"You sure you don't need help unpacking, T? I can help you build your desk," Zack offered, once they'd unloaded everything from his truck into Trini's single room.
Trini smiled a tight lipped smile, trying to remain civil. Zack'd been nothing but helpful, but after hearing him belt out the same twenty tracks off of One Direction's Take Me Home album for the past eight hours on their drive to school, she was sure one more second of the chorus of Kiss You would drive her through the roof.
"Nah, I'm good, thanks," she said, instead of taking him up on his offer, "but you should probably get to unpacking yourself, or you're never gonna do it."
"... you're not wrong," he said, frowning.
Trini smirked. "When am I wrong?"
"Good point. But you're sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, I'm good. Honestly, Zack? I'm a freshman at college, not fresh out of the womb. I'm good," she assured him, waving him off.
"Ookay, sassypants. See you later, then," he shrugged, before getting up and opening the door of the now crowded space.
"Thanks for the ride, by the way!" She called out, hoping he heard her.
Once he shut the door behind him, she was left sitting on top of one of her boxes, surveying the room in front of her.
Since she'd arrived a week later than all the other freshman, with Zack insisting frosh week was a waste of time and it was better if they stayed behind in their hometown to finish up the summer, Trini was left with one of the unfinished rooms at university, not having had the proper time to sign up for a better one.
She stared one last time at the IKEA boxes, before grabbing a pair of scissors to open up the box labelled bed-frame. How the university got away with providing housing without even a bed, Trini wasn't sure, but then again, she'd chosen the school for its program, not the housing.
Sighing at the mess of various screws and wooden parts that were now out of the box, she scratched her head and straightened her back, standing up and stretching. She stared at the time. 6:47pm. And she still had a table and a chair to make, after the bed frame!
Dazed, she shook her head quickly to regain her thoughts. Time for a coffee break.
It didn't take long for her to find the nearest coffee shop. In a college town, they were probably about as common as housing buildings.
Truthfully, she could've gone to her floor's shared kitchen, but after ten minutes of not understanding how the coffee maker worked, she decided to just get her quick fix across the street from her dorm before someone caught her being an idiot.
"Venti double shot on ice?" The barista called out, breaking Trini out of her thoughts. Shaking her head, she stepped towards the counter, about to grab her drink, until a flash of pink beat her to it, and stepped in front of her, effectively blocking her from her fix.
"Thanks," the stranger said to the barista, taking the cup from his hand.
Trini frowned. She was tired from the commute, and she'd be damned if she couldn't just have her coffee.
"Excuse me," she said, angrily tapping the stranger on the shoulder, "but that's my drink."
The stranger whirled around, her short wavy hair whipping around gracefully as she did so.
"Yeah?" She replied, immediately smiling when her eyes met Trini's. Holy shit, was she hot. She was a little taller than Trini, with a devil-may-care lilt to her lips, and a dark leather jacket (really? In this weather?) to match. Trini quickly pushed the thoughts away, her anger beating away thoughts of whatever that was.
"That's my drink." The shorter girl repeated, standing her ground. (Was there a fan in here somewhere? How was this girl's hair moving perfectly like that? It was unfair.)
The stranger lifted a brow. Trini tried not to focus too much on the movement. "You? Venti double shot on ice?" She chuckled, "you're barely taller than this drink."
Trini sputtered, indignant. "That's not- you can't- whatever! The drink's mine!"
"No, it's mine," the taller girl said simply, "I always get this. It's my regular order."
Trini scowled, her blood boiling. She knew it was hers- her name was on the side that was facing her. "It literally says my name on it!"
The stranger's brows shot up, before coming back down together, and she turned the cup over to examine the red writing on the cup. Trini, it read.
"Oh, it does," she said, looking impressed. Then she smirked, took the straw between her teeth, and sipped the drink, "Well, thanks Trini," she winked, and made her way out the store.
Trini watched her leave the store, stunned into silence from the audacity of the girl. When she regained her senses, she tried not to punch the barista in blind anger after explaining how her drink had been stolen.
He handed her the stranger's drink, having had the same order anyway.
Kimberly, it read, in the same red font.
"Me cago en todo lo que se menea!" Trini cussed, for the millionth time that night. It was nearing 3am, and she had tried her best to stay quiet for her new neighbours (people she still hadn't met yet) but that idea flew out the window about seven hours ago, when she realized all her instructions were only written in Swedish.
She was just about to twist in a few screws into her bed-frame, when she heard a loud knocking at her door. She dropped her screwdriver to the floor with a loud clang, and walked over to her door.
"Sorry, am I being too loud-?" She asked, wrenching her door open. When she saw who was waiting on the other side, she scowled. "-oh. It's you. What're you doing here?"
