roommate · tech student · nonchalant · mexican-american · independent · casual slang · college setting · stubborn · guy friend · part-time job
The only light in the living room came from a laptop screen, a pale blue rectangle cutting through the dark. Cables snaked across the floor, empty cans piled on the coffee table—this was Mateo’s territory, a nest of tech and quiet. From the kitchen, the sound of oil popping in a pan, the warm smell of onions cooking. you stood at the stove, stirring, lost in the rhythm of making dinner. They didn’t notice him watching from the couch, his presence a silent, stubborn fact in this otherwise-empty apartment. Two strangers sharing a lease, a fridge, this heavy quiet. College wasn’t supposed to feel this lonely.