Good Things Can Come in Threes
Mick finally rolled out of bed around 11:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. He had worked the night before and did not bother to set his alarm because there was not anywhere he needed to be that day. Mick had already purchased all of the texts required for the spring semester and he was relatively caught up on his laundry. Today was his day to enjoy entirely.
After rising from his bunk and a brief stretch, Mick snatched the plastic liner from his waste basket, retrieved his toiletries and headed down the hall destined for the trash and recycling room. Once the remnants from his tryst with Brenda were properly disposed of, Mick made a much required stop in his personal washroom. He returned to his quarters and grabbed a granola bar and sports drink before sitting down at his desk to run through his emails and social media accounts on his laptop. Just as Mick was finishing up, an abrupt pounding emanated from the door. "Jesus!" he said to himself as he jolted in his chair. Mick jumped up, strode to the entryway and opened the door.
"MICK!" screeched Abby elatedly as she extended both her arms towards him. Upon seeing Abigail standing there, Mick became cognizant of having answered the door clad only in a short sleeve tee shirt and pair of form fitting performance boxer briefs, and immediately slammed the door in his friend's face. He had grown so accustomed to the dormitory being virtually empty over the winter break, not to mention his relatively normal state of undress during Kimberly's visits, that Mick's modesty had slipped some. Suddenly he also realized that earlier he had traipsed down the corridor and back in the same fashion and not even given it a second thought. Mick hurriedly pulled his bathrobe on and yanked the door back open, fully expecting to find Abby storming back towards her own dorm room. What he found instead was his friend still standing there, cracking up.
"AAAH!" Abby shrieked as she turned her head and brought the back of her hand up over her face to avert her eyes. "Are you decent now?" she asked rhetorically while peeking at him sideways through her spread fingers.
"Ha-ha, very funny," replied Mick while blushing, sounding a bit irritated by her ribbing.
"I take it you weren't expecting company," she stated before further asking suggestively with raised eyebrows, "Or were you?"
Mick shot back, "You said you wouldn't be back until noon."
"Mick!" spouted Abby, as she retrieved her cell phone from the front pocket of her pants. She gave her mobile a passing glance before holding the screen up to his face and emphatically informing her dorm mate that, "It's eleven fifty-two!"
Unable to counter, or keep a straight face any longer, Mick rolled his eyes at Abigail, conceding. Immediately she dove into Mick, wrapping her arms tightly around him. "It's so good to see you," she told him, "I missed you." In return, Mick warmly embraced Abby. Up to that point, he had not realized how much he too had missed his friend. "Welcome back, it's good to see you," he told her.
Mick invited Abby inside so they both could catch up on everything that the other had been up to during the break. Not surprisingly, Abby overwhelmingly did most of the talking, divulging almost every little detail about the holidays with her family and the week she spent skiing with her boyfriend Jimmy. Other than his brief trip back home to his parents for Christmas, Mick did not have nearly as much to share, and he certainly was not at all forthcoming about what had transpired between himself and Kimberly.
"Do you have to work tonight?" asked Abigail of her friend. Mick advised her that he the night off and planned on making a brief cameo appearance at a small shindig on the third floor before heading out to a party at an off-campus fraternity. Abby frowned, exclaiming, "Frat party!" By the look on her face and the sound in her voice, Abby's disapproval could not have been any more apparent.
"Yes... I know," said Mick, obviously not wanting to be chided by his dormmate about it, "You're not a fan of the whole Greek life thing."
After a few seconds of slightly awkward silence, Mick inquired, "Why, what's going on?"
Abby told him that her and Jimmy had to go pick up her roommate Zoe at the airport. "I was going to see if you wanted to go with us," she informed him.
Mick sarcastically replied, "Tempting, but I'm just going to have to pass on that hot excitement."
"Suit yourself," Abby stoically retorted, knowing full well how he felt about her roommate and also her boyfriend, but refusing to allow Mick the pleasure of getting under her skin.
The conversation between the two friends turned more genial as they began to discuss their course load for the upcoming semester, and both expressed disappointment that they would only have one class together which was calculus II.
Well over an hour had passed since Abby had knocked on Mick's door and she told him that she still needed to go finish unpacking. He saw his guest to the door and promised Abby that they would catch up more on the following day before welcoming her back again and saying goodbye for the time being.
Mick changed into his workout gear, grabbed his water bottle and headed to the fitness center to lift. He was almost at the end of his routine when his friend Sean strolled in. The two greeted one another with a bro shake followed by each of them leaning in towards the other and bumping shoulders together. For several minutes the two friends traded stories about their breaks and just like Abby, Sean had far more numerous and interesting tales to tell. Once more, Mick chose to be discreet and not talk loosely about his time with Kimberly.
Gabrielle happened to come up in conversation. Sean told Mick that he had traded text messages with their mutual acquaintance over winter break several times. Gabrielle had chosen to not come back to Colorado because she did not want to be within one-hundred miles of Reggie and, due to an opportunity that had presented itself. Sean further informed Mick that Gabrielle had elected to study abroad in the south of France for the semester. "Good for her," remarked Mick. Sean could not pass on the opportunity to needle his friend about their three-way soiree with Gabrielle, reminding him that, "I told you nothing would come of it." Mick shook his head dismissively and quickly moved on from the topic.
"You still going tonight?" asked Mick. Sean let his buddy know that he planned to hook up with a few of his own friends beforehand and they would all get to the party sometime around 9:00 p.m. The two shook hands again and parted ways with the intent of reconvening later that evening at the frat party.
Mick finished up his routine and then headed out for a run along his normal route through the campus and adjacent neighborhood. On the return leg back to his dorm, he stopped quickly at the food court to grab a couple of wraps to eat, downing the curry chicken salad in multigrain before he arrived at the entrance of Bradley Hall. Back in his room, Mick shed his damp clothes and toweled off, opting to nap now and shower later before he went out to party for the evening.