"Well, hello to you too, Trini," the girl said, smirking as she leaned onto the door frame. "I'm Kim, I live right next door."
"Great," Trini deadpanned, trying not to curse every God in the world that Kim was her neighbour. "And I know. The barista gave me your order when you left," she added, when Kim's grin widened from Trini's knowledge of her name. "And if you want me to keep it down, too bad- that's not happening for you."
Trini thought Kim looked a little bit guilty after Trini had mentioned the stolen coffee order, but the look was quickly replaced back to her default smirk. "You know what? Be as loud as you want, I'll be up anyway."
The shorter girl's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Kim was wearing a soft blue shirt with the words NAP emblazoned on the front, paired with boxers that were fashioned to look like the American flag, and her hair looked like she'd just had the wildest sex. Or she'd been trying to sleep. Either one.
"Why?" Trini finally asked, after critically analyzing Kim's state.
"Because I'm a master builder and you're in luck, 'cause I'm gonna help you build stuff." Kim said, her voice coming out raspy, confirming Trini's theory. Obviously the sleep one. Not the other one.
"What makes you think I need your help?" Trini scoffed, trying to sound like she didn't desperately need someone's help.
"Sweetheart, I literally heard you swearing in Spanish every five seconds- I'm pretty sure you need me," she said, pushing her way past Trini and into her room, "so, what're you building here?"
"Hey! I didn't say you could come in!"
Kim paused, glancing quickly at the mess Trini made, before she gave her a look over her shoulder, so as to say 'really?'
"Trini, I can practically hear this- um, table? Chair?" She stared at it again, trying to piece together what else it might be, "sauna? Scream for help."
Trini scowled.
"Hey, I'm sorry about your coffee," Kim sighed, as if talking was causing her physical pain, "but I promise I'm great at building things! I'll make it up to you by not being annoying and helping you build this."
"You? Not being the worst pain in my ass?" Trini asked, sounding unnecessarily doubtful.
"It's more likely than you think," Kim winked.
There was a short pause. Trini was clearly taking her time on weighing in her options. On one hand, Kim could probably drive her up the wall. On the other, however, Kim was unfairly hot, and Trini really needed the help.
Trini shut her eyes, before slowly opening them again, as if this was the hardest decision she'd ever made in her life. "Fine," she huffed out.
"Great!" Kim clapped, her eyes suddenly very bright and alive. "No takebacks. Where are the instructions?"
"Over there," Trini pointed to a spot behind Kim. "And they're all in Swedish. No takebacks," she added, when she saw Kim's face fall.
Kim picked up the instructions, a cute frown on her face as she studied them deeply. "Okay, no problem," Kim said, her face suspiciously smoothed over. "I can totally read these instructions. It's basically the same as Gujarati."
Trini was skeptical that they even sounded similar, but she was too tired to question it. Shrugging, she took the obvious lie easily. "So where do we go from here?"
"First… that piece you attached to that? Yeah, that's part of a chair leg."
Not that Trini would ever say it to her face, but Kim seemed to be unreasonably good at everything without even trying. Or at least, it was safe to admit she was actually great at building IKEA furniture, because when the shorter girl woke up the next morning in her beanbag chair, she was staring directly at a finished bed-frame, complete with the proper desk and chair set up in the corner of the room.
She made to get up to examine them, only to find a hand resting on her left boob. "What-?" It was Kim's hand, to be exact, judging from the head sleeping soundly on her arm, snoring softly.
"Hell no," Trini whispered angrily, slapping Kim's hand off her breast.
"Mmph, what-?" The sleeping girl stirred, opening her eyes to face Trini's angry face. "My bad, I really didn't mean to subconsciously cop a feel."
But her apology was interrupted by a phone alarm going off.
"Shit!" Trini cursed, recognizing her alarm for her first class.
"At least we got sleeping together over with." Kim said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.
"Shut up, idiot," Trini snapped, getting up quickly to grab her things for class, "I'm late for my first class!"
Kim stared at the time on Trini's phone. "Oh," she laughed, "me too, I guess. What d'you have?"
"Stats!" Trini yelled, throwing a sweater over her pajamas. She didn't have the time to properly change.
"Me too," Kim said, annoyingly calm. "With who?"
"Appleby."
"Me too!" Kim repeatedly, noticeably more excited by this information. "I'll meet you in the hall- walk with you to class."
Trini rolled her eyes. She wasn't going to wait in the hall.
The words Kim and unfair seemed to go together a lot in Trini's mind. This time, the reason was how unfair it was that Kim was one of those people who could just roll out of bed and go to class. Although Trini hadn't intended on meeting Kim in the hall, by the time she'd stepped out of her dormroom, Kim was waiting already, apparently only having changed her pants.
