Chapter Text
Studying at the Fashion Institute of Technology could be both Overwhelming and fun. But for Yvie, the fun part was missing since she got in. All the other students had their own friends and were always with a smile on their faces. It was high school again, but without cliqués, and with hipsters thinking they were the next fashion legend. Yvie had good grades and the loneliness that came from not having many friends to stick around.
The institute had an unquestionable artistic vibe. You could stop there with a beverage from the nearest Starbucks and your works in progress. These walls brought lots of inspiration to the students. It was common to see the students agglomerated in the library, in the garden, or even in the lounge. FIT had many places, it was a very big institute that worth being so famous. But Yvie preferred the hallways of every single artistic place in there.
Yvie Bridges, well know as Yvie Oddly . Some people in her design class called her like that because she always delivered ‘’odd’’ designs, looked ‘’odd’’ because of her shaved head and tons of piercings and tattoos, and had an ‘’odd personality’’ - The truth was that she never cared about how people called her, she liked Oddly better than Bridges. She had a strong personality and a strong sense of fashion that seemed different from the others. She created eccentric designs and had the view of a quirky artist. She didn't like drawing pretty designs that followed the trends. Yvie always based her work on her feelings and imagination.
Unfortunately, not everyone understood that. On high school, with her emo long black hair and ripped jeans, she was an underdog, a weirdo. But on college people were the same as in high school, except they kept that all for themselves to seem more mature. She felt that sketching her project because she only had a few days to get it done. Some of the people in her class looked above their shoulders to her sketch and smiled at her. It was all a facade because she could hear a girl named Rajah saying it was ugly and laughing with her friend.
It was a usual thing on Yvie’s life. She sighed and drank a sip of her latte, going back to her sketch. Yvie’s project was a long green dress adorned with 3D snake details, what she was loving to work on. It was pretty avant-garde, although it could be glamorous as well. But apparently, the other students despised Yvie’s creations. She smiled when she finished her sketch, proud of her work imagining the day her dreams would come true.
She even didn’t look a playful look behind her carefully watching her draw.
‘’What is this?’’
Yvie rolled her eyes, she thought it was somebody bitching about her work again. She looked at who said that and her jaw dropped. That girl was so pretty - Yvie knew she was a lesbian at a very young age, but that girl made her feel that deep. She had strong facial features, which gave her a playfully mean air. Thin naturally pink lips and cheeks, and when she smiled to her - her smile almost killed Yvie. She was a goddess, Yvie didn’t know why, but she was the prettiest girl she has ever seen.
‘’It’s a dress.’’ Yvie shuttered seeming shy.
‘’I like the snakes, I would make it neon green if I were you… But it’s already good.’’
It was true, the dress would look even prettier if it had a touch of neon. She didn’t even know that girl, but she felt an undeniable touch of chemistry.
‘’I was wondering how the people on this course I'm taking would be like. It’s nice to know there are people talented like me.’’
Yes, she had that cocky energy. But it wasn’t bad, she wasn’t wrong. She had talent, Yvie could smell it. Something inside her got excited when she heard that girl was going to be at her course.
‘’Oh, and when can I see that talent?’’
‘’Well...’’ she played with the buttons of her jeans overalls.
‘’Scarlet we're going to be late!'' A girl with a pastel purple hair and flawless makeup yelled. ''What are you doing? Don't worry Oddly, this cocky hoe won't steal your creation.''
‘’Ariel!’’
That was hard to believe, to be honest. The dress Yvie was drawing sure didn’t make Scarlet’s style. She would admire it but never present something like it. By far Yvie could sense she had an old Hollywood actress vibe trapped in a rainbow shirt and overalls.
‘’We gotta go, bye, whoever you are.”
That girl Ariel seemed bitchy, but Yvie didn’t bother on thinking about her after that. She watched them walk out of the hallway, and they were so loud that she could hear them:
‘’That girl is so weird, I see her around FIT every day and she doesn’t seem to belong here’’
Yvie could hear Scarlet’s voice in the background lower than Ariel’s. “I actually think she seems pretty cool.”
