Octavia panted as she leant against the door to her new dorm. She wasn't exactly sure wether she would be able to walk up and down those stairs everyday. Granted, she wouldn't be carrying suitcases, but she'd still be lugging a Cello around. Regardless, she opened the door and stepped into her new living space for the next four years.
Octavia had been lucky, this room was big. The dorm itself had three rooms; one bathroom, complete with shower, toilet and sink. A sizeable bedroom with two beds on either side of the room and two deskes, and a big main room, with two sofas and a small kitchen. It may not be as nice as the sorority houses, but it was definitley a nice living space, especially compared to some of the other dorms she had seen on campus.
She took her suitcases over to her bed and started to unpack. By the time Octavia was finnished her half of the room was completely personalised and fit to her liking.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Here came the part she dreaded. As much as Octavia liked to interact with people and socialise, she was a private person. If she had it her way she wouldn't be rooming with anyone, unfortunatley, however, that was school policy. To her relief when she opened the door she found her old friends smiling at her.
Fluer De Lis and Trixie Lulamoon had been her two best friends ever since they were children. Even though they had completely different interesets, they all managed to go to the same university, with Trixie studying drama, and Fluer studying photography, even though Fluer had really only enrolled for the experience.
"So, Octavia, what do you think? Do you like university so far?" Fluer asked pleasently as she took a seat on one of the sofas.
"I've only been here a few hours, so I don't have that much of an opinion on it." Octavia replied dismissively. She knew that Fluer no doubt already had many stories to tell of her run ins with various attractive people.
"Oh, well, let me tell you!" Fluer recounted her tales of wonder as Trixie badgered Octavia for food. They decided to go get coffee.
~~~~~
Across the little coffee shop where Octavia and her friends were currently drinking, two girls were sitting closely and talking. They blushed when they brushed against eachover and gave little giggles as they whispered into eachother's ears. Not only did Octavia find it extremely cute, it also reminded her of how boring and honestly sexless her love life was. She took a long sip of her coffee in an attampt to drive away the thought.
"See, look at that!" Fluer had seemed to have noticed the couple too.
"Wouldn't that be great, Octavia? Oh, we simply must get you a date!" Fluer sighed wistfully.
"I'm fine, I don't need a girlfriend." Octavia lied. Fluer raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow as Trixie blurted out an obnoxious laugh. Octavia blushed.
"What?! You're single too, don't go laughing at me!" She narrowed her eyes at her blue haired friend. Trixie smirked and put her hand on the chest.
"The great and powerful Trixie can get a date whenever she wants!" Trixie boasted, and with that turned around to the waitress coming out of the kitchen.
"Hey purple, what do ya say to dinner? I'll take you somewhere nice!" Trixie grinned, resting her chin on her hand. The girl in question had long purple hair with some magenta and lighter purple streaks running through. She turned red and shot Trixie a scowl.
"Surprisingly, I don't like being hit on at work" The girl blew her fringe out of her face.
"Also, don't call me purple!"
"Sorry, but how can you blame me? Your're just too beautiful, Purple" Trixie winked at the poor girl, who turned even redder and walked briskly away while muttering.
"Smooth" Octavia rolled her eyes at her hopless friend. Honestly, Trixie was a lost cause if ever she'd seen one.
"Hey, I made her blush didn't I? That's gotta count for something!" Fluer smiled, amused, as Octavia gave her another disaproving look.
"Anyway, you haven't had a relationship since Beauty Brass, Octi, so you can't judge!" Trixie furrowed her brow like she usually did when somebody was questioning her abilities.
"Like I said before, I don't need a girlfriend, I've got my music" Octavia hid behind her cup and took another long sip. It was true, Octavia needed nothing more than her music to be happy. She was content to just play her way through university, however there were certain other needs that needed to be attended to, not to mention that being single was oh so painfully lonely.
She looked over at the two girls longingly. She imagined being that close with someone again, being able to wake up and feel warm arms wrapped around her, holding her, protecting her.
"Octavia?"
Octavia's fantasy was rudely interrupted by her friend.
"What?" Fluer exhaled, annoyed.
"I said, have you heard this new song Trixie's raving on about?"
Octavia shook her head and accpted the ear buds given to her. After approximatley 5 seconds of listening Octavia took the ear phones out angrily.