They barely made it to class on time, and the professor didn't even notice them run into the class.
Trini hated to admit it, but the class was way more bearable with Kim there. Or, perhaps, just with a familiar face there. She had a study buddy already made without having to interact with anybody new, and someone to crack jokes with when the lecture got too boring.
When the professor dismissed the class, Kim shoved all her things messily into her bag. Trini raised her brows at the action. "You got another class after, or something?"
"Yeah," Kim said, uncharacteristically rushed.
"When?"
"'Bout an hour ago," she answered simply.
"How did they let you schedule those two classes, then? Isn't that a major conflict?"
"It isn't a conflict," Kim laughed, slightly out of breath, "I'm not actually in this class. Bye," she said, walking at a brisk pace out of the lecture hall, because God forbid Kim was ever caught running to class.
Later, before Trini could even drop her bag onto her floor, she heard her text-tone go off.
Zack Taylor (12:23pm): Triniiiiiii
Zack Taylor (12:23pm): it's my birthday month
Trini rolled her eyes. He was probably gonna ask for a rocket ship, or something equally impossible to build. She may be a first year engineering student, but that didn't mean she knew anything about engineering yet.
Trini G (12:24pm): so?
Zack Taylor (12:24pm): SO i get a free meal at tiger boy! Come THRU
She blinked. Right.
Trini G (12:24pm): thats only if we have a party of five though
Zack Taylor (12:25pm): um ya im bringing billy and jace duhhh
Zack Taylor (12:25pm): tru u prob didnt make any friends lol
Zack Taylor (12:25pm): tbh just ask out any girl u got the face for it i just want the free food dont ruin my bday for me
Scowling at the texts, she typed quickly to save face.
Trini G (12:26pm): shut up homeboy ill have you know i made a friend last night
Zack Taylor (12:26pm): k i get it ur a playa so BRING HER
Still not wanting to let Zack be right about having terrible social skills, she texted back a quick FINE I WILL.
Five hours, and seven texts from Zack saying "so is she coming or is she just ur imaginary friend bc idk if thats gonna fly" later, Trini finally heard the door next to hers slam shut. She jumped up immediately from her bed, and power walked over to Kim's room.
Standing directly in front of Kim's door, she gave herself no time to hesitate before knocking twice loudly. The door immediately opened, as if Kim had just been waiting on the other side.
"Ah, Trini, haven't seen you in ages," Kim smirked, leaning nonchalantly on her doorframe.
She scratched the back of her head, a nervous habit. "Yeah, um, I just needed a favour?"
"Didn't think you were the type to just dive headfirst into a friends-with-benefits kinda situation, but I'd be crazy to say no to that," the taller girl teased.
Trini glared at her, effectively hiding the blush creeping up her neck. "I actually meant to ask if you wanna to go to Tiger Boy? With a few other people," she added quickly, not wanting Kim to think this was a date.
"When?"
"Now?"
"Alright," Kim shrugged, stepping into the hall and closing the door behind her. "Let's go."
"You're not gonna change?"
Kim looked down at her outfit, the same ensemble from this morning- her blue NAP shirt, with a pair of jeans. She seemed to think for a moment before answering. "Nah."
Filed under "#235254 of how everything about kim is unfair"- unfair amount of confidence and pulls it off.
"So, is this your imaginary friend?" Zack asked, once Trini arrived to the table late, Kim in tow.
"I'd say I'm too unreal to be real, so I guess that works," Kim answered for Trini, her hand ready to shake Zack's. "Kim."
Zack gave her a once over, before smile slowly formed on his face. "From one 10 to another fellow 10, I completely relate. Zack," he said, taking her hand. He mouthed she's hot, to Trini, not caring that Kim could see.
Kim smirked at Trini over her shoulder. "I'm hot, in case Zack wasn't clear."
"So why'd you go to my class today if you're not actually in it?" Trini asked, on their way back to the dorms after a meal of roasting Trini at every given moment.
Kim raised a brow at her, as if to say you already know why.
She stared back at Kim, still clueless.
"Because you're cute?" Kim chuckled, "it's not that deep."
Trini stayed silent, trying to keep her nerves calm. She wasn't some sad hot mess who couldn't handle a hot girl flirting with her. Or maybe she was. The red on her cheeks wasn't helping her case.
They'd reached their dorms by then, the rest of the walk having been silent. Trini walked Kim to her door, and Kim watched as Trini walked over to her own door. The shorter girl waved awkwardly at Kim, and Kim smirked back, before pushing her way into her own room and disappearing. Trini copied the movement, except for her own door.
After the initial nerves from talking to Kim had died down, Trini lifted her mattress onto her recently completed bed-frame, and dove on top of it, completely foregoing any covers or pillows. She was too exhausted to care.
