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MidReal Story
Cuddles with My Hot Roommate
Scenario:Tina and I have lived together in the same dorm room for almost a year. We don't get along very well due to Tina's very complex character. She never watches her words, calls me names, and finds ways to quarrel with me over everything.
It’s 2 a.m. now, hours since our last fight. I’m lying in bed, trying to fall asleep, but insomnia keeps me awake. Suddenly, an awkward but quite loud knock is heard on the door.
Here the door opens a little and the top of Tina's head appears from there. "Are you sleeping? No? I knew you weren't sleeping." She walks into the room, closing the door behind her, her pillow in her hands, her hair disheveled as if she had been wrestling with someone in the bed.
"Look... Just don't laugh, okay, idiot. But can I sleep here tonight? I... I just can't. I need company, maybe a little cuddle, I feel calmer this way." Her face is slightly red, she looks at me with a calm and tired face. "Just don't think that I'm a small and helpless girl, got it, nerd?" She shifts awkwardly from one foot to the other and then adds "Well then...can I?"
Create my version of this story
Chanel Windsor
college student, roommate to Tina, average height with curly brown hair, introverted and analytical
Neil Jensen
mutual friend of Chanel and Tina, tall with glasses and a friendly smile
Tina Rodriguez
college student, roommate to Chanel, petite with straight black hair, outspoken and complex
I hated Tina.
I know that sounds harsh, but it was true.
Not just at that moment, but at most moments we were together.
I actually thought she felt the same way about me.
That’s just how it was with us.
Our personalities were complete opposites, and we both seemed to feel strongly about our differing views on just about everything.
I doubted we would have become roommates if we hadn’t both been desperate at the time, and even more so if we hadn’t been assured that the other one was a responsible adult.
We had both been wrong.
Tina was anything but responsible, and I was definitely not adult enough to handle it.
I sighed as I waited for her to emerge from her cocoon of blankets on her unmade bed.
We had a meeting with Neil, a mutual acquaintance, and he had specifically asked that we both be there.
I looked up at the ceiling.
It was a narrow bed, and I knew it would be uncomfortable to share it with Tina, but she did sound unusually vulnerable.
And there was something in her voice that didn’t sound like a trick.
I rolled over on my side and moved to the far edge of the bed, making room for her.
She crawled in immediately, her small body radiating tension as she lay on her back with her face turned away from me.
I could feel her small back rising and falling as she breathed rapidly, but she didn’t say anything else.
I wondered what had happened to make her so upset, but I knew better than to ask.
After a few minutes, she rolled onto her side and inched closer to me, pressing against my side.
I could smell the familiar scent of her shampoo, and I felt my breathing slow down as I waited for her to fall asleep.
She didn’t say anything else, but she kept inching closer until she was curled into my side. I waited for what felt like hours, listening to her ragged breathing, waiting for her to fall asleep.
When it finally steadied into a deeper rhythm, I slowly reached over the top of her and pulled my spare blanket off the chair next to my bed, spreading it across her shoulders.
"Why did you do that?" she whispered, her voice barely audible in the dark.
"I figured you could use the warmth," I replied softly, surprised by her sudden question.
"No, I mean... why are you still here, even when you hate me?"
I stared up at the ceiling, trying to process her question.
It was true that I hated her.
Most of the time, I did.
But there were moments like this when I didn’t.
When we were quiet and alone in the dark, it was easier to see past all the bickering and name-calling and remember that she was a person, too.
She shifted against me, her breathing still uneven as she waited for my answer.
My hand moved unconsciously to her shoulder, remembering the time she had held me through a panic attack when I’d been so scared I couldn’t breathe.
"Because sometimes, hating you feels like the only way I know how to care."
My hand stayed on her shoulder, unmoving in the dark.
We both held still, like we were waiting to see if disturbing this fragile moment would shatter it completely.
It was a rare moment of peace between us, and I didn’t want to ruin it.
After a few minutes, her breathing slowly steadied under my palm, and I waited for her to pull away from me.
But she didn’t.
Instead, she shifted closer, so that her head was resting against my collarbone, and then she was silent.
I lay there in the dark, feeling her hair tickle against my cheek as I listened to the sound of her breathing and tried not to think about how much I hated Tina.
She had been lying there for at least ten minutes, and I still hadn’t heard her fall asleep.
I wondered why she was staying awake.
Was she thinking about what I had said?
I couldn’t imagine Tina ever thinking about what someone else had said, but then again, she had been acting strange tonight. "Chanel?"
Her voice was barely above a whisper as she spoke in the darkness.
"Yeah?"
"I was just wondering... did you really mean that? About caring?"
I squeezed her shoulder once in reply.
We lay there in silence, knowing that sometimes the hardest truths are the ones we never say out loud.
I stared up at the ceiling, my hand still resting on her shoulder.
The question hung in the air between us, and I wondered what she wanted me to say.
My fingers traced small circles on her arm as I tried to gather my thoughts.
I remembered all the fights we’d had, the name-calling, the slammed doors.
But I also remembered the time she had left coffee on my desk during finals week, and how she had lent me her favorite sweater when I was cold.
I remembered how she had stood up for me when that creepy guy at the party had tried to grab me.
My throat tightened as I rolled over to face her in the dark.
"Why wouldn’t I?"
I whispered, watching her eyes widen in response.
The moonlight filtering in through our dorm window cast a dim glow over the room, illuminating her face as she stared at me.
Her eyes stayed locked on mine, searching for something in my words.
She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again, her fingers fidgeting with the edge of the blanket.
Her body tensed against mine for a moment before slowly relaxing once more.
"I just... I never thought you saw me like that," she finally admitted, her voice barely audible.
"Maybe we both see each other differently than we think," I replied, feeling a strange mix of vulnerability and relief.
"Then maybe it's time we stop pretending otherwise," she suggested, a hint of hope in her tone.