Steamy Dorm

by Kristine Robinson

  Eli and Donna met Donna's father at a five star restaurant downtown. Eli fidgeted and straightened his tie. It was the first time that he'd ever worn a suit and he worried that this fact must be obvious to everyone who laid eyes on him.

  Donna's father was an imposing man and Eli felt his nerves on fire all throughout dinner. He had a booming voice that echoed through the restaurant and caused other diners to glance warily at him from the corners of their eyes.

  “So, tell me about yourself, Eli,” Donna's father said. “Where are you from? What are you majoring in? What are your plans for the future?”

  Eli tensed under his scrutiny.

  “I'm from a small town,” Eli said. “It's pretty rural. I'm still getting used to being a part of such a big community, but I really like living on the campus. I'm undeclared right now. I haven't decided what I'd like to major in.”

  Then Eli sent Donna's father a smile that was not returned. Eli tried to remain quiet for the rest of the meal, listening and nodding politely as Donna and her father caught up. Donna told him all about the basketball team and how she was liking her classes.

  It was when Donna stood to hurry out to the bathroom, that the middle-aged man leaned across the table to tell Eli exactly what he thought of him.

  “You're not good enough for my daughter,” he snapped.

  “Excuse me?” Eli replied in shock.

  “You're not nearly good-looking enough for her,” he said flatly. “The two of you are just going to end up breaking up anyway. I guarantee it. As soon as someone better than you comes along. You may as well end the relationship now. That would be the smart thing to do.”

  “I have to...go to the bathroom, too,” Eli murmured.

  He jumped to his feet and hurried away from the table. His plan was to find Donna and tell her what had just occurred. He found her standing outside the bathroom. She was smiling and touching her hair. A tall and muscular man was leaning towards her with a grin on his face.

  Eli felt his gut fall down into his feet.

  They were flirting.

  ***************************************************************

  Donna had thought that the dinner had gone well. Her father had been tense, but cordial. But then after the meal, Eli had been so discombobulated. He hadn't been himself. Not at all.

  Chapter Seven

  In the coming weeks, Eli started to push Donna and Rayna away. He spent more time away from the dorm than ever before. He was quiet and withdrawn when he was there.

  Finally, Donna confronted Eli.

  “Eli, what is going on?” she asked. “Are we even still together? Have I done something to upset you?”

  Eli sighed.

  “I saw you hitting on another guy,” Eli said. “The day that we went to eat with your father, another guy came up to you and put his hand on your arm. I saw you flirting. I'm alright with seeing both you and Rayna, but I didn't realize that our having an unconventional relationship meant that you would be bringing all kinds of random people into the mix. I'm not okay with that.”

  Donna shook her head in confusion.

  “Eli, I honestly don't know what you're talking about,” she said. “I vaguely remember some guy hitting on me at the restaurant, but guys hit on me all the time. I was polite, but I definitely didn't encourage him. I'm certainly not trying to date him or sleep with him. Eli? If you were this upset with me, why didn't you come talk to me?”

  “I don't know,” Eli said. “Everything outside of my village is just so foreign. I feel like I don't know what I'm doing..”

  Donna took Eli by the hands.

  “Eli, I can honestly say that there is no other man for me. You are the only man that I want to have a romantic relationship with.”

  Eli blinked back tears.

  “You mean that Donna?”

  “Course I do.”

  “There is one other thing that I wanted to talk to you about,” Eli said.

  “Anything,” Donna said.

  “Your father told me that I should break up with you,” Eli said. “He said that I wasn't good-looking enough for you. He said that I should save myself the time and just break up with you.”

  “No!” Donna cried.

  She clasped Eli's hands tighter.

  “I want to be with you!” she cried. “Please stay with me! Stay with me and Rayna!”

  Eli pulled Donna into his arms and kissed her deeply. He felt a hand on his back then. It was Rayna rubbing his spine in slow, circular motions.

  “Thank you for coming back to us,” Rayna gasped.

