"Give—me—my—energy—drink," he groaned and picked the other guy up a few inches off the floor.
The other guy laughed. "Fine, geez, if you feel that strongly about it." He held out a can and kept laughing.
I pulled out my notebook and told myself to stop being ridiculous. I was much calmer by the time our instructor came in. He actually looked a lot like Will Smith, but the way he carried himself and wore a sweater vest told me he was not the laid-back, humorous type.
"All right people, let's take a seat. I know this is your first experience in a college classroom, so I'll take it easy on you. I call roll, you answer with 'here' or 'present.' Anything cutesy and annoying, and I kick you out. Oh, and if I kick you out, you don't go to the principal's office for detention, you go back to your dorm and realize your parents are paying for you to attend this. If you want to waste your money getting kicked out of class, that's your business, but I will not put up with insubordination. I hope that's clear."
I nodded vigorously even though the instructor didn't seem interested in hearing or seeing a response.
"Psst. Hey you," someone whispered behind me.
I kept my eyes on the teacher, and felt annoyed at the stupidity of others. I was smart enough to know that you stay quiet when the teacher is talking, especially on the first day.
The words "Hey, lesbo," however, changed my mind.
I turned to glare at the moron from the day before. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
And my worst fear came true as the teacher stood right in front of me. "Oh excuse me, was I interrupting? So sorry to disturb your very important conversation with the class I am trying to conduct!" I physically flinched at the irate tone in the instructor's voice. "If you two have some sort of lover's thing going on here, you can just take it outside."
I shook my head like a possessed bobble head.
"It was me" the rude guy behind me admitted loudly. "It was my fault, sir. I'll be quiet. I'm sorry." The instructor stared him down for a moment before finally nodding.
"See that it does not happen again, or you'll be the first to get kicked out of class—break some sort of record or something with it being in the first minute."
I didn't bother to look back at the idiot's reaction, but kept my back as straight as possible and my eyes glued to the instructor. By the time the hour and a half orientation class was over, my back was killing me, my nerves were totally on edge, and I'd developed the nervous habit of spinning my engagement ring around on my finger. The second I saw Sonya and Gary, I let out a massive sigh. I really didn't need some freaking moron giving me crap. I kept thinking about Dev and where he was fighting and if he was okay, and I just resented being there.
Gary was the first to reach me. "Hey, you okay?" I shook my head, and he put his arm around me. "What happened?"
Moron boy appeared near us. "I see how it is—threesome, huh?"
I'd seriously had enough. I pushed away from Gary and lunged at the guy. He actually jumped back, which pleased me and made me come at him even harder.
I jabbed my finger at his face only inches away from his nose. "Shut the hell up! I don't know what the hell your problem is, but if you so much as look at me again, I will beat the crap out of you." He opened his mouth, but I stepped forward and shoved at his chest. "I said shut up!" I could feel Gary with his size and anger behind me, and I was pissed he was interfering, but I knew he was just being protective.
"Walk away, man," Gary said, "before I let her beat the shit out of you."
Sonya stepped to the other side of me and looked at the guy. "You're that asshole who called us lesbians yesterday."
I could hear Gary's anger before he even spoke a word. "They're sisters you stupid shit, and she's my girlfriend. You have five seconds to apologize to both of them before I make you sorry you ever opened your damn mouth."
"Hey, I didn't mean anything. I'm sorry. I was just—I was trying—joking—I was joking—trying to get a reaction so I could—you know—ask her out." A very, very small portion of me felt sorry for him. He was clearly flustered. Something in his eyes, perhaps his fear, told me he was telling the truth.
Gary took another step toward him. "Well you might want to open your damn eyes before you act like an ass." Gary rolled his eyes at the idiot's confused expression, and I held up my left hand, wiggling my ring finger. "She's engaged, you idiot! And her fiancé is Special Forces along with her older brother, so you might want to rethink the whole asking her out thing."
