Under One Condition

Meeting The Roommate

Sicily

   I composed myself after crying for a good ten minutes, and wiped my tears away. Taking a deep breath, I focused on getting settled. This would be an amazing journey for me and I was looking forward to it.

   I grabbed the first box to open it and to my luck, it had the brand new bed sheets I was looking for. I was going to miss my parents and my brother, Jackson. He is my best friend and he has always been there for me.

   I dressed my bed right away and it looked pretty, with black and white colors and even the decorations to match. 

   My black laptop had white stamps all over it too, it was my perfect little corner. I was done in a jiffy and looking at the clock on my desk, I realized I was already late for the welcoming assembly. Oh, well, I thought.

   As I was turning my laptop on to check my lectures schedule, a girl walked into the room with a lot of folders and binders in her hands. I got up from my chair and helped her with half of it before it all fell down to the floor. 

   “Oh, thank you. I was hoping to have a roommate so I took extra papers to give her and…” she stopped when she looked at my side of the room and dropped the folders, letting out a loud squeal. 

   “Oh, my God! I do have a roommate. Hi, hi, hi! I’m Eva Anderson, and it makes me happy to share my room with someone!” she greeted me with a rough shake of my hands, making me drop all the papers. 

   “Hi, I am Sicily O’Brian and it’s a pleasure to meet you,” I replied, trying to get my hand off hers. She was very nice, but I could tell she gets over excited for everything as she fixed her eyeglasses who had gone down her nose at the movement.

   Eva was very pretty. Curly, brown hair and big blue eyes under those eyeglasses. She was wearing a black top with a pink knitted sweater, a black skirt that reached down her knees. Dark tights and black shoes completed her whole outfit. 

   She was a smarty pants for what I could see, but I knew we would get along because I was one too. Pardon my stereotype, but in my town, people like her dressed the same way. 

   We both cleaned the mess and tried to organize it as best as we could, but we decided to leave it for another day. One thing I needed from the folders was a map of the whole campus and maybe one for the cafeteria. 

   “So, where are you from?” she asked, sitting on her bed, crossing her legs and putting a cushion on her lap.

   “Idaho, and you?” 

   “We are from here actually, we live close by but our parents are a bit strict, so my brother and I decided to live on campus instead. Get our own freedom, you know?” 

   We chatted a bit longer and got to know each other a bit more. I was not even disappointed with her. 

   “So, I just bumped, well more like I almost got hit by a football and these two guys were playing with it. One of them was nice, but the other one was kind of a jerk. I think their names were Johnny and Levi.”

   She covered her mouth to laugh.

   “Yeah, Levi is my brother and Johnny is his best friend,” she replied. I knew she was that jerk’s sister.

   “I hope you don’t get upset over me calling your brother a jerk. But he was not even apologetic when the ball almost hit me. Johnny is the one that approached me and apologized for the both of them, even scolding him for being mean.”

   She let out a long sigh while she looked at the ceiling. 

   “Something tells me you like this Johnny boy,” I said and her cheeks turned red. Great, I had a hopeless romantic as a roommate. Not saying I would mind. Gosh, my parents raised me better than this, why am I being such an ass about it? I thought to myself. 

   “So, are you checking the schedule? We can check together,” Eva said, turning her laptop on and logging in to her profile. As we searched, I realized she was studying the same thing I was, but different professors and lectures. 

   “Are you studying for a medical career?” I asked.

   “Yes, I want to be a neurosurgeon, how about you?” 

   “Cardiologist. My brother suffers from a heart condition and I have witnessed how much my parents have done to get him to doctors, but they have been so far. I want to get a career and go back to be able to help him, or anyone in my town or near that might have the same condition. It has been hard on my family, but he is taking it easy and he is okay.”

   She got out of her bed and sat next to me, holding my hand.

   “I have a feeling we are going to be great friends, and about my brother, don’t even worry. He is such a big softie, once you get to know him,” she said, and as much as I wanted to believe her, I just couldn’t. I could see in his face he won’t be an easy guy to deal with, and I just hope I was able to avoid him as much as I could. 

   “I am looking forward to a good friendship,” I said and she squealed as she hugged me, squeezing so hard, I could barely breathe, “okay Eva, can’t breathe.”

   “Ooppss, sorry. I can get a bit overbearing sometimes. My brother loves me, but sometimes he tries to avoid me because I won’t leave him alone,” she said, laughing and I couldn’t help but join her laugh. 

   I could imagine how he must look when he is trying to get away from her, that is one thing I would love to see. But for now, I had to focus on having a good weekend before I got ready for my first day of lecture.