"I can't believe you just made me listen to some dubstep crap!" Octavia wrinkled her nose in utter disgust.
"Whatever Octavia, I like it" Octavia never could get her head around Trixie's tastes, sometimes it felt like she was trying to be tacky on purpose.
"This new dubstep music, it's all just angsty thirteen year olds becoming famous from making noise. Not even good noise, either!" Octavia exclaimed. Her two friends obviously sensed the beginnings of a rant and asked for the bill.
~~~~~
The next morning Octavia woke up to see an unmade bed across from her. Suitcases and bags were left un-opened at the end of this bed, with a heap of clothes already accumulated on the floor.
Obviously her new roommate had moved in, in a very untidy fashion. But Octavia decided to give this person the benefit of the doubt; they were probably tired from actually getting here. While Octavia had been lucky, since the University was in Canterlot, her hometown, many students traveled all over the nation to get there.
Octavia checked her alarm clock. One hour until class. She dragged herself out of bed to go through her morning routine. As she begrudgingly left the bedroom, she was met with the sight of empty energy drink cans littering the sofas and kitchen. Ok, she could excuse unpacking and a messy side of the room, but would it be too much to ask to just quickly clean a living space they both shared? Also, if this new roommate was going to be some sort of hyper health-nut, Octavia didn't think she was going to survive long.
Just then she heard the flush of a toilet and out came this new roommate.
Well, she was a girl.
The reason Octavia was so sure that she was a girl was because this girl's whole body was on display save for a pair of black boxers.
Octavia's face turned into a beetroot and she turned away. How did this girl have the audacity to walk around half naked? And, scratch that, how did she have the confidence to walk around half naked?
Not to say thay she shouldn't be proud of what she had. From what Octavia had seen it all looked pretty great, lean, thin, the faint outline of muscles... Wait, she was getting off track.
"Hey, you must be my new roomate!" The boyish voice brought Octavia's thought train to a stop.
"Yes, well" She turned around to face the girl again and then realised that they were still in the same situation. She quickly turned away.
"Listen, it's not that I don't want to get to know you, but could you please cover up before we talk?" Octavia asked politely. Well, she hoped it was politely. However bad of a first impression this girl was giving her, she still didn't want to have a bad relationship with her roommate.
"Oh! Shit, my bad, sorry dude!" Octavia heard shuffling and then the girl came to stand in front of her, wearing a fullsized grin on her face.
"The name's Vinyl Scratch! I guess we'll be living together from now on" Vinyl Scratch had two-toned blue hair that defyed gravity. She had extrirdinarliy pale skin and red-pink eyes. She had a thin, athletic body and what seemd to be a perpetually crooked smile. She was, if Octavia was honest, extremely attractive. Octavia's eyes traveled down to look over Vinyl's cloths. Apparantly her idea of 'covering up' was throwing on a partially see-through, white tank top and leaving the rest of her on show for the world to see. Ok, maybe not the world, but Octavia could sure see a whole lot.
"Octavia Melody, pleasure to meet you" Octavia smiled and outstretched a hand.
"Woah, that name's waaay to long" Vinyl gave the outstretched hand a weird look and Octavia immediatley retracted it.
"I think I'll just call you Tavi" Octavia cringed. She hated that nickname.
"I'd prefer it if you didn't" Octavia grimaced.
"Yeah, well, I'd prefer it if I didn't have to go to uni, but here I am" Vinyl shrugged and walked over to the fridge set into their kitchen.
"We don't always get what we want, Tavi" She added over her shoulder.
Well, Octavia didn't even know this girl and she already disliked her.
"Listen, are you going to clean up this mess at least?" She said exasperatedly, gesturing to the empty cans strewn about.
"Oh, yeah, sure, up late last night, ya know?" Vinyl laughd emerging from the fridge. Octavia raised an eyebrow at the girl.
"Geez, take the stick out, Tavi" Vinyl rolled her eyes.
"Maybe I would if I didn't have a roommate who walked around with her rack showing" Octavia muttered under her breath. Vinyl seemed to have heard her, because she looked Octavia up and down with a curious look on her face.
"Are you gay?" Octavia stuttered at the question. I mean, it's not like it's a question she didn't hear often, but it was completely unrelated to their conversation.
"Wh- I mean, well, um, yes" Octavia sighed, giving into her roommates random inquiry.
