The Last July: A New Adult Romance

by Breanna Mounce

“One thing is for sure,” Carla says as she finishes off our plate of nachos.

  “What’s that?” I ask.

  “We need to get you a cute outfit,” she says pointing to my t-shirt. “Make him regret not realizing what a keeper you are.”

  We pay our check and head back to the dorm, and I manage to get out of wearing a skirt. The girls settle on a cute black top and let me keep my jeans on. Hayley does my makeup, and I’m too embarrassed to admit that this is the first time I’ve been dolled up since senior prom.

  “Alright,” says Carla, putting the cap on her eyeliner about an hour after the makeover began. “My masterpiece is finished.”

  It’s just me, Carla and Hayley now. The other girls went down to the lobby to hang out with some other people from orientation. Hayley gives me a thumbs up and I look into the mirror.

  “Wow,” I tell Carla. “You made me look like I haven’t been getting attacked by mosquitoes and the sun all summer.”

  “Isn’t it amazing what some concealer and blush can do?” Carla says, sitting down on the desk chair and opening a magazine.

  “Well, I better get going,” I say, checking my watch. “Wish me luck.”

  “Do something I would do!” Carla says with a sinister smile.

  “We’ll see you at breakfast tomorrow?” Hayley asks.

  “Yeah,” I say, surprised by the invite, considering she seems like she would be the ‘mean girl’ type. “Sure, I’ll see you there.”

  “Good luck!” They say in unison as I leave their room, and head out to the library.

  Sampson is packing up his books when I get to the library. I take in a deep breath and walk over as quickly as possible. The library is pretty empty, with only the librarian behind the desk and two more tables occupied with study groups.

  “Sampson,” I say when I get to his table. One of his study buddies starts packing his stuff up too. “Hey.”

  “Hey, Penelope,” he says with a smile. “We just finished up. This is Robert, one of my classmates.”

  “Hi,” I say sheepishly to Robert. “Summer class, huh?”

  “Yeah, they kind of suck,” he says. “Sadly, it’s a required class.”

  “Yeah, that does suck.”

  Robert zips up his backpack. “Well Sampson, I’ll see you for the final. Good luck. Nice meeting you, Penelope. I’ve heard a lot about you from Sampson here,” he says with a smile.

  I want to ask what he’s heard about me, but I just smile and wave instead. At least I know he’s not embarrassed to be seen with me. I find a sliver of hope from Robert’s words.

  Sampson loads his backpack onto his shoulders and then turns to me. “Do you have curfew or anything?”

  I shake my head. “Nope, I just have to be at my morning meetings. Do you have to get back to camp soon?”

  “Nope, not until the morning.”

  We stand there for a little bit, and I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say. Maybe, hey, now that you’re single, we should go out. Or so, I’ve kind of had a crush on you all summer.

  Maybe it’s best to say nothing at all.

  Sampson nods toward the door. “You want to see some of my favorite places on campus?”

  “Uh, yeah, sure. I’m up for whatever.”

  Sampson doesn’t show me all his favorite spots though. He does show me one spot. We end up sneaking to the rooftop of one of the buildings. Part of me is terrified of getting caught and being expelled from Maryville before I even start, but the other part of me would follow Sampson almost anywhere.

  “Holy crap, this view…” I say quietly but with enthusiasm. “Would be awesome if it wasn’t dark out already. Maybe sunrise or sunset?”

  “Alright, so I didn’t think about the time of day we were coming up here,” he says, putting his hands up in a surrender. “But the view is amazing during the day, and you can kind of see the mountains. It’s even more pretty in the winter.”

  “Well, I look forward to seeing that,” I say.

  “Are you excited to start college here?” he asks.

  “Yeah, nervous though,” I say. “What if I’m not cut out for it?”

  “You’ll be fine,” he says softly. “Everyone makes college out to be a huge deal and a life changer, but it’s not. Don’t be nervous.”

  His words make me feel a little better, but I’m still not sure what to say. A few days ago he wasn’t even speaking to me, so I didn’t have to worry about coming up with something to talk about.

