Just Another Doll

The first week of college flew by in a breeze, which upset me just a little. Everything was going seamlessly so far. From my morning runs with Louis, to shopping with my wonderful roommates, to listening to Liam and Niall bicker about asinine things over dinner... I loved everything about it. I wanted this experience to last, not to fade away quickly before I could seize every opportunity. After a pretty average high school experience, I wanted college to turn out leagues better than that.

Laying on my bed with a textbook propped up in front of me, I read over the bland words and numerous equations with disdain. Physics wasn't something I enjoyed particularly, nor something I wanted to do. However, I wanted to make my mom proud and I wanted to be able to provide for her as she got older. With a sigh, I closed the book and dropped it on the floor, reaching into my pocket and pulling out my phone.

Dialing the familiar number, I listened to multiple rings before my mom answered, her voice instantly calming me down from my homework angst.

“Hello, dear,” Mom said warmly. I could hear the smile in her voice. “Is everything okay?”

“It's going great,” I told her, my finger tracing the patterns on my comforter. “I just missed you a bit. How're you?”

“Well,” Mom drew out the word, her voice sounding excited, “I have a date tonight.”

Instantly I shot up, holding the phone closer to my ear. “You're lying.”

Mom hadn't dated in my entire lifetime, always telling me that she was too busy for it and that I was the only person she needed. As I got older, however, I always worried that she was lonely and secretly sought companionship. The thought of her getting dolled up and putting make-up on and feeling nervous over a guy had me so unbelievably happy.

“I am not lying, Fletcher Mae,” Mom responded, and I could hear the noise of her opening drawers in the background. “I just don't know what to wear!”

“Your violet dress,” I said instantly, remembering how gorgeous she looked in it at my graduation.

Mom was silent for a moment, and I pictured her pondering my suggestion, her face contemplative. “Okay, I'll wear that one.”

“Fletch-- Oh, sorry!”

I turned around and saw Anandi by my bed, a dark blush on her cheeks. She just tapped her wrist, causing me to glance at the clock on my nightstand. There were only minutes until the meeting for the International Students Club began, and I was supposed to head there with her, Preeti, and Louis. With a small grin, she left the room, her face still apologetic.

“Listen, Mom, I have to head to a club thingy now,” I said as I got off my bed. I finger brushed my curls as I walked to the door of my room. “The one I was telling you about last week.”

“Oh, right! Have fun, dear,” Mom said, her voice warm again. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Mom,” I told her. “Have fun on your date! Tell me how it goes.”

She thanked me and hung up, and I shoved my phone in my back pocket. Stepping out into the small living room, I saw Louis leaning against a wall and chatting with Anandi and Preeti, both girls giggling and giving one another knowing looks. I always thought it would be neat to have a sister who knew your thoughts by just a glance.

Louis stopped mid-sentence and looked at me, his small eyes growing wide. “Wow. So this is what Miss Fletcher looks like when she's not in her running gear.”

“The one and only,” I joked, smiling at Louis. “So, are we gonna head out?”

“After you, ladies,” Louis grinned, opening the door and holding it for us as we walked out.

We walked to the next building with a small bit of conversation flowing between us. Heading into the room where the meeting was held, I felt a tad bit out of place. After all, I wasn't an international student. Louis had reassured me yesterday morning, saying that anyone was allowed to come, but by the looks of it, I was the only person from America. As soon as I spotted someone who might not be an international student, they opened their mouths and spoke, their accents proving me wrong.

The chairs in the room were spread out in a large circle, a table of snacks and refreshments in the far corner of the room. A frail girl stood at the front of the room, her black hair in a bun and her bright eyes beaming at all the people who were in the room. I sat next to Louis and kept the other chair next to me saved for Niall or Liam, who both came rushing in at the last minute.

“Welcome to ISC!” called out the frail girl. “I'm Chae Rin, from South Korea. As this is the first meeting, how about we go around and introduce ourselves? I'm happy to see many new faces this year!”

