We both stood up, straightened our clothes, although there wasn't much to straighten. Then we looked at each other awkwardly for a moment. I raised my hand in a strange wave, said "Um, was it nice?", and then turned on my heel.

“You said something?” Valeria burst out laughing. I pushed her on the shoulder. “Don’t laugh, I didn’t know how to handle it.” She tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “It’s okay, we’re all still little teenage girls somewhere sometimes.” She repeated the gesture with the strand of hair to herself and blushed slightly. I looked at her searchingly. “Aha, my love. So you had a nice evening with the nice birthday girl?" she grinned, but didn't answer. “Look at us. Yesterday we couldn't even think about guys, and today we both had an almost wild night." We both laughed. I shivered slightly. We sat outside on a bench on a side street from the apartment. There was more to it than sitting on the cold curb. Selma had already left a while ago, Ariana was just fetching our bags from upstairs, which we had left in one of the residents' rooms and forgotten, and was probably saying goodbye to Yuma, whom she would see again tomorrow anyway. He wanted to sleep here today so Val and I could both stay at Ariana's. It wasn't exactly necessary since he and Ariana had taken up residence upstairs in her parents' house and we could just sleep in her parents' old childhood bedroom. But I had the feeling that he wanted to give the three of us the time.

Most of the guests had already left the party. After my very intimate encounter with Julien, I had looked for Valeria and Ariana and when I couldn't find them, I sat down with Selma on one of the beanbags at the sides of the dance floor and drank a Coke for a change from the alcohol. We had chatted a bit, but mainly watched the people. Julien's and my eyes had crossed exactly twice, but he then left pretty quickly. I was later able to find out from Torben that he lived in an apartment in the city with a roommate who had to let him in because he had forgotten the key. Now, admittedly, it was already half past two in the morning. I had actually wanted to say goodbye to him again because I was uncomfortable with how embarrassing it had ended. But he had disappeared too quickly. I then passed the time until Ariana and Valeria were ready to leave. Now the two of us were sitting outside here, half past four in the morning, watching the empty street. From down here, you couldn't hear anything of the little activity on the roof. "Do you think it's weird that it's our last year here?" I asked, putting my arm around Valeria's shoulders. She let her head sink onto mine and sighed. "Yes, it is weird. I don't know what will happen after that. But no matter what, I'm already going to miss it." I nodded. "Are you still planning on going to France?" She nodded slowly. Valeria had decided to go to France for a year and take both the language and an intensive course in social psychology. Suddenly I felt a small but heavy lump in my throat. "I'll definitely come and visit you," I said, swallowing the lump with difficulty. "Then we'll eat baguette and cheese and you'll tell me everything you experience in French and I'll do my best to understand a single word." Valeria laughed and her body trembled slightly next to me. "That sounds great." I closed my eyes and let the cool, yet pleasant air wash over me. I could still feel the alcohol, but it was much weaker and I could think somewhat clearly again.

I didn't know what was harder for me right now. Thinking about my future, which was still up in the air and which I had no idea about. Or about meeting Julien this evening, which was both exhilarating and upsetting. Both gave me a slight stomachache. But Ariana saved me from my thoughts as she came towards us with a grin. "Mission completed," she held up our bags. "You're an angel!" I said and took mine. "Thanks! But from the look of you, you had a great farewell," I grinned and nodded at her slightly disheveled hair. She just shrugged her shoulders. "What can I say, I always want to kiss you." We laughed and walked to the street. Our Uber would be there soon. The plan was that Yuma would drive Ariana's car home after college tomorrow and I would take her with me in the pickup truck with all the moving boxes in the morning. I hit my forehead. “Oh man, I had almost forgotten about my move. I hope I'll be in a good enough state to do anything afterward.” Valeria linked arms with me. “It'll be fine, you have your mother, Ariana and Ravi. And I'm sooo happy that you'll be living closer to me.” She gave me a kiss on the cheek and I smiled. Yes, that was true.

The next morning I had to struggle to get out of bed. In terms of quality, I only had two hours of sleep. I had fallen into bed around half past five, completely exhausted, after spontaneously deciding to sleep at my place instead of at Ariana's, and the alarm clock had screamed me out of bed mercilessly later. A cold shower and two cups of coffee - the good espresso-strength one - kept me going as I walked outside and saw that Ravi had already loaded all the boxes onto the truck. Oh man, when did he have to get up to do that? My heart warmed slightly. “He's a piece of gold, isn't he?”, my mother hugged me from behind and also looked outside over my shoulder. “He said last night that you were probably too tired and exhausted to do that and got up earlier this morning.” I placed my free hand, without the coffee cup, on her arm. “It's really great, you picked a good one. I’ll have to remember to thank him in the coming days.” I felt her head nod next to me. "I'll tell them." Then she turned to me, ran her fingers through my curls and pushed them back. “Even though I'm sad, I have to say that I'm very proud of you. You're doing really great and I'm glad you're looking forward to it. I think it will be good for you too.” I nodded and smiled, touched. “Thanks mom.” “By the way,” she said as she went into the kitchen. “Your father called. He wishes you the best of luck with your move and wants to get in touch with you this afternoon. He’s back from his trip and feels bad that you haven’t heard from each other in a while.” I grinned. “Good, then I have the upper hand.”

