//DISCLAIMER: This story (including its characters) is 100% fictional.
It was late in August when I officially began to look for a roommate. The end of first year university was over, and while most of the people I knew had already signed housing agreements as early as February, I left dealing with housing until the end of the summer. While I had met great friends in my dorm during first year, I didn't really desire to room with any of them for various reasons. Most of them were simply too loud and went partying every weekend, whereas I was a relatively quiet person who studied diligently most Friday nights.
I found Trinka on some webpage designed to help people in the same city find roommates. Her profile was brief; she was extraverted but sober, got good grades, and was in the same year at the same university. She wasn't too picky about roommates, she told me when I messaged her, as long as I was courteous and had a good sense of humour.
We texted each other for a few weeks, and eventually met in person to look at houses and apartments. When we first met up, I was shocked to note her size. Although I had never asked, I had always assumed she was a tall girl, around 5'7 or so. In person, it quickly became apparent that she was barely taller than I was (5'3 or so), and I immediately felt closer to her.
She was a tiny blonde bombshell, almost the complete opposite of me. She had long dirty-blonde hair which she tied up in messy buns, and she wore a sort of grunge/hipster style of clothing, mixing overalls with crop tops and festival shorts with Doc Martens. And though I tried my best to hide it, I thought she was absolutely gorgeous.
I, on the other hand, am barely 5'2, and I dressed solely in black at the time– usually just a plain black t-shirt and black skinny jeans. I had short black hair shaved at the back and sides, and if I didn't wear makeup and dressed in the right clothes, I could almost pass as a guy. I identified (and still do) as genderfluid, and my sexuality was something I preferred not to put a label on.
I shared all this with Trinka on the phone before we met. It was important to me that I room with someone accepting of a non-binary person, and I didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable if she didn't want to room with someone who wasn't solely attracted to guys. Luckily, she told me she had no problem with any of it, and that she herself was pansexual.
We decided on a small two-bedroom apartment. It was a little far away from the school, but there was a bus stop right outside, so it wasn't too much of an issue. The rent was right and it came with all the amenities we were looking for. For what we were paying, it was a damn nice place: simple and open space, with white walls and wood flooring. Neither of us had much stuff, which was just as well as the apartment was tiny, but the furniture we did have fit perfectly as it was plain and black. The entire place looked clean and better than I could have imagined.
A month after moving in, things were going smoothly. Both Trinka and I were neat freaks (perhaps me a little more than her), so the apartment was always well organized. Trinka sometimes went out clubbing on the weekends, but usually not for long, and if she was out late, she came in quietly and went straight to bed. Neither of us ever had people over; we both agreed our place was too small to host others, so we found other places to chill with friends. Trinka liked to study in the kitchen/living room, and I preferred to study at nearby coffee shops.
We often took turns making dinner for each other, since we both preferred to eat at home and save money. It was a Friday night, and I was making a simple pasta dish for us to enjoy. Trinka was sitting at our small table, telling me about her day. She talked a lot, but it was interesting and usually funny, and I liked listening to her.
"I saw the most beautiful boy today," she said. "He was just your type; must have been at least 6'2. Brown eyes. Long hair. A little too skinny for me, but I know you like 'em lanky."
"Damn," I replied as I drained the pasta and hot steam rose from our sink. "Did you get his name?"
"Sadly, no. Fuck, I should have. Don't worry about it, girl. I'll track him down for you. I'll even get his number for you."
"You're a true friend, but I think it'd be strange if I texted him when he gave you his number." I separated the pasta into two bowls and added the marinara. I stuck a fork in each bowl and handed one to Trinka before sitting down at the table myself.
"Nah, it'd be fine," Trinka said through a mouthful of pasta. "You know what?" She pointed at me with her fork. "You can come with me when I find him, and then you can just ask for his number. I'll just stand to the side."
"Riiiiiiiiiight. As if I'm asking a cute boy for his number."
"I'll give you a pep talk right before and you'll be super confident."
"Again, riiiiiiiight."
"Oh, come on. Why are you so shy? You're fucking beautiful. I bet a million people would love to have you for themselves."
I raised an eyebrow. "Really. Speak for yourself. You're a thousand times more beautiful than I am. Most of the time, I look like a fucking cabbage."
Trinka snorted. "A cabbage. That's good. And no, you don't look like a cabbage. You've got a sexy body when you decide to show it off and your face can be either handsome or gorgeous, depending on how you do it up. You're literally aesthetic as either a girl or a boy or whatever you want to be."
I couldn't help but smile. "Thanks, T."
Trinka finished her last bite and put her bowl down on the table. "This is kinda random, and feel free to tell me to fuck off, but have you ever had sex with a girl?"
I was a little surprised, but Trinka sometimes did ask strange questions. She once asked me what I'd do if I were pregnant, and what I'd want written on my tombstone. "Yeah, I have."
Her eyes widened. "Really? Tell me! How was it?"
"It actually wasn't the best. It was with a girl way older than I was, and we didn't really click. It mostly just felt really awkward, but it wasn't terrible."
"Was that your only time?"
"With a girl?"
"Yeah, with a girl."
