Challenge 10 Response - ON TIME! ^.^
Can it be? Kaia actually has a challenge finished on time?? And it's under five pages??? Yes, it's true! I'm so proud of myself, guys...I really wanted to meet the deadline for this one, and I did it! ^.^
Title: The Dorm Hermit
Genre: Modern
Length: 2,143 words
Challenge #: 10 - Dorm setting
Rating: Eh...maybe PG?
“I love you.”
“I love you.”
“But I love you more.”
“No, I love you more.”
“Oh no you don’t! I love you most!”
“I love you more than most!”
“I love you more than infinity.”
It took every ounce of will power that Danielle possessed to keep from picking up her 1187-page hardback Art History textbook and bashing her brains out with it. She had figured that this would happen sooner or later…Bridget was too pretty and friendly and social not to land a boyfriend eventually…but Danielle had hoped that when it happened, Bridget would at least be discreet about it. Bridget Greckman wasn’t the most intelligent roommate of all time, but she was always polite, and for the most part considerate and understanding. Danielle hadn’t expected any better from a roommate, and after Bridget had stopped trying to get her to come along to clubs and “study groups” that usually turned into drinking binges and make-out sessions, the two had come to a mutual understanding that could even have been called a friendship. But today, two months into the semester, Bridget had come bursting into the dorm with Joey Howard in tow and the declaration that she now had a boyfriend.
“We just realized that we’re like perfect for each other!” she had gleefully announced. “We’re into all the same things…it’s like destiny or something!”
And that was about the time that the vomit-worthy chorus of “No, I love you more,” had begun.
“I love you more than infinity plus one,” Bridget giggled, taking Joey’s hands and swinging her arms back and forth.
“I love you more than infinity plus a thousand.”
“I love you more than infinity plus infinity!”
Masaccio modeled the foreground figures with strong highlights and cast their long shadows on the ground toward the left… Danielle lowered her head so that her nose was an inch from the page, trying to focus on the words. Her long black hair fell forward around her face, obscuring her peripheral vision which included Bridget wrapping Joey’s arms around her waist. …cast their long shadows on the ground toward the left…
“Well…I love you more than that,” Joey said, obviously getting tired of the game.
“There’s nothing more than infinity plus infinity,” Bridget said in a sweet singsong. “Ask Danielle - she’s smart. Danielle, is there anything more than infinity plus infinity?”
…shadows on the ground toward the left, implying a light source at the far right, as if the scene were lit by the actual window in the rear wall…
“I’m studying, Bridget,” Danielle said flatly, without looking up. After two months, Bridget should have known better than to interrupt her when she was studying. “I really need some quiet, I have a big Art History midterm on Wednesday.”
…lit by the actual window in the rear wall of the Brancacci Chapel. Not only…
“Oh Danielle, you’re always studying,” Bridget said dismissively. “Why don’t you get out and do something fun?”
Danielle did not raise her eyes from her book. Not only does the lighting give the forms sculptural definition -
“Seriously, you like never do anything,” Bridget’s voice blithely cut in again after less than two seconds. “You like barely even leave the dorm to eat. You know, Dani, there’s a winter dance coming up…”
“Dances are for high schoolers,” Danielle said tersely, frowning at the page. “And don’t call me Dani.” Bridget should have known better than that too, but apparently the little common sense that she possessed had flown away the second she had discovered that Joey Howard was her soul mate.
Joey was a flirt, a heartbreaker, a ladies’ man. He would humor Bridget for a few weeks or so, then drop her and move onto another girl when he got bored. And then Danielle would have to spend long nights eating ice cream with Bridget in commiseration and listening to “But he said we were going to be together forever!” and “He told me he had never felt this way about anyone else!” It was like high school all over again. Danielle had hoped to get away from that kind of drama in college, but so far, no such luck.
Not only does the lighting give the forms sculptural definition…
The dorm was small, and having two beds, two desks, and Bridget’s couch and minifridge shoved into it made it even smaller. Bridget always complained about how the room was cramped, how it wasn’t fair that the freshman dorms were half the size of the sophomore dorms, but Danielle didn’t mind small. It felt cozy to her. Or it had. Now it definitely felt cramped, as she could hear and almost feel Bridget and Joey’s every move. They were whispering, and Bridget was giggling again. It felt like they were standing right behind her.
“I’m so glad I found you, Booblebaby,” Bridget cooed. “Seriously, how did I live before I met you?”
Not only does the lighting give the forms -
“I know,” Joey said softly. The couch creaked as the two of them sunk down onto it. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Kissiewooglebunch.”
Okay, now things were just getting ridiculous. This wasn’t like high school. This was like…junior high. This was like fifth grade. Danielle knew the university library would still be open, but she really did not want to go. There would be people at the library. And they would do irritating things, like watch her and try to talk to her. Danielle hated feeling like people were watching her when she was trying to study almost as much as she hated them talking to her when she was trying to study. Or making out in her dorm room while she was trying to study, which seemed to be the direction in which Joey and Bridget were headed.
