College was absolutely the best time of my life, and I feel like those poor Avengers were sorely deprived. This story is largely influenced by my own alma mater/college experiences. For now the school and town in which it resides will remain nameless. I'm basing the school off of a large state school in a small, but very awesome town.
This story is mostly just for fun, and I hope it's a bit of fun for y'all, too. This is college, so there's swearing, drinking, and general debauchery. Each chapter is named for a song. I'm going for a Southern Americana, alternative rock/country/indie feel here.
"American Girl" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
A loud pop, shrieks of laughter, shattering glass, and the sound of cheap champagne slashing onto the floor filled the room. It was four in the afternoon, a warm Friday. The sight of the cork flying into a hanging picture that had only been hung on the wall for all of forty-five minutes, knocking it off its nail, and crashing onto the floor, sent the two girls into hysterics.
"To finally being roommates!" the blonde, Sharon, toasted holding her empty plastic cup into the air.
"Hear, hear!" replied Sharon's new roommate, hoisting the now half empty bottle of champagne into the air. She took a swig straight from the bottle, and handed it to Sharon, who did the same.
"You don't think this is a bad omen or anything, do you?" the new roommate, Sage, asked as she went to collect the print from the floor, shaking the broken glass off.
"It better not be. I can't afford an bad omens this semester," Sharon replied as she reached under the kitchen sink for the dustpan. The two girls cleaned up the mess and trashed the glass and frame.
The girls had just finished moving all of their possessions into their new apartment. The kitchen had been unpacked, the shared bathroom sorted out, and the mismatched collection of living room furniture were all more or less in their places. Although, Sage wasn't too sure about the orientation of the sofa yet.
Sharon arrived at the apartment a few hours before Sage, so she had a jumpstart on putting her own bedroom together. Her bed was made and her clothes were all put away. Sage's room was covered in piles of clothing that, at one time, was organized and categorized, but the system had long since broken down into nonsense. Her bedding was all still in a box somewhere.
Sage plopped down into the oversized plaid chair, a worn hand-me-down she had collected a few years ago. Sharon settled onto the sofa, her phone in hand.
"Some friends of mine are all meeting up on the drag later," Sharon announced as she scrolled through her phone. The drag was a term all the students used for a street block close to campus, which housed nothing but bars and late night restaurants.
Sharon was in her last year of school. She knew the school, the town, and had a large social circle. Sage, on the other hand, had just transferred, and she knew nobody but Sharon, her childhood friend.
"All I want to do is get my shit together in my room and take a shower," Sage replied. She felt sweaty and grungy after a day of moving all of her stuff up two flights of stairs on a hot late summer day.
"It'll be fun! We'll induct you into the gang, and I could really use a wing woman," Sharon argued, trying to get Sage to change her mind.
"I'm not in fighting shape," Sage complained. She didn't feel like putting herself together and she certainly didn't have the energy to impress Sharon's group of friends.
Sharon sighed and accepted that Sage would be spending the evening in. The two girls finished what was left of the champagne bottle, and Sharon went into her room to get ready while Sage mopped up the spilled champagne from the floor. While Sage sorted through and hung up her clothing in her new closet, Sharon would wander into the room every few minutes modeling a new outfit.
"I thought this was a casual night out to a dive bar with a group of friends?" Sage questioned after Sharon showed up in her fourth outfit, tugging at the sleeve of her top.
"It is. But I haven't seen them all summer," Sharon explained, adjusting her hair in the mirror propped up against the wall.
"You mean you haven't seen that hot guy all summer and you want to remind him that you're a hot single in his area," Sage smirked. She knew all about Sharon's crush.
"Ok, true, but I'm trying not to be too obvious about it," Sharon confessed with a sigh. "Is this shirt see-through?"
Sage rolled her eyes, and left the room. Sharon followed her into her own room, watching as Sage started rummaging through her closet.
"Keep the shorts, but try this top," Sage instructed, pulling out a more casual loose fitting tank top. It was more weather appropriate than the silky blouse Sharon had on. "You don't want to look like you're trying too hard."
