It was the end of August and sweet, innocent Lorna Morello was moving into college. She couldn't believe it. It felt like she had just applied to college! She had no business actually leaving yet. However, ready or not, here she was with Franny unpacking all of her stuff and making her bed. She and Franny were being so careful and detail oriented, folding every bit of clothing perfectly and fitting it into her drawers. Lorna had tried so hard to look perfect today. She wanted to make a good first impression. Her hair looked perfect, her makeup looked perfect, her clothes were perfect. Right as Franny was asking her where she wanted her shoes to go, her roommate walked in. She looked like a complete mess. Her hair was humongous and looked like it hadn't been brushed in a week. She was wearing all black and she had mascara caked onto her eyes, probably from the day before. As this big-haired girl lugged her suitcase in, Lorna and Franny stood there with their mouths open not quite sure what to say.

"Hi! I'm your roommate Lorna!" she said after a moment with a big smile, trying to act as cheerful as possible.

The big haired girl turned around, looked her up and down, and then replied with, "well this year's gonna be fun. I'm Nicky". Lorna smiled and then quickly turned around to continue unpacking, clearly becoming uncomfortable with the flirtatious greeting.


For the rest of the day everyone kept to themselves. Franny and Lorna continued unpacking while Nicky shoved some of her clothes into a drawer and plopped down onto her bed with headphones.

"Hey, Nicky, is there someone coming to help you unpack?" Franny asked

"Nah, just me." She said looking away. "Don't worry, though, I'll have it done sometime this year" she said sarcastically.

"Well do you want us to help you once we finish up?" Franny offered.

"Nah I'm good don't worry about me." Nicky said as she turned onto her side so that the conversation would end

Lorna and Franny just looked at each other. They had no idea what to make of this girl. Should they feel sorry for her? Should they be scared of her? How come she didn't want to make conversation? Wouldn't she want to get to know her new roommate? And what's with the homeless look? I mean, she can afford to go to college so she can definitely afford a brush and eye makeup remover. They were just completely baffled by this girl.


A couple of hours later everything was in its place. Lorna's side of the room was decorated with pictures and flowers and a pink and yellow comforter with matching pillows. Franny hugged Lorna goodbye and looked over at Nicky who was now unsuccessfully running a brush through her hair and said, "it was nice to meet you!"

"Yeah you too" Nicky responded, not looking away from the mirror.

As soon as the door shut, Nicky livened up.

"Finally she left! So what do you wanna do? Smoke, drink, or both?"

Lorna stood there, totally unsure of what to say. This girl hadn't said two words to her in the last 5 hours, yet now she wanted to party with her?

"Yeah, stupid question, both it is!" Nicky said when Lorna didn't respond. She took out 2 shot glasses from her suitcase and started pouring vodka into them. As she handed one to Lorna, Lorna just stood there staring at it.

"Whatsa matter? You don't like vodka?"

"Oh um. I don't know." Lorna answered truthfully

"You don't know if you like vodka"

"I've never tried it"

"Seriously?"

"Well I've never really tried any alcohol. I'm not much of a partier."

Nicky stood and contemplated this for a minute until a wicked smirk appeared on her face.

"This is gonna be fun!"


A while later the two of them were sitting on Nicky's bed as Nicky was teaching Lorna how to smoke. She had already successfully taken a few shots. She had never done anything wrong before so this was actually very thrilling to her. She could tell already how much she liked college.

"Woah, easy" Nicky said in a calming voice as Lorna choked over the smoke. "You'll get it eventually. You're doing great. I'm actually impressed."

"Yeah?" Lorna asked with pride

"Yeah. And I'm not impressed that easily. You're something special you know that?"

Lorna bit her lip and shyly looked away, trying not to meet Nicky's gaze. She didn't know what it was about Nicky, but the fact that this girl was impressed by her gave Lorna so much satisfaction. She still did not know what to make of Nicky, but she no longer cared. She just wanted to impress Nicky more and more. She didn't want to seem like an inexperienced, newbie, she wanted to be someone who Nicky loved hanging out with.

Lorna started to open her mouth to say something, but then she felt Nicky tug her up off of the bed by her hand. "C'mon, kid, I'm gonna take you to a party"


Before Lorna knew it she was standing in a room full of no less that 100 people she didn't know. Any other time she would have been so uncomfortable around this many new people, but the alcohol had really sunk in and Nicky was there. For some reason, Nicky made her feel comfortable there. Like she belonged at this party and would have fun there even though she knew practically no one.

"Nicky I want to drink more!" Lorna slurred, already drunk but determined to show Nicky that she could party with her.

Nicky laughed "Are you sure, kid? Cause it kinda sounds like you've had enough"

"Just one more! Please!"

"Alright, kid, let me get you a beer or something cause I don't think you can handle more liquor" Nicky said and left to find the keg

As Nicky stood and waited in the keg line she looked over at Lorna who sat there looking so perfect. Nicky wasn't sure what it was about this girl- her innocence, her accent, her eyes, her perfect lips, her body, holy shit- but Nicky knew that she was obsessed. Normally, if Nicky were this into a girl she would have her moaning with pleasure by now. But Nicky sensed that Lorna wasn't like that and she didn't want to mess it up. She told herself that she was being cautious because they were roommates and she didn't want to have her roommate mad at her all year, but it had to be something else too because Nicky never cared who she pissed off. Nicky genuinely just didn't want to mess anything up with this girl, but there was no way she would let herself believe that.

As she walked over to where Lorna was seated, she handed her a beer, and took a seat next to her.

"Thanks Nicky! I'm so glad we're roommates!" Lorna slurred affectionately in her drunken state.

"Yeah, me too, kid." Nicky said as she moved a piece of Lorna's hair out of her face and took full advanrage of the opportunity to let her hair linger on the side of this perfect girl's forehead.
Lorna gazed up at Nicky with a smile silently begging that Nicky wouldn't move her hand.

They both stared at each other, fully mesmerized and not daring to move until some drunk guy came up right next to them and threw up in the corner.

Lorna started laughing hysterically as Nicky rolled her eyes.

"I think that's our cue to go home"


As they walked back to their dorm, Lorna rambled on with stories about her sister. Nicky was only half listening because she couldn't help but just stare at Lorna's red lips as she told the story.

Nicky carefully tucked Lorna into bed and turned her on her side in case she threw up. Something inside of her just told her to protect this sweet girl and she had no idea why, but she kind of liked it.