Love or Glory

It was Chloe's first night in Pittsburgh and she was just as excited as she was nervous. She's never truly been away from home and the feeling of leaving everyone behind for another four years of college made her feel so alone. After being accepted into grad school for psychiatry at University of Pittsburgh, she felt so elated to finally leave San Francisco and explore the east coast, but now that she has landed, the chill Pennsylvania air made her think it was going to be a different experience.

She had said her goodbyes eight hours ago. She hugged her dad and kissed her mom on the cheek for the last time until Christmas. Chloe couldn't even make eye contact with her mother because she was afraid she might actually lose it at the airport. She swallowed her bittersweet sadness, waved goodbye, and walked to her terminal. She sat in a corner of the room, put her headphones in, planted her face in her crossed arms laying on top of her bag and sobbed ever so quietly.

Unfamiliar with the sites around Pittsburgh, she gazed out onto the streets. They passed by numerous bars around campus, old historic sites, pizza and sandwich joints galore! Chloe smiled a little when she saw college students filling the local pub and a group of guys catching her eye. It's only a Thursday night, but everyone from around the state was coming into town to start moving in.

Chloe headed into the lobby of her new apartment. The building was nothing glamorous, but at least there was an elevator. She struggled with all of her large five suitcases into the car, but developed a plan to prop it open by placing one on the door to keep the elevator from closing on her. She didn't want the elevator to give her own suitcases a little journey to another floor in case someone needed the lift as well. After a minute of filing every suitcase, she pressed the number to her level and anticipated what her new roommate was going to be like.

Before she could turn the door handle, the door propped ajar and stood in front of her was a tall blonde.

"Hey there! You must be my new roomie!" She said with such a warm smile. "Here let me help you out."

She grabbed two of Chloe's suitcases and wheeled them inside with what seemed like no effort at all.

"I'm Natalie," she held out her hand and Chloe did the same.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Chloe."

Chloe assessed the beautiful blonde standing in front of her. She had thick luscious locks of blonde waves running through, amazing blue-green eyes, perfect pearly teeth, and a knockout smile. There was a genuine likeness to the atmosphere and Chloe let out a relieved sigh because it was a sign that they would get along just fine.

"Sorry I'm so dressed up. I'm from around here so every Thursday is Mario's night. You should come with me if you want to. Unless you want to get situated first, I'll understand!"

"Um, sure. Maybe I'll just freshen up a little and put on some new clothes. Been wearing this all day and sweating like a pig at the airport."

Natalie let out a giggle and walked me to my room. It was a very spacious bedroom for Chloe. She's used to paying high rent prices for small living spaces in San Francisco so she could definitely get used to having more room. She sat on her mattress and looked around the room. She couldn't wait to start decorating it. After a few minutes of designing her room in her head, she walked out into the living room where Natalie was waiting for her.

"I'm sorry I made you wait out here for me, but I think I'm gonna stay in for tonight. I think unpacking would be better for me."

"No, don't be sorry. I kind of had a feeling you'd want to do that. Just giving you a heads up my boyfriend is coming by later and sometimes our friends tag along. I just want to apologize in advance for whatever ruckus they get up to tonight."

Chloe let out a laugh and replied, "I know what a bunch of college students are like. It's fine. I'll still probably be up when you come in anyway. I can't really sleep well in new places at first."

Natalie put on her boots and headed for the door. She turned once more and smiled at Chloe.

"I can already tell that we're going to be great roomies!" She said before closing the door behind her.

Chloe walked back into her room and unpacked her suitcases. She made her bed, put up her pictures, set up her laptop, and organized her clothes. She grabbed a notepad from her bag and wrote down a to-do list for tomorrow:

1. Grocery shopping!
2. Set up cable/wifi (if necessary)
3. Map out nearest route to campus/building
4. Find a sushi restaurant
5. Call parents

Just before 2am, Chloe laid down on her bed and heard the front door swing open. Laughter filled the apartment before a drunk Natalie loudly shushed them. Chloe could hear her explaining the reasoning behind it and smiled when one of Natalie's male friends asked if Chloe was hot. It was an even bigger boost to her self-esteem when Natalie replied with, "Yes, very!" She feel asleep very shortly afterwards and so did Natalie's entourage.

The next morning Chloe walked into the kitchen and opened up the refrigerator. There was the essential cheese, milk, and orange juice, but pretty much nothing else. She opened the cabinets to find cereal, bread, and ramen. A random can of Spam sat at the furthest corner on one of the shelves.

"Natalie doesn't cook." A male voice startled Chloe.

She turned around to see a giant of a man standing in front of her. He was a rugged, scruffy looking man with intense eyes.

"Sorry if I woke you with opening the cabinets and stuff. I didn't realize someone was sleeping on the couch."

He shook his head and furrowed his brows a little, "No, I've been up for a while. I just didn't want to get up. You gave me a reason to."

"I'm Chloe."

"Robert."

There was a small silence before Robert added, "we should go get some breakfast."

Chloe turned her head and looked around the kitchen before agreeing that it was a good idea. She walked away to get changed while Robert fixed himself in the bathroom. He waited for her in the kitchen while she decided on what to wear so she wouldn't freeze herself.

"You Californians are always cold out in the East Coast! Try living up north in Canada." Robert joked after seeing Chloe's choice of attire. She was bundled up in a sweatshirt and a leather jacket while Robert was comfortable in his long sleeve grey shirt and jeans.

"What makes you think you know everything about Canada? And Californians for that matter!" Chloe lightly jabbed back.

"Well for one, I'm from there. And two, Beau, your roommates boyfriend is from there. He complains about the weather here all the time."

"Are you here for school?" Chloe asked. Robert laughed and paused to think about what he was going to say next.

"Uh, more work related."

They walked two blocks south of her apartment before heading into a diner. The owner welcomed them inside with an excited greeting before asking Robert whether or not Chloe was his new girlfriend. That made her blush and she humbly shook her head before introducing herself to him. Dave was a short plump guy with a hearty laugh and a white beard. He knew everyone at the diner and started talking to Robert about hockey. Chloe was impressed by their conversation and listened intently on what each of them had to say. Dave turned to her and asked her if she followed the sport. She unfortunately had to shake her head again before Dave implied that she would be shocked to see one of them on the screen. Chloe never questioned what Dave meant by that.

They walked back to Chloe's apartment with breakfast for everyone. She caught him looking at her a couple of times and each time he would look away with a slight smile on his face. His 6'4 frame was very towering over her petite size. She stood at 5'5 and considered quite "tall" for a female with her group of friends.

When they walked in, Chloe was met by another guy sitting on the couch with game controller in his hand and a wide smile for the two of them.

"Hey there new roomie! Nat's in the shower. Is that breakfast?"

"Yeah, I have yours." Robert intercepted Beau's conversation to Chloe. "Sorry for the rudeness, that's Beau."

Beau gave an even bigger smile as Chloe walked over to shake his hand.

"Mmm breakfast!" Natalie exclaimed in a towel wrapped around her body and wet hair dripping down onto the towel. "See Beau! I told you we were going to get along just fine."

As the two genders ate breakfast separately, Natalie asked in a lowered tone whether Chloe heard "noises" coming from her room. Chloe choked on her piece of bacon a little at the question.

"Nope! Didn't hear a thing!" She replied quickly.

The boys were watching hockey highlights from last night. The tv presenters were talking about the local NHL team when Chloe turned to look at the tv. She watched in focus of the back of a guy wearing a number 41 jersey. She watched as this "Bortuzzo" guy assisted in a game winning goal to one of the stars on the team. When number 41 turned around, she was met with a familiar face. It was Robert's.