⁺◟ DAMAGED ! ⋆·˚ ❪ ✦♥ ❫
❛ chapter two ❜

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ THE NEXT MORNING, unfortunately, came quickly as Stella had hoped, a restless night had passed, though, for the black-haired girl, it felt as though it hadn't, with only two hours of sleep she threw her black duvet from her legs, slipped her sliders on while grabbing her things and went for a shower. By the time she had returned, Tessa was getting ready to leave for class and Steph was still tossing, trying to hide her face from the morning sun that beamed through their curtains.

It didn't take her long to get ready, she quickly straightened her hair which wasn't much of an effort since it just passed her shoulders, and she applied some makeup: concealer to cover the dark circles under her eyes, proof of her lack of sleep, and mascara so her eyelashes were actually visible. She made her way to her closet that so unfortunately shared with Tessa and picked out an outfit for the day, but she couldn't help but cringe at her roommate's choice of fashion, their wardrobe was split into two, one end filled with white, pinks and floras, the other filled with black, black and the occasional dark red or green.

Once pleased with her appearance she shoved her bag onto her back while sliding on her headphones.

The first class of the year thankfully flew in, it was mostly just an introduction to the class, the lecturer going into detail about the things that would be taught during lessons, and wanding the students if they want to change classes that there's a deadline. Quickly heading back to her dorm Stella was glad to find no one inside, she threw her bag down on top of her bag, went into her drawer and pulled out a joint, sighing in disappointment to see that it was her last one.

On the bright side her bike was dropped off at her mother's home earlier that morning, and Jennifer (who mostly used it as an excuse to see her daughter again) so graciously brought it to her. It was an all matt black Kawasaki Ninja zx6r, in other words, it was her baby, her pride and joy. It was the last thing she had of her old life, the only sentimental thing she had brought from Scotland.

She knew her mother would kill her if she found out she was riding without her protective jacket, much less gloves. But, in her defence, she was only driving around campus. She found a cute little cafe just on the outskirts of the campus. It was cute and warm and thankfully not too busy, granted it was around 4 pm, but she assumed it would be packed when classes were in full swing.

She had ordered a black coffee and a cheese toastie before sitting down at one of the seats, scrolling through her phone while sipping on her coffee. It was a nice silence, the only sound heard was the bell above the door whenever someone would enter or leave, or the sound of the rain gently tapping against the window. That was until someone sat down in front of her. "Hey! You're Steph's new roommate, right? She's told us all about you." Stella looked up from her phone to see a girl seated directly across from her, her chin leaning on her elbow while she looked up at her with her light brown eyes. "I'm Olivia, you can call me Liv though, everyone else does."

"Hi?" Stella replied slightly unsure of the energetic girl before her. "Oh! Sorry for interrupting, you just looked lonely and I wanted to introduce myself." Olivia's voice became quieter towards the end of her sentence, feeling as though Stella had already rejected the idea of their friendship.

"It's okay," Stella forced a smile. "It's nice to meet you, Liv."

That was enough for the shorter brunette to grin and start bombarding Stella with questions about her home, her major, her likes and her interests. Girls like Olivia weren't typically someone Stella surrounded herself with, she liked calm silence. Granted she did like a party now and again, but for the most part, she'd prefer to stay at home, listen to music and sketch. But something about Olivia dragged Stella's walls down quicker than anyone ever has before and before she knew it, it had hit 9 pm.

They had said their goodbyes shortly after Stella had realised the time, after Olivia had forced them to share numbers, and the short brunette wasn't even gone ten minutes when Stella had received the text, it was a meme of a black cat drinking from a coffee cup that said 'nope' with a text attached saying 'this reminded me of you' with a purple heart attached.

As she walked through the hallway to her dorm, her brows furrowed in confusion to see the bedroom door wide open, as she grew closer Tessa came into sight, standing close to the door, her blonde hair wet and practically dripping on the floor as she tried her best to cover herself with a towel. She followed Tessa's line of view to see a brown-haired boy sprawled across Steph's bed. "I thought you had a boyfriend?" Stella questioned, bringing the attention to her. "Actually, never mind," she raised her hand. "Not my business, just- if you're going to bring guys over, let me know beforehand so I don't walk in on your shagging."

"Oh! I didn't invite him," Tessa shook her head. "I don't know who he is."

"Okay, great. I love when creeps sneak into our dorm when no one's here," Stella said sarcastically, sitting her helmet on top of her bed while pulling her boots off. "What are you doing?" Tessa questioned in disbelief as she watched her roommate search her bag and pull out what seemed to be a notebook. "Drawing?" Stella replied in a questionable tone.

"You took your time," the tattooed boy finally said. Stella looked up at him, his thick English accent taking her surprise. Stella took this time to look him over, his eyes were brown like his hair, but the lack of sunlight in the room made it seek darker. He wore a plain black t-shirt with a black leather jacket on top, along with black ripped jeans and he held Stella's Great Gatsby book in hand, once noticing that she leaned over her bed and snatched it from his hands.

"Oh, hey," Steph greets as she enters the room, sitting on her bed beside the stranger and snatching her keys from his stomach. Her eyes darted back and forth between the other three in the room. "Sorry guys, I forgot to tell you Hardin would be coming by," she shrugged apologetically.

"Uh- yeah," Tessa mumbled. "Can you please ask your boyfriend to leave so I can get dressed?" Steph and Hardin both burst into a fit of laughter while Stella shook her head, Tessa looked around, slightly confused as to what they found so amusing. "Dude, she's gay," Stella snickered.