  Eli tore his lips from Donna and brought them to Rayna's and then again back to Donna's. He was so happy to have them both back. They remained that way for awhile, just holding each other and drinking one another in.

  **************************************************

  The last basketball game of the year was packed. Eli smiled as he looked around at the crowded gym. He was so happy to see so much support for both of his girls. His girls. It was such a magnificent thought.

  He leaned back, happily watching Donna pass the ball to Rayna. They communicated with such ease on the court. They spoke through facial expressions and short abbreviated gestures. During the halftime break, Donna glanced up into the bleachers and met Eli's eyes. She smiled and a zip of energy burst through Eli's chest. He cared about the two of them so very much.

  It was because of Rayna and Donna that Eli no longer felt embarrassed about his Amish roots. After Eli had told Donna about what her father had said to him, she'd cut off communication with him once and for all. Now that Donna was no longer being crushed under her father's thumb, she was free to be public with her affections for Rayna. The three of them had gone public and now all shared their affections openly.

  Eli smiled and felt an enormous gratitude to then universe. He had left home with nothing, and ending up gaining more than he had ever thought possible.

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  Enjoy Your Bonus Stories!

  Fate

  ~ Bonus Story ~

  A First Time Lesbian Romance

  Fairy Tales NEVER tell you how life ACTUALLY works.

  I thought our meeting would be Fate! True love. All that jazz.

  We would look into each others eyes and the planet’s would align and yadda yadda. Why can’t a girl as cute as me get what every magazine totally promised me?

  I’d have a steady job, meet the girl of my dreams, and we’d live happily ever after.

  Nobody ever bothered to tell me that the girl would be tied up in her total asshole of an ex, a steady job is a complete bore, and fate is a terrible name for a dog.

  Fate, seriously. Why do this to me? More importantly, what the heck do I do now?

  The smart answer, I guess, would be “not this”.

  Fortunately, I’ve never been one for the smart answer!

  I mean, at this point it can’t get worse. Right? Right…?

  * * *

  chapter 1

  Ugh! I have to do it. Just go, Amelia. Just print it out and give it to your boss. You can’t do this anymore. Your passion becomes a chore when you are here! But… I can’t just, LEAVE. I need a job to pay my rent and I get to write.

  Spam. I get to write SPAM. My boss has the competency of a fish trying to climb a tree! Her orders have never made sense. The air in their office tastes stale and I can FEEL it ruining me. And my mood. All I want is to write for a fashion magazine. Is that so hard?

  Well, yes. Especially if I am in this stupid building!

  I hunched my shoulders to build up my courage and printed it. I held my head up as I turned in the letter of resignation. I can’t keep being so… indecisive. I usually never am. I usually make my decision and stick to it, or so I like to believe, but not this time. I hate it, the ent
ire concept of not being able to just make a decision and stick to it.

  Fine. This is it. I can’t change my mind anymore. And now the panic sets in. I just QUIT! How am I supposed to do my job? How am I supposed to pay rent? I am so stupid sometimes. Just regular, old, scatterbrained Amelia.

  I checked my phone. It was a message from Mom, asking how my day is and if I’m gonna drive over for Sunday dinner. What can I even say to that? “My day has been fine. I quit the job that gives me financial security because I never think a single thing through. Dinner sounds great!” Yeah. Fat chance of that.

  Ugh. Okay, Amelia. Let’s go on a walk! Yeah, that’ll clear my head. And I’ll know just what to do from here on out. So I walk and I find myself around a park.

  Aww. There are so many adorable dogs around here. I could feel all my negative emotions melting away as my yearning for animal companionship set in. They are such sweet creatures. Back when I lived at home I used to have a dog. She was a little cocker spaniel with the sweetest temperament. I wanted to bring her with me when I moved out, but my stupid job took too much time.

  Hey! Maybe there is a bright side to this whole thing after all.

