Nobody Like You

She Drank My Milk

Lia

I am so tired.

My first night at the new apartment was terrible. Yeju was terrible—Yuna texted me to apologize for her and that's how I find out about her name. Not from Yeju introducing herself to me like a normal person.

For the entire day, Yeju blasted the rowdiest music as I unpacked. That stopped during dinner, thankfully, because she invited a guest over. The two of them proceeded to take up the entire kitchen and dining area as they cooked, talked, laughed, and made out everywhere. I had to resort to eating takeout in my room.

Just when things were settling down and the night was becoming peaceful, the loudest sex noise I have ever heard through my bedroom wall jolted me awake—and I lived in the freshmen dorms for a year! The sounds lasted what felt like forever. For. Ever.

Heat crawls up my neck. I shake my head, letting out an annoyed huff as I unload my groceries. At least Yeju is a late riser, so I can get the entire morning to myself.

When all my items are on the kitchen counter, I take out the thickest Sharpie I have and write my name on their packaging. Milk, pancake mix, eggs, veggies, meat—I make sure to label everything. I have a suspicion that Yeju is the type that will take anything placed in the common area.

There does not seem to be an organization in the pantry or the fridge, so I move things around to create a little space for my stuff. After that, I clean up the mess that Yeju and her guest made in the kitchen before making some pancakes. My night was terrible, but I can make sure my day starts well.

After all, this semester will be good. I picked out the classes with all my favorite topics, and I scheduled to meet with the coolest professor to talk about joining her lab for undergraduate research. I have this semester all planned out, and I will not let a bad apartment mate ruin this day.

My focus will be on school, not whatever petty shit Yeju is doing.

Her door swings open, and Yeju's 'friend' hops out, one hand clutching her purse, the other buttoning up the top half of her blouse. She gives me an awkward smile of acknowledgment before rushing out of the apartment.

Dang, she's pretty.

I wait for Yeju to follow suit, but there is no further movement. Good, more morning peace to myself. I return my attention to the pancakes. When they are done, I sit down at the dining table and check my phone.

There are a bunch of notifications from my family chat. I muted the chat a while ago, but I can still see the red "17" number on the chat icon screaming at me. I click on it. As usual, it's all my mother's with her messages about Romeo.

Frustration boils inside me. I bite off a huge chunk of pancake and dial RJ on my video call app.

"Hey Lia, what's up?" RJ appears on my screen, her camera angled from the bottom up. Her short hair rustles about as she glances at me and then back at whatever she was focusing on.

A pang of familiarity hits me. You never know how good you have it until it disappears. And I never knew how RJ is the best roommate ever in the world.

"Hey, RJ..." I find myself whining to her immediately. "Argh, I shouldn't have moved here."

That gets RJ to stop what she's doing, pick her phone up, and look straight at me. "Why? What happened? How's the apartment?"

"The apartment is awesome, but the apartment mate is not. She is loud and inconsiderate and annoying. I didn't sleep much last night because of her."

"Ah, some people are just horrible to live with. The roommate I had before you was shitty too." She winks at me. "Not everyone is as perfect as us."

I chuckle. "Okay, but you won't believe this, RJ. My new apartment mate—get ready for this—she is Chloe's dad's other daughter."