Chae Rin turned to the girl next to her in the circle. I tried absorbing in everyone's names as best as I could as they went around the circle, but as soon as the next person spoke, I forgot the previous person. There were at least thirty people in the room, all introducing themselves excitedly. When the circle got to me, I felt a flush rise to my cheeks.

“I'm Fletcher Owens, from the US,” I said in a rush, hoping no one would call me out on the fact that I was American.

Louis was right, however, and no one even cared. I watched as it got down to the last person, a boy. He sat with his arms crossed over his chest and his long legs stretched out before him. His ankles were crossed, a pair of old beaten boots on his feet. My eyes moving to his face, I noted his bored features and curly hair.

“I'm Harry Styles,” he told the group, scratching the back of his neck and then crossing his arms again. “I'm, uh, from England.”

Chae Rin excitedly began talking again, about how pumped she was for this year's club, and told us to mingle with one another. For a moment, no one stood up or moved, but then Niall hopped up, moving over to the refreshment table and picking at the food. That seemed to break the ice, because then everyone was standing, except for me, and moving to talk amongst each other.

“Really, Niall?” I heard Liam say, chasing after the eating boy. “You just ate all the food in the dorm!”

I smiled at their playful arguing, loving how the two fought more like an old couple, rather than college roommates. Standing up, I pushed up the sleeves to my cardigan and looked around the room, not knowing quite who to talk to. All of my new friends were leagues more outgoing than I was, moving to speak to different faces.

“So what, you like foreign boys or something?”

Turning around to find the source of the deep, rough voice, I saw the curly haired boy who introduced himself last. Struggling to remember his name, all I could come up with was Styles. He was smiling at me lightly, the faint trace of dimples on his cheeks.

“Um, what?” I asked with a laugh, not quite understanding what he was trying to imply.

Styles raised an eyebrow. “You're not an international student, yet here you are. Did you come to check out the cute foreign boys, is what I'm asking.”

Finally understanding him, I just rolled my eyes and shook my head. “I was actually invited by him.”

Styles followed my pointing finger and eyed Louis, who was talking to a girl about half a foot taller than him. I chuckled at the sight, watching Louis look almost straight upwards to interact with the girl.

“Louis,” Styles stated, looking back at me. “You know Louis?”

Nodding, I spoke again, “Do you?”

“Not really,” Styles admitted, shrugging his shoulders. “I just remember him from ISPD last month. He was very loud -err... memorable.”

“I'm Fletcher,” I said, changing the subject. It was bothering me immensely that I couldn't remember Styles' first name, so I held out my hand and waited for him to introduce himself back to me.

Styles shook my hand, but grimaced at me. “I know your name. You already introduced yourself to everyone.”

Well, so much for that plan, I thought bitterly, still trying to recall the boy's name.

“I forget your name,” I finally admitted, a blush heating up my face. It felt rude to say it out loud, but not knowing it was getting to me.

Styles let out a laugh. “Oh, so that's why you shook my hand. I'm Harry.”

Right. Harry. Because he has lots of curly hair. I locked the name in my memory and grinned at him, telling him it was good to meet him. He returned the compliment before walking off, moving towards the refreshment table and getting a drink. Once again, I felt out of place, not having anyone to “mingle” with and I just sat back down, crossing my legs and pulling out my phone.

While I pretended to be preoccupied by texting, I saw someone sit next to me out of my peripheral vision. Glancing over, I realized it was Harry again, holding out a plastic cup to me. I glanced at the contents and saw coke bubbling. Taking it from him, I smiled and took a drink.

“I wouldn't have walked away if I would've known that you don't know how to go talk to people,” Harry laughed, a deep chuckle, and took a sip of his own drink.

“They're all so... occupied,” I responded, looking out at everyone talking to each other.

Preeti and Anandi were side-by-side, talking with a short Asian boy. Louis was still breaking his neck to talk with the lanky girl. Niall was arm wrestling with a boy with tan skin and gorgeously styled dark hair, while Liam filmed them with heavy laughter. All other faces were unfamiliar and also conversing with one another. Not wanting to be the awkward person to interrupt any of that, sitting by myself seemed like the better option.

