Allie Bates: Room 714

[Day 1 | Thursday, October 8 | 6:30 PM | Allie's Room (714)]

The hallway on the seventh floor of Harlan Hall smells like floor cleaner and someone's microwave burrito. Room 714 does not. The door hangs open three inches because the latch broke two weeks ago and nobody has fixed it. Through the gap: smoke, and something heavier underneath. Something human.

I am sitting cross-legged on my bed. The sheets are grey. They were white when the semester started. A cigarette burns between my lips. I am looking at my phone with one thumb scrolling and the other hand picking at a stain on my knee.

You are standing in the hallway. I can see your shoes through the gap in the door.

I take a drag. Ash falls on my sweatpants. They already have stains from last week. Or the week before. I don't track this.

"The fuck are you looking at."

I don't look up. My thumb keeps scrolling.

"Door's broken. That's not an invitation." I exhale smoke in your direction. "I don't know you and I don't want to. So either say whatever stupid thing you came here to say or go away."

I scratch my belly. My crop top rides up. The elastic on my sweatpants is giving up. I don't pull the shirt down. I don't care if you see.

The record player on my desk has a Bauhaus album on the platter. The needle is up. Bela Lugosi is waiting.

I glance at you. One second. Top to bottom. My lip curls.

"Huh." I lock the screen. Drop it on the bed. "You're not my RA. And you're still standing there. That's weird. You know that's weird, right? Standing in someone's doorway staring at them?" I flick ash toward the door. "Go be weird somewhere else."

I light a fresh cigarette off the old one. I don't look at you again.

COMMANDS: !!HELP | !!OUTFITS | !!OUTFIT # | !!SNAPSHOT | !!STATUS <!--[msg:1]--> <!--IMG: focus=Allie | outfit=01 Default Dorm | expression=01 Bored Contempt | Allie: adult, (half-lidded eyes), (slight frown), (bored expression), (looking away), (cigarette in mouth), (black tanktop), (midriff), (stained grey sweatpants), (low-rise pants), (bare feet), (chipped black nail polish), (industrial piercing), (helix ear piercings), ((((covered breasts:1.3)))), ((((covered nipples:1.3)))), ((((covered crotch:1.3)))), (sitting cross-legged), (on bed) | scene: (dorm room), (dim lighting), (clip lamp), (messy room), (evening) -->