(I was hoping she’d get hit with the ball. XD)
William finally turned around, raising an eyebrow at the girl. He looked at her up and down before shaking his head, chuckles breaking through his lips.
“Excuse me?” He stuffed his hands in his pockets, walking towards her until he was face-to-face with her. ”Your dorm? Sweetheart, you’re in my place, so scram.”
Amber huffed and rested a hand in her hip. “I’m sorry, but I think you’re mistaken. I was just at the receptionist, and she confirmed that this is my dorm. And she didn’t say anything about some stuck up guy sharing.”
William raised an eyebrow in warning. He wasn’t really good at controlling his temper, and he especially couldn’t control it around girls like her.
“Then I suppose you’ll have to change your dorm, no?” He started slowly, his eyes dropping in warning. “I don’t like to share what’s mine, you see.”
Amber glared at him and crossed her arms over her chest. Why should she change dorms? Did he think he could make her move just because he was there first?
“Not gonna happen. Why don’t you change, hm? Why should I?” she questioned, leaning against the doorframe.
William slowly inched towards her, resting his hands on either side of her head, face twisted in slight anger.
“You either move, or I’ll make you,” he hissed, talking slowly as if he was trying to talk to a child. “And trust me, love, you want to choose the first option.”
Amber’s face twisted into an angry scowl as she placed her hand in the middle of his chest and shoved him back hard.
“Buzz off. Why don’t you just go ask the receptionist if you can move? Honestly, it’s not like it would kill you,” she added the last part under her breath as she rolled her eyes.
That was the last straw. William pressed his feet on the floor and snatched her arm, dragging her out. He was considering tossing her out on the ground, but he doubt she would leave.
Dragging her towards the receptionist, he pushed her forward.
“We need a room change,” he said in an irked tone. “For her. Room 210 is already taken.”
“Hey!” Amber shouted as she was dragged along. She tried to pull away, but his grip was too tight. Gosh, what was this guy’s deal?
The receptionist blinked up at them when she was spoken to, her gaze flickering to the hand on Amber’s arm before back to William. “I can check to see if there are any other rooms available, but we have been pretty full the past few years. We might be full.”
“Well, that doesn’t seem to be my problem, does it?” William knew he was being an arsehole, but he was not going to share a room with a girl. “Assign her a room with another girl, guy, whatever. I don’t care.”
“If we are full, then you two will have to share,” the woman said as she tapped away on her keyboard. A moment later, her eyes were scanning the screen in front of her. “I’m sorry, but it looks like we have no other dorms open. Everything is filled up.”
William sighed, running a hand through his hair. He could not believe his terrible luck. Finally he thought he would be getting a room for himself, and he ended up sharing it with a girl because of a mistake on their part.
“Whatever,” he muttered, knowing there wasn’t any other option. “Sorry for bothering you.”
Shooting the girl a harsh glare, William began to walk back towards the dorm. He was going to make her life miserable. She’d move out on her own.
Amber glared after the guy who, apparently, she would be living with for the next semester. With a sigh, she shook her head and turned to the receptionist again.
“Thanks for your help,” she said with a small, polite smile.
“Of course, dear… If you want, I could notify you if we get any dropouts. Then you could move out if there is one,” the woman offered.
Amber’s smile grew slightly as she nodded. “Would you, please? That would be great.”
Arriving back in the dorm, William slammed the door shut. What the hell? What type of a college let two students of the opposite gender live together? He couldn’t believe it.
Maybe he was a bit more salty about the fact that he couldn’t live alone. He always had random episodes of anger. He needed the space to vent, and now he was going to share that space with someone else. He was supposed to be extra careful, not cause a scene, or else he’d get dragged back to taking anger management classes.
William could clearly see himself back in that bloody room, forced to control his anger.
