"Ow, my- ow!" Cosima bumped into the corner of her desk while she reached to pause the music she had playing. She was still getting used to the cramped dorm room she had just arrived in earlier that afternoon. "Come in?" She called towards the door. A girl with blonde hair and a confused expression pushed her way through the small opening the boxes in front of the door would allow.
"Hello, I'm Delphine, are you Camille?"
"Uhh - no, not me, sorry," Cosima shook her head, noticing the girls accent.
"Oh this is not 212 then?" Delphine asked, more to the piece of paper she was holding than to Cosima.
"Nope but um I could like totally help you find 212 if you want? I uh lived here last year too, think 212 might be the next block over." Cosima answered gesturing in the general direction with her hands. She was guessing the girl was a freshman and if she was going to be showing anyone around she hoped it might be a cute French girl.
"Oh that's ok, it looks like you're very busy," Delphine said dismissing the offer with a wave of her hand.
"No, well yeah actually but I'll do anything to avoid unpacking so I really don't mind. Just uh let me grab my keys," the dreadlocked girl stretched over to reach her keys from under a large pile of papers and turned to face the French girl who was still standing half way in the room, "Ready?"
* * * * *
Two weeks later Cosima was in the laundry room, cursing herself for not realising earlier that none of her clothes were still clean. She crouched down to put her money in the machine and stood, coming face to face with a startled looking Delphine.
"Merde!" the girl cursed, dropping her basket of clothes to the floor and covering her mouth.
"Shit, sorry," Cosima raised her hands to signal she meant no harm, "didn't mean to scare you."
Delphine lowered her hand from her mouth and smiled a little, "Cosima, that's uh, c'est bien, I'm fine," she let out the gasp of air she'd taken in.
"Good," the smaller girl grinned and started to move around the machines to help pick up the clothes on the floor as Delphine did the same.
"Thank you, what are you doing here so late?"
"Well I've kind of put off doing laundry for - well actually since I got here, so I just realised I no longer have any wearable clothing and I kinda need to go out tomorrow, therefore laundry at 2am," Cosima answered dumping the last of the clothes into the basket.
"Ah, I see, I just didn't think anyone else would be here so late." Delphine said, and realised Cosima must speak with her hands like that all the time, she wasn't just excited on the first day they'd met.
"I could totally ask you the same question then?" Cosima smirked and leant back against one of the machines.
"Oh I just finished a paper, I had completely lost track of the time," Delphine answered while she dumped her basket of clothes out. She had been very greatful to Cosima for showing her how the dorm numbering system worked the first day but hadn't seen her since then.
"Yeah, I do the same, always ends up hella late and I don't even notice cause I'm writing," the whirring of the her machine cut out so she started loading her clothes into her basket, "but you're a freshman, shouldn't you be out like partying on a friday night?"
"Maybe," Delphine laughed a little at the smaller girl struggling with her clothes, "but I don't usually go out... I'm not very cool like that," she said rubbing her arm.
"Well maybe you just haven't me the right people to go out with," Cosima folded her arms on top of her basket, which reached to just under her chin, "I never liked the med students parties, you have friends from other schools too?"
"Oui mais- it's mostly the international students," Delphine's brain was fried from doing her paper for so long, she tried not to use French since she'd moved here.
"Well that's cool but if you ever want someone to hang out with, you know where my room is, right?" Cosima smiled, her tongue poking through her teeth a little.
Delphine smiled at the offer and nodded her head, a little too enthusiastically, she thought immediately after. Why was she so nervous around this girl? She was probably just overtired, she thought dismissively .
"Ok then, see you around." Cosima opened the door next to Delphine. The French girl noticed how toned her arms were next to her then realised she was staring and fumbled to help open the door to let the basket fit through as well as the tiny girl holding it.
"Oui, see you around," she replied, worrying her lip between her teeth. Cosima smiled in return, the saying sounded odd in Delphine's accent but she didn't mid one bit.