Back from vacation! I wanted to add a third scene to this chapter but felt like it needed to be in the next chapter to flow better. Enjoy and let me know what you think! Thank you all for reading and following. :)
A jarring sunlight stabs Gail's closed eyes as she gains conscious. Waves of nausea overwhelm her stomach and her mouth feels like a furry cavern. She moves slowly over on her side. Wait a minute. The pillow is way too thick and fluffy. The blanket is thick and fuzzy. Gail hates fuzzy blankets. This bed definitely does not feel like her bed. Gail opens an eye and notices the blanket is full of primary colors. Definitely not her blanket, which is black and thin. She looks at the pillow and it has a cover full of vine imagery all over it.
Where am I? What happened last night?
Slowly she gets up in a sitting position and rests her back on the wall. Gail observes the room in attempt to figure out where she is. The wall by the bed is full of paintings and mixed media. There is a desk at the bottom of the bed that is cluttered with tubes of paint, paintbrushes, papers, and some other things she can't identify. On the other side of the room, there is another bed and Gail could see two heads on separate pillows. She studies one of the faces and recognizes her from last night. She is the Kristen Stewart clone she danced with. Claire or something. Gail finds it interesting she is sleeping with the other girl, probably her roommate, instead of with her. Guess chivalry is not dead after all. She is relieved the girls are asleep, so she can sneak out without facing social discomfort. She slowly gets off the bed and is relieved to still be wearing her clothes from last night. Major problem… her phone is not in her pocket and her room key is nowhere to be found.
This is not good at all. At all.
Gail sneaks over to the unkempt desk and searches in vain for her items. Nowhere to be found. Gail sighs and looks at the sleeping beauties in the bed. Looks like she is going to have to wake up one of them to ask for her stuff and leave as fast as she can. The thought of having to deal with this makes her sick to her stomach. Her head is throbbing with pain as well. The hangover is not helping either. She groans and sulks over to the bed where the seemingly roommates are.
"Uh.. Hey?" Gail hesitates.
Silence.
"Hey get up."
Both are not moving at all.
Gail sighs again and decides to prod the Kristen Stewart clone on her head. Finally she starts to stir and blinks her eyes open. She slowly smirks and brings out her right hand out to wave at Gail.
"I didn't want to wake you but I need my phone and keys to head out. My headache is splitting my head open right now and I just want to go. Where is my stuff?" Gail babbles rapidly.
The girl blinks at her and holds her index finger out, gestures for her to wait a minute and sits up on the edge of the bed. She picks up a pair of hearing aids from the nightstand next to the bed. Gail's eyes becomes bigger in realization.
Oh. She is deaf.
The deaf girl looks back at Gail and speaks in high pitch voice, "Sorry, I didn't understand you earlier. You are talking way too fast for me. I just got up so give me a break."
"Oh, sorry I didn't realize you're deaf."
"No biggie. I take it you didn't remember much of last night."
Gail looks down for a second in embarrassment.
"I actually know sign language. Do you use that?" Gail inquires.
"Like I told you last night, yeah I do," the girl chuckles and switches to signing, "I actually prefer to talk like this. More natural."
"Okay, I am rusty. Haven't signed since sophomore year in high school," Gail signs clumsily.
"Yeah you told me that. Last night. Again, you don't remember."
"God, this is embarrassing."
"Do you even remember my name?"
"Um. C-L-A-I-R-E?" Gail spells out.
"Close but no cigar. It's C-I-A-R-A."
"I'm sorry-" Gail attempts to apologize.
"It's fine. You were pretty wasted. Don't worry, you were not hard to handle. You were pretty obedient actually."
Gail scoffs and asks, "May I have my key please?"
"Sure."
Ciara gets up and walks over to a small cabinet under the desk and grabs Gail's key out of the first drawer.
"Here you go."
"Thanks. I'm gonna go," signs Gail as she turns and trips over something on the floor.
There is bunch of wires and disassembled boxes all over the floor between Ciara's roommate's bed and the front door. Ciara walks over and helps Gail get up on her feet.
"What the hell are those?" Gail snaps.
"Old FM systems. I took them apart for a project." Ciara explains.
"FM system? As in radio?"
"Nah. It's like ancient technology for deaf kids to wear in classrooms so the teachers feel like the kids can hear them. Waste of time if you ask me."
Gail blinks her eyes and is unsure what to say in response. Ciara shrugs her shoulders and walks to the door.
"Well, I'm sure you want to get out of here."
"Yes. Bye."
