Winning the Lottery
When Mick woke up on Monday morning, the day after his quarrel with Abigail, mentally he still felt like shit. Due to their falling out, he found it difficult to study for exams on Sunday and was unfocused at work later that evening. Today was the start of the last week of the school year which meant final exams, and this was not how he intended for it to begin.
Later that day about 6:00 p.m., Mick walked the short distance down the hall from his dorm room and knocked on Abigail and Zoe's door to try and make amends and ask Abby if she would like to study for their calculus final which was the following morning. He made several attempts but no one ever answered. Mick returned to his room and sent Abby a text message apologizing once more and asking if she would like to review notes, but she never replied.
On his way to the calculus final on Tuesday morning, Mick stopped by and knocked on Abigail's door again as they usually walked to class together. When the door popped open, he saw Zoey standing there. "Hi Mick," she said bashfully. He inquired if Abby was there and Zoe informed him that her roommate had departed for class a short time ago. Mick let out a deep sigh as he was obviously frustrated by the situation. "I don't know what to tell you Mick," Zoe said to him, "I've never seen her like this... she is really upset."
When Mick walked into the calculus lecture hall, which was a fairly large space with stadium style seating, he immediately began to search for Abigail but did not spot her. He walked to where they normally sat and took his seat, then began to keep a lookout for his friend. Right before the examination was to begin, Mick watched Abby enter the classroom and take the first available seat she came to.
By the time Mick had completed the test questions, only a handful of the other students had managed to finish before him. He gathered up his belongings, walked to the front of the class and turned in his answer sheet, then exited the lecture hall. Outside the classroom, he struggled with deciding if he should wait for Abigail to come out but then figured, if she did not want to walk with him to the calculus final that morning, her disposition was unlikely to have changed in such a short time. Feeling very much deflated, Mick set off for the library to put in some time reviewing his notes for the next day's chemistry final as it was still too early for lunch.
Over the next two days, Mick sent Abby several more text messages apologizing profusely for having hurt her, but she did not respond. While taking a break from his studying on Thursday evening, he checked his cell phone again and still found nothing. Tomorrow was Friday, the last day of the academic year, and Mick resided himself to the likelihood that Abigail would never speak to him again. "This is how the school year ends," he said to himself, "Our friendship is over." They had shared so much during the year and he was very fond of his dormmate, even though she could certainly annoy him at times. It was a painful thought for Mick to bear, and he did his best to bury it in the back of his mind so he could continue to prepare for his physics final early that following morning.
Mick's alarm roused him on Friday at 7:15 a.m. as intended. After a quick shower he made himself a cup of coffee and sat down at his desk to quickly check his emails before getting in some last-minute studying for his final. About twenty minutes before the test, he placed his notes, laptop and textbook in his backpack and headed out the door. Walking past the door to Abigail's room made him feel sad and the only thing Mick could do was to try and put it out of his mind to the best of his ability so he could focus on the physics test.
Turning in his last final exam to the instructor brought Mick a great deal of both joy and relief. His freshman year of college was now officially complete and he felt very confident that he had excelled in the spring semester. On his way back to Bradley Hall, Mick stopped by the bookstore and purchased a roll of packing tape. He had snagged some boxes from work and intended to pack up most of his room on Friday because on Saturday, Mick would be vacating what had been his abode for the past nine months.
When Mick unlocked his dorm room door and stepped inside, he found a white envelope bearing his name lying on the floor. Immediately he opened it and discovered a green Tyvek wristband inside. "Casino Night!" blurted Mick out loud. Between the play, his row with Abigail and final exams, he had pretty much forgotten about it. Mick remembered that Abby had told him she had a wristband for him and he figured that she must have slipped it under his door earlier.
Was this a good omen Mick wondered... maybe a thawing of the ice? Or was Abby just giving the wristband to him as promised? As a member of the student association, Mick could not imagine that Abigail would skip attending the event and suddenly, he had one last glimmer of hope that he might get the opportunity to try and smooth everything over with his good friend.
As Mick set about packing up his effects, he could not get the evening's upcoming festivity off his mind. It was not just because he hoped to cross paths with Abby, but due to past experience having taught him that when circumstances arose where a considerable amount of dorm residents were all trying to shower at the same time, the overflow commonly ended up in his bathroom, and Casino Night had the potential to be one of those times. Having one last romp in his shower would be the ultimate culmination to the school year, thought Mick.
After a well-timed trip to the food court for dinner, Mick returned to Bradley Hall with the intention of hitting the shower about an hour prior to the scheduled start of the event as he believed that was when it was most likely that his private lavatory might contain uninvited but welcomed guests. He shed his clothes and put on his bathrobe and shower slippers, then grabbed his toiletries and a towel before heading down the hall. When he entered the lavatory, Mick immediately spied that one of the stalls doors was closed. "Bingo!" he said to himself as he walked back to the shower area to drop his toiletry bag on a bench and hang up his robe.