She woke up to the side of her face pressed into her bed wet from drool, and her mouth feeling dry from not having brushed her teeth. Picking up her phone from beside her face, she squinted as she checked the current time. 2:57am.
Groaning, she rolled herself out of bed to use the bathroom in her room to wash her face and brush her teeth. After she'd finished her night-time routines, she dove right back onto her bed, feeling slightly refreshed, but not energized enough to put sheets onto the mattress.
She rolled over to mimic her position from earlier, but right as she closed her eyes, she heard a loud banging coming from her floor's shared kitchen, as if someone had dropped a metal pan. She listened for a few minutes longer to hear if it was worth investigating, only to hear silence. Shrugging, she closed her eyes again, ready for bed, when another loud clang came.
Rolling her eyes, she got out of bed and made her way to the kitchen.
Of course.
"Kim, it's 3am."
The girl in question turned from her position of returning a bowl back into one of the higher cupboards. "Trini," she greeted. "Yes, it is! What a coincidence- we always seem to meet at this time."
Trini rubbed her eyes sleepily, annoyed. "The fuck are you doing?" She asked, as Kim dropped another pan onto the floor.
"Baking," she answered simply.
"I know, but why?"
Kim turned to look at her again over her shoulder, "it's 3am," she said by way of explanation, as if that was a proper reason to be banging pots and pans at this ungodly hour.
"What, do you…" Trini trailed off, confused. "Do you always bake at 3am?"
"Nope."
The shorter girl frowned. Clearly, Kim wasn't going to go into specifics. She surveyed the room, trying to figure out what Kim was trying to make. None of the ingredients made sense. "What are you making?"
"Brownies."
"And you're about to put this," she gestured to Kim's mixing bowl, "into the oven?"
"Yep."
She stared at the strange concoction Kim had in the bowl. It definitely didn't look like a brownie mix. Maybe papier mache, if anything. "You're gonna put this in without flour?"
"Oh, right," Kim giggled, "oops."
"Did you add eggs yet?"
Kim looked sheepish, having been caught not knowing how to do something for once.
"Dios mio," Trini muttered under her breath. "Let me do it, you don't even know what you're doing."
"Okay, daddy."
Shocked at the word choice, Trini laughed out loud but quickly covered her hands with her mouth, remembering it was 3am and other people lived on this floor with them.
She worked mostly in silence, trying to salvage whatever Kim had been trying to make. Just when she was starting to wonder whether or not it was an impossible task, she cleared her throat, getting ready to break the strange quiet.
"So… Would you have considered today a date?"
Kim laughed at that, but not nearly as loudly or obnoxiously as Trini's. "Definitely not."
"Oh," Trini frowned, trying not to seem disappointed. Of course she hadn't wanted Kim to think that initially, but she couldn't have helped but wonder.
"I mean, the factors were still in there," Kim added quickly, noticing Trini's sudden mood change. "Like… two people went out who liked each other, you know?"
The shorter girl's pulse picked up, her palms sweaty. She was quickly forgetting her brownie recipe, and miscounted the amount of flour needed before putting it into the bowl. "Yeah?" She asked, shyly. "But the three other people there cancelled it out?"
"Definitely not," Kim said, her voice suddenly closer to Trini. She turned, curious to see what Kim was implying.
"Then what did?"
"I usually kiss on the first date," her voice was even closer now. "I put out pretty easily." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at Trini.
"Oh. Well this can be our first date. Me making you brownies," Trini whispered, her throat feeling very dry.
"That's not a date," Kim chuckled, some of the tension lessening.
"Is it if we kiss at the end?"
Forget the tension lessening, it was thick enough to cut through.
"You drive a hard bargain," Kim said, licking her lips now.
Then she leaned in, or Kim leaned in, or they both did- it didn't matter, they were kissing now, and Trini didn't mean to be a walking cliche, but she swore she could see fireworks behind her eyelids. Kim's mouth was warm, and tasted vaguely of chocolate, and Trini could only assume she'd been eating chocolate chips before she'd arrived, because there was no way her batter could've tasted that good. She deepened the kiss further, starting to tangle her hands into Kim's hair, when-
"-Wait, wait," Kim said, pulling away and sounding out of breath. "I just wanted to tell you I lied before."
Trini felt her heart sink. "About what?"
"Swedish is nowhere near similar to Gujarati. The English instructions were at the bottom of the page- you just didn't see them."
She laughed, before pulling the taller girl back in for another kiss.
"Also, um, I wasn't making brownies," Kim continued, looking weirdly flustered. "I was just hoping you would come find me and hang out with me."
Filed under "#1 kim is actually a huge dork"- pretended to make brownies at 3am because she was too shy to ask me to hang out.