"Good" Vinyl took a sip of the energy drink she had retrieved from the fridge and walked into the bedroom, leaving Octavia to stand there and try to comprehend the reply she just gave.
Finally Octavia gave a frustrated huff and went into the bathroom.
~~~~~
"No, but you don't understand, she is literally the worst person I have ever had to tolerate in my life!" Octavia paced the floor of the 'Delta Nu' sorority house as she ranted.
"Really? Worse than Trixie?" Fluer raised an eyebrow which rewarded her a hefty push from the girl in question.
"I mean, seriously, how can anybody be that much of a good-for-nothing layabout!?" Octavia ignored her friends comments and kept on pacing, arms folded, nails digging into her blouse sleeves so much it looked like she was ready to rip them.
"Darling, if you ask me, I think you're overeacting just a tad" Rarity, one of Fluer's sorority sisters piped up.
"I am not overeacting!" Octavia practically screamed. Everybody took one step away from the fuming girl.
"She never cleans the dorm, even though she's the one who makes the mess, she never does her homework, and always bugs me for answers, even though we're not even in the same classes, she leaves her clothes lying around everywhere, dirty, I might add, and because they're dirty she always wears mine without asking, I don't care if she looks good in them, she walks around naked most of the time anyway, she always has those damn headphones in and wears those ridicules sunglasses, she is constantly bringing home drunk boys and girls, and takes them into our bedroom, and you wonder why I'm at the library so much studying, and she leaves those goddamn energy drinks everywhere and never cleans them up! She is the roommate from fucking hell!" Octavia puffed out any remaining breath she had and sat down on a nearby sofa. This wasn't easy for her. She had alway lived with somebody who respected her ways of living, but with vinyl it was like there was a wall that was only broken down when asking for help with homework or... Those times. They happened alot, mostly in the morning or evening.
...
Octavia was at her little desk in her room, doing some lit homework when she felt a hand on her shoulder. It squeezed her shoulder. Octavia paused. This was normal by now. She carried on typing.
Suddenly she jolted as she felt hot breath on the back of her neck. A trail of kisses was being forged all the way up to her ear. Then, in a breathy whisper, she heard Vinyl's voice.
"Go on a date with me"
It wasn't a question, it was a statement, almost a command.
"Stop asking me that" Octavia gritted out.
There was no reply but the hand slid down to meet another one, that hooked around Octavia's neck in an embrace as Vinyl rested her chin on Octavia's shoulder.
"Please Tavi, I'll be extra nice 'n all, even wear a top"
Octavia grimaced as a sudden thought flashed through her brain.
"Oh Celestia, you're not naked now, are you?"
"Nah" Vinyl chuckled.
"Knew you'd freak out about it" Octavia nodded and sat there for a few minutes, listening to Vinyl's soft breathe against her cheek, cherishing the hands that fell around her, wishing the feeling could last. Eventually, she spoke.
"My answer's still no"
"Fine, I'll ask tommorow then"
And with that, Vinyl walked back to her desk.
...
Octavia wouldn't admit it, but every single time Vinyl Scratch, the roommate from Hell, asked her that, she was tempted to say yes.
~~~~~
Octavia awoke on the sofa, with her laptop resting on her stomach. She sighed. It seemed she had fallen asleep during revision, again. Then she realised what she had actually woken up to.
A drawn out, high pitched whine came from the bedroom. It was like the sound of a cat dying a painful death. Octavia got up and went to open the door, only to be stopped when a very panicked Vinyl Scratch ran out of the bedroom, holding her prized laptop at arm's length, and rushed into the bathroom.
Octavia poked her head around the door to see a puddle of chemical-smelling liquid forming on Vinyl's bed, leaking from an overturned can of energy drink. She could guess what had happened, Vinyl's unhealthy addiction to the highly-caffeinated drink had backfired on her and now her laptop was drenched in the stuff.
Octavia walked back out of the bedroom to see her roommate curled up into a ball on the sofa, a sniffling noise that sounded suspiciously like crying was coming from her. Octavia sighed. Vinyl may have been a nightmare to live with but that didn't mean she didn't deserve comfort. Octavia walked to the sofa and placed a hand on Vinly's shoulder.
The sniffling noise continued.
Octavia sighed again. She walked around to sit next to Vinyl, and sat there awkwardly waiting for Vinyl to say something. Eventually she did.