The guy seemed much younger when he wasn't trying to inappropriately joke his way into a date. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and his mouth was hanging open. He looked like he might cry or throw up. I felt more pity for him and had to remind myself that this—a guy being an idiot to try to impress a girl—was normal life, non-raging-infection life. I let my shoulders relax and realized if I was going to be here, I needed to be here. It was important to stay alert, but I couldn't keep reading into everything I saw or heard. I had to let go a bit.
Sonya looped her arm through mine and pulled me in the other direction. "Come on, Evie. Let's go get something to eat," she whispered. I nodded and let her drag me away. She turned and pulled on Gary's arm, trying to get him to move away from the poor stupid boy.
"Stay away from both of them, or you won't like what I do to you."
Sonya called out, "Come on, Gary. I'm hungry." Finally, Gary turned toward us, and we walked toward the dining hall.
Somehow, the three of us managed to be in the same classes, for the most part. The only class we didn't have together was Natural Science, which was a lab class, so it was only one-tenth the size of our other classes. I stopped looking for the infection in everything everyone said or did, and things went back to the easygoing way the three of us had about being together. We sat together and studied together. Sonya and Gary seemed to work at not making me feel like a third wheel, but there were a few moments where I wished for other friends, and there were a lot of moments where I wished for Dev.
Thankfully, school kept my mind diverted from obsessing over Dev too much. I was so busy studying that I rarely had the opportunity to do more than think about him for a moment or two. It was the nights that ate away at me. I'd lie in bed for countless hours trying to fall asleep, but my brain worked overtime it seemed, trying to catch up with all the lost hours during the day when I could have been dreaming of, wishing for, and being generally fixated on Dev. The first few nights I was exhausted and fell asleep relatively quickly. But then I spent two nights unable to shut down my brain and thus being unable to sleep. Dark circles practically lived underneath my eyes and Sonya and Gary were often exchanging that worried glance I'd come to know so well. After two nights of tossing and turning though, my body was so exhausted, I fell asleep and regained some strength only to repeat the cycle all over again.
The first day of Natural Science was one of my dark circle days. The weather was cold and raining with never-ending gloomy clouds overwhelming the sky. I tried really hard to focus on the instructions and lesson being given, but I was so incredibly tired. The darkness outside and the nearly monotone voice of the professor made me so sleepy. I let my chin rest on my hand and before I knew it, I'd fallen asleep. I really have no idea how long I was out, but someone nudged my arm from underneath me, making my head fall. When I looked up, idiot guy was walking past me to the front of the room. I watched him grab a tissue and pretend to blow his nose before returning to his seat. He didn't even make eye contact with me. Maybe he was trying to redeem himself for his previous behavior.
I managed to stay awake for another twenty minutes before we were asked to quietly read a list of lab instructions and sign the bottom. I got about fifteen sentences in before my eyes refused to cooperate and closed. When I was nudged awake again, everyone else was moving around the room. I looked down at my watch to see if I'd fallen asleep for the rest of class, but we still had a half hour left. Confused, I looked up at idiot guy who kneeled beside my desk.
/> "Look, I know I didn't make the best impression on you, but we have to choose a lab partner. I don't know anyone in here, and I swear I won't hit on you. Would you be willing to put up with me as your lab partner? Nothing other than lab related stuff will come out of my mouth, I swear." He looked pitiful, and he had saved me from embarrassment twice.
I looked around and everyone else seemed to be paired off, so I didn't appear to have much of an option. "Okay, but you step out of line just once, and I will beat the crap out of you. I may be a girl, but I've been trained by my Special Forces brother, so don't test me."
He put up his hands innocently and smiled. "I promise you won't need to hurt me. I'm Nathan, by the way."
I put out my hand to him. "Piper."
"Piper? I thought your sister called you—nevermind."
I let my head fall back and rolled my neck. My head was starting to pound, and my body was protesting my previous sleeping position. I yawned. "My closest friends call me Evie, but my real name is Piper."
