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She gave Kris a quick peck on the cheek and said, “Welcome to the big city, cutie pie!”
CHAPTER TWO
Kris was wide-eyed and unsure what to do, so she wrapped her arms around Izzy and laughed nervously. Kris couldn’t help but notice how much she liked the softness and the warmth of Izzy’s body against hers. There was a sense of comfort there that she’d never experienced before. She tightened her arms, pulling her roommate even closer and all but melting their bodies together.
She took a deep breath and her nostrils filled with the sweet scent of vanilla. She wondered how someone who looked so unique could have such a
common perfume, and also how such a common scent could be so unique. It was a mystery that thrilled Kris and made her smile.
When they finally released their hold on each other, both girls smiled. Izzy said something about needing to finish her paperwork and skipped out the door and down the hallway, leaving Kris to stand with her mouth hanging open, wondering what the heck just happened.
Without Izzy’s colorful presence in the room, Kris noticed how bland the space actually was. Although she didn’t expect anything fancy, she had expected something more than white walls, cheap particle board furniture and the strange, musty smell that reminded her of her grandma.
The one good thing about the room was the large window that bathed the room in light. She immediately went over and threw it open. She closed her eyes and sighed, enjoying the soft breeze that wafted in.
* * *
“Thank god the windows open!” Izzy said, coming back through the door dragging a large, old fashioned suitcase behind her. “This place smelled like feet.”
Kris chuckled at the comment and pointed at the large suitcase Izzy was now struggling to get it up on her bed. Kris asked, “Do you want some help with that?”
“Nah, I got it,” Izzy replied with a shake of her head, which created a fascinating purple cloud around her pretty face. Kris wasn’t sure why, but Izzy fascinated her to no end. And she found herself gawking at Izzy as if she’d never seen a girl with purple hair before… which she hadn’t. Still, she didn’t want to seem rude. She quickly averted her eyes and retrieved her own luggage from the hallway.
She rolled her suitcase towards her bed, and stood frozen in shock as she inspected the mattress. She pressed a hand into the small, plastic covered mattress and winced when it crackled beneath her fingertips. She shuddered and pulled her hand away.
“This looks like a prison mattress,” she said.
Izzy looked back over her shoulder. “Have you ever been to prison?”
Kris’s cheeks blushed as she laid her suitcase on the floor and removed a set of yellow sheets from inside. “No, but I imagine this is what their mattresses look and feel like. It’s disgusting.”
Izzy laughed as she threw a pile of mismatched blankets, sheets and pillows over her bed. After very little straightening up she hopped onto the bed, making the mattress crackle under her weight. She leaned back with her hands behind her head. “So, exactly what were you expecting? One of those fancy beds with the different firmness settings?”
“I don’t know what I was expecting,” Kris said, shoulders shrugging. “A real bed, maybe? I mean, my folks are paying an arm and a leg for me to be here, you think they could at least give me a decent place to sleep!”
Another laugh came from the purple haired girl across the room. This laugh was less playful. “Careful what you wish for, cutie pie. If you had a real mattress there would be a lot of piss, vomit and unspeakable body fluids mashed into it.”
Kris frowned at her. “What do you mean?”
“Have you never stayed in a hotel? You think they change those mattresses every time a guest leaves? You think this place replaces the mattresses every year?” She made a disgusted face. “They might sanitize the plastic cover, but that’s probably it.”
Kris took a quick step back from her bed, as if the mattress was suddenly covered in blood and guts. “Oh god, that’s disgusting.”
“You really aren’t from around here, are you?” Izzy asked as Kris took a deep breath and returned to spreading the sheet over the mattress. Kris shook her head. “And I’m guessing you aren’t from a college town either.”
Kris stopped tucking the sheet and frowned at her. Was it that obvious that she was a hick girl from a hick town who just took the bus to the city and was scared to death? She suddenly felt naked, vulnerable, alone. She wrapped her arms around herself and asked. “How do you know?”
“Well… You have the cutest little country girl accent, look absolutely adorable in your high school volleyball t-shirt, and you expect an awful lot from your college.”
Kris chuckled and sat on the bed to look at Izzy. She suddenly felt very foolish, yet she also felt a connection with Izzy that again, she couldn’t explain. It was as if the girl with the purple hair could see right into her soul.
Kris shrugged and bit her lip to push back the tears she felt coming on. She said, “I honestly don’t know what to expect. And it’s kind’a scaring the crap out of me.”
“Well there you go,” Izzy said with an exaggerated wave of her hands. “They key being happy in this world, my little cutie pie, is to have NO expectations. That way, you are never disappointed!”
Kris smiled and looked around the room. In that moment the reality of how much her life was changing finally hit her with full force. This was it. She had left everything she knew and now belonged to a vast, gray city with different people, different rules, different everything. She had to wonder if she would ever find her place in this strange new world.
She lay back, resting her head against the pillow she’d brought and closed her eyes as tears prickled them, threatening to spill out. She felt the tiny mattress shift and the scent of vanilla filled her nostrils.
