The Gerbil

Once she had finished the warm beverage, she took both of their cups and put them in the bin to be washed. She already knew where it was, so she figured it'd be easier to take his as well.

"There is one more place that we could try but.....no,no, nope all kinds of nope. We are not going there." Liam thought. He stood a waited for Sophie to return, so that they could discuss their next step.
A phone buzzed in his pocket. Jerome had texted him.
Jerome: Did you forget something? Practice starts in five, and you aren't here. Stop strumming and get your ass on the field.
"Oh s---, did I really forget about that?"

Jerome I see you being Jerome over there Jeromin about.

She returned to the table. "Ready to go?"

"Erm, yeah could you drive whilst I change in the back? Just this once please." he said.

She nodded. "I guess."

Rushing her out of the building, Liam unlocked the trunk of his car a pulled out loads of soccer gear.
"OH, wait. You're supposed to be driving about now."he said, tossing the ring of keys to Sophia.

She took the keys, and got in the car. "Ummm..." His car was fancier than anything she'd ever driven. Sticking to the basics, she managed to get them back to the school in one piece.

He jumped out of the car, almost forgetting to thank her. He hugged her loosely, then ran off to practice.

She blinked, watching him run off. "Uh..." She took the keys with her, heading back to her dorm.

Jerome and the rest of the team were waiting for Liam when he got there. The coach was late for about the 40th time and arrived 5 minutes later. How convenient.
"First staying out past all hours, then skipping class and showing up late to practice. This obviously hasn't been a good week for you mate. Think it has something to do with that girl?"Jerome asked as they kicked around the ball for warm-ups.
"Leave Sophie out of this. Her roommate is missing. We're tring to find her."Liam simply stated.
"Izzy's a basket case. She prolly just ran off with one of her many boyfriends for the week."
"Well Sophie is worried and I'm helping her out."
"Hmmm, yeah sure. If that what you like to call it."
"Shut up."

Jerooooooooooooooome.


When she reached the dorm, she began sorting through a few of Izzy's more personal belongings that she didn't really want to sort through with Liam.

"C'mon aren't you the least bit interested in her?"
Jerome had been bugging Liam with the fifty question test for the past hour. He was hoping to get some privacy in his room, but nope they were roomates.
"I swear to god, I will go down to housing and have myself switched for the sake of privacy!"Liam exclaimed.
"But are you interested?"
"So what if I am, she wouldn't care in the slighest."

Finding nothing of interest, she put it all back in the order she'd found it, paying close attention to each detail. Not like Iz would care, if she came back.

After another round of questions, the boy decided to go down to the dining hall. He recieved the same greetings from the same girls, sat with the same people, and his night continued with no variation. Jerome was surprisingly missing when he returned to their dormitory. Liam decided to head out. It was only 11:00 anyways, he could find a college party, get drunk off his ass and sleep it off tomorrow in some girl's bed.
But he needed his keys first and that's how he ended up knocking on Sophie's window.

Sophie was, not surprisingly, reading at the time. She froze, and stared up at the window, nervous for a moment. When she realized it was Liam, she scooted off her bed and went over to the window, opening it and letting him in.

"I would believe that you know why I'm here,"he said, pointing at the keys on her desk.

She walked over to the desk, grabbing the keys and tossing them to him.

He caught the keys and found himself looking at her massive collection of literature.
"I remember my mum having some of these titles in her library back in the states. Two copies of each. We used to read through them together, then discuss them over breakfast each week."he recalled.

The faint curl of a smile formed on her lips. "Really?"

"Yeah, it was nice then. I have no idea what happened to all those books after I left that house. I wish that I did."he said, smiling from the memories.

"You're free to borrow any if you'd like." She had no idea what had happened to his mother, but she'd heard vague bits and pieces about her death...

"REALLY! Thank you."he said excitedly, putting his arms around her for a hug. Liam composed himself shortly after.
"Well I should go now."
He walked over to the open window and slipped out.

She watched him leave, a bit confused. He's hugged my twice in the past few hours...

Sophie decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea to get some dinner before they stopped serving meals.

Pinevale College.
Not the classiest place,but it sure had some wild parties. This was just what Liam needed to pick himself up each week. Right now for some reason he just wasn't feeling it.

She shut the window, then settled back on her bed to read. She didn't need to eat.

For some reason, she couldn't stay focused on the novel. The emptiness of the room was astoundingly noticeable. She slid her bookmark in between pages 284 and 285 and headed out with it at her side.