Mick returned to one of the sinks with his toothbrush and paste and commenced to brush his teeth rather leisurely while buck naked. About half a minute later, he heard the lock to the stall rattle and the door swing open.
"Whoa dude! What the fuck?" shouted a male sounding voice.
Mick spit his toothpaste into the sink and looked up to find some strange guy averting his eyes. "What are you doing in here?" Mick asked of the unexpected interloper.
"What do you think I'm doing in the men's room? Man, cover your shit up!" the intruder indignantly commanded.
The unwelcomed visitor hurriedly rinsed his hands in one of the sinks before snatching a bunch of paper towels from the wall dispenser. On his way out the door, Mick heard him mumble under his breath, "Fucking weirdo."
Throughout the entire school year, Mick had never seen another male in what he considered his own private bathroom. It had not occurred to him that maybe a boyfriend or father might be visiting one of the girls in the dormitory and Mick might run across them in what was still for all intents and purposes--a public men's room. Mick guffawed and found the whole thing so hilarious that he was not even skeeved out by another guy catching him standing there completely nude. "That's one way to end the year," thought Mick as he continued to laugh his ass off.
Mick finished up at the sink then went about taking a shower, lingering for some time in the hope that one of his fellow residents would join him, but it was not to be. He did not let the disappointment quell his good spirits and returned to his quarters to get dressed.
Fifteen minutes after the start of the function, Mick waltzed into the student center fashionably late. He showed his green wristband to the gentleman at the door who then requested to see Mick's identification to confirm he was of legal drinking age. He was directed to a nearby table where he picked up his one hundred dollars in gaming chips and two free drink coupons. A student explained to Mick that he could buy more chips at any time if he wanted and when betting was closed later in the evening, he was to trade in his chips for tickets to the raffle drawing.
Mick walked into the main hall and began to look around to get the lay of the land. There were multiple blackjack, roulette and craps tables stationed around the room, a DJ on an elevated platform with a dance floor was positioned off to one side of the venue, a bar and appetizer table on the opposite side, and towards the back were several tables containing the raffle prizes. Mostly, Mick was looking to see if there was anyone he knew, specifically Abigail.
"Abby!" called out Zoe excitedly as she tugged on her friend's arm. "Look!" she instructed her roommate while pointing across the room.
Through the crowd, Abigail could see Mick standing in the center of the hall. He was wearing a charcoal wool suit and an ivory button-down shirt complete with a cobalt blue necktie and matching pocket square, and black wingtip Oxfords. Around Mick's neck hung a long, white silk scarf. There was no denying, he looked quite handsome and exceedingly debonaire. In a very casual manner, Zoe said to Abby, "I'm not into guys," then further whispered, "but I'd let Mick bang me."
"Zoey!" exclaimed Abigail, as she was taken aback by her friend's unexpected ribald comment.
Unable to locate Abby in the throng of students, Mick decided to cut a path to the bar and procure his first adult beverage of the evening. While working his way through the sea of people, Mick did spot Whitney Harrington standing all by herself. She was adorned in a gold, floor-length satin dress flaunting an asymmetrical halter neckline that wrapped around her neck, with an elegant sash that hung down her back past her derriere. Her flowing, dark brown hair had been done up in these splendid, bouncy curls which even Mick could tell had not come from a curling iron. He was floored by how absolutely exquisite Whitney appeared as she evoked memories of the starlets from Hollywood's golden age.
"Hey, Audrey Hepburn," said Mick as he walked up beside Whitney, "Care to dance?"
Whitney spun around to find Mick standing there. She looked him up and down and smiled before retorting, "You're looking pretty Clark Gable yourself."
As they began to converse about how their semesters had gone, a young man walked up and handed Whitney a drink. He was as tall as Mick, had black hair, blue eyes, was meticulously groomed, and appeared exactly like the type of guy that Mick envisioned Whitney would date. "Mick, this is Brooks Rafferty," she said.
"My friends call me Raffy," he declared as they shook hands.
"Everyone calls me Mick," he replied, "It's nice to meet you."
The three of them spoke for a moment before Mick inquired as to Lauren's whereabouts, and Whitney informed him that her friend was around somewhere. He asked Whitney to please tell Lauren hello for him in case he did not happen to run into her. Raffy then politely requested that Mick excuse them as Whitney had promised him a dance. "Of course," said Mick before telling them both to enjoy their evening. As he watched Whitney walk to the dance floor with her date, Mick felt disappointed... even a smidge jealous.
"I'll dance with you," said a familiar voice from behind.
