‘Hi, I’m Alice. I’m next door.’ I pointed down the hallway to my left. ‘There doesn’t seem to be anyone else here yet and I wondered if you fancied coming out for a coffee?’
The delicately pretty blonde girl opened the door fully and smiled. ‘That’d be really nice,’ she said, beckoning me into her room. ‘I was just beginning to wonder what to do next.’
‘Great.’ I followed her inside, where she sat down on a single bed, identical to the one in my room, and began to peel off a pair of long, red-and-white-striped slipper socks.
‘I’ll just put some shoes on,’ she said.
I looked around, noticing the absence of a second bed. ‘You’re not sharing then?’
‘You are?’ she asked, slipping her now bare feet into trainers.
I nodded. ‘With someone called Miriam, who’s studying History. But,’ I shrugged, ‘as I say, no sign of her yet.’ I continued to take in the room, which was already, I thought, looking worryingly well organised in comparison to the chaos I had left behind in mine. ‘Actually, maybe I should leave a note for her, explaining that I haven’t quite finished sorting out my things yet,’ I said. ‘Your room is so tidy.’
She followed my gaze. ‘I can’t claim all the credit for that. My parents stayed for ages to help. I’m an only child, so separation is hard for them.’ She looked up at me, before adding more quietly, ‘For me too, actually.’
‘I’m an only child too,’ I nodded. ‘So I can relate.’
She smiled and gestured towards a largish box of Geography text books next to her desk. ‘They’d still be here now, putting those on shelves, if I hadn’t insisted they leave.’ She looked around and then picked up a grey rucksack. ‘I’m pretty sure my purse is in here,’ she said, opening the bag and beginning to rummage.
‘My mum and dad weren’t half as useful as yours,’ I sighed. ‘Mum just kept reading recipes out loud from the student cook book she’d bought me and Dad spent the entire time circling all the police stations in my A-Z.’
She looked up and laughed, before delving again into the rucksack, finally withdrawing her hand and triumphantly holding up a purple leather purse. ‘Found it!’
‘Brilliant,’ I said. ‘There’s a nice café by the water tower on the Downs. We can sit outside.’
‘You sound as if you already know your way around Bristol,’ she said, standing up. ‘I’m from Reading. The university open day was my first visit.’
‘I’m less than an hour from home here,’ I explained. ‘So I’ve been a few times.’
She walked to the desk and picked up a key. ‘That must make everything a lot less daunting,’ she said, sounding a little flat.
‘Not really. I’m still pretty terrified. Two weeks is the longest I’ve ever been away from home without my parents.’
Her smile returned. ‘Thank you. That makes me feel better.’
We made our way to the door, which she held open for me and then locked behind us. ‘And thank you for knocking on my door, Alice.’ She placed the room key in her purse and zipped it up.
‘Well, thank you for coming for a coffee…’ I began, before stopping short, suddenly realising that I didn’t know her name. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said, ‘I didn’t ask your name.’
‘Didn’t I say? I’m so hopeless,’ she sighed, holding out her hand for me to shake as we made our way down the corridor. ‘I’m Lydia.’