This year is going to be very different from last year. When I arrived on campus twelve months ago, I was naive about the world outside of my little home town, and, to be honest, my own home. My childhood was so very sheltered and strict, and I was such a good girl, that I spent all of last year in a bit of culture shock. None of my clothes looked like the clothes the other girls were wearing. I didn't own makeup or perfume, I didn't participate in any sports, I didn't understand slang or pop culture references, and I knew nobody here. I also spent the whole year trying to stay out of my room to avoid my pot-smoking, cursing, obnoxious roommate.
It wasn't a complete loss, as I had a very productive year. In the little kitchen in the basement of the dorm, I taught myself how to cook things in ways other than frying or pouring milk over it. While the other girls were burning popcorn every evening, I was streaming cooking videos and chopping vegetables I'd pilfered from the dining hall salad bar. I also spent so much time at the library and the gym that my grades were perfect and I ended the school year 25 pounds lighter and a whole lot stronger and healthier than I started it.
Over the summer, I got a job on my uncle's farm. Farming is hard work in the hot sun, so I got ripped and tan, and then spent almost all of my earnings on new clothes. I doubt anyone will even recognize me.
A tiny little white lie to the parents convinced them there were no rooms available in the women-only dorm, and I couldn't possibly risk being exposed to such a horrible influence as my previous roommate, so I now find myself pushing an industrial laundry bin stamped PROPERTY OF STATE UNIVERSITY, full of my belongings into the elevator of the highrise co-ed dormitory. For the first time in my life, I will have a bedroom I do not share with another human being. I have every intention of having the best year of my life.
Room 421 is to the left of the elevator, halfway down, on the right side. I unlock the nicked and scraped door with the worn key I picked up this morning at the registrar's office. The room is painted an institutional yellow that reminds me of a forced smile, but the window is large and overlooking a green lawn covered in meandering little family groups exploring the campus or parents saying goodbye to students who want to look like they will miss them, but really cannot wait to be left to their freedom. I eye the furniture arrangement and take a moment to scoot the bed into the middle of the room, with the head up against the wall under the window. I will decide about the desk after I've put together my shelves and brought in my cozy chair.
My door is still wide open as the giant laundry bin fills the doorway, and I'm leaning over the edge to grab a box of books from the bottom. The door across the hall opens and I look up into a gorgeous pair of green eyes that are widening in delight as they look down the front of my tank top. I lost a lot of weight last year, but not an ounce of it came off my breasts. They are high and proud in their new 32DD underwires, and I feel my nipples harden under the lace as I notice that those gorgeous green eyes are just the tip of the iceberg. The young man standing stunned with appreciation in the doorway across the hall has a clear, boyish face that is used to smiling, shaggy, honey brown, wavy hair just brushing his collar, and muscles trying hard to fit into a preppy polo shirt. There just might have been a twitch inside those khaki shorts, too.
"Um, hi?" I said, ducking my head into his field of vision.
"Hi!" His eyes lift to meet mine, without a hint of apology. "I'm Nate," he elaborates, stepping to the end of the laundry bin and extending his hand.
"Tammy," I reply, as I my hand automatically reaches for his, and I am forced to lean forward to meet his grasp. He did not fail to notice this, as it takes him just a moment too long to release his grip on my hand. I smile, thinking about how much I am going to love this year. Just then, his parents pop out of the door behind him and he is swept away down the hall.
Now that my unpacking is done and I am comfortable with my room, I notice it is past 1:30 and I forgot to eat lunch. I slip on my flip-flops and run a brush through my dark brown hair and grab my little purse. I don't know what I want to eat, but I am starving and just know that whatever I find, I want a lot of it. I am too impatient to wait for the elevator, so I practically fly down the stairs and out the door to State Street, where there are dozens of places to eat, and the sidewalks are packed with boisterous students and their families. It isn't quite time for most people to start drinking yet, so I go into The Tinker's Shed, a bar that has great, and huge, sandwiches and find it isn't too crowded. There is a small group in the corner, loudly playing a trivia game and drinking beer, but nobody seems to have brought their parents to a bar for lunch. I sit at the bar and order a big, meaty sandwich and fries and ask for the biggest glass of ice water the bartender can bring me. She brings me a pitcher, and I tell he she is my hero. It is still hot here in late August, and I'm not sure I've stopped sweating all day.
My food comes in the biggest red plastic basket I've ever seen, and I just might eat it all. Just as I'm opening my mouth as wide as it will go to try to take a bite from the end of the giant sandwich, a voice booms from the entrance behind me.
"I thought they'd never LEAVE!" The group in the corner explodes in happy greetings, and I turn to see my new neighbor, Nate, cross the room toward the table. He sees me, sandwich frozen midair, pointed at my gaping mouth, and veers off course and plops gracelessly on the stool next to mine. He swivels to face me and grins. I put down the sandwich and raise my eyebrows expectantly.
"Tammy, right?" I nod, impressed that he remembered. "Would you like to join my friends and I at our table?" I have never, in my whole life, been extended an invitation like this, and I feel a bit uneasy and a butterfly or two flops about in my otherwise empty stomach.
"Sure," I reply, and then add, "Nate." He laughs a bit, and as I pick up my food and my glass of water, he grabs the pitcher with one hand and puts his other hand on my lower back as we walk to his waiting friends. It feels hot and close, that small area where I can feel the light pressure of his hand through my slightly damp shirt.