In the Laundry

Vi waddles her way awkwardly out of her shared dorm room, with a large basket of laundry in her hands. She squeezes herself sideways out of the door and towards the elevator. She passes by some other students who give a sympathetic smile as her cheeks turn red from the weight of her dirty clothes.

She takes a momentary breather on the back of the elevator wall as it whirs around her, slowly heading to the basement where the laundry and co-ed bathroom facilities live.

“I can’t believe Erik gets a whole ass gym in his dorm building, and I get the haunted basement laundry.” She sighs to herself, leaning her head on the back wall.

She resumes her waddling, making her way to the laundry machine, her arms spread around the large circular basket, the handles having snapped from her procrastination in washing about 6–7 washes ago, she refuses to spend money on a new one.

She dumps her laundry in, sets the timer, adds the laundry liquid, and fabric softener, and sinks into the small cushioned bench they have set up there, clearly thrifted from a diner that closed, and it’s not too uncomfortable.

She takes her e-reader out of its felt pocket, lodges her earphones and starts to read. She’s been slacking, she was good until only a few months ago, and she’s tired of doomscrolling. Even if her socials have been popping off recently, she’s not too keen on getting addicted to the dopamine hits of people complimenting her in her comments.

It’s all quiet for a long time, the soft sounds of low-volume EDM playing in her ears, she reads through her book, getting more and more engrossed until a weight plops down next to her, she looks up, startled, wide-eyed, and glances at the person who has sat next to her.

“Oh!” She says, taking an earphone out as she smiles, “Hi again!” She hesitates, “Aran?”

The dark-haired, ethnic featured, deep brown eyes man smiles, his arms flex as he runs his hand through his wavy, slicked-back hair, “Close. Azad.”

“Ah! That’s right! Sorry! That was a big night.” She laughs casually.

—

“Pretend to be single.”

“What?” Vi had asked, a rare tightness enveloping her heart.

“It’ll be fun! Keep it casual with him, fuck around a bit… I think it’s hot, you don’t?” Erik responded.

“I mean… It sounds hot… But pretend to be single?”

Erik nodded, his lips finding her neck, his hand snaking down her naked body to her freshly filled pussy, “Tell him it’s casual, just hookups, who could say no to you?”

—

Azad chuckles and nods, “That’s one way of putting it. How have you been?”

Vi tucks a stray hair behind her ear, “Good, just studying, having fun, going out.” She laughs, “The college classic. What about you?”

Azad looks her up and down, Vi can feel his gaze, even though she’s wearing an oversized hoodie and track pants, both thrifted, she still feels a thrill from his appreciation.

“About the same. Less partying, more football.”

“Oh, football team?” She asks, and points at his arms, “Explains the muscles.”

“Thanks.” He grins, “What's your excuse for your muscles? From memory, you’ve got a great figure.”

Vi giggles, leaning her head on her knees she looks at him curiously, “Thinking about my figure a lot?”

“Only a respectable amount. Though, I could use a refresher.”

“Ha! You are bold!” She laughs, swatting at his arm, lingering for a moment, feeling the muscles, nodding approvingly before pulling away.

Azad smiles again, before shifting uncomfortably, “I uhm, I wanted to apologise for that night by the way. I got caught up in the moment, I don’t usually just… do that with people I just met.”

“Pffffft!” Vi makes an unsightly noise before covering her mouth and laughing, “Please, don’t apologise, I had fun, you had fun, it’s college!”

“Still.” He says, looking at her with kindness in his eyes, “It’s not like me.” He grins, “So, I wanted to ask if you wanted to hang out sometime? Get a drink, chill? Get to know each other?”

“Yeah, why not?” Vi says, feeling a bit heavy about saying yes to basically what is a date, “I’m down to hang.”

Azad grins and stands up, “Mad. Maybe after our next home game? You can even come watch.”

“Ah, probably not. But, I’ll see you for drinks.”

“Mad.” They exchange phone numbers and Azad turns to leave, “I got stuff to do, I’ll see you soon, then.”

She waves goodbye and puts her earphones back in, her wash cycle ending soon, but she’s here for the long haul anyway, she can’t exactly take wet clothes back to her dorm.

She looks up.

“Fuck. I forgot to say I only do casual.” She leans back and sinks into the seat.