Classes sounded boring but the actual studios we were given? They were to die for. And we had twenty-four-hour access with our own key cards. It looked like a remodelled factory building with massive windows and a very high ceiling. There were even platforms with metal staircases swirling up to them from the concrete floor.

I took a seat by one of the many desks in a small cubicle. The whole floor was sectioned into cubicles with either two or four desks. I had taken one with two desks, thinking I’d like the privacy better and I wouldn’t have to share my space with three other people.

“Hi,” someone said from behind me, knocking on the half wall.

I turned to find a girl with black hair down to her waist. She wore a really pretty black dress with a big black cardigan over it. A dark brown lipstick complimented her slightly lighter brown skin in a nice way. She definitely knew her colours.

“Can I take that one?” she asked and pointed a nicely manicured nail at the free desk.

“Y-yeah, of course!” I stammered and nodded quickly.

“I’m Fred. Or Winnifred but everyone calls me Fred.” She smiled sweetly, her jewellery jangling as she walked into the cubicle and sat down on the chair.

“Gael.”

“You new in town?”

I nodded again.

“I knew it. No one with a great sense of style lives here without me knowing.” She winked and threw some of her hair over her shoulder.

I looked down at myself. I had never really considered my style great? I always opted for clothes in black, just like her by the looks of it. Skinny jeans, big t-shirts and hoodies filled my closet to the rim.

With Fred it seemed like I had a partner in crime though. I smoothed my hair down a bit and smiled.

“So, are you a painter, illustrator or printmaker?”

“I usually draw, but I’ve been doing a lot of oils lately. You?”

“Print making.” She held up her hands showing off various small cuts. “I like to cut my metal plates myself too. Like an idiot.” She laughed a melodic laugh and I felt myself smiling too.

“That’s really cool. I’d love to try it sometime.”

“I’ll teach you, if you teach me how to make an oil painting that doesn’t look like a three-year-old slammed the brushes on a canvas.”

“Deal.”

Two friends in the span of a few hours. This place had to be magical or something. I had no idea how I had already gotten two friends. Growing up I had zero friends besides Dave. Getting the bite didn’t really help with that whole situation.

“You can drop by mine and my girlfriend’s house anytime. She’s a welder so she helps me with the metal.”

Queer people are like wolves. Searching for a pack at all times. Or so I had read on the internet and found it hilarious, because I’m literally a queer wolf so did that mean the whole ‘search for a pack’ became even more powerful?

Queer people are like magnets, they attract each other. Which was another funny thing I had read on the internet, and I had always felt like it must’ve been true, because like… We always somehow found each other in crowds.

Also, sometimes we love to generalise. And if you’re me, you like to overthink things and relate harder to memes on the internet than to actual real-life experiences because you have none. Or not a lot. I’ve had experiences. Like I’ve dated and stuff. But I never found the true community. An ex told me the whole thing was a myth and we create smaller communities of found families, because we have to. Because a lot of us don’t have bio families for one reason or another. But there was no real overall community. I wasn’t sure if it was true or not, but I had been lowkey searching for something that resembled a community. Even when I had been binge-watching shit on my laptop, I had been yearning for something.

Maybe this was my chance. Uni was a new start for many people, and maybe it could be for me too.

“I’d love to. And you can come by mine and I’ll teach you to paint.”

“Look at us. Making deals left and right.” She winked at me.

I snorted and nodded. “I gotta be honest. I was nervous coming here, but so far everyone’s been really nice.”

“It’s a nice town. Most of the time.” She shrugged a shoulder. “It’s pretty run-of-the-mill. Where did you come from?”

“A much larger city. Haven’t lived in any city this small before.”