"Yeah, definitely not my boyfriend," Steph laughed, turning to the boy beside her. "What did you say to her?"

"Nothing," Hardin replied with a huff. "I was minding my own business," he looked down at the book in Stella's hands.

"Okay, well, whoever he is," Tessa continued, glancing around the room but more specifically at Steph with pleading eyes. The latter jumped from her bed and skipped towards Tessa. "You're going out with us tonight."

"Yeah, I don't know-"

Hardin let out a scoff, cutting Tessa off. "Trying to picture this one at a party." Stella narrowed her eyes at the brunette stranger. "No need to be a dick about it," she said in his direction. Hardin shrugged his shoulders carelessly. "Just not seeing it."

"You're not gonna stay in here forever, right?" Steph questioned, shooting Stella a glance as she continued. "This one's already bailed on me."

"Nope," Tessa replied, Steph gave her a small smile as she began walking out of the room. Hardin followed after her but slowed down as he got to the door, he glanced back at the girls, his eyes once again going to the book in Stella's hand. "The Great Gatsby. It's a good book, hate to spoil it, but it was all a dream."

"If you're going to be a prick then at least be right," Hardin stopped in place at Stella's voice, he turned his head back to see her staring at him with a confident look. "It was all a lie." she and Tessa said at the same time.

As Hardin left, Tessa turned to Stella with a smile as she made her way back to her closet. "Are you going to stay in hibernation the whole semester?" Stella questioned as she got off her bed with a groan, reaching over to grab her boots once again.

"I hope not, but I- I'm not sure," Tessa replied with a strained smile. "Where are you going?"

"I forgot I ran out of weed, need to get more," Stella replied, practically panting as she squeaked her foot into her Doc Martens. "Fucking hate these things," she mumbled under her breath before grabbing her jacket and pulling it on. "I'll be back soon so you don't have to worry about staying up too late, forty minutes at most," she said, grabbing her helmet before walking out the room, closing the door behind her so Tessa could finally get ready in private.

She drove her bike to a little run-down restaurant and bar called Blind Bob's, she parked the bike outside before walking down the side alley where she was supposed to be meeting the local dealer. She found him just further down a bit in a black car, slightly hidden from the street lights and she opened the door, sliding in without hesitation, knowing she had a pocket knife in her pocket in case the guy turned out to be a creep.

"You must be Stella?" The dealer asked, he had dirty blond hair that stood up with so much gel that Stella thought it could probably knock her out if it hit her. "And you must be Jace?" she questioned back.

"You got it," Jace smirked. "What you looking for?"

"A half ounce," Stella replied, pulling her purse from her pocket and handing Jace the money. "You smoke a lot?" Jace asked as he counted through the money. "Trying to cut down but that's unlikely, I'll probably be back in a few days," she half-joked, taking the bag of weed and shoving it down her bra before cutting the conversation short and opening the car door.

"Hey! You know how to contact me, it's good weed man, you'll be happy with it," Jace said confidently. "We'll see," Stella replied, nodding at the dealer before getting out of the car and making her way back to the front of the bar.

By the time she returned to the dorm, as expected Steph was nowhere in sight. Tessa sat on her bed in her pyjamas, the only light source being the lamp from her bedside table and her phone that she stared at. "Hey," Stella announced before closing the door.

Tessa locked her phone and sat it on the nightstand. "Hi," she replied, watching as Stella kicked her boots off with effort and lay on her stomach across the bed. Her blue eyes widened as the black-haired girl shook off her jacket and reached into her bra. "You don't mind do you?" Stella questioned as she pulled out a bag of weed, something Tessa hadn't seen before. "I know I was smoking in here yesterday but if it bothers you I can go outside?"

"No, no, it's fine," Tessa replied, leaning her head on her hand as she stared at Stella intently, watching as she put part of the little green plant in a metal box and started moving the lid back and forth. "It's a grinder," Stella informed, taking notice of Tessa's confusion. The two sat in a comfortable silence as Tessa watched Stella roll her first joint.

"Do you miss Scotland?" Tessa suddenly questioned as Stella lid the end of the joint. "That's where you're from, right? Your accent is kind of hard to place"

"Yeah, we kinda moved around though. I was born in Scotland, then we moved to Dublin when I was 6, and I lived there until I was 16, which is also where my Dad was from, but when he died we moved back, then moved here," Stella replied, blowing the smoke out. "I don't particularly miss it if I'm being honest. I miss my cousins, and there was this little park I always used to go to when I was younger, I miss that too, but at the same time I'm kinda just glad to get away."

"I get that," Tessa replied. "I miss my mom, and Noah a lot too. I'm also glad though, to finally get a break from everything and actually live my life." Stella nodded her head, understanding where the girl was coming from, she got the vibe that, unlike Jennifer, her mother was very strict, she couldn't see Tessa enjoying much of her teenage years. "What Major are you doing?"

"Fashion," Stella replied. "I really like art and designing things but the likelihood of actually being a successful artist is unlikely. Fashion is the next best thing I suppose," she shrugged. "What about you?"

"Econ," Tessa smiled. "But I'm not sure if I want to go into the business side of literature or not."

"That's cool, and at least you'll have time to think about it," Stella replied, putting out the end of her joint into the ashtray. Tessa nodded in agreement before laying her head back on her pillow. The two girls continued to converse before they both drifted asleep.

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LANA TALKS !
this chapter was a lot longer than the original version but i like this one so much more. i've also changed the relationship between tessa and stella because hoes before bros 🫶