Worth the Chance (Watertown University #2)

3. Eliza

Chapter 3

Eliza

C lasses for the semester don’t start until tomorrow which is why I didn’t bother setting an alarm for today. Well that and the fact that I was up late last night thinking about my new living situation. After my brothers and Emilia left I headed upstairs and locked myself in my room for the rest of the night. I don’t want Garrett to think I’m avoiding him but I kind of was to be honest. I didn’t know what to say around him so fleeing the scene seemed like the best idea. Everything was all fine and good, me unpacking my room and watching New Girl on my iPad. Until I heard the lock on our shared bathroom turn, the bathroom is directly connected to my room and there’s also a door that leads to the hallway. I could hear as he turned on the shower. Then I couldn’t stop staring at the bathroom door imagining his tall, broad frame, with water droplets dripping down it.

The sound of a plate clattering brings me back to the present and out of the same thoughts I was having last night. It also reminds me that it’s only seven in the morning and there is no need to be up this early on the last day of summer break. I toss and turn trying to fall back asleep but alas the sleepiness has left my body and I’m stuck wondering what the boy with the chocolate brown eyes is doing downstairs.

I reach for my glasses off the nightstand before swinging my feet over the side of the bed and into my slippers. I decide it’s finally time to face him. I mean we are going to be stuck living together for nearly a whole year so we might as well form some kind of friendship or acquaintance-ship, right? Just before I’m about to open the bedroom door, I catch sight of myself in the mirror I set up. I wince, at my bedhead and quickly grab the brush that I laid out on the dresser combing through my hair. I also grab an oversized crewneck from the closet, my pajamas, while they are comfy, don’t cover quite as much as I am wanting them to at the moment. I take a look at myself again, my thighs are still semi-exposed making me cringe a bit.

It’s not really cold enough in here to justify a pair of sweatpants with this sweater on, ugh. I shouldn’t care, they're just thighs, so what if they’re a little bit bigger than I’d like. Garrett won’t be that offended by them, right? I mean I doubt he’d look at me in any way other than his friend's little sister type of way anyways so my thick thighs are probably safe from criticism here.

After another moment of contemplation I force myself out the door and down the stairs. Eventually making it into the kitchen, where Garrett sits on the barstools at the kitchen counter eating pancakes. I gulp at the sight. Ryan said Garrett knew about my gluten issue but this right here is proof that he doesn’t understand the full extent of it. I should rip him a new one right now. But I don’t. I stand two feet away from the kitchen peninsula, frozen, staring at the pancakes. Slowly, I bring up my gaze to meet Garrett who’s looking back at me expectantly.

“Want some?” All I can manage is to shake my head.

“No.” The words are no more than a whisper. Coffee. I need coffee. I move around the peninsula and to the little coffee corner I managed to set up yesterday when Garrett arrived and Ry was filling him in on the situation. I even left out my favorite mugs. My skin feels warm, I flick my eyes over to Garrett who’s watching me a little too intensely for my liking. Ignoring his stare and the warm feeling on the back of my neck I get to work on my latte.

While the shots of espresso brew I fill up the steamer with my milk. As those both finish I pour the espresso into my favorite mug, a light pink one with red hearts, dump in a heaping spoon of sugar and then stir in my steamed milk. I add a little more milk to my steamer and put it on the froth setting which I then add to the top of my latte in the shape of a heart. I've been working on my latte art all summer.

When I’m finally finished with my process, my morning ritual, I turn back to the peninsula and take the seat next to Garrett. Already feeling more myself. I like my routines and rituals. We sit in silence as I sip on my hot drink, practically moaning as the taste of it hits my tongue, my coffee will never get old.

Garrett gets up, rather abruptly, bringing his now empty plate over to the sink where he washes it off, dries it and puts it back in the cabinet. He must’ve already done that with the pan he washed. I watch the whole process, panic slowly taking over me again. I’ll have to replace that sponge. It’s contaminated now. Everything in this kitchen is. I planned on replacing everything but maybe I can make gluten free and gluten full cabinets? I did buy a bunch of pink plates and pans so we’ll be able to tell the difference.

“Eliza?” I see Garrett waving his hands from his spot in the kitchen.

“Yeah?” My voice breaks. Damnit.

“You okay?”

“Mhmm.” I nod. Nope, definitely not good .

“Alright well I’m heading to practice.”

“Okay.” My voice, thankfully, comes out more normally this time. “Have a good practice.” I force a smile on my lips as I take another sip of my latte. He nods before rounding the corner back into the living room and heading out the door, or so I assume. I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the kitchen sink but I did hear footsteps and the door open then close.

I’m not sure how long I sit there, sipping my coffee and staring at the same spot. I’d like to say mindlessly staring but that’s not true. My mind is running a million miles a minute. I need to clean and disinfect this place, especially before I cook anything here. I need my journal and to make a plan.

I leave my now empty mug on the counter, I don’t want to put it in the sink that Garrett just washed gluten crumbs into. I realize I probably sound crazy but when one crumb of the wrong thing can make you feel like absolute shit you get a little paranoid.

Upstairs, I grab my journal off my nightstand and head over to the window seat putting on my journaling playlist, which might be full of depressing songs, so what? I open up the notebook and get started. I always start by writing three things I’m grateful for followed by my manifestations and then a brain dump. Sometimes a to-do list, sometimes things that are on my mind. Today it’s a little bit of both.

I’m interrupted by my stomach rumbling. Apparently I had more to say than I thought because when I check the time an hour has passed since I sat down to write. Oops. What started as me venting about cleaning quickly turned into an essay about how scared, excited and nervous I am to start at Watertown University. I know a few people who go here from high school but they’re people I haven’t spoken to since graduation. Who knows if I’ll even see them. This school is a good medium size, not too big, not too small and hopefully the perfect size to avoid a few certain people .

I close up my notebook and open the closet door, figuring it’s probably time to change out of my pajamas. Since I know I’m going to be cleaning I grab something a little more athleisure-esque than normal. A pair of black flare leggings, a long line sports bra topped with an oversized pink shirt. I head into the bathroom where I put my contacts in, brush my teeth and quickly swipe on a little bit of concealer and mascara before filling in my eyebrows. I really need to order a little vanity to get ready in the bedroom. There’s way better natural light in there. My stomach rumbles again and now that I think about it my head is starting to hurt a bit. I need to get some food in me.

Downstairs in the kitchen I eye the sink warily. The urge to clean it and truly disinfect the kitchen is strong. My stomach rumbles once more and I sigh. I grab a banana off the banana holder I bought and put in here yesterday. At least I know these are safe. I grab a water bottle out of the fridge, we really need to get a filter or something, these bottles are wasteful. I eat my banana just standing in the middle of the room and down my water. Once I finish both of those I get to work.

I start by pulling everything out of the cabinets. I can run some of these through the dishwasher and then make a pile to sort the old gluten dishes and my new gluten free dishes. We can have designated cabinets. Yeah, that’s a good plan. After starting the first load of the dishwasher, I open the window above the sink that looks out to the cute backyard. I forgot how cute this backyard is. Hopefully I can make some friends and have them over to hangout around the fire pit. I get lost in the rhythm of cleaning and singing along to the music on my phone.