Jane 'El' Ellen Hopper isn't so sure about her new roommate.
She had arrived only an hour before, but this roommate was nowhere to be found. Her side of the room had been set up before she and her father arrived, and El was trying to learn as much as she could about this mystery girl from the posters and decorations haphazardly plastered across the room. There was a lot of sports paraphernalia – a Paris Saint-Germain poster for sure, and several skateboarders, none of whom she recognized. A couple of signed alternative band posters. Her duvet was bright red, while the shelves above the bed carried multiple sports trophies and a couple of textbooks. A corkboard filled with photos featuring a fiery redhead.
A pretty stark difference from how El has decorated; A pastel colored floral duvet, a tapestry hung at the head of the bed, a ton of books sitting on the shelves from which her father was currently hanging white twinkling lights.
"Ellie, sweetheart, could you hand me that extension cord?" Her father called out, distracting her for a moment. She looked around the floor until a flash of orange caught her eye. Her father was a few feet from her, his hands busy with cords. She picked it up and handed it to him. He attached the cords together, turning on the lights.
"What's my roommate's name again?" El pondered out loud, shuffling through the welcome documents given to her earlier during check in. "Ah, here. Maxine Mayfield?"
"Cool name, cool room." Her father remarked. El grimaced. "Come on, now. Give her a shot. It's your first week of college – you talked the whole way up here about making friends."
Her father wasn't wrong. El had a lot of changes she had wanted to make in her life and the first thing on that list was make a real friend. Several, even.
She did have one friend – but being related was cheating. Will Byers was her step-brother and kindred spirit. Since she had been adopted at age seven, she and Will had been inseparable. Growing up in a small town with your father as Chief of Police had its benefits, but when that father adopted you into his already unconventional family of spacy (yet wonderful) second wife and her two mercilessly bullied sons? People talk.
El had never taken interest in making other friends. It always seemed like so much effort, with everyone teasing her and making assumptions about her background and having preconceived notions about her step-brothers' artistic hobbies. And so what if Will likes boys? El never thought there was anything wrong with Will's sexuality, but the kids at school definitely tried as hard as they could to make him feel like there was something was wrong with him.
It was just all so exhausting. It was just easier to leave it alone.
Then Jonathan, her eldest step-brother, went off to college. When El began her senior year, Will went to college too. It had never occurred to El how equally exhausting it was to be alone.
"I suppose I'm just nervous. To meet new people." Her father pulls her close.
"I know, Ellie. I'm nervous too. Can't believe my little girl is all grown up. But remember, Will's been here. He knows the school. And we're only a few hours away, so you and Will can come home on the weekends. Now, since we seem to be all set here, do you wanna with Will at his dorm?"
"Nah, dad. I think I'll stay here and look through my textbooks. I'll see Will later for dinner, anyway."
"Okay, kid. Anyone gives you trouble you tell them your pop's the Chief of Police, yeah?" El laughed as her dad scooped her up into a big bear hug. "I love you, Ellie."
And just like that, her father was gone and El Hopper was on her own. She jumped onto her bed, sitting Indian-style and just drank in everything in her new home for the year. Looking out the window, placed near her bed, she could see the Green. Parents and students lugged things across the criss-crossing sidewalks. On the opposite side of the Green, she could see the campus library. Whether she ultimately liked her roommate or not, she lucked out with her dorm. Not only did El score a window view, but her dorm was in the heart of campus, where all the action was. A rush of adrenaline shot through El's body.
El heard a slight click as the door opened. Time to face the music, she thought as she turned her head towards the sound.
"Hi! I'm Max!" She almost shouted, approaching El to shake her hand. True to the photos El had looked over earlier, Max was a thin girl with fiery red hair, pulled up into a messy ponytail. She was flushed as if she had been working out, but she sported skinny jeans, a tank top, with a longboard in hand. "Sorry, I was out exploring the campus. Bit hot today."
"I'm El."
"Elle? Not Jane?" Max looked perplexed, settling herself on El's bed. She pushed the documents to the side and crossed her legs to face El. El shook it off and continued.
"No. Well, yes." El explained, already feeling overwhelmed. "Ellen's my middle name. But I like El for short."
"True. I'm not a fan of Maxine either, but Marie's worse. So, Max it is."
El had to giggle. "Maxine Marie Mayfield? That's a lot."