  “Hey,” he says, drawing my attention back to him. “You okay?”

  I nod and cross my arms over my chest. “Are you?”

  “I’ll be okay,” he says. “And I’m not mad at you. I was at first, but I understand now why you kept it from me.”

  “Are you sure about that?” I ask, raising one of my eyebrows. There are multiple reasons why I lied to Sampson, and I’m curious to know why he thinks I did.

  “I know Viv’s kind of snobby…”

  “Kind of!” I say raising my voice without meaning to.

  We both listen, waiting to hear campus police bust us for being up here, but they don’t come.

  “Okay, she is snobby, and possessive and rude…”

  “And just an overall bad human being, not just a bad girlfriend,” I chime in.

  “She is, isn’t she?” he says, rubbing the back of his neck.

  I nod. “She is, and I’m not sure if I should feel bad for her more or you.”

  “Ouch,” he says. “Kick a man while he’s down.”

  “Sampson,” I say, dropping my arms to my side, wanting to wrap my hands around his neck and shake him until he sees Viv for who she really is. “She cheated on you, she threatened me, she lied to you, she’s a bully. I wanted to tell you what they did behind your back, multiple times, but she scared the living hell out of me.

  “All I’ve ever wanted since I was a first year camper was to work at Camp Arthur. This year I finally had the opportunity for that and Viv took the dream from me. I won’t let her keep bullying me though. When I get back Monday, I’m going to talk to your dad, and I’m going to tell him what happened. If he wants me to leave, I’ll leave, but I’m not going down without a fight.”

  “I understand,” he says, kicking a pebble across the roof. “And if he asks me about it, I’ll tell him too. It’s just embarrassing.”

  “What’s embarrassing?” I ask.

  “Being so mesmerized that I didn’t see what was actually going on. I mean, I saw the signs. I just chose to ignore them. I thought having Viv even if she was cheating, was better than not having her at all.”

  “Love makes us do crazy things.” I suggest, but I honestly don’t know. I’ve never been in love.

  “I don’t think it was love, I think I may have been scared of her like you are.”

  “That’s silly!” I say, throwing my arms up. “Why would you be afraid of her?”

  “I don’t know, everyone- most everyone loves her and she’s the life of the party. I thought she would blackmail me or something. It’s stupid. Forget I even said that.”

  “Yeah, it’s stupid!” I agree. “Sampson, you can do so much better than her. You’re so good at your job, working with the kids and you’re so cute! You’re smart and you have a fantastic, fun personality!”

  “Did you say I was cute?” he asks, making my cheeks blush.

  “What, no!” I say. “Wait, that’s all you heard out of all that? That’s not even the point. The point is, you leaving Viv made you a better person. You never needed her, and maybe one day she’ll realize that you may have been the best thing she ever had, but by then, you’ll have moved on.”

  “You think I’m cute,” he teases. I start laughing, imagining the scene from Rudolph where Clarice says he’s cute.

  “Whatever,” I say. “Let’s go before we get caught up here. The last thing I need is to be known as the girl who got kicked out of college during orientation.”

  “But it would make a good story to tell the ki
ds one day, right?”

  “Whatever you say, Sampson.”

  Sampson walks me to the front of the dorm. He checks his watch and I check mine. It’s already almost midnight. He yawns, and I try my best to not yawn with him. We stand there awkwardly, but I’m not sure what happens now. I could say goodbye and walk inside, then wait to see him back at camp where we’ll pretend this never happened. I could hug him and tell him that I don’t think I’m going to go back to camp. I could cut things short and put Camp Arthur in my past.

  “I should probably get going,” Sampson says as another yawn slips out. “I think I’m going to call my buddy, there’s no way I’m going to make it back to camp when I’m this tired.”

  “Yeah, I’m already exhausted, though I’ll probably be up at five thirty or six. Yay, camp schedules.”

  “Yeah, I agree.”

  “You could stay here…” I say. “I mean, I don’t have a roommate tonight. I wouldn’t want you to fall asleep at the wheel and wreck.”

