Ezra Black

My lifelong dream of becoming a director and screenwriter was finally coming true, for I had just moved to LA, starting my freshman year at UCLA studying filmmaking.

I had been fascinated by films and how they were made, since before I can remember. I mean, what’s not to love about films they are these little worlds that you can interpret in your own unique way as well as just escape reality through.

My stomach was doing cartwheels. I was both really excited but at the same time terrified. I mean, what if I don’t make any friends? What if I end up in some weird cult or something? Uhh, Olivia, seriously? I thought, frustrated at myself and my ridiculous nonsense. You’re getting a little bit out of hand there. How on earth are you gonna end up in a cult?

I paused for a second after that thought entered my mind, seeing just how ridiculous I sounded as I continued unpacking my stuff in my dorm.

I was the first one to arrive at the dorm, so I was probably going to meet my roommate later. I hope she’ll be nice and not too wild. Or if that’s the case, I’ll just keep to myself like I usually do. I thought.

I’m what you’d call a typical nerd. I love books and movies, I always have, I love studying and anything school-related really, and I most definitely am not a party person.

This caused me to be quite isolated, especially in high school, but I didn’t really mind that. I had my best friend Chloe. She was the absolute best. She’s a hell of a lot more outgoing than me, but that’s what was so great about us we balanced each other out. We were still in contact with each other, but she was on the other side of the country or something I don’t even really know because as soon as she finished high school, she joined the military.

I really didn’t understand that decision because just the thought of it scared the hell out of me, but it had been her lifelong dream to join the military like her dad, who died serving.

I kept on unpacking which was starting to seem like an endless job. I mean, I had been going at it for quite some time now, but there was still a mountain of boxes left.

After about an hour and most of my boxes unpacked, I heard a knock on the door and rushed towards the door. This must be my roommate. I thought, getting a bit nervous.

I took a deep breath in and opened the door.

On the other side of the door was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. She was taller than me, but that doesn’t say much considering I’m only 5’2. She had the most perfect tan skin I’d ever seen. Her gorgeously luscious golden brown hair perfectly outlined her face, where the most beautiful green eyes, outlined with the longest eyelashes, looked back at me.

She looked like a freaking model, no scratch that probably more like an angel. Have I died and gone to heaven? I thought, getting a little self-conscious, knowing I was nowhere near as beautiful as she was.

On top of all of that, she had an hourglass figure, and everything was perfectly proportioned. Her face was the most gorgeous one I’d ever seen. And just ahh, how on Earth can someone be that freaking beautiful? I thought.

“Uh, hello, hello? Do you speak? Or do I have a mute roommate? I mean, I’m cool with that, but can I come in?” As she spoke, I snapped out of my trance and managed to utter out a few words like an idiot.

“Uhh, uh, yeah, of course, come in, come in. I’m so sorry I just got mesmerized by your beauty. I mean you are just so damn beautiful, just, just wow!”

Ugh, God, I hate myself. I just made myself look like an utter dork in the first five minutes of meeting my roommate. I thought while mentally slapping my forehead.

“Why, thank you.” She said with a sincere smile. “Um, sorry I didn’t quite catch your name there. I’m Jasmine, Jasmine Queen.”

Wow, her last name is Queen. Her last name couldn't be more fitting.

She sounded so incredibly nice. How can somebody be so beautiful and so nice? I thought, at the same time as realizing what an idiot I am, I didn’t even tell her my name. I’m such a dork.

“Haha, silly me,” I said with an awkward chuckle. “Hi, I’m Olivia Garcia. Most people just call me Olivia or Lulu that’s my nickname because my middle name is Lucy. So, umm yeah you can just call me whatever you want. I mean, you can even come up with a new nickname if you don’t like these. It’s completely up to you.” I said, not being able to stop the flood of words coming out of my mouth.

GOD! Can I make myself look like any more of a dork? Uhh, I hate it when I get verbal diarrhea.

“Haha, wow, you sure talk a lot, don’t you?” She asked, amused.

“Yeah, I get verbal diarrhea when I’m nervous.”

As soon as I let the last word of that sentence out of my mouth, I turned crimson red from embarrassment. Why, why did I just say that.

“Verbal diarrhea? Well, that’s a new one.” She said with a surprised but amused look on her face. “I like you. I think we’re gonna be great friends.” She said with certainty.

Wow. I was not expecting that reply after making a complete fool of myself. But I’m glad she felt that way because, to be honest, I felt exactly the same.

After that super weird and awkward first meeting, Jasmine and I sat down on the sofa in our dorm and started to get to know each other better.

As we were getting to know each other, I saw that she was just as cool as she seemed. Her dad is the CEO of a major filmmaking company, so she grew up in the industry I’d always dreamed of working in. Her mother is a model and makeup artist, which explains her otherworldly beauty, and she has one older brother who’s an actor. Along with this, I learned that we actually have a lot of things in common. For example, we're both interested in working in the film industry. I want to be a director and screenwriter, while she wants to be an actress like her brother. We both love fashion and makeup, and I realized that we really aren’t that different; we're both complete and utter nerds, especially when it comes to movies.

“So, what’s your favorite genre?” I asked, excited to hear the answer.

“I love a good sci-fi, fantasy, or action movie, but my absolute favorites are musicals,” she said with a big grin.

I had an even bigger grin at that moment. “Seriously? You’re kidding, right? It’s the exact same for me,” I said, getting really excited.

Yay! Finally, someone with the same taste as me in movies and has a lot of the same interests. I thought, my grin starting to get even bigger probably looking like the Cheshire Cat in the process.

I mean, don't get me wrong, Chloe and I had some of the same interests and a lot of good times, but more often than not, she was off doing something sporty and active while I was just chilling with my books or doing something creative. So, having someone with the same interests as me was new and exciting for me.