"Can I call you Evie?"
Pain like you wouldn't believe stabbed me in my chest and flamed down my stomach. The reminder of the words Dev spoke to me so long ago when we were trying to fight the attraction between us hit me like a punch to the gut.
"I—I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"
I tried to rearrange my facial expression—tried to look more composed. I could imagine what I must have looked like. "No. It's okay," I said quietly. "You just reminded me of something someone once said to me." I took in a deep breath and was thankful when the professor put a piece of paper in front of me with instructions to fill it out and give it to Nathan. It was a list of contact information. Centering on the worksheet, I was able to bring my emotions back under control. When I handed the sheet to Nathan, I wasn't dying inside anymore. "Sorry, but only family calls me Evie, everyone else calls me Piper."
"Well, Piper, aside from putting my foot in my mouth, I'm a really hard worker—I like A's a lot—and I'm pretty good at science. So you don't have to worry that you're lab partner is a slacker. I'll even do most of the work if you want."
I shook my head. "I carry my own weight." It sounded harsher than I'd intended, so I tried to soften my voice a bit. "But it's good to know you aren't a slacker. Neither am I."
He gave me a small smile and handed me his contact information. I put it into my binder and closed it. His eyes fell to the cover of my binder where I had several pictures of Dev and me along with Harm, Sonya, and Gary in the clear plastic sleeve.
"Is that your boy—uh—fiancé? He does look tough. I mean nice and all—but tough."
I nodded as he looked at all the pictures. "He is tough and incredibly sweet."
He pointed to the picture of Sonya, Gary, and me. "You look like you're really good friends. I'm close to my brother—he's a sophomore here—but sometimes I think he just tolerates me. That first day when I called you—well you know—his friends dared me to. I thought it was funny, but now I think they knew it wouldn't be funny. I don't know anybody here except them."
That explained a lot to me and made me feel genuine pity for him. I knew how it felt to think you were the outsider. Throughout the rest of class, Nathan kept up a steady stream of chatting. At first, I thought he was going to get annoying really quickly, but then he nudged me in the arm when I'd gotten too still. I realized he was trying to keep me awake. I must have looked far worse than I thought. By the end of class, I'd accepted that he was a lonely, gullible, but genuinely nice guy. I had no attraction to him whatsoever, and he didn't seem into touching me or staring at me, so he felt like a safe choice for a friend. As we walked out the door, I found myself compelled to invite him to lunch with Gary, Sonya, and me. He seemed surprised but accepted.
Gary and Sonya were surprised to see him, but once I'd explained his behavior in Natural Science, they lessened their hostile stares to merely careful ones and allowed him into our group. Nathan actually turned out to be a funny guy and had Gary laughing about one of our professors in no time.
Big Things Come in Small Packages
After the first week of Nathan hanging out with us, he started feeling like an old friend. The easy way he joked around with Gary and babbled incessantly about his girl troubles lightened all our moods. When we were all loaded down with exhausting exams that happened to coincide in every class, the stress of everything got to us. Nathan's presence made Sonya and Gary comfortable with leaving me so that they could have some—ahem—alone time.
My source of blowing off steam was laughing at Nathan and his attempts to get the beautiful Marie to notice him. She was this stunning blonde-haired girl that Nathan had been drooling over for an entire week. He tried to talk to her, but she always seemed to be surrounded by guys.
The first two weeks went by really quickly, which was nice since everyone warned us that it would be the toughest. There was always something to do or take part in so that there was no time to be homesick. I went to a couple parties, which were much more entertaining than the one I'd been to in Bishop. While everyone still seemed to be out to drink, they were slower about it, and it seemed to be more about relaxing with friends than about getting wasted.
