any comment; he was free to make his bed in any way he pleased.

After next moving desks into place and discovering that we had a tiny bench on which to put kitchen utensils and cupboards to store a few plates, bowls, and cups, we decided that a trip into town was necessary.

- - -

'So, what do we need?' I asked Phil, crossing my arms and looking at the shelf full of household appliances. Phil leaned on the trolley we had gotten, and ticked the options off on his fingers.

'Cups, bowls -'

'That we'll need from this section of the store.'

'Oh. Toaster?' Phil shrugged. 'I don't know. Want me to go get the other stuff?'

I nodded, 'Sure,' before turning back to the shelves. I sighed and looked at my options.

Toasted sandwich maker, kettle, Dim Sim steamer.

My head hurt already and the products went on for another few meters. I grabbed a kettle, microwave and toasted sandwich maker before heading off to find Phil with the crockery and cutlery. I almost dropped the kettle, thanks to Phil stealing off with the trolley. I dumped our soon-to-be purchases into the trolley and waited while Phil picked out a plain, white bowl and plate set, drawing a line when it came to the cups and choosing multicoloured, cheap plastic ones. Phil grabbed a bag of party cutlery that looked silver but was some sort of tough plastic and we headed to the register. We halved the price, the total coming to around eighty dollars each.

On the way home, we stopped off at a grocery store and bought a few simple foods that would be easy to make - noodles, canned spaghetti and bread for toasted sandwiches.

'What are you going to do when we get back to the dorm?' Phil asked, looking out the window and flipping his sunglasses down over his eyes to shield them from the dying sun.

'Sleep, probably. It's been a long day. You?'

'I heard there was going to be a party or whatever in the dorm house next to ours.'

'How did you hear that? We've been in the dorm all day.'

Phil smiled secretively at me. 'I have my sources.'

- - -

Phil's "sources" turned out to be none other than Vic and Erin. I had turned up to see if it was really what Phil said it would be, only to see a few tables set up with lemonade and a bowl of chips. Barely anyone was there besides the dorm officials, and the music was outdated pop songs that were down so low that they all blended into one another. Needless to say, I had left immediately. Phil, wanting to get in good with the dorm officials, stuck around and discussed courses they were taking.

I had almost fallen asleep when Phil opened the creaky door and slipped into the room.

'Don't trust those two.' I muttered groggily. 'They're trouble.'

'You missed out on a good party, Alan. Nothing but fun.' I heard Phil take out his lighter and open the window as wide as it would go.

'Don't stink up the room.' I warned him, a laugh his only response.

'Night Alan.'

Notes

Title cred: Lonely Girl - Tonight Alive

There is a positive to this. Less time between updates! Yay! It only took me five days.