"I know. The alliteration is just too much. So, tell me everything. What classes are you taking? Where are you from? Do you have any friends here?"
"Well, I grew up near Chicago… " Max shook her head, listening intently. "And, um, I'm taking education classes, mainly. But I think I want to do social work. And, I don't really have any friends here. Just my step-brother."
"That's okay. I don't either. I just moved from California. I wanted something totally different. A fresh start." Max smiled at her. "Who knows? Maybe we can be friends."
"Yeah, maybe."
The small talk continued for a while. Max had made the women's soccer team and was at the university on partial scholarship. Max really liked all things active and competitive – primarily skateboarding, though she explained there aren't a lot of scholarships for that. She was also taking education classes (maybe that's why they were placed together?) but was focused on becoming a PE teacher. El wasn't sure what she had expected, but her fears started to melt away. Max was perfectly nice, spunky, and didn't seem to mind that she didn't have much to say. She was talking about her dad back in California when her stomach made a long gargling noise. They broke out in laughter.
"Okay, well, let me shower first and we can check out the dining hall, okay?" Max suggested. El agreed, and Max grabbed a towel and some clothes before hopping into the bathroom they shared.
El felt ready to go, and flipped through a textbook absentmindedly while she waited. Her cellphone began to vibrate, indicating a text message.
Will:
ELLIEEEEE come over already imy
Ellie:
After dinner? Gonna go eat with my roomie.
Will :
ugh fine. Come ready to go out doe Dustin's frat is throwing a party
She hadn't met Will's friends, but she had heard plenty about them. Will thrived at this school in the past year, and a large part of that was due to the three friends he had made; Dustin, Lucas and Mike.
Max came out of the bathroom, wringing out her hair.
"Party tonight?" El asked.
"Hell yes." Max replied, without skipping a beat.
The walk from the dining hall to Will's dorm wasn't terribly long, about 15 minutes. The sun had started to set, warming the campus with red and orange hues. El checked her phone to double-check which building it was - there were two separate ones. They were all gorgeous, coming together to create a courtyard in the middle, but she couldn't figure out which was the building. She gave up and just stood in the middle of the courtyard, dialing Will's number.
"Hey. You here?"
"Hey. I'm standing in the courtyard? I can't tell which one is which."
"Okay! I have to let you in anyway, so I'll meet you downstairs." Will explained, then hung up.
"So… this is your brother?" Max asked.
"Yeah. Well, step-brother." El explained, craning her neck to find Will. Why did all these buildings look the same? "My dad and his mom got together when we were little."
"Ellie!" She heard Will's voice behind her. She turned around to see Will waving to them from one of the entrances, foot in the door to keep it open as he stretched out behind the archway so that the girls could see him. "Come on in."
They followed him in, and he skipped up the stairs to the second floor, the girls following close behind. Leading them down the corridor, he walked up to a door marked 205 and opened the door.
"Will. This place is amazing." El breathed out, looking at him. He beamed at her and pulled her into a hug.
The place was humongous. The front door led into a large, open concept room. Directly to her left was a kitchen, with a high-top bar dividing it from the rest of the room, and a round table and chairs to her right. Just ahead, there was a living room, with a loveseat and two armchairs surrounding a coffee table; all directed towards a TV in an alcove with tall bay windows, which would light up the room beautifully if it weren't already dusk.
Two guys sat in that living room, completely invested in whatever video game they were playing. El couldn't get a good look at them, since they were facing away from them. Stretched across the loveseat was a broad-shouldered, dark-skinned guy, and on the floor with his long, long legs spread underneath the coffee table, a guy with a mop of black hair that contrasted his pale, pale skin.
"Guys, my sister and her roommate are here." Will called out. The video game quickly paused, and the two guys scrambled to get up. "So this is my sister, El, and her roommate… Max?" Will glanced back at the redhead to confirm.
"Yes, Max. This is Lucas," he gestured at the dark skinned guy. He smiled and nodded his head at the girls. Lucas was tall, and incredibly lean, his biceps bulging out from his green camo shirt. "And Mike."
Mike was… wow. If Lucas was tall, Mike was in a different category altogether. El had to crane her neck upwards to look at him properly. His curly black hair almost fell into his dark eyes, and a splay of freckles peppered his face and neck, disappearing below his V-neck.