Gail walks out of the room quickly and takes a couple of steps before she realizes she still doesn't have her cellphone. She growls in frustrations and walks back to the door. She knocks the door but realizes that Ciara is deaf so probably can't hear the knocks well. This day is not starting out well for Gail thus far. She notices a little white post it above a doorbell button that says, "Press here if you need one of us."
Must be some kind of assistive device hooked up to the doorbell, Gail muses to herself as she presses the button. After few moments, the door is open and Ciara appears with an amused grin on her face.
"Forgot something?" Ciara asks as she hands over Gail's cellphone.
"Yes" Gail admits as she grabs it quickly.
"My number is in there if you want to brush up your ASL skills. Remember to text, NOT call," Ciara offers before she closes the door without waiting for Gail's response.
Gail stands there for a minute and is unsure whether to be offended by Ciara's action or admires her for being assertive. She has a feeling they will either become great friends or end up trying to murder each other.
Finally, Gail arrives at the door of her dorm room. All she wants at the moment is her bed and the nagging headache to fade away. Today is such an odd day for Gail. She is still unsure if she just made a new friend with Ciara earlier this morning. She shakes her head to get rid of deep thoughts as she does not want to deal with feelings today.
As she enters the key into the keyhole, the door opens swiftly. Gail is startled by Sage's face sternly staring at her.
"Where the hell have you been? You disappeared at the pub and didn't tell me where you went. I was fucking worried about you, you asshole!"
"Jeez not so loud Sage! Your voice is like a sledgehammer jamming my head," Gail growls and pushes Sage aside so she can get in the room.
"Well, whose fault is that? Certainly not mine."
Gail is about to climb up to get on her bed, but changes her mind and just collapses on Sage's bed instead. Sage sits by her and hands over already lit up joint to her.
"You're lucky I just lit this baby up and I am nice enough to share with you even though I'm pissed at you."
"Coffee would make it perfect," Gail grumpily moans.
"I am not that nice. Get some yourself."
"I did what you asked me to last night. I was your wing woman."
"Some wing woman you are! You disappeared on me as soon as I saw you with Holly."
"So? I did my job. I found her for you and left you both alone to have some good times. What am I supposed to do? Stay there and be a third wheel? Fuck that."
What Gail really means is she's anguished about Holly being someone she absolutely cannot be attracted to. She is off limits now and Gail needs to put a Grand Canyon sized space between them to get over her growing feelings.
"Speaking of good times, did you leave with that girl you danced with?"
"Huh? Oh Ciara. Yeah she took me to her place."
"Did something happen? I hope she didn't take advantage of you. I'll destroy her," Sage exclaims as she stands up.
"No. She was a gentlewoman actually. I slept in her bed… she slept with her roomie in the other bed."
Sage's face softens as she sits back down next to Gail. A moment passes as they share the dwindling joint.
"Yeah? Sounds like a nice girl. You into her for real?"
"No. You know I don't do relationships. I'm not girlfriend material."
Sage sighs in frustration.
"Look Gail. I'm not saying you gotta jump in a serious relationship. I'm just asking if you're into her. It's okay to spend time with someone you like for fun. Doesn't have to be anything serious."
Gail just shrugs and looks away from Sage. Gail knows Sage can figure her out by looking straight in her eyes. Gail is an expert in building a deadpan face, but the saying goes like this: The eyes are windows to one's soul.
Sage decides to nudge Gail to give her some room to lay next to her. Gail moves over a little but continues to look at the wall and away from Sage's observant eyes.
"Speaking of last night, I had a great time with Holly. She is such an incredible girl. So freaking smart. We actually talked about indigenous burial grounds. Of course I told her about the cultural and spiritual aspects, while she blurted about the sciencey stuff. Something about the bones and how it's different from other people," Sage gushes.
Gail shuts her eyes in irritation. She already know all that about Holly. She knows Holly is brilliant and passionate about her field. She cannot stand listening to Sage being lovey-dovey about Holly for another second.
"Stop. Just stop talking. You're so gross. Being all mushy is just disgusting," Gail scowls.
Sage laughs in amusement and pokes Gail in her side.
"Poor Gail, you just can't stand talking about feelings. Nothing happened between us… yet. I'm hoping to see her more at the Pride group meetings, and maybe ask her out. I'm still not sure if she is into me though."
"Whatever. I'm sure your charm works just fine. I'm gonna nap. Your voice is still jabbing at my head so go away."
"Fine. Fine. I gotta head out anyway."
Finally Sage leaves the room and Gail does not have to deal with her talking on and on about the gorgeous brunette. Gail has absolutely no idea how she is going to deal with sharing same class with her. The only option is to be an mean bitch and stay the hell away from her so no one can find out how she truly feels.