  Sampson looks at me to object. “You sure that’s a good idea? I wouldn’t want you to feel uncomfortable. My buddy doesn’t live too far from here, I can go.”

  I try my best not to sound nervous, to sound calm and adult-like when my stomach is doing flips. “Yeah, it won’t be a big deal. You can take the floor!”

  He rolls his eyes but smiles. “Well aren’t you a great hostess?”

  “Come on,” I say, jerking my head to the front door. “If we don’t get in there soon, we’ll both end up falling asleep in the courtyard.”

  Sampson quietly follows me in the building. Thank God the front desk person is currently away. I’m pretty sure we’re not breaking any rules but I would rather not be known as the incoming freshmen who brought a boy back to her room during orientation. I don’t know how I’d explain bringing an upperclassman back here. We head up the stairs and walk past my newly acquired friends’ rooms where I hear some music playing and muffled voices.

  If they walked out right now, I’m sure they’d get a kick out of this. Carla would probably give me a thumbs up.

  “Here we are,” I say, sticking my key in the lock and opening the door. “It’s not much, but I plan on pulling up the carpet and adding a disco ball where the light is.”

  Sampson laughs and drops his backpack off at the desk.

  “I’m going to run to the restroom quick,” I say, grabbing my toiletry kit and pajamas. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  “Take your time,” he says.

  I smile and close the door behind me. The shared bathroom is empty, so I don’t have to have a public freak out over the fact there’s a guy in my room. At home, I was never allowed to go to my room with a guy, not that I even had someone to bring home though.

  I splash some water on my face and put some toothpaste on my toothbrush. It takes three times for me to run the toothbrush under the water without losing the paste. I’m a mess of nervousness and anxiety. I put my hair up in a ponytail and try to get all the makeup off without a wipe or washcloth. Clearly, I did not come prepared.

  “Hey you!” says a voice behind me. When I look in the mirror, Hayley is reflected. “How’d it go with your boy?”

  Does she know?

  “It went okay,” I say.

  “Just okay,” she asks, leaning against the sink next to me. “He wasn’t a jerk, was he?”

  “No, no,” I say, zipping up my toiletry bag. “We actually talked things out, and I think he finally understands how mentally unhealthy his girlfriend was for him.”

  “Good, I’m glad to hear that. How do you think things will be the next time you see him?”

  In two minutes, I don’t know. Maybe it’ll be super awkward and he’ll realize what a loser I am?

  “I’m hoping for the best,” I say. “But we’ll see.”

  “I can’t believe I fell asleep on you last night,” Sampson says, sitting on the empty desk. “I’m so sorry.”

  “You’re fine,” I say as I roll up my sleeping bag. “Get sleep while you can, right? Camp seems to take a lot of energy out of counselors.”

  When I walked back into my room last night, Sampson had fallen asleep on the floor. Since I had an extra blanket, I draped it across him. Part of me was relieved he fell asleep before I got back since it saved me from a potentially awkward conversation. I tiptoed across the room and climbed into bed, for a while just listening to his breathing, along with the muffled voices down the hall. I was thankful to have my own room.

  “You’re telling me,” he says. “Last week, one of the little boys in my cabin kept waking me up at 3 in the morning saying he heard a wolf in the cabin. In the cabin! Not outside, but somehow the wolf made his way in the cabin. I didn’t know they knew how to pull doors open.”

  I laugh. “How’d you handle that?”

  He sighs. “I told him there wasn’t a wolf in the cabin, but if there was, the stench of his bunk mate's dirty laundry would scare it away. Wolf’s hate dirty laundry as much as I hate it.”

  “Good to know.” I check my watch and it’s time for me to head out. “I better get going, I have to be at breakfast and then report for another meeting.”

  “Can I walk you? To breakfast?”

  “Really?” I ask, putting on my backpack and grabbing my sleeping bag and pillow to drop off in the lobby for pick up later.

  “Yeah, why not?”

  “Sure,” I agree. “Shall we?”

