The boarding house wasn’t the dream place she’d lived for college but it was enough. She has a bed, a personal bathroom and the appliances in the shared kitchen were new. Plus, it was cheap.

“I thought I’d bring something for us to eat on our first day,” a voice came inside the room. Soft, delicate and possibly quiet, Nora strayed her attention away from the bunk bed to the person closing the door. She eyes the box of donuts carried by her best friend, Lily, knowing that her favorites would greatly occupy the entire batch.

The box was then placed on a desk residing next to the window and Nora just hops out of her way to get a treat. She hears a chuckle, along with a smile she sees from the corner of her eyes but nothing could distract from the leche-flan filled donut that sat comfortably in the middle.

“Aw, thanks, Lil!” Nora exclaims, grinning at the dessert. She takes a bite, a cartoonish ‘munch’ that surrounds the silence.

Nora was sure Lily have been dropping a couple of sighs as she devours the donut without a thought, nothing but the hunger she knew rumbling in her tummy. She licks the crumbs off her fingers and was offered a box of wet wipes.

“You ate like you were starving,” Lily comments, watching Nora wiping off the remains of her donut.

“I couldn’t eat properly these days,” Nora explains, sitting down on a chair. The donut did ease off the emptiness in her stomach but it was far from satisfactory. Enough would be a word she’d describe the dessert.

She looks around, noting the cobwebs on the ceiling with a grimace. The stained glass from the window were a struggle she tries to clean off with every cleaning product she had during clean-up. The rusted metal on the bed were a hazard she’ll try to talk with the owner soon. But the problems were brushed off by the sense of freedom the room could offer.

Her parents were miles away, her high school as well. Nora has start over rather than live off from the impression she has garnered in her teen years.

“I feel small,” Lily blurts out and Nora watches her friend lies down on the bed with her hands spread wide. “I feel overwhelmingly small in a big and new world and I’m not so sure if I can live in it.”

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Nora immediately shuffles to her friend’s side, bent down to face her on the edge of the bed. She placed a hand on Lily’s cheek, stroking her thumb under her eye. “Hey,” she begins with a haste, worried.

She understood the feeling, however, and the smile she tries to uplift the mood was hard to maintain. “It’s okay, I’m here,” she continues with a whisper, “we can, like, face this big ass world together. You don’t have to be scared.”

Lily laid on her side, taking Nora’s hand off her cheek and places it in between them. Her intertwined fingers with Nora’s.

“I’m not exactly scared or worried,” Lily reassures Nora, “it’s just that I never thought I could end up here.”

“Same, but now we’re here – and with me, in our home for four to five years,” Nora humors, “I gotta warn you though, I snore and occasional fart in my sleep.”

“I can tolerate.”

“You do?” Nora just raised a brow, bemused by the strong conviction Lily displays with the fact.

Lily shrugs and replies, “If anything, I’m used to it. My dad sometimes sleeps in the living room and I’ve experienced worst.”

“I’m not an old man,” Nora pouts.

“But you embody one,” Lily teases.

“Hey!” Lily simply snickers, rolling to the other side of the bed with her back facing Nora.

Nora huffs, pouting even further by the giddy she hears from her best friend. She slips into the bunk bed, entering further as the space was surprisingly wide and looks down at the hands blocking her view of Lily’s face. The laughter didn’t stop.

“Hm, I assure you that my farts aren’t that bad,” she says.

Lily continues with her laugh. She breathes in deeply, sighing it all down through her mouth and shows off a smirk. Nora knew it was a taunt and, well, she hardly tries to think with her head as her hand finally grabs her friend on the wrist. She tugs it down and Lily wasn’t fighting back with what little strength Nora used.

Instead, Lily lies down on her face and Nora adjust, scooting away from the legs that pushes off her knees on the edge of the bed. Nonetheless, she had brought down Lily’s hand and all that’s left was the other who plants itself on the middle of her friend’s face.

“Stubborn girl.”

“Nasty man.”

The other hand was finally out of Nora’s way and she stares.

She just stares.

The light-brown hair scattered, some lying down on the cheeks and forehead. The color of Lily’s eyes wasn’t any different and Nora notices the pupils dilating as it stares back. Pink tinted Lily’s cheeks and the smile Nora glances to seems different; it never stretches wide nor does it fade away to form something else.

It stays there, soft and small. Like Lily.

Her friend’s glasses have fallen down on the side and Nora picks it up, putting it back on Lily’s face. And something changed.