  A big dog began to trot behind me. It was so cute, fluffy with golden-blonde fur and a wagging tail. I wave the dog off as I walk home, trying to tell it to go find it’s family. It doesn’t listen. And my judgment has never been the BEST so… I let it in.

  I just don’t have the heart to send it away. Not when it sat on my porch and gave me those big puppy dog eyes. ‘It’s just for a bit,’ I convinced myself. ‘Just a little while and then I’ll help find his owner. I swear.’

  chapter 2

  Is she actually yelling again? At ME? What is it this time? Did I not do the dishes after I did all the work to support us and paid our bills?! Did I not pay enough attention to her after being ignored for the past three days?

  “Are you even LISTENING to me?” She snapped, hands on her hips. The sarcastic ‘No’ was on the tip of my tongue and it almost physically pained me to hold it back.

  She stifles me. And I always have to be the rational one of us. Someone needs to be the adult in this relationship. "Claire, I'm sure everything will work out in the end," I told her, hoping that was the response. I… I wasn’t ACTUALLY paying attention, but she didn’t KNOW that!

  Oh no. That glare. Usually, she was like a painting, how someone would imagine Aphrodite walking around, with hair of spun gold and sparkling sapphire eyes. When she was upset though her face twists into this grotesque expression that haunts dreams. She looks as if you are less than dirt staining her shoe and her lips curl at the edges making one feel utterly worthless.

  I just wanted us to be happy, but she can NEVER be content. Over the months, I have given up trying to reason with her as my love for her died out of something that was worse than hatred, indifference. She emotionally beat the love out of me till I felt nothing.

  There was always an excuse to stay. Even if it was poor. Being the kind of conflict-avoiding coward I am, I… just didn’t want to do this.

  The worst part, though, she doesn’t WANT to listen to reason or become a better person, or even GROW. She wants to be the center of every universe. She wasn’t really, though. It wasn’t enough to love her either.

  “LEELA! YOU AREN’T EVEN LISTENING.” She snarled at me. Today was the worst day with her, she actually started screaming and throwing things.

  My new clothes. How dare she. My phone. She couldn’t have seriously done that. My special hand-knit scarf from Uncle Irwin. NO! She isn’t even allowed to EVER touch that! All these possessions were thrown onto the dirty lawn, getting smeared with dirt. I was so angry that my fists clenched. I wanted to hit her like I fight with my siblings. I want to get the physical satisfaction of making her SHUT UP.

  That’s not who I am! I am…well, I’m certainly better than that. And so, I simply called the police. I really thought it would make me feel better. Watch that awful girl was forcefully ejected from my house.

  I didn’t. It felt like those parts of me that she carved away to make a space for her, just festered. Now there was nothing where there once was so much poetry and art. The house suddenly felt so big, and so quiet. Yet, stifling. The sound of the fan was somehow too loud still, and I almost gnashed my teeth.

  I kept waiting to hear it. The dull thumps of his paws as my little Albert pawed his way to his favorite person in the world. But…it wasn’t anywhere to be heard or seen.

  My green eyes widened and I could feel my lip tremble as I heard a croaking voice cry, “ALBERT! ALBERT, WHERE ARE YOU BOY?!” It took a few moments for me to even realize those sounds came from my own mouth.

  chapter 3

  I wasn’t actually doing anything, er, wrong. ‘Yes, Amelia, It’s not like you abducted him or anything.’ The golden-furred sweetheart, whom I have now dubbed Bandit followed me home! He stole my heart, so Bandit is a perfect name for that little rascal! I even gave him a little hat….

  Which solidifies he had an owner. He took to the hat immediately and didn’t immediately knock it over, which meant he was used to having a hat. The owner probably loved him.

  Ooor, the owner wasn’t that great? What if the owner conditioned Bandit to simply get used to whatever was done to him and stay quiet? Bandit hasn’t barked at a strange noise or growled since I got him! It is in that case, it is my moral obligation to take care of him, right?

