Chapter 3:
According to the map, all the dorms were located past the office. Ariadne started to pull her things and headed around the office to see another vast area filled with the dormitories. There were three two-storey buildings all in one straight line which seemed rather interesting in the way it was constructed. With windows to show the various hallways in each floor and the stairs that were between each building to provide an express cross over to the dorms made it quite useful. The buildings didn't seem too damaged or tainted. In fact, the buildings still looked brand new except for the fingerprints on the glass and traces of dirt on the bricks. She shook herself to focus and found the entry on the very left side of the first building.
Ariadne pushed through the door and went through a long stretching lobby that forked into the multiple minor hallways on the left side as she went past. There were 5 rooms down each hallway and numbered in a clockwise manner from the first door on the left to the door straight down the end to the first door on the right. Her room was apparently Number 528 so the first floor only held rooms 1 to 50. Actually, this whole block of dorms would've only held rooms 1 to 300 (If her math was correct). Dammit! She had to go to the next block of dorms. She went to the end of the building and down the stairs with all her stuff and only now, her arms were started to get tired. Not many students were in their dorms since they could've all been in classes. There were some minority of students that were still around hallways or making some loud chatter in their dorms that Ariadne could hear as she went past. Particularly, a group of older guys – perhaps in second or third year – were laughing very hard and Ariadne had the weirdest sense thinking that they might've been following her.
Nonetheless, she headed to the next block of dorms that was at least a short distance just behind Building G which is still near the office. Taking a breath, she headed up the fourth building and went through the first floor passing rooms 301 to 350 before crossing to the fifth and soon enough sixth and final building. Ariadne waited for the sixth hallway on her left to appear and soon followed down it to the final door at the end which read 528. She settled her stuff to try and sort through her bag to find the plastic sleeve that held her key. Ariadne froze suddenly hearing the same chuckles which belonged to that group of seemingly annoying guys. Were they trying to stalk her? She put some of her stuff down to be able to get her key out and attempt to enter her room before those guys could get the chance to interact with her.
"Well well, seems like we got ourselves a freshman I think" Ariadne froze again and exhaled after hearing the observation made by one of the guys of the group. They had stopped right at the opening of the hallway staring at her. She continued to try and unlock her room. "OY! Freshman chick!" Ariadne turned around in exasperation at the rude holler. She saw the group of 5 guys getting on her nerves. They seemed all the same and average. What did they want?!
"Hey! You're that lost little lamb from this morning" Ariadne looked towards the guy on her very left which was the stoned-as-hell guy who directed her the wrong way to the office. "And you're that stoned ass guy who showed me the wrong way to the office" Ariadne couldn't stop herself from pointing out the idiot's mistake. "Oooh, step back! We got ourselves a feisty one" The group of guys chuckled and continued to stare at Ariadne who was already sick and tired of their attention towards her. She turned around back to the door still attempting to open up.
"Oy Robbie, what do you think of this one?" There was a brief silence except for the jangling of the keys held by Ariadne that wouldn't fit in the damn lock. "Robbie! Earth to Rob Fischer!" Ariadne saw in the corner of her eye that the proclaimed 'Fischer' guy was nudged by one of the others. He might've been spaced out with something else on his mind but Ariadne didn't care. Fischer cleared his throat. "Ah…yea. Seems great. Can we get out of here?"
The other guys paused with confusion growing on their faces. One of them shrugged their shoulders and gave one last glance at Ariadne who was still struggling with her keys. "Whatever you say Robbie. Guess this one isn't gonna entertain us today. Might as well find another newbie". Ariadne swore her eyes could've rolled out of her skull due to the degree of annoyance that she had reached. With frustration consuming her, she unfortunately dropped her keys and sighed in exasperation.
"I think she needs a little help though". Despite their choice to leave Ariadne, they were pulled back in once she dropped her keys. She swore repeatedly in her head just hoping they'd get the hell away from her. "What's up? You having a little trouble opening the door baby?" Only then she heard the shuffled footsteps of one of the guys coming towards her. Goddammit.
"I don't need your help! You can leave now. I simply don't want to waste your precious time". Ariadne looked back and forth between her keys and the idiot making his way towards her. "Oh but I wouldn't mind you wasting my time. Let me give you a hand. It's the least I can do for you –"
As if God was hearing her profanity filled calls for help, Ariadne heard the locks of the door open on the other side. Everyone in the little hallway saw the door open to reveal a tall, blonde girl with rollers in her hair and a breakfast wrap in her left hand. "Robbie for crying out loud, I can hear you and your meathead gang from the other building! You can only imagine how loud you all are in this hallway!" The girl commenced to take a bite from her wrap at the conclusion of her complaint.
Ariadne remained shocked by the abrupt appearance of this…slightly Australian accented, husky voiced girl. Yet for all she cared, this girl was rescuing her from the stupidity of these college boys. To further emphasize their stupidity, one still standing near Robbie wolf-whistled. Surprisingly, their group leader nudged the same guy. "Lucy, you don't mean to cause such offense towards my buddies. Until next time, I'll try to make sure they're quieter".