“Which one is your favorite?” she asked, just as excited as I was.

“Uff, that’s a hard question,” I answered, starting to think. “Hmm, I’d probably have to say that it’s a tie for first place between ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ the new version. Although ‘Burlesque’ is a very, very close second along with the original ‘Rocky Horror’.”

“Wow,” she said, surprised. “It's very similar for me, actually. For me, it’s ‘Burlesque’ first ‘Footloose’ the old one second and then ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ the new one as well, in third.” She said with a smile.

We kept on talking for a while after that. At first, we continued to talk about musicals and our favorite movies, but then we moved on to other things.

Once there came somewhat of a stop to our conversation, I looked at my phone and saw the clock.

“Holy crap, it’s already eight!?” I half asked in complete shock at how fast the time passed.

When Jasmine arrived, it was half-past two or something, meaning we had been talking for FIVE AND A HALF HOURS! That’s crazy. I’ve never before in my life talked to someone for that long. Especially not without realizing how fast the time passed.

“Seriously? It’s eight?” She asked, pretty much as surprised as I was. Neither one of us could believe that the time had passed so quickly, but that was the way it was, whether we accepted it or not.

“Yeah, it is,” I answered, still not really comprehending it.

“Wow, okay then,” she said, confused. “Now that I think about it, I’m starving. What about you? You game for some pizza or something?” She asked me.

Man alive, did a pizza sound good right now. It was perfect. “Yessiree Bob. I most definitely am game for some pizza right now!” I said, psyched.

Pizza was one of my absolute favorite things, and when it’s combined with musicals, which we had decided to binge when we were done unpacking, and good company, nothing could top it. Nothing at all.

Without further notice, Jasmine was dialing the pizza place, and I was getting the dishes and some glasses ready.

The dorm room came already equipped with everything, including dishes and all of that, but I preferred my own. Since that was one of the few boxes I had not unpacked yet, I started to rummage through the boxes in the hope of finding the one I needed.

“I didn’t know what kind of pizza you liked, so I kind of just ordered one of everything,” she said, walking towards me from the sofa accompanied by an awkward chuckle.

Ugh. I groaned inside my head, frustrated at myself for not being quicker. Jasmine had finished ordering the pizza, and I still hadn’t found the bloody box.

“Yeah, yeah, no worries. I like pretty much anything on a pizza, so it’s fine,” I said, with my head still buried in a pile of our stuff.

“What on Earth are you doing?” Jasmine asked me, confused as to why I had my head buried in our stuff, probably looking like a complete dummy.

“Okay, this is probably gonna sound a bit silly, but I have this thing where I don’t like using stuff that god knows how many have used before me, so I’m looking for a box marked dishes, glasses, and more.” Everything I said came out pretty muffled, so how she understood a word of what I was saying is beyond me.

The only thing I heard after I said that was laughter, so now I felt like I’d completely made a fool of myself and was a hundred percent sure that she thought I was some crazy idiot.

Oh, great, Olivia. Now you’ve really done it. You’ve known her what? Half a day? And you’ve already managed to make her think you’re crazy. God, I hated my big fat mouth sometimes.

As I got out of the pile of boxes, Jasmine was still laughing. “You probably think I’m some crazy idiot now, right?” I asked, a bit embarrassed.

“No, not at all, I feel the exact same way, but that’s not why I’m laughing,” she said, still chuckling.

“Then why are you?” I asked, majorly confused. If she felt the same way, what was so funny?

“Look to your left. Then you’ll understand why I’m laughing.”

I looked to my left and saw it immediately. Right there in the middle, literally screaming at me, was the box I was looking for.

Seriously Olivia, how much of a dumb-dumb do you have to be to miss that? I thought before I joined Jasmine in laughing at my silliness.

The pizza arrived shortly after my whole box fiasco, so we just sat down on the sofa and put on ‘Footloose’ a common favorite of ours.

We were both stuffed by the time we reached the middle of it, so we just sat there and enjoyed the classic that it is.

After ‘Footloose’ we both agreed to watch ‘Burlesque’ but it, like its predecessor, is an absolute classic in musical or dance movies, at least in our opinion.

While watching, we were both singing and dancing around like idiots.

Well at first, it was only Jasmine who was dancing because I was a tad hesitant to start dancing around, but as soon as she dragged me to the floor, I couldn’t help but join in.

Once we started, there was no stopping us, especially after we put on ‘Burlesque’ because that’s when the inner stripper in both of us burst out from within.

As we finished ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ the new one, we realized just how late it was.

Once again, time had completely slipped away from us, and we didn’t notice it at all. I looked at my phone and saw that the clock read 3:00 AM.

I looked over, and I saw Jasmine yawning as if there was no tomorrow.

“So, that was really fun,” I said as we both yawned in unison, making us laugh our asses off because we were both really giddy from being tired.

Once we stopped laughing, we both got up from the sofa and started to clean up the mess we had made. Jasmine put the food away, well, what was left of it anyway, so I decided to fold all the blankets and put all the things we used as props to reenact the movies out in their rightful places.

“Alright, good night Liv. Thanks for tonight. It truly was amazing. I look forward to our shopping trip tomorrow,” Jasmine said as she went into her bedroom.

“Yeah, good night Jaz, tonight really was amazing, and I can't wait for tomorrow either,” I answered her as she closed the door.

This really has been one of the most fun nights I've ever had, and I can't wait to go shopping with Jasmine tomorrow because she has incredible taste in fashion. I thought as I plopped down on my bed, the soft mattress and pillow hugging me as the tiredness softly drifted over me, a huge grin still plastered on my face.