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A little later, Ariana and I were sitting in the car, me at the wheel and she in the passenger seat singing along loudly to the radio. This time it was neither Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande nor Ed Sheeran. “Someone like you” by Adele filled the entire car and Ariana hit the notes very well. We had been driving for about half an hour when we arrived at the dorm. Since the dorm was not far from our campus, I had already looked around there a couple of times. So I headed straight for the secretary's office. Ariana said goodbye with a hug because she had to go to a lecture, and that left me alone with the boxes that were only attached with tension straps and that hopefully no one would steal in the short time. It was cool in the building and the air was filled with a scent, like those diffusers that are sometimes found in bathrooms. The secretary's office was right near the entrance door and when I knocked, I heard a “Come in” from inside. The man behind the counter was young, maybe in his early thirties with large black glasses that suited him well. Not many people could wear glasses like that. "Hello," I said a little shyly and smiled. "I'm Bonnie Wagner. I'm moving into the dorm today." He nodded. "Just a moment." Then he typed a few times on his computer and nodded in confirmation. "Yes, here we have you. The deposit for this month has been paid, very good. Everything is ready, you can go into the room right away. It has just been cleaned, the previous tenant moved out yesterday. If anything should happen, you can always come and let us know. Here," he pulled out a sheet of paper containing some documents and a key, "are the handover documents. You can go into the room first and see if you see any damage or anything. Then please enter your name on the list here and sign at the end. Also please sign this handover contract for 10 months, the confirmation of your data and the confirmation that you have received the key." He showed me the documents one by one and then handed me the key almost ceremoniously. "Your room is number 204. Welcome." He smiled and I took the key from him. "Thank you very much! Should I sign everything right away then?" He shook his head. "You can bring the documents later, we're not that strict about it here." He winked with his left eye. I nodded, smiling, and went back outside with another thank you. It wasn't as warm as it had been the last few days. It had gotten milder, but it was still warm enough for a T-shirt. I went back to the car and looked at the online map that I had found. Then I picked up my bag and the first box and made my way to another entrance further ahead, which was labeled with a large 2. Inside there was a small entrance area and a sign hanging from the ceiling. Apart from the room allocation, a rooftop terrace, a common room, a games room and several kitchens and bathrooms were excellent. So we would probably share bathrooms too. I sighed briefly, but didn't let it dampen my elation. I followed the sign that showed room numbers 201-250. I thought it would be on the first floor, but I went up a flight of stairs to the first floor and found my door there. My new home, I thought, and then unlocked the door. It was a cozy room. A tiny hallway led further back into a fairly large room that was already furnished with a bed, a closet and a desk. There was even a bedside table. I cheered with joy when I saw that there was a bathroom next to the small hallway. It was tiny, but it was my only one. Grinning, I took a video of the room while it was still tidy. I would send it to my parents and the girls later. I put headphones in my ears, turned on music to motivate myself, and then lugged the remaining boxes from the car into the room. In the end, there were six boxes scattered on the floor, some individually, some stacked on top of each other. I brushed imaginary dust off my hands and then put my hands on my hips with a satisfied nod. "Very, very good," I muttered to myself and collapsed onto the bed.

I didn't have my next lecture until around three in the afternoon, so I still had about two hours. At first I thought about whether I should clear out my boxes, but then decided to use the time to get an overview of the dorm. I walked down the hallways. There were posters, decorations and bulletin boards on the walls with information about events, tutoring opportunities or student organizations. Plants lined the hallway at regular intervals and added a nice green natural feel. At the end of the hallway was a thoroughly light colored room that turned out to be a common room. Couches and armchairs were arranged in a circle, a television hung in the back corner, and the walls were lined with large windows that let in lots of light. Everything went well together in terms of color, bright white and beige tones. But from a fashion perspective, it was a mixed bag. Some looked like they were from our grandparents' time, and others could have come from an interior design magazine from that year. All in all it had charm and felt very cozy. Currently the hallways and rooms were empty as most of them seemed to be in lectures or courses. I only heard a few students coming from the hallway or other floors.