The third week of school, however, was a whole other story. The routine of my days was interrupted by very strange occurrences. The first was a happy interruption that came as I sat in Natural Science. The beeping of a cell phone had everyone looking around. Mine practically lived on silent, so I didn't think too much of it until Nathan insisted it was coming from my bag.
I nearly freaked when I pulled out the prepaid phone to find a text message.
We're OK. I love you. Wish I was in a tree house with you right now. XOXO
The whole world seemed to expand and lighten as my chest swelled with happiness. The smile on my face hurt my cheek muscles as I typed out a reply.
Miss you so much, husband. We're OK too. At Fresno State now. Think about you 24/7 Love you.
I wanted to get up and swirl in circles or run to Sonya and Gary's classes and show them, but I managed a little restraint, sort of. I bounced my legs up and down excitedly and kept staring back at the message, smiling.
"Earth to Piper?" Nathan waved his hand in front of my face. "You there?"
"Sorry." I laughed and looked back down at the phone then up at him again. "Sorry, what?" I read the message again.
"Did you just win the lottery or something? I've never seen you so happy. What's up?"
I looked at the clock and at the window and back to the text message.
"Piper?" He put his hand on my arm. "You're acting like some strung out druggie. What gives?"
"He's okay. They're both okay." I clutched the phone to my chest. "And he's thinking about me."
He leaned back in his chair and nodded. His seriousness made me calm down a bit. He stared out the window, and I realized he might have a little crush on me.
"Nathan? You're awesome. You know I wouldn't want anyone else as a lab partner and friend, but I love my fiancé. You can't understand what we've been through, what—"
He put his hand on my arm again. "It's okay, Piper. You're nice and smart and beautiful. Any guy would be crazy not to have a thing for you—me included. I'm not in love with you or anything like that, but seeing you so happy over one text message—well it'd be nice to find a girl who'll go as crazy over a text message from me."
I felt awful for Nathan. I hadn't led him on or anything, and I believed him when he said he wasn't in love with me—which was a relief. But I could see how anyone would be envious over what Dev and I were to each other. I covered his hand with mine. "You'll find it someday. Just as long as you don't go around calling girls lesbos in your quest for it."
He laughed and returned to his usual upbeat self. "I learned my lesson on that one. So what did the fiancé say?"
I smiled painfully again. "He and my brother are okay. He loves me and wishes we were together."
He shook his head. "I never gave it much thought before, p
eople serving our country in the military—must be really tough on their families. Don't you get to talk to him at all? Phone, email, letters even?"
Uh oh. I had to be really careful what I said here. I didn't want to lie to Nathan, but I couldn't tell him everything. "They're both Special Forces. Their location is top secret, and I rarely get to talk to them."
"That sucks. But they're together? Is that how you met him?"
"No. I met Dev last year in high school." I stared at the clock, thankful that there was only a few minutes left in class. "It's a really long story."
He nodded slowly, and I thought he was going to press me further. "Well, I wish I could have taken a picture of your face when you got that message. I bet he would've loved to have seen it."
I smiled wide again. "He would have."
After class, I sprinted over to Sonya and bounced up and down showing her the message.
She laughed indulgently at me as she read it. Nathan caught up to us, and she smiled at him. "This is good news. Maybe you'll actually sleep tonight."
I nodded and danced around her.
"Is that why she always looks so tired?" Nathan asked Sonya.
I was on such a high, I didn't care that they were discussing me.
"Yeah." She watched me, smiling contentedly at my hyper behavior. "He's in a really dangerous area. It's tough for her not to know if he's okay."
Gary came over, and I put the phone in his hand. After he read it, he hugged me and spun me around. I knew he was happy to find out Dev was okay too.
"I've never seen her smile like this before," Nathan commented.
Gary laughed and messed up the hair on the top of my head. "We call this the Dev effect." He walked over and kissed Sonya briefly. "It's a relief to see."
Sonya nodded and wrapped her arm around his waist before smiling at me. "If you think you can sit still long enough to digest your food, we can go eat."
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