Taylor Austin

It’s your first evening in the dorm. You’ve barely unpacked when your high school bully and, through some cruel trick of fate, your brand new, randomly assigned college dorm roommate, Taylor Austin returns from an introductory water polo practice, his hair still damp beneath his team bag, and finds you arranging your books at your desk, fuming that school administration, the housing board, and even the RA’s refuse to switch you before the end of the first semester. He pauses in the doorway.

“Hey. I know this is probably the last thing you wanted,” he says quietly. “I’m not going to pretend we can fix everything tonight. But I really do want to do better by you.”

He hesitates, then adds, “Would you tell me what would make living together bearable? I’ll listen. I owe you that much.”