  It’s not a long walk to the cafeteria from the dorm I was staying in, but it’s the perfect amount of bonus alone time with Sampson. I feel like I might have made some progress in fixing what was wrong between the two of us. I hope this is just a sneak peek of what it’ll be like when I’m officially attending school.

  “Thanks for… walking me,” I say as we come to a stop in front of the cafeteria entrance. I get a whiff of bacon as someone opens the door and passes by us. My stomach rumbles with hunger, this is the latest I’ve eaten all summer.

  “Yeah, I’ll see you back at camp later on. Have a safe drive back.”

  “You too,” I say. “Thanks for keeping me company.”

  We do that awkward thing where we’re not sure if we should shake hands, hug, high-five, or just walk away. We laugh after attempting the hug and just wave bye before I turn to go into the cafeteria.

  I’m spooning some eggs onto my plate when someone comes behind me and pinches my sides. “You dog, you.”

  I startle and drop the scrambled egg spoon on the floor. I pick it up and hand it over to the cook before greeting Carla, my face red with embarrassment. “You scared the crap out of me.”

  “Sorry, you’ll get used to it trust me,” she says as she picks up a piece of bacon with her bare hands and puts it in her mouth in one bite. “I just saw Sampson and you out front.”

  “Yeah,” I say. “He walked me here.”

  “Yeah?” she asks. “Did he stay on campus last night?”

  “Yes,” I say, not wanting to lie.

  “In the dorms?”

  “Yep.”

  Her eyes bug out. “With you in your room?”

  We’re approaching the table where Hayley and a few other people are sitting. “Shh, I don’t want the whole campus to know,” I tell her, my voice low.

  “You’re my idol now. I can’t believe it, you snagged a college guy,” Carla gushes. “School hasn’t even started and you’re already hooking up with frat guys.”

  “First off, nothing happened. Second, I knew him before this weekend.”

  “Thirdly?” Carla asks, arching a perfectly shaped eyebrow at me.

  “Thirdly,” I say. “We’re just friends.”

  She shakes her head. “No, I think you two like each other.”

  Hayley and I say good morning when I sit my plate down, and Carla is right next to me, waiting for a response. I just smile and pick up my fork so I can start eating.

  “Someone’s happy this morning,” Hayley says, putting a spoonful of cereal in her mouth.
/>   “She was out--” Carla starts to say, but I cut her off.

  “I was out late last night, Sampson was showing me around campus again,” I interrupt.

  If it were just me, Carla, and Hayley, I would probably tell them all the details of last night, but we have six people that are looking in my direction. I don’t want everyone knowing my business.

  “That’s awesome!” Hayley says. “What do you think happens next?”

  I shrug my shoulders. “No idea. I’m just playing it by ear.”

  “You’ll have to keep in touch and let me know how things go,” she says and we exchange numbers. “Text me anytime.”

  “Are you two living on campus?” I ask, mostly because I want to get off of the topic of Sampson.

  “We’re actually getting an apartment together off campus, but in walking distance,” Hayley says. “We’re going to sign the papers once orientation is over.”

  “Did you guys know each other before?” I ask, taking a bite of my food.

  Carla nods. “We go way back, back to pre-school.”

  “That’ll be nice,” I say, “knowing who you’ll be rooming with for at least a year.”

  “Are you staying in a dorm?” Kelsey asks me.

  “Yep, I figure it’ll be easier and then once I get settled into Maryville, I can check apartments out my second year or something. I wanted to get the whole freshmen year experience in, nothing like having a terrible roommate to make you miss home,” Hayley and Carla exchange a look and then I stumble over my words. “You know, a roommate you never met before, a stranger.”

  “Oh, maybe we could eventually get a bigger apartment and all room together!” Carla says with excitement. “Rent would possibly be cheaper.”

  “Yeah, that would be awesome,” I say. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  One of the orientation leaders arrives in the cafeteria and lets us know it’s time to head to our morning meetings. We all get up to throw our trash away and I smile, realizing this is the first time I’ve felt like part of a group of friends all summer.

  “You’re back! You’re back! I missed you so much,” squeals Daisy, running up to me and hugging me tightly.