"This is why we're roommates," Sharon smiled as she took the top from Sage and changed. Sharon begged only two more times for Sage to join her at the bar with her friends, but eventually left her alone in the apartment.
Sage put on some music and finished putting her room together around midnight. She finally took a long, hot shower, and put on a comfy pair of shorts and tee shirt from her last college.
Sharon had an abundance of ambition and drive. She knew what she wanted. Sage, on the other hand, was a bit of a searcher. She was ambitious, but she also had no idea what she wanted to do with her life. She had changed majors twice already, taken a year off, and transferred to a new school. She probably should have gone out to meet new people, but laying down seemed much more inviting.
Sage settled into bed, switched on her bedside lamp, and starting scrolling through her phone. Her body was tired, but her mind wasn't quite ready to call it a day.
A few minutes went by, and Sage could hear the front door being unlocked. She heard the door open, and suddenly there were several voices filling the apartment and light suddenly seeped under the door.
Sage sat up and listened, setting her phone down next to her. She could hear Sharon and a few other voices, though she couldn't tell how many. She could hear footsteps moving about the apartment when Sage decided to get out of bed. She was halfway to the door when she heard a knock on her door. She opened it slightly to see Sharon, who slid into the room.
"I'm so sorry, I hope we didn't wake you!" Sharon apologized, her cheeks rosy from a fun night out.
"No worries, I haven't gone to bed yet," Sage replied. "Did you bring the hot guy with you?"
"Shhh!" Sharon shushed, glancing towards the door fearfully. "Yeah, but we're not alone. They wanted to see the new place. Come meet everyone!"
Sage knew there would be no getting out of this, not without looking like a stick in the mud.
"Let me put on a bra at least," Sage muttered as she went to pull a bra out of the underwear pile under he window. She didn't have a dresser yet. Sharon looked around the almost complete room as Sage pulled off her tee shirt, pulled on the bra, and then pulled her shirt back on. Sharon grabbed Sage's wrist and ushered her out into the living room.
Two guys sat on the sofa, a girl was poking around in the fridge, and another guy was pulling down glasses from the cabinet next to the sink.
"Guys, this is Sage," Sharon announced, dropping Sage's wrist and moving to help the girl in the fridge who was pulling a bottle of Svedka from the freezer.
"How you doing," the guy nearest her stepped over and offered his hand. Sage took it. "I'm Sam."
"Sage. Nice to meet you," she smiled warmly.
"Natasha," the redhead stated as she took several shot glasses from Sam and started pouring out vodka shots.
Sage recognized the blonde on the sofa, who stood and crossed the room to shake her hand. Sharon had shown her plenty of his photos during a major online stalking session.
"I'm Steve," he introduced with a kind smile and firm handshake. "That's Bucky," he said, gesturing towards the guy on the sofa, who lifted his bottle of beer in greeting.
"Sorry if we woke you," Steve apologized.
"Nah, y'all are fine. I only just finished unpacking."
"What's your shot, Sage?" Natasha called from across the room.
"Oh, hold on!" Sage held up a finger and dashed off into her room. She returned a second later with a bottle of silver tequila and handed it to Natasha who poured out a shot.
"Make that two!" Bucky called from the sofa. Natasha poured out another tequila shot, and started passing around the shot glasses, gathering everyone around the island separating the kitchen from the living room. Bucky left the sofa and joined everyone, standing between Sam and Sage. She wasn't short by any means, but Sage couldn't help but notice how tall Bucky was. She looked around and realized that Steve and Sam were tall, too.
"To another semester!" Sharon toasted. Everyone raised their shots in the air, and downed their drinks.
Sharon handed out cans of beer from the fridge, and took Bucky's abandoned empty bottle from the coffee table as everyone gathered around it. Sage realized that the bottle couldn't have come from their supply in the apartment, and that he must have brought it with him back from the bar.
Sage claimed her spot in her big plaid chair and curled her legs up underneath her and listened as the friends all caught up. Every once in a while they would ask her a question or try and pull her more into the conversation, but it didn't take long for Sage's eyelids to start to feel heavy.