The Beautiful Monster

"Hey," she greeted him before stepping aside to let him in the lobby of the dorm building.

"Hey, thanks again," Elias told her as he walked into the building. He adjusted the strap of his black book bag that hung on his shoulder as he glanced around the quiet area. There was a study lounge connected to the lobby, but hardly anyone ever used it.

"Do you have your ID?" Alyssa asked him as she pulled out her student card. It was a tedious check in process for guests. Once she took his ID, she handed the cards over to the girl working the front desk for check in. "Alright, let's go."

Alyssa led him to her dorm room down the right hallway. She could hear muffled chatter from other girls in their dorms. She pondered on having another roommate again, but she was afraid she would get someone horrible and be stuck like that. She preferred to just live on her own for now until she met someone that wouldn't mind rooming with her. Maybe in an apartment.

"You didn't decorate your door?" Elias asked her before motioning down the hall.

Alyssa leaned over to look at the other doors. They were decorated with the girls' names or other personal touches, like the sports they played, their majors, or whatever their aesthetic was. She guessed that she never really considered decorating her door. She didn't know what to put on it.

"Mine is kind of bland," she admitted as she looked at her plain door. She figured she could at least put her name on it. She didn't want to stick out that bad. "I'm not that great as art or design."

"We'll figure out something. Don't worry," Elias told her as she unlocked her door.

Alyssa flashed him an intrigued look. It was her door, but he was acting like he was going to help her decorate it. She wouldn't mind that, but she didn't want him to feel obliged to.

"Are you artsy?" Alyssa asked him as she slipped off her shoes and awkwardly nodded to her bed.

Elias tilted his hand in an iffy motion as he slipped off his black sneakers. He then sat on the edge of her bed.

"I admire it. I can't promise anything about my ability to create it, though," Elias chuckled as he rifled through his book bag to pull out of his notebook and a pen.

"I'm a terrible artist," Alyssa said as she grabbed her own things before jumping up on the bed next to him. The mattress dipped more than she expected, making her bump into his side by accident. She pulled away with a flushed face. "Sorry."

"At least your handwriting is good," Elias pointed out, seeming unfazed by how close they were.

Alyssa smiled and shook her head before glancing at him curiously.

"So, you're getting an apartment?" she asked him. She only heard of a handful of sophomores getting apartments, and they usually had roommates.

Elias nodded.

"It's time for me to move out of my parents' house and get my own place. Way past time," he muttered the part as he flipped through his notes.

Alyssa wondered if his relationship with his parents was rocky too. He seemed eager to have his space. Then again, she had met people who had good relationships with their family and still wanted some space to themselves.

They were all young adults now, venturing down their own paths. They needed space to do that and to lose any hovering eyes. It was a breath of fresh air for her to be here on her own away from her parents and their judging eyes.

"That'll be nice having your own place. You can decorate however you want," she pointed out.

Her dorm wasn't all that decorated. There were some nice accent pieces on her desk and a poster of her favorite band on the wall. That was about it, though. The rules for decorating in the dorms were fairly strict. They couldn't even have string lights.

"And my own record player playing the music I want to," Elias said as he clicked his pen.

"I'm guessing your parents have different music tastes?" Alyssa asked with an amused smile. She didn't know that much about her parents, and they didn't know much about her. When she was back at home, she spent most of her time outside in the front yard or in her room. She could avoid any confrontation better that way.

"They have different tastes in everything. They're… old school," Elias explained as he took her notebook to look at the notes.

"Are you close to them?" Alyssa asked.

Elias shrugged.

"We're different, so as close as we can be," he replied before breaking out into a smile. "What was functionalism inspired by?"

Alyssa forgot that they were there to study. She couldn't help but be interested in getting to know him more. Even if he acted like an open book, there were so many layers left to uncover when it came to him.

"It was influenced by Charles Darwin's theory of evolution," she told him as she pointed to her notes. "What did you write down?"

"Something about canaries," Elias replied, narrowing his eyes as he read through his notes. He looked confused.

Alyssa couldn't help the laugh that broke from her. She shook her head as she scribbled on his notes to correct them.

"I think you meant Canary Islands. He collected a lot of data there," she explained to him. It was a lot of information to remember. She didn't blame him for mixing up some facts. When she read the chapters in her psychology book, they were nearly 30 pages each, which was way too much information to try to absorb at one time.

"I am hopeless. I can do business and all that stuff, but not science," Elias sighed as he scratched the back of his head. He flashed me a grateful look. "Luckily, I have a doctor to help me."

"Not a doctor yet," Alyssa smirked as she met his gaze. His eyes looked so deep, so dark. She told herself to look away, but she couldn't. She felt trapped in a daze. Not too long ago, they were strangers in a cafeteria. Now, she was tutoring him. Alone. In her room.