The Devil's 5'5

Chapter 4 - Not A Mistake

January 21th, 8:00 AM - Housing Services - Chicago, IL Preston's POV

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He didn't expect to be back in Ms. Jordan's office this soon. But he also didn't anticipate to be rooming with a female. The shock after hearing the words that left her mouth sent him fleeing to his room. Scrambling to find the information about said roommate he was even more dumbfounded when in bold letters, the name Azura Kim Jun was printed. 

This has got to be a mistake!

After apologizing profusely for the mix-up which earned him zero acknowledgment from Azura herself, Preston skipped his lab and headed straight to Ms. Jordan's office. Now anxiously seated in one of the chairs, he waited for her to come back with what seemed to be her fifth cup of coffee this morning. 

"Sorry for the wait Mr. Andrews. The housing department is always on the grind because students these days seem to love disobeying rules and guidelines." 

The bags under her eyes were everpresent and a similar feeling of guilt greeted him. 

"No, I'm sorry Ms. Jordan for coming in again on such short notice, but there seems to be a mix up which...is making moving in a little hard. It is also something I thought I would address sooner rather than later given that I am not the only party this time that is placed in a difficult situation." 

He watched her throwback the dark liquid like it was water, chugging it at incredible speed. Letting out a burp, followed closely with an 'excuse me' Ms. Jordan finally gave him what he hoped was her undivided attention. 

"What seems to be the problem, Mr. Andrews." 

He tried to express the matter in the simplest of terms given Ms. Jordan's track record for dozing every few minutes. "My roommate is a girl."

His straightforward answer was left to sit in the silence that followed until Ms. Jordan slowly voiced her confusion.

"And this is a problem, how?" 

Preston blinked a few times, unsure why such a question with an obvious answer was being asked. "Um, because Ms. Jordan, I never expressed that I would be okay with rooming with the opposite sex, nor has this occurred anywhere else on campus. Clearly there are rules to having a boy and girl room...right?"

But Ms. Jordan merely shook her head. "We have no such rule. Of course, we try to pair students, first by gender but that's not always the case. And given the information on your file, you had clicked yes to Co-ed."

Preston's eyes almost popped out of his head. That was impossible. "No, that must be a mistake. If anything, I clicked yes to Co-ed floors, but never to actually, physically, room with one."

He didn't care if he sounded over the top right now. He needed to make it clear that this was not going to fly with him. Ms. Jordan merely nodded her head in a robotic manner before reciting what seemed to be from a script on customer service etiquette.

"I see. I apologize for the confusion or stress this may have caused. Let me check on our system to see if we could find a solution for you. One moment please."

With that, she quickly typed away at her computer but the unsettling feeling in his stomach remained. It was mere minutes before she gave him that frown he had been dreading.

"I apologize, Mr. Andrews, but there are no other rooms available. You were placed in the only vacancy we had."

"B-but, this can't be right! I'm sure my roommate, Ms. Kim Jun, must feel uncomfortable with this as well." It was a white lie since he had never actually spoken to Azura to ask her how she felt.

She'll never know that, besides, as a girl, I am sure she would be uncomfortable rooming with the opposite sex. She probably feels unsafe and uncomfortable and...

But his train of through came to a halt when Ms. Jordan merely shook her head in denial again. "Actually, it's quite the opposite. She had expressed that she was fine with the situation and even graciously offered her dorm after having received special permission to have the entire unit for herself."

Preston's head was swarming with the information as he slowly started to panic.

I can't room with a girl! There're so many things wrong with that. What if things go south, what if something happens, what if - 

The image of his only and favourite roommate popped in his head. "What about Dilan Santiago! He was also relocated; would it be possible to room with him again?"

"Unfortunately, not, he was also placed in a room with only one other vacancy."

His attempts were futile, being shot out of the air with no mercy. He didn't understand how no solution other than sticking to his current placement was possible.

"But, if I ask him to switch, and he's willing to, would this be possible?" 

Ms. Jordan looked at him thoughtfully before nodding. "I don't see why not. So, yes. If he agrees, you may move or switch rooms." 

Okay, I still have a chance. I'll just ask around, and check-in with Dilan. 

"Okay, thank you, Ms. Jordan. I'll be in touch." 

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He stood in front of 341 waiting patiently for the door to open. After messaging his old roommate, who had confirmed that he was in his dorm, Preston wasted no time in heading over right after his meeting.

The door opened revealing a familiar face and Preston exhaled in relief. "Dilan, hey. How are you?"

"I'm good man! How are you?" 

"Uh, not bad. I'm in a bit of a situation and wanted to run something by you. If you were free, I was wondering if we could grab a coffee." 

Before Dilan could give his answer, a faint voice travelled to the front door. "Are you coming back to bed?" It called for Dilan and Preston's eyes widened when he heard that it was a female voice. 

At that moment Preston slowly pieced all the very obvious clues before him. Tousled air, nothing but boxers, and the question itself, were enough to tell him what was going on. 

Preston's expression made Dilan laugh lightly as he scratched the nape of his neck nervously. "Yeah, we really hit it off. Her name's Hillary. I'll introduce her to you some time."

"Uh, yeah sure."

But Preston didn't want to meet her at all.

Dilan, the geeky, game lover, was getting chummy with his roommate...who was a girl?? YOU JUST MOVED IN!

This was a foreign concept to Preston, who could not have seen this coming from a mile away. It was beyond him how someone could forge such a connection with the opposite sex after only getting acquainted for less than 48 hours.

"But yeah man, I'm free in a few hours if that's cool for you? Or tomorrow?" Dilan offered, clearly still wanting to help his former roommate out. But Preston knew that he would no longer be of use. 

Forcing a smile, he shook his head. "You know what, it's not even that important. Don't worry about it. But we'll grab a coffee soon." 

Dilan stared at him reluctantly before asking one more time. "You sure dude?"

But Preston was already backing away, nodding repeatedly. "Yeah, yeah, don't worry dude. Have fun." 

With that option crossed off, Preston pinched his nose as he tried to think of another option.

Fuck, I'm screwed.

Word count: 1251