After finishing with the receptionist, Amber reluctantly made her way back to her dorm. When she arrived, she stepped inside and shut the door behind herself, ignoring the guy as she grabbed her bags from beside the door. She walked into her own room, shut that door behind herself as well, and began to unpack her things. Maybe, if she just ignored him the whole time, this wouldn’t be too terrible. Maybe they could make throw work, even if they hated didn’t like each other.
William decided to order takeout. He didn’t feel like cooking, and he could only make instant noodles. Yes, he couldn’t live on his own since he couldn’t cook for himself, but he made-do with frozen food.
He didn’t know whether the girl wanted to eat, nor did he care. He settled for a large BBQ pizza with extra cheese and sprite. After ordering, he reached for his ball again, throwing it inside the hoop he set up when he arrived. He had already finished unpacking, so he had time to fool around.
Once she had finished, Amber glanced around her room with a sigh. A soft rumbling made her look down at her stomach, the toward her door as she contemplated what she should do. She could either go see if he’d gotten any groceries yet and make something, or she could order in… Ordering in sounded good, and she was craving Chinese, anyway.
She opened her door to see the guy tossing a ball around as he sat on the couch. “Hey, did you happen to get any groceries, yet?” she asked, making her way into the kitchen.
William caught the ball, sighing. Turning around, he met the girl’s eyes before she made her way into the kitchen.
“No,” he replied curtly. “I did not.”
He wasn’t aware he was going to get a dormmate.
Amber hummed and stopped to lean against the counter. Then she would have to order food and go shopping tomorrow for groceries… At least they let students settle in for a few days before classes started. If they hadn’t, she would have had a lot of trouble… Well, more so than she did with this guy. Who she still didn’t even know the name of.
She ordered her food from a restaurant that had gotten good enough reviews and wasn’t very expensive before she made way out to the living room. With her hands on her hips, she watched her dorm-mate tossing the ball around.
“What’s your name?” she suddenly asked, uncaring of how random it may have seemed.
William caught the ball again, looking at the girl with an annoyed expression.
“William,” he finally replied before turning away to toss the ball back in the hoop. It went inside, bounced on the floor, coming back towards him. He didn’t say anything else, nor did he ask for her name. He didn’t care.
“Amber,” she supplied, though he hadn’t asked.
If they were going to be living together, they should at least know each other’s names. Plus, it was getting annoying just calling him “the guy” in her head all the time.
She sighed and glanced around the room for a moment before letting her gaze land on him once more. “Look, if we’re going to make this work — and it has to work — then we’re going to need some rules.”
William slammed the ball on the floor harshly, letting it bounce away.
“Right, so I have a few rules I’d like to establish,” he said in irritation, staring right at the girl. “One, you leave me to my business. Do not mess with me and I’ll leave you alone. Do not bother me and I’ll do the same for you. Do not enter my room without permission and I won’t for yours, either. Personally, I don’t care what you do and what you don’t do as long as it doesn’t affect me personally.”
Amber crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. She was trying to have a calm, civil conversation with him, and he was upset with her? Wow…
“Okay, deal. I have absolutely no problems with that,” she agreed, her voice monotoned. “Rule number two: we both share the cost of groceries and anything else the dorm might need, as long as it’s for the both of us. Like toilet paper or something. Otherwise, we pay for it ourselves. Three, no girls or guys or whatever unless you know I’m not going to be here. I’ll do the same.” Though I highly doubt either of us would need that rule. He doesn’t seem the type to hook up with a person, and I don’t hook up with anyone. “Numer four, no parties here. At all. Anything you’d like to add?”
“No,” William replied, agreeing with her terms. “Now are we done here?”
Just as he said that, there was a knock on the door. Finally his pizza was here—he was practically starving.
“Yeah. Sure. Have fun with your ball,” Amber said before walking back into her room. This was going to be a long semester…
William heard her leave, but didn’t look back. He paid for his food, took three slices of the pizza, and finished them before he knew it.
It just meant he’d have exercise more, but it was fine.