She experienced it since she was a kid, being the different one, being odd. Scarlet didn’t seem to care, but it was only a hopeless crush at first sight anyway. Girls like Scarlet didn’t talk to girls like Yvie, she didn’t even know if she was straight. They would probably never speak again.
What was she even thinking?
Yvie looked at her dress sketch and flipped her sketchbook on an empty page. Staring at the paper, she only could see Scarlet. It was a hopeless momentum crush, so why not? She loved fashion, but she loved drawing even more. She started to draw her and spent so much time sat in that hallway that she forgot she had another class on that day. She could worry later, the only thing she could care about was to put effort into remembering Scarlet's face
When she was about to finish the draw, her phone beeped very loud:
Adore 💚:
Yo, I saw this announcement when I was passing nearby the campus, weren’t you looking for a place to rent? I’m your savior because I found it.
Me:
LMAO yeah, but finding something cheap in NYC these days is HARD, I miss Denver in these times.
Adore 💚:
Well, the person who announced it ’s currently looking for somebody to share the rent. You would have a roommate, it would be cheaper than renting a place yourself! Anything you can crash here with me and Bianca!
Me:
Maybe they’re a maniac wanting to kidnap me or something... It still would be better than listening to Del Rio scream every day.
Adore 💚:
You would hear me screaming more than her… If you get what I’m saying
Me:
OH FUCK, GROSS!!!! I’M A GOOD CHRISTIAN GIRL.
Adore 💚:
We both know you aren’t. Anyways here’s the pic I took for you:
Adore 💚 sent you a picture
With all the stress of college, essays, and works in progress to do, Yvie had to find a place. She was currently living with her cousin, but she heard that he and his boyfriend got tired of having her there. She understood, after all, they were a couple, they needed privacy Even if her cousin said it was okay for her to live here, she knew he and his boyfriend needed space. Yvie would want it if she had a girlfriend, she couldn’t bring any girls there very often because it was awkward. She needed her own space too.
New York’s prices weren’t very friendly, so Yvie even was considering to crash at Adore’s for a while. The problem was that Adore was the girlfriend of her damn teacher Miss. Del Rio. It would be pretty weird, in fact, they both meet when the green haired girl went to see her girlfriend in one break.
Adore immediately noticed Yvie, and dropped her girlfriend to talk to her. Their weird energy matched, and they became the best of friends. Being friends with her teacher’s girlfriend was chill, but living with her would be a nightmare. She loved Adore, but that was a crazy idea.
After all sharing a place with some stranger wouldn’t be a bad idea, it was her only choice for a while. The life of a college student wasn’t easy as it seemed in the movies. If she had to live with a maniac or something, it would still be a place she could afford. Yvie was pretty sure she would scare any creep, and that no one would be weirder than her. In a firm decision, she opened the picture Adore sent her.
‘’Very broke college girl looks for a roommate’’ Yvie read it out loud, they had a sense of humor. ‘’Call Miss. Envy for more information’’
It had the address and Miss. Envy’s number. Would it be some old lady? Because who in 2019 would sign their name with ‘’Miss’’ and their last name? It was weird, but Yvie loved the weird, so she dialed the number without hesitating.
‘’Hello?’’ The voice who answered seemed familiar, but she didn’t bother in finding out why.
‘’Hi, I called because of the roommate announcement.”
[...]
Bills, bills and more bills. That was how Scarlet’s table was while she drowns herself in frustration. The apartment was very big for one person, and pretty expensive too. It was actually cheap when she moved there, but as time went by, the rent increased like crazy. Suddenly she wasn’t able to pay it on her own and still go to FIT. The problems were real, she needed a solution. Even if it meant to have to tolerate another person invading her space.