He was just so pretty. Could men really be that pretty?
"Wait a minute, I know you." Lucas blurted out to Max. Max furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
"We've literally never met."
"You're on the women's soccer team, right?"
"What are you, some kind of stalker?"
"No! I just- no." Lucas sighed, looking more regretful each moment. "I'm in ROTC, right? We PT on the soccer field. I just noticed you, is all. Because you're new." He rambled on. Mike snorted, letting out an awkward laugh.
"Dude, that's pretty stalker-ish." He said.
"Because she's new!" Lucas turned to Mike, arms gesticulating.
"I think you should stop while you're ahead." Will chuckled.
Realizing she hasn't done anything but stare at Mike for the past few minutes, she searched for something, anything, to talk about.
"So, don't you have another roommate?" She asked, wincing at her voice which ran a little high. Mike turned his head to the side.
"Dustin's coming in a bit. He's in a fraternity, so he's got God-knows-what to do with them, but then he's heading back over… Can I get you guys anything to drink?" Mike explained, walking to the refrigerator in record time.
He bent down to look into the fridge. "We got water, orange juice… and coke…." He straightened himself back up. "Yeah, that's it. We just moved in." he finished, scrunching his face a little.
"Coke sounds great." Max piped up. Mike poured the coke into small glasses and handed them to the girls, his eyes lingering on El a moment.
Max is not blind to any of this. She's only known El for maybe 4 hours now, but she can tell when someone is star-struck. She can also tell that El is a private person, so she simply links arms with the doe-eyed girl and waggles her eyebrows while taking a sip of her coke. El rolled her eyes and scoffed, but the growing blush on her face spoke the truth. Who was she kidding?
Will and Lucas join them, pouring themselves something and Will bringing out snacks for them to share. Mike shares stories about growing up with Lucas and Dustin, peppered with smart-ass retorts from Lucas. El was completely absorbed in every word he said, as he detailed that one Halloween that the three of them went to school dressed up in their costumes and realized they were the only ones to do so.
The stories were cut short as someone banged on their door.
"Hey assholes – my hands are full!" a voice called from outside.
"Oh shit that's Dustin." Lucas slid off the counter and opened the door. A stocky, curly haired boy strutted inside with bags of soda bottles in either hand. Lucas stood staring out the door, confused. "Is that a dolly?"
Dustin looked perplexed that Lucas would ask such a question. "Uh, yeah."
"A dolly? Of beer?"
"Two dollies, actually. One beer and one liquor. And chasers." Dustin lifted the bags, emphasizing them to Lucas and placed them on the counter. Lucas looked outside the door, and sure enough there was a second dolly, just out of sight. He wheeled them both in, chuckling.
"How did you even get your hands on this much beer? And into the dorm? We're underage."
"Lucas, you live with a frat star now. I got them connects." Mike and Lucas just stared at him. "Steve. Steve is my connect." He explained, exasperated with his friends. He turned to the two new people observing them from over the counter, sporting a toothy grin.
"Hi. I'm Dustin." he said to Will. "And you lovely ladies are…?"
"I'm El. Will's sister. And this is Max." El spoke. Max waved at Dustin, who waved back.
"That's awesome. So here's the game plan." Dustin began, placing his palms down. "My fraternity is having a big party tonight. So we're gonna get pumped, get drunk and party hard. Starting right now. Sound good?"
"Don't we need to be able to get to the party in the first place…?" Will inquired, seeming a little unsure.
"Rush week is over. I got pledges on speed dial. We're good." Dustin popped open a bottle of vodka and collected some shot glasses, pouring the clear alcohol into each glass. "So feel free to go crazy."
Together with her new friends, El swigged the vodka. The vodka heated up her chest, only adding to how full her heart felt.
Glancing around to all her new friends, pouring out more shots over laughter and conversation, she felt at peace. Yeah, it was going to be a great year.
Her eyes landed on Mike, as she took in his features once again. He was midway through saying something to Dustin, though El couldn't say what that was, when he looked over and caught her staring. El sucked in her breath and felt the blush return to her cheeks. El glanced away, breaking eye contact, choosing to observe her empty shot glass instead.
When El looked back up, she found his ebony eyes still gazing at her. This time, she didn't look away, and smiled softly at him. He grinned, stirring something within her.
Dustin had a good point. Maybe she should go a little crazy this year.