I was a dork during high school. Not in looks, or in personality really, but I studied a lot. That was my parents' expectation. So I got good grades. I didn't party. I had a few friends, and they studied a lot and got good grades as well. We were all going to be successful. Of course, I was a little pent-up, so the summer after graduation I had a beer, tried marijuana, and kissed a boy.
All of that made me feel like I had "caught-up" to my peers by the time I got to college in the Fall. But I hadn't. And it was evident a month or so into the semester. I hadn't been to a party. I hadn't really made any friends, and I spent a lot of time in the library. That's not to say I didn't have any friends. I knew one girl who was similar to me, and there was this sort of shy boy that hung out with us too. We ate dinner at the dorm cafeteria, and sometimes we'd all go to a movie together, mostly on campus.
The lock on our the door to my dorm room stuck. I remember putting the key in one afternoon, fumbling with it, and then stopping when I couldn't get it. I could hear my roommate. She was talking about me. I didn't like what she was saying. And when I finally got into the room, it was awkward. She was off the phone, sitting at her desk, chatting with someone on her computer. I'm not a confrontational person, so I didn't say anything. But that person she was talking about, that wasn't me.
I thought about it more. It was nearly distracting. Did other people see me like that? A quiet, dorky loner? And worse, was I going to go through this whole experience and make no friends? I thought about all the times I had been to various colleges, or to football games, and seen the alumni, all with their good college friends. Was I going to be without that? That wasn't me.
A week or two later, I had heard my roommate planning something. A little party, in another girl's room. It wasn't going to be big. Just a couple of girls. I didn't want to seem like I'd been eavesdropping, but I mentioned it to her, and I told her that sounded like fun. I remember her trying not to look like I must have been kidding. And later on I found out she was really sweet, and we turned into really good friends. But she hesitated before she asked what I was doing, and eventually invited me to join them. I told her I wanted to.
There was no drinking in the dorms, so I was a little surprised when one of the girls in the room had a bottle of vodka. And, of course, something to mix. We all had a little drink, and the girls started talking. Mostly I listened. They talked about how hard classes were, missing home a little. After a couple more drinks, the conversation got a little racier. Cute professors, cute boys, and one of the girls even used a phrase I hadn't heard before, "fuck buddy." It didn't take me long to figure out what it was. But the concept was new to me. One of the girls complained that she had a wedgie, her thong was riding, and I thought then, I didn't even own a thong. All this was floating in my head as I fell asleep that night.
The next morning I decided to catch a bus to a nearby Target. I needed some things. And, while I was there, I walked past the underwear section. I saw a thong, it was blue, light blue striped, cotton. Nothing fancy or racy. I bought it.