"you've been sitting in this tiny dorm all day, don't you want to have some kind of interaction with the human species today?" elton asked, draped across his sister's small bed.

harlow stopped typing and rolled her eyes at her older brother, then continued to work away at her essay. it had only been about a month and a half of her first semester at university and harlow was already drowning in assignments from her classes.

after graduating from high school, harlow went straight into working, wanting to save up as much money as possible before she went off to university. this, of course, led her to get somewhat comfortable in her job in retail, so her gap year ended up being gap years. this is how she ended attending university at the age of twenty-three.

she surprisingly wasn't the oldest person in her faculty, but the majority of others in the faculty were fresh out of high school. unlike her fresh-faced peers, harlow wanted to put her education before the "university experience", otherwise known as partying every weekend and blowing classes. she was slightly later coming into the degree, so she has always felt she had to make up for it in a way. elton knew this and was constantly trying to get her to come to parties he has with his friends.

harlow doesn't attend these parties for two reasons. the first being, she's piled up to her neck high with assignments and readings and just doesn't have the time to party. and two, elton's group of friends were extremely intimidating to harlow. so for these two reasons, she would rather spend her nights catching up on work, effectively avoiding all parties he throws.

"my friends don't think you're even real, you know. they think i just made up an imaginary sister," elton said, sitting up cross-legged on the bed now.

"well you can tell them that I'm very real, but also very busy," she replied, leaning back in the desk chair while studying what she had just written. frustrated, harlow erased the entire paragraph and sat staring at the screen. "this is hands-down the worst paper i've ever written" she mumbled as she stressfully rubbed her face.

"h, i've been here for like an hour and you haven't moved once, i think you just need a break." elton replied, "and lucky for you i have the best break planned! my friends are having a party tonight. you can come and show them that you're a real person and take a break from hell, it's literally perfect,"

harlow laughed, thinking about how entirely disastrous it would be if she took an entire night off from her essay. "not gonna happen, e." she glanced up from the screen to see elton pouting, "if i party tonight i'm gonna be hungover tomorrow and that's another day where i don't work on my essay. it's due tuesday, and there's no fucking way i could write an eight-page paper in two days that's actually decent. so again, not gonna happen, e."

she glanced at the screen again, the text cursor blinking rapidly, reminding her that she has not even one paragraph written. in all the time harlow had spent working on her essay today, she only had her name, the professor's name and the date to show for it.

"c'mon, don't be lame! plus you don't even have to drink, and then you have all day tomorrow to work on your thing," elton said while gesturing to his sister's mac and open books.

"i'm not lame, asshole! i'll be the most fun ever, just after this year is done," she replied, laughing at how lame she sounded. elton was definitely right, it's pretty shitty to spend her first year not having much social life, but she had a goal that she actually wanted to achieve.

"you're kidding right? it's literally the middle of october." harlow crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at her brother, proving that she was, in fact, not kidding. "fuck that! you're coming out tonight,"

"no, i'm writing my essay tonight," she replied, not even daring to look up from her blank document.

"how about a compromise? you don't have to drink so you can write your paper tomorrow, and if you absolutely hate it i will take you home,"

"what, were you gonna force alcohol down my throat if i agreed before?" harlow replied sarcastically, earning a groan from her older brother.

"why are you so difficult, h." elton thought out loud, "i'm trying to do something nice and help you make friends and memories."

even though harlow wouldn't admit it to elton, she knew he was right. she had been in university for a month and a half and her closest friends were the people she sat beside in the lecture hall. and they didn't really talk all that much. she needed to cross making friends off the list before she had the opportunity to make any memories.

harlow looked around the tiny dorm room, which was about half the size of her living room back home. her desk was squished right beside the dresser in the corner of the room, and her bed and nightstand were pushed diagonal from the desk/dresser combo. she had one small window, that was covered most of the time by a black-out curtain. nothing was hanging on the walls, but there were picture frames of her and her friends sat on the bedside table. the last time harlow left this space was for her afternoon class yesterday, so she was going slightly stir crazy already.

she looked at her brother who was still perched on her bed and pressed her lips in a firm line. "fine. but if i hate it, you have to take me back."

elton grinned so largely, it practically went from ear to ear. "deal! it'll be kinda fun to have a sober buddy tonight, i usually have to babysit all by myself,"

"great, i can't wait," she groaned, mentally questioning if she had made the right decision.

"you'll be fine, don't be so dramatic," elton chuckled, pushing himself off the bed and onto his feet. "save whatever you have done, uncle e has some errands to run before tonight."

"it's like, really weird that you refer to yourself in the third person. but even weirder that you just called yourself an uncle," harlow commented, saving the mainly blank word document. she closed her macbook, then leaned back in the chair to look at her brother who was already standing by the door of her dorm.

"just go down and pull your car up. i need to change quick and then i'll be down." she informed her brother.

"k, i'll text you when the car's outside of the building," elton replied as he grabbed his jacket and left his sister's dorm.

harlow stood up and looked at herself in the floor-length mirror that she had propped up against the wall. her sweats and t-shirt definitely weren't going to cut it at a party with elton's friends.

what the fuck do i wear? she thought, turning towards the small closet.

she shuffled through the closet for a minute until she decided that wearing all black would be her safest bet. she pulled her hair out of the ponytail, hoping the ponytail dent would fall out before she had to meet her brother's friends. it wasn't the best look by any means, but elton wouldn't have given harlow the time she would've needed to get ready. so it would work.

her phone buzzed on the desk and lit up with elton's text, outside. she quickly spritzed perfume all over before grabbing her purse hanging on the back of the door and heading out.

as she locked the door behind her, harlow couldn't help but think i'm gonna regret this in the morning.