But something changed on that day, somebody called to know about her announcement. Her eyes shone when they said they could afford their part of the rent, and that they were coming to see the apartment. Life would get easier with somebody to share the costs of living in New York. She would even have a new friend if they weren’t some sort of freak. That was good considered she was very popular but had zero real friends
Scarlet had a strong personality, so strong that people didn’t want to be around her. She hung out with this girl Ariel in the institute, but their energy didn’t match at all. There was that girl she saw sketching in the hallways that seemed very cool and talented. But a cool person like her would never talk to a simple girl like Scarlet. She seemed boring, old fashioned, and had a resting bitch face. The truth was that she was very sweet inside, but no one actually got to see it.
Everything was a mess and the person was coming there soon for the interview. She played some ABBA on and got up to clean. She was an eighteen year old with a soul of an old lady sometimes, but as the chorus of ‘’Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!’’ started to play, her socks slid on the clean floor and she was the fun version of herself again.
She got caught in the moment, it was like her body was music. Cleaning the flat became more fun than she thought, and she even forgot somebody was coming. She was making some tea when she heard steps, but she thought it was the song or something - since it was very loud.
Scarlet slid to the living room still jamming to the song, screaming the lyrics with closed eyes. She didn’t even realize there was an actual human being stand in front of her.
When she opened her eyes, she gasped as the person in front of her did. She looked so surprised and so did Scarlet. That was the girl she saw in the hallways, the same cute girl she saw sketching that pretty dress. Was she there because of the roommate announcement? If not, why was she there? Did she see Scarlet dancing? Oh no, she did, her heart began to race while her brain tried to process words that never came.
‘’I came for the roommate announcement… Hi, Scarlet right? Or should I call you Miss Envy?’’
‘’Yeah,’’ she laughed. ‘’I thought putting my last name on sounded more formal, I didn’t want to seem like an old lady.’’
‘’Well… You were listening to ABBA, after all, you got the moves.’’
Great, she made Scarlet blush. She was a useless lesbian, she couldn't help herself when she saw a pretty girl. She would gladly be just friends with her if she wanted to. She would be anything she wanted with that girl who had such good energy.
‘’I damn right want a woman after midnight.’’ Scarlet shrugged laughing awkwardly.
The tall girl’s face frowned for a moment, and she stared at the big gay flag Scarlet had in her living room. The whole decoration was very vintage, from furniture she found at thrift shops. Even if the flag seemed to not fit in the aesthetic, Scarlet loved that. Maybe she wasn’t frowning because it didn’t match, and yet because she was… Straight. Scarlet gulped and looked at her with curious eyes.
‘’I was going to bring my own flag to here, but I didn’t know you had one already.’’ she put a hand in her shoulder. ‘’I’m Yvie by the way’’
Scarlet gasped to the sudden touch: ‘’W-well, we’re gonna have two pride flags now.’’
‘’Double the gay am I right?’’ Yvie laughed, and God, her laugh was the most quirky and pretty thing Scarlet ever heard. ‘’Does that mean I’m your roommate now? Because we didn't even talk.’’
‘’Or right, right, I’ll have to interview you, miss…’’
‘’Bridges, but everyone calls me Yvie Oddly so Oddly fits better.’’
Scarlet laughed: ‘’Miss. Oddly, take a seat’’
‘’Yes Miss Envy.’’ she sat in one of the armchairs ‘’Should we start?’’
At that moment she got lost in Yvie’s deep brown eyes as if she was in a trance. Their chemistry was undeniable, as they got tied together. It was only the start of a friendship, that Scarlet hoped to turn into something else. But of course, a girl like her wouldn’t like the boring bitchy Scarlet.
‘’I hope you like chamomile tea!’’ she hides her frustration while stared at Yvie.
‘’I’m actually more of a coffee girl. One strength for choosing me as your roommate: I make delicious coffee.’’
‘’I’ll think about it, keep that in mind…’’
She knew she wasn’t even thinking, and that she would tell Yvie to move there right now if she could. A girl she didn’t even know, that she seemed to know for years even if they only knew each other for some hours. But Scarlet always loved a good adventure.