  With that in mind, I scratched him behind the ears as I got up from my couch. "No, Bandit," I told him as I went to leave the house. “You have to stay here. I’m gonna get some stuff. My house doesn’t have any puppy stuff for you.”

  He still tried to follow me. “Bandit, Stay.” See, I can be authoritative when I wanted to be. “Good boy.”

  I know there is a long list of things I probably should be doing before I spend my time caring for a dog, but actually going to the store and looking at puppy supplies actually was really relaxing. All my stressors seemed to melt away and my anxiety disappeared.

  That was until I saw her; A frazzled redhead, with piercing aqua eyes and the cutest freckles. She was chubby in a cute way and all of a sudden, I desperately wanted to draw her and her cute red glasses and little hand-stitched beret, even though I definitely am not an artist. Oh my gosh, she has a Scottish brogue too!

  She was so cute. With a button nose and passionate eyes. I could feel my breath get caught in my throat. I fought the urge to ask her if I could draw her. It would be awkward and weird.

  That obviously wasn’t WHY my stress came back momentarily. Her beauty was completely unrelated. It definitely had nothing to do with it at all. My PROBLEM was the flyers she was passing out! That was definitely my Bandit and maybe she was a good owner. Is she calling him ALBERT? Seriously? Albert? Albert. How do you look at that face and think ‘Albert'?

  I walked up to her. My tongue felt like lead for some bizarre reason. Oh, it’s my Social anxiety, duh! “I need to-”

  She gave me a once over as I spoke as if judging me by my looks alone. “Not now.” She interrupted.

  “Excuse me?” I asked, affronted. I had important information about her dog! The nerve of some people.

  “I’m really sorry, but I am busy right now. I might be able to talk later but I need to find my dog. Bye.” She…She just…dismissed me! How dare she.

  She was incredibly rude. Why is it always the pretty girls? Humph. Maybe she doesn’t need to know about Bandit…just yet. I mean, she acted like nothing I said could have been of value to her. I took a flyer and went home, I could just go to her house and tell her about the dog when she was less…like that. With that thought in mind, I went home to take care of little Bandit, while I still could.

  chapter 4

  I eventually went home, I’ll have to go out and try again soon. Albert. He’s gone and I can’t believe it. I can’t function without his happy face and his cuddly behavior.

  It’s so strange. I mean, the house isn’t that big but when I lo
ok around, without Albert… it seems so huge and lifeless. I try to look around at the pictures of me and Albert and Claire, during the times when everything was so much better.

  I lied down and tried to relax. Breathe in and out. I’ll get Albert back eventually. But, would I really be happy? Do I just want Albert back, or do I really, actually want Claire too?

  I stared at the pictures of her, smiling and her eyes shining like diamonds. ‘Diamonds ARE a good description of her’, sneered a more vindictive side of me, that sounded way too much like Claire for me to be comfortable with it. ‘Beautiful and distracting, but worth much less than you have to give up for it’.

  ‘And a beauty that shimmers in the light and is worth more than her appearance’, the lovesick, lonely side of me butted in. The side that is always silent when we are together, yet wakes up to whine when we drift apart again. Ugh. Why can't that side choose a, er, side? It gets so frustrating.

  I had almost convinced myself that I genuinely missed her and in a moment of weakness, I had almost dialed the phone before I looked up and saw that girl through the window. It was that same girl from earlier. I know I shouldn’t have been so dismissive but I need to find Albert! Does she not get that?

  I opened the door before she could knock. She had this shocked look on her face. Her brown hair was up in pigtails and she had bronze skin. The pigtails made her look more childish than she was, and she was wearing a lot of makeup. I could tell she was checking me out earlier, but I was busy and she isn't even my type. I like curvy girls after all, not girls who are toned like she is. She was buff and strong and her body didn’t look soft at all aside from her face.

  I definitely was not thinking about how her face looks so soft and feminine, and her lips looked so soft. Her cheeks were soft pink and her cheekbones were like sugarplums. I would never think about how those lips of hers tasted. I hate this. She is distracting me!