Alfred set the last box of his stuff on his bed and stretched his hands over his head. He turned to look at his new roommate, Arthur Kirkland, who had helped him carry in a few boxes.
"Thanks again. I can't believe how much cheaper this is than living on campus." Arthur rolled his eyes as he set down the laundry basket.
"You could have at least done some of the bloody laundry before you moved in. You never told me you were a slob." He turned to head out of the room. "Just keep the mess behind your door, would you?"
Alfred laughed a bit and started pulling everything out of his boxes. He had really lucked out. When he got his bill from the school, they had raised their tuition again, and it was going to be a real strain on his parents to pay for both him and his brother to go. His brother, Matthew, pointed out that they could save a lot money by getting an off campus apartment. All the apartments in town were taken, but they had managed to find spaces in rooms across from each other. Thank God. He needed his brother's help on his French homework. Language requirements were so stupid.
Arthur poked his head in the door again, breaking him out of his thoughts.
"By the way, the others will be back from the grocery soon. Don't forget to introduce yourself." Before Alfred could say anything, he was gone again. Well, he certainly was pleasant, wasn't he?
Alfred sighed and turned on his iPod, losing himself in the music while he unpacked. When he finally finished, he was surprised to look out his window and see that it had gotten dark. His stomach growled, confirming it was dinner time, and he walked out of his room.
As soon as he did, his nose was assaulted with the worst smell he had ever experienced. One of his other roommates was watching TV, apparently unphased by the smell.
"What is that?" The other man looked over.
"Oh, it is Arthur's turn to cook, da? Your turn is tomorrow. We picked up basic things, but if you need something special, you're on your own." Alfred nodded a bit and walked over, sitting beside him on the couch. There was a rerun of an old sitcom on.
"I'm Alfred, by the way. Alfred Jones. And you are?" The other glanced over him and smiled slightly, though it was hard to tell with the scarf he was wearing blocking it.
"Ivan Braginski." He turned his head to look over the couch in the direction of their rooms and called out, "Eduard! Get off your computer for a second and meet Alfred!" There was silence, but a moment later the door opened and his last roommate walked out of the dark room. Alfred smiled.
"Oh hey! We were in Computer Science together last year! Thanks for your help with the hangman program. I never would have figured out I just had a misspelled word in there. You really saved my grade." Eduard nodded a bit and walked out to the kitchen. Ivan nudged Alfred's shoulder.
"You already know each other?" Alfred nodded. "Yeah, we had a class together." Ivan nodded and the two fell into a comfortable silence as they watched the show together.
Alfred thought that he was in for a pretty good year. He got along with his roommates well enough. It wasn't until Arthur walked out and handed him a plate of what was supposed to be food that he began to have second thoughts. He wondered how his brother was faring across the hall.