Harry rolled his eyes, “Of course they are, they're mingling. You should too.”

“Trying to get rid of me?” I questioned with a laugh, looking at Harry who was smiling at my words.

He looked at me and playfully shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Fletcher! You gotta watch this!” I heard Liam call out, and I looked across the room to see him waving his phone.

Glancing down at Niall and the other boy, a loud laugh escaped me to when I saw that Niall was sprawled out on the floor. How an arm wrestle caused that, I'd never guess.

Harry nudged me with a smile and I got up to join Liam, stepping over Niall's seemingly dead corpse. Liam was laughing so hard while watching the video that the screen of his phone was shaking and I only saw bits and pieces. One second, Niall was winning the wrestling match, and the next second the other boy had let go of his hand, causing Niall to fall over and land of the floor, where he still continued to play dead.

Laughing at them, I looked over to see the boy who made Niall fall standing on the other side of Liam, laughing equally as hard. Once the video was over, he looked at me with a welcoming expression, his brown eyes one of the most stunning sets I'd ever seen. Liam introduced us.

“Fletcher, this is Zayn Malik. Zayn, this is Fletcher Owens.”

Wanting them to meet Harry, I looked to where he was sitting to wave him over, but he was no longer there. My eyes darted around the room, but his curly-head and torn-up boots were gone. Frowning slightly, I just stayed with Liam, Niall (who'd finally gotten back up), and Zayn, talking to them and getting to know Zayn a bit better.

“Liam Payne!” I heard Louis call out in his chirpy voice. “Where's my hug?”

Louis joined the group and wrapped his arms around Liam, a rascally smile on his face. I remembered Louis saying the two already knew one another, and soon Liam introduced him to our small group as well, although I already knew him. The four boys began discussing a video game that I knew nothing about after Zayn made a reference to it, so I stood idly and continued drinking the soda that Harry gave me, wondering why he left after telling me that I was the one who needed to learn how to mingle.

Finishing the drink, I walked over to throw the cup away, but stopped myself when I noticed a loopy scrawl on the side of it. It was a series of numbers, followed by Harry x. I felt heat rise to my skin as I eyed the number and pulled out my phone, typing it in. Once I triple-checked to make sure I got it saved correctly, I threw the cup away.

“Is that the number of the curly-haired boy you were talking to?” Preeti asked me with a grin, her eyes looking over my shoulder and onto my phone screen.

Putting my phone back in my pocket, I nodded. “Yeah, but I don't know where he went.”

“Text him and ask,” Preeti suggested before vanishing back in the crowd and continuing to talk to people.

Tempted to follow her suggestion, and after asking myself “why not?” a few times, I quickly wrote out a text to Harry. My thumb lingered over the send button, and I sighed, erasing the message and deciding against it. I'd ask him some other time. Right away seemed a little too desperate.

The “meeting” went on for about another hour before people started leaving, saying goodbye to their new friends and parting ways. Zayn and Louis walked back with Liam and Niall, the four making plans to play the game they just heavily discussed. I hung back with Preeti and Anandi, declining the boys' offer to join them. As tempting as it sounded, I really did need to finish that homework I didn't do earlier that day.

Anandi was talking nonstop about the Asian boy she talked to the entire time, and Preeti was saying something about Louis. I listened to them banter and spoke occasionally, but mostly my mind was stuck on Harry Styles and his ugly boots and why he left without saying goodbye. Deciding not to let it bother me, I walked into our dorm and back into my room, passing Sadie on the way.

“Oh, hey Fletch!” Sadie said, stopping me. “Some boy stopped by earlier looking for you.”

“Me?” I asked, wondering who on earth it could've been. It most definitely wasn't Harry, he knew where I would be, and all the other boys I knew were being rambunctious across the hall.

“Yeah, he was totally cute,” Sadie said with a grin. She handed me a folded up piece of paper. “He said to give you this.”

I took the paper and unfolded it, reading the words scribbled out on the page in an unfamiliar scrawl.

Let's go out for dinner? My treat.
Come to room 313 on Satuday at 7pm.