Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, places, or persons are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to real persons, places, or events is entirely coincidental.
All characters engaged in sexual activities are aged 18 years or older.
Special thanks to thewinedarksea and lovefreely1993 for editing this story.
*****
With a sigh of relief, Jeff flopped down onto the bed. That was everything moved in, unpacked, and functioning. It had already been a long day, and for a minute he strongly considered taking a nap; however, he had a resolution to keep.
"No more excuses," he chided himself. University was his chance for a fresh start, and he was going to be sociable, dammit. "There's finally a chance of meeting other people like you, but you have to get off your ass or it'll never happen." Setting off to explore the honors dormitory would be one of the best decisions he ever made.
Turned out, it was easy to improve one's social life, especially when the baseline was zero, one had a fresh audience, and one was eager to talk to people. He opened the door, and found himself in nerd paradise. There were nerds, geeks, artists, techies, and conversations. Intelligent, lively conversations across a whole array of topics, and no one minded him taking part.
He met so many people, the names and faces slowly became a blur. There were his suite-mates (heaven had apparently smiled, and though he still had to share a bathroom, there was no roommate to contend with), Matt and Austin. Then there were Emily, Nate, and Meghan, and at least a dozen other people he talked to that first night, and to his surprise he got on well with all of them. But Jeff wouldn't meet Casey until the next day.
****
It was freshman orientation, and they were standing around outside waiting to be told what to do next. The sun was beating down, burnishing Jeff's coppery hair. Fortunately Jeff was in a group with other honors students, many of whom he'd met the night before, so there were at least people to talk with. Moving through the group, he found himself near a girl of average height he didn't remember meeting. Before he realized it, he was talking to her.
"Hi, how are you? I'm Jeff; I don't think we've met." She turned to face him, and briefly shook the hand he proffered.
"Oh, hi. My name's Casey. I'm great, thanks, and no, I doubt it; I got in pretty late yesterday." She flashed him a smile, and it lit up her face. "So you're in the honors program as well? What are you studying?"
"Yeah, I am. I, uh, I'm majoring in chemistry," he said. Jeff was flustered, and he prayed she didn't notice. He was normally fine at talking to girls, as long as he didn't start thinking about asking one out. But that smile... something about that smile had seared its way into his brain. It brought out the small dimples in her cheeks, and though they scrunched up ever so slightly, her dark brown eyes glittered.
He realized she was talking again. Frantic, he reigned in his thoughts and tried to focus. "Really, me too!" she was saying. "What do you want to do?" He nearly blurted out, "You!" but managed to say something appropriate about cancer research.
They kept talking, and slowly Jeff got his wits back about him. When they discussed classes, they realized that they had identical schedules. They shared a laugh over that; both of them had fought hard not to have a block schedule.
"Well, I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other," Casey said.
"I reckon so. Maybe we can be study partners, if you don't think that would be too much time together."
She laughed and agreed that study partners sounded like a good idea. The rest of the day passed by quickly, and Jeff managed not to look too much at the toned, dark teak colored legs that emerged from her jean shorts.
That evening, he ate dinner with Matt and Austin, but Jeff was only halfway paying attention to the conversation. He was busy trying not to think about Casey's smile, cute nose, curly black hair, or any other part of her lean, runner's physique.
Don't even think about it. She just wants to be friends. There is absolutely no way she would be interested in a pasty redneck like you
, Jeff thought repeatedly.
****
Jeff saw her again sooner than he expected; they ran into each other at breakfast the next morning and walked to class together. They didn't spend all their time together, but they were in class for three or four hours a day, and every few days they studied and did their homework together for a couple more hours, and they shared many of the same friends. Still, as September went on, Jeff was largely able to pretend he only wanted to be friends. He distracted himself by looking at other girls from time to time, but his thoughts always returned to Casey.
This pattern continued until early October, when Jeff had a strange encounter. The weather had cooled off unusually early, and he was on his way back from the dorm's communal kitchen with a kettle of hot water when he encountered Casey and her roommate, Britney.
"Hey, Jeff! What's up?" Casey asked.
"Not much, just going to make some cocoa and catch up on my reading," Jeff said. "You guys heading to dinner?"
"Yep," said Casey.
Almost at the same time, Britney shot her a smirk and said, "Nice! Casey says you make the best hot chocolate."
Jeff's brain took a split second to catch on; he'd never made hot chocolate for...
Oh!
The metaphorical light bulb lit up.
He struggled to think up a pithy comeback. Fortunately, his lapse was covered by Casey, who didn't quite squeal, "Britney!" and lightly thumped Britney on the shoulder.