"It's fucked. Totally wrecked" Vinyl moaned and came out of her ball to look melancholily at Octavia.
Oh dear. If Octavia was in that position, she would be more than just crying. It was a basic necessity to have a laptop in modern times, espicially when living a life where constant coursework was needed to be done. It was hard enough to get by on minimal income, and the thought of student loans for the school they went to was enough to make Octavia groan in despair. People in her and Octavia's position simply didn't have the money to go around buying new laptops.
Vinyl must have known what Octavia was thinking.
"I don't care about the laptop, I can get a new one cheap. I have connections. It's just..." Vinyl sighed wistfully.
"All of my work. My music, I mean. It was on there and I hadn't saved it to a backup drive yet" She looked at ground and pulled her knees up to her chest.
Octavia contemplated this for a second. Number one: if Vinyl had connections, maybe she could see if she could get a new t.v for the dorm. They really needed one. And, number two: Vinyl was a musician? It was then Octavia realised that she had been living with this girl for about three months, and had not yet learnt what she was majoring in.
"Come on" Octavia stood up and offered Vinyl a hand.
"Let's go get a coffee" Vinyl looked at the hand, surprised, before smiling and letting Octavia help her up.
~~~~~
The little café that Octavia and her friends had gone to on the first day had become a local hang out spot/meeting place/general place of relaxation for them. They had become good friends of the owners of the shop, and it's staff.
"Hey there Octavia!" Applejack, the blonde daughter of the owner, gave Octavia a wide grin.
"What can I get for ya and your date?" Octavia reddened .
"She's not my date..." Octavia mumbled.
"Oh, my mistake" Applejack apologised. An awkward silence descended on the three. They stayed like that for a minute before Applejack decided to order for them.
"I'll just get ya the regular, and the special for your... Friend" Applejack said sheepishly before going back into the kitchen.
Octavia opened her mouth to say something before Vinyl interrupted her.
"Thanks" Vinyl gave a genuine smile. Octavia thought she looked lovely when she smiled.
"No problem" Octavia smiled back as Twilight, the waitress who Trixie had hit on and had ultimatley started a rivalry/hate sex relationship with, brought them their drinks. A black coffee and a steaming cup of hot apple cider.
"So..." Octavia thought it might be a good time to start to get to know her roommate.
"You're a music major?" Octavia asked.
"Yep! Minoring in electronics!" Vinyl grinned excitedly.
"That's great! So am I! Majoring in music, I mean. I'm not very good with computers" Octavia smiled.
"So, what instrument do you play?"
"Well, I play the trumpet and the piano, but that's not how I make my music" Vinyl shrugged.
"Oh really? Do you sing then?" Octavia was interested in this. She took another sip of her coffee.
"Nope, I'm a dubstep artist"
Octavia choked on her drink.
"A d-dubstep artist?" Octavia coughed out.
"Yeah, are you ok?" Vinyl looked over to Octavia worriedly.
"I'm fine, I just..." Octavia started to laugh. Of course the roommate she hated was in the one music genre she despised.
"I hate dubstep" Octavia emphasised the 'hate' as much as she could. Vinyl shot Octavia a glare.
"Well it's better than clasical crap you always play! It's the 21st century, stop playing goddamn Motzart!" Vinyl exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air.
"crap?!" Octavia opened and closed her mouth in disbelief.
"At least I make actual music!"
The two glared at eachother, staring eachother down. After a few seconds Vinyl's mouth curled upwards into a smile. She blurted out a laugh. Octavia squinted at her.
"What?!" Octavia demanded, as she watched Vinyl grin back at her.
"You're so cute when you're angry!" Vinyl chuckled, gesturing towards Octavia's face. Octavia blushed and took another sip of her coffee.
"Hmm" She hummed, and looked back to Vinyl with a small smirk on her face.
"Well, I would say the same, except your attractiveness seems to be a constant" Octavia said, a flirtatious tone to her soft voice.
Vinyl blinked at her for a few seconds before letting out another little chuckle.
"Tavi, did you just hit on me using posh talk?" She grinned, leaning forward and cupping her face in both hands.
"If you want to come to that conclusion, than I suppose so"
"Ya know, this whole dating thing would be alot easier if you spoke English"
"We're not dating" Octavia deadpanned, giving Vinyl a cynical look.