Not only does the lighting…
But still, the library was worse. The library had to be worse. There were other couples that would be making out in the library. Ian Ralleston would be in the library, doing research for the extra credit project in Biology - a report on the reproduction of microscopic organisms - and Danielle really did not want to spend another half hour listening to his energetic explanations of mitosis and meiosis. Plus, she had overheard Paige and Gloria in American Literature saying that they wanted to drop by the library to talk to Julius. Julius was in Danielle’s Art History class, and he actually wasn’t that bad. He seemed to spend most of his time in the library, and he was considerate and very smart, if a little shy. Unfortunately, he happened to be very good-looking, which attracted balloonheads like Paige and Gloria. They didn’t notice anything beyond a pair of blue eyes and a nice smile. Julius did have a nice smile…not that Danielle noticed those kind of things, though, or cared. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more avoiding the library seemed to become absolutely imperative. And it had nothing to do with Julius. After all, the librarians were fascists.
Not only does…
Bridget and Joey were making out. Loudly.
Danielle’s chair grated loudly against the floor as she stood up and whirled around to glare at them.
“Look, I’m glad you two found true love, but can’t you go celebrate it somewhere else? Particularly somewhere where I can’t see or hear you? I have read this same freaking sentence six times, and I have got to finish this chapter tonight.”
Bridget and Joey untangled themselves from each other enough to glance over at her from the couch, both looking mildly surprised.
“Chill out, Dani,” Joey said, in what was supposed to be a soothing tone. “Why do you have to be so anti-social?”
“Anti-social? Anti-social?? I just want some quiet for five minutes!” Danielle snapped. “And do not call me Dani!”
The look she fixed him with should have been sharp enough to gut him, but he only smiled in a rather patronizing manner and readjusted his hold around Bridget’s waist.
“Well, you don’t have to be so uptight about it. Loosen up a bit. Relax.”
“I would relax a lot more if you would get out of here and let me study!”
Bridget’s giggle was absurdly shrill. She did that when she was uncomfortable. Joey beamed at her.
“Don’t worry, Kissiewooglebunch. She’s probably just jealous.”
“God,” Danielle hissed under her breath, rolling her eyes and turning back to her desk and the textbook. This was hopeless. This was absolutely hopeless. The inanity of the entire situation was just painful.
But Joey had heard her.
“That’s my name, don’t wear it out,” he said, with a wink and a charming grin. Bridget fairly exploded with giggles more piercing than tacks.
Danielle froze. For a long moment she simply stood with her back to them, listening to Bridget’s giggling, which was growing progressively louder and higher and sharper. Then Joey started to chuckle, apparently struck with his own cleverness.
Danielle slammed her book closed, stuffed her notes between the cover and the title page, seized her pencil, (thought of stabbing them both to death with it, thought better of it) and stalked out of the dorm room without another word.
The second after the door crashed closed, Bridget and Joey immediately stood and somewhat awkwardly began to move away from each other, avoiding the other’s eyes. Joey drummed his fingers over the top of the minifridge. Bridget stared idly out the window. Nearly half a minute passed, then Bridget turned to face him with a hesitant smile.
“Kissiewooglebunch?” she asked, raising her eyebrows. “How did you ever come up with that name?”
“Hey, you started it with the whole Bubble-whatever thing,” Joey said defensively. “It was the first sicky-sweet nickname that came into my head. Do you think she fell for it?”
“Oh, she fell for it all right,” Bridget said, sounding half-regretful. “I’ve never seen her so angry. Danielle never explodes. You have like no idea how hard it usually is to get like any kind of emotion out of her.”
“She’ll probably think I’m Jerk of the Year for the rest of the semester,” said Joey with a wry smile.
Bridget nodded fervently. “We did everything right. Or wrong, I mean.” She began to tick points off her fingers. “She hates couples, she hates cute stuff, she hates social stuff, she hates people talking to her when she’s trying to study, and she hates when people call her Dani. I just hope she talks to me again after this.”
“And you’re sure she’ll go to the library?”
“Positive. Where else would she go? I was like totally serious when I said she like hardly even leaves the dorm to eat. Trust me, she’ll go to the place with the most books and the least chance of being interrupted.”
“Great. Then our part is done. Thanks for your help.”
“I still don’t see why Julius couldn’t just like come up to the dorm,” Bridget said, casting a skeptical look at him from the corner of her eyes. “It would have made things a lot easier.”
“Yeah, well, the problem is that Julius doesn’t really know that he likes her yet,” Joey said with an apologetic grin. At the look on Bridget’s face, he quickly added, “I mean, he likes her, he just doesn’t know how to do anything about it. Really. He told me last week that thought he might be interested in a girl in his Art History class with long black hair and like twenty piercings in her ears, and he said that he saw her in the library and was going to talk to her, but Ralleston got to her first.”
“Yeah, the Biology extra credit,” Bridget said with a sympathetic wince. “She told me about that.”
“Anyway, now that we’ve gotten her out of the dorm and into the library, it should go like clockwork. I owe it to my buddy Julius to at least make sure that he gets a chance with her.”
“How thoughtful of you,” Bridget said. The corners of her mouth had turned up slightly. “So, uh…do you think we’re going to have to keep this up for long? You know, the whole dating thing. To keep up appearances and everything?”
“Nah,” Joey said with an unconcerned shrug, strolling towards the door. “I’ve broken up with girls in less time. But thanks for your help. It means a lot, you know? To Julius. And for your friend too, I bet.”
“I hope so. She definitely needs some kind of social life.” But Bridget still sounded a little apprehensive. “Do you think we overdid it?”
“She’ll get over it. I’m sure she’ll be thanking us in a week or two.” Joey opened the door and grinned over his shoulder as he stepped out into the hallway. “See ya around…Kissiewooglebunch.”