The next morning Jared woke up to the bright sunshine streaming into his dorm room. He looked over at the bed next to his and could see that Chris was already up and gone for the day. Probably out running as was the norm for his usual routine, so Jared figured he would just touch base with him about the girl later in the day.
He slipped out of the bed and made his rounds picking up everything he needed to take a shower. Satisfied that he had everything, he made his way down to the communal showers a few doors down from his room. That was the one thing he hated about his particular dorm. It was the oldest on campus and still didn't have showers in the rooms.
It wouldn't be so bad if he didn't pass the coeds in the hall every morning as well. If it had only been men, he might have felt a little more comfortable. He never really liked the girls in the dorm seeing him after he just woke up, even if they had just woken up themselves.
He was halfway to the showers when the door he was about to pass opened up. A small groan escaped his lips as he saw Alexis, Sarah and their other friend come out of Sarah's dorm room. Those were the last people he wanted to see right then, especially in his just woke up, funky bed hair, smelly night sweat state.
Alexis and the one friend just glanced at him as if not even registering he was even there. They passed him by and sashayed down the hall. He turned to watch them walk by, hoping to catch her eye, for even just a second. No matter his state of dress, he wanted her to just notice him!
"If you are waiting for her to look at you, then you will be waiting a long time," came a soft feminine voice from beside him.
Turning, he looked straight into the face of his savior from last night. He could have smacked himself for forgetting that Sarah hadn't walked by. Feigning ignorance, he said, "What do you mean?"
"Alexis..." Sarah said indicating the direction the others had went with her chin.
"Alexis???" Jared continued to try and feign disinterest.
"Oh, come on, now!" Sarah exclaimed with a smile. "Jared... wait, it is Jared, right?"
"Yes," he responded, almost in shock that she even knew his name. He was almost certain she caught the surprise in his voice too.
"Yes, Jared, I know your name. We had English together, remember?"
"Yeah, how could I forget? You sat behind..."
"Alexis!" she said laughingly.
"Alexis..." Jared said shrugging his shoulders as he gave up feigning interest in the other girl.
"You think I didn't notice how your mouth nearly hit the desk every time she walked into the room?"
"That obvious, huh?" he asked, turning red in the face.
"To me it was..." she said softly, "but only because... I was looking."
"Looking at what?" Jared asked with dumb confusion.
"You, silly!" she said, her face beaming with a beautiful smile. "I was looking at you..."
"Oh...oh!" Jared replied as what she was saying registered in muddled brain. For the first time ever he noticed just how pretty Sarah was. With her shoulder length black hair, sparkling green eyes, and dimples in her slightly chubby cheeks.
"Yeah..." Sarah said, letting the conversation trail off a little. "Sorry about last night. Frank can be such an ass. I hope you are all right?"
"Oh, last night? Yeah, I am fine."
"I had never seen you there before, and didn't even know you liked those kind of places."
"That's because I had never been before." He replied truthfully.
"Ah... and not planning on going back either, huh?" she asked.
"Not any time soon," he smiled as he answered her.
"Well, I can see you have your hands full and trying to get your day started," she said, and then stepped forward to give him a hug. The move startled him, because he wasn't expecting it in the least. "Just... keep being you, Jared."
"O-o-ok," he stammered out shyly.
"You're so cute!" She laughed and turned to leave. Just as she was starting to walk away, she paused, turned back and said, "Hey... what are you doing tonight?"
"Uh... nothing," he replied, once again shrugging his shoulders nervously.
"Wanna grab a bite to eat?" she asked.
"A-a-are you asking me out?" he said in a state of shock.
"Maybe!" she replied playfully, smiling sweetly as she said, "If I waited for you, it may take forever!"
"Sure, why not!?" he said, a smile finally cracking his shy face.
"Great! See you at... 6pm?"
"O-o-ok...see you then." He replied as she turned and raced down the hallway.
Jared watched as she glanced back and gave him a small wave before disappearing into the stairwell. He shook his head in amazement and continued to the showers. Once inside, he turned on the hot water and soaked under the stream while he contemplated the events of the last several hours.
***********************************
"So, what you are saying to me is that you: 1) Bombed at the nightclub, 2) Got a free sex show in your dorm, and 3) Got asked out on a date!?" Jill exclaimed with a silly grin on her face.
"Yep, that about sums it up," Jared replied with a shrug.
"Wow! Well, I guess I was right then."
"Wha-? Right? About what!?"
"About you needing to immerse yourself in their environment, of course," Jill replied, rolling her eyes at his obvious lack of understanding.
"What the hell does that have to do with anything?" Jared asked frustratingly.