"Your friends seem to think so" Vinyl nodded her head over to a smiling Applejack. Octavia looked to Applejack and then back to Vinyl.
"I wasn't aware my friends had entered into the relationship" Octavia raised an eyebrow.
"Ah ha! So you admit it is a relationship!" Vinyl smiled smugly.
"Only of the platonic kind, if that. As far as I'm concerned there is no romance whatsoever" Over the years Octavia had acquired a knack for lying about her feelings.
"We could change that" Vinyl smirked over to Octavia. There was a short silence before Vinyl spoke with a serious tone.
"Go on a date with me Tavi"
"No"
"But why not?" Vinyl sighed in exasperation.
"Because you'll just sleep with me like everyone else and never actually have an actual relationship with me!" Octavia took another sip of her coffee. She would need alot of caffiene in her system for this conversation.
"Like everyone el- Tavi, I've only been on one date since the start of college, the rest are my friends" Vinyl's brow furrowed.
"We have a deal: no strings attached, strictly pleasure, and back to no sex if one of us gets into a relationship" She explained.
"I like you Tavi, I really do, beyond just sex" Vinyl smiled at Octavia sincerely.
"So please, just one date?"
Octavia sighed. Seeing as she hadn't really got any for a month or two she might aswell take up on the offer.
"Fine. But I'm not going to a rave"
~~~~~
Octavia looked around the small resturaunt. It was nice. Cosy. Apparently Vinyl had a friend that worked there so they would have no trouble getting a table.
"OMG, Vinyl! Hi!" A girl with curly pink hair ran up and hugged Vinyl. Vinyl smiled and the girl rectracted from her, turning to Octavia.
"Hi! You must be Tavi!" Octavia cringed at the nickname. She hoped it didnt catch on.
"I'm Pinkamena Diane Pie, but you can call me Pinkie! I'll show you guys to your table!"
Pinkie, Octavia discovered, could talk at a thousand miles an hour. She rambled on about random topics while seating them, all the while asking many questions that neither of them had the chance to answer, before taking their order and going to place it.
Over the next hour or two Octavia and Vinyl enjoyed eachother's company. They ate, talked, laughed. Octavia found out more about Vinyl, intrigued by her free way of living. They delved into eachother's pasts, including past relationships. At one point during the meal they had gotten onto the subject of sex, somehow. They talked about their different kinks and eventually Octavia actually had to excuse herself from the table she had blushed so much.
By the end of the dinner Octavia had come to extremely like her roommate.
After they had payed Vinyl suggested that they take a walk around the campus. The night sky was clear of clouds so the stars could be seen perfectly, as twinkling dots set against their black background.
Octavia felt relaxed. She felt comfortable around Vinyl. Once she had broken past the walls of cool detachment Vinyl placed around herself, talking was effortless. It was like they had been friends for years. It was only until they got to their dorm building that she realised Vinyl had had her arm around Octavia's waiste for the duration of the walk.
She had also grown fond of the nickname 'Tavi'. Just as long as nobody else used it.
~~~~~
2 months later
~~~~~
"Hey babe" Vinyl dropped her keys into the bowl by the door and gave her girlfriend a peck on the cheek before heading into the bedroom to change.
"Hello" Octavia dragged her eyes away from her laptop.
"How did it go?" Octavia stood up and walked to leaned against the door frame to the bedroom.
"Great! They love my stuff!" Vinyl grinned as she pulled on a black tank top with the words 'Do you even wub, bro?' Written on in white lettering.
"Oh dear" Octavia put on a dissapointed voice and shook her head.
"What?! What do you mean 'oh dear', what does that mean?" Vinyl's eyes widened.
"Now the world will be brainwashed by music by Vinyl Scratch" Octavia smirked. Vinyl sighed in relief but gave a small chuckle.
"Shut up, that's DJ P0N-3 to you" Vinyl grinned as she pushed past Octavia and into the living room. She headed to the fridge to get a can of energy drink.
"I'm joking, that's great Vinyl" Octavia smiled.
"Yeah, well, thanks for the support Tavi, I really needed it" Vinyl hugged her roommate-turned-partner.
"Wanna watch netflix and order takeout?" Vinyl asked hopefully.
"You understand me on a whole other level" Octavia sat down on the sofa as Vinyl went for the phone.
She had definitly made the right choice to give Vinyl a chance.