The girl proclaiming to be Lucy glared at Robbie as she swallowed her food. "Just get out of here or else I'll tell your dad you're skipping classes again. Some people are still sleeping in because their classes are later". Ariadne saw Robbie's expression grow even sterner at the mention of his father. She could only deduce what was the common "daddy issues" but then again, she didn't want anything with him or his group. Thankfully, they started to stride away bringing their obnoxious chatter down the hallway and out of the building.
"You alright there sweetie?" Ariadne suddenly turned around to face Lucy who was still leaning against the door frame holding her breakfast. She now held a concerned expression which only meant perfect acquaintance material for Ariadne. "Oh actually…I wanted to say thank you for driving those guys away. I'm pretty sure they were following me when all I wanted was to find my dorm room".
"Anytime honey. Girls gotta look out for each other don't they?" Lucy chuckled lightly while Ariadne smiled. Already, this girl was growing on Ariadne and it only hit her that this was actually her roommate. "Oh! And I think I'm your new roommate. This is room 528, right?" Lucy's face beamed even more. "Oh yea! You're the new girl they told me was going to arrive this week. Come in! Come in! You have so much stuff, whoa!"
Ariadne shuffled into the room with the pleasant assistance of Lucy. She looked around the small room which held two beds on either side of her and a small kitchenette in front of her with a window overlooking the campus. This seems comfy. "It's pretty small but somehow also spacious. I've been living in this dorm for about a semester already and just found it pretty neat. Maybe the illusion might go away since you're in here now but hey, the more the merrier. I didn't quite catch your name, sorry".
Ariadne cleared her throat and stretched her hand towards Lucy. "Oh it's okay. I'm Ariadne". Both girls politely shook hands. "And I think I heard your name is Lucy?" She nodded in response as their hands dropped to their sides. "Yes indeed. Well, my actual name is Lucinda. Lucinda Darcy. But I just find my whole first name very whoa. So I prefer Lucy or Luce. Whatever sticks with you. If you couldn't tell from my little chat with Robbie, we're actually family. First cousins. I normally have to keep him in good form when he's not around his father. He's been getting slightly worst since his mom died when he was eleven but I have to try my best. I'm so sorry as well because I am a major motor-mouth."
Lucinda had covered her mouth with her hands after revealing what was to Ariadne a lot for a first meeting. She guessed she could give Lucy's cousin a break since he had quite a story but again, she didn't want to think too much of it. Ariadne just couldn't help but truly like Lucinda. She seemed bubbly, welcoming and genuine. She could possibly be best friend material at this rate. "It's okay. Feel free to talk for however long you want".
"Oh I think you'll live to regret those words though. I'm sorry though. I always go on a tangent especially with Robbie and his idiot friends. I don't even know where Robbie found them. I'm sure he's rich enough to buy better friends. He's a Fischer for God's sake. He's making my name bad enough just being related to him". Lucy had begun removing the rollers from her hair while her breakfast wrap was stuffed in her mouth. Ariadne truly found Lucinda amusing and fascinating. She was just so genial. Ariadne must've won the roommate jackpot basically.
Lucinda devoured the rest of her wrap while pulling each roller in her hair out slowly unravelling her blonde locks. She swallowed with a satisfied gulp as she observed her hair in a nearby mirror on the wall. "I swear though, Robbie is enough trouble even if he's without those wankers he calls friends. In my opinion, I reckon Robbie should find more friends like Arthur".
Ari isn't too sure now whether Lucinda is muttering to herself now or is genuinely informing her of her cousin that Ariadne only caught the glimpse of for five minutes. Still, she felt the need to still be responsive by social conversational etiquette. "Like who?"
She turned around to point at Ariadne in realization "Oh! Sorry again, Arthur is just…another of Robbie's friends. You might meet him some time soon. He's a bit of an asshole as well but…let's just say there are some good qualities to him".
Okay. Ariadne could immediately detect the connotations of Arthur having been someone Lucy hooked up and honestly, she felt too awkward to delve or address that sort of observation at the moment. Ari wouldn't be surprised if she did end up meeting him via Lucinda aka their dalliance and whatever else was between them.
The awkward silence from Ariadne prompted Lucinda to snap out of her self-centred rambles again. "Anyway, enough about my cousin. I feel like you know more about him than you know about me – NO – I don't even know enough about you and you're my freaking roomie. I'm so sorry again".
Ariadne dismissed Lucinda's unnecessary apology knowing she had done no damage. Additionally, Ari didn't feel the need to be in the spotlight of attention with telling her life story. "No, it's fine. I'm sure there's still a load of time ahead for us to get to know each other as roomies".
Lucinda's smile expelled genuine warmth as she agreed "Well, Day 1 as roomies I guess. Oh and there's a wardrobe for all your clothes further down here. Best to start unpacking now".
Ariadne nodded with gratitude as she decided to start making her place in her new home. It all seemed promising enough especially with having Lucinda as a roommate. It was only morning but her first day seemed solidly good so far.