by VJ Erickson
CHAPTER FOUR
“Well then,” Addison announced to the group, “everyone else who doesn’t have more important brooding to attend to, follow me.”
The group shuffled in silence behind Addison along the city street that led towards the main part of campus. It was the end of August, and midday temperatures promised to be warm, but the early morning air was crisp and cool.
As soon as the dorms disappeared from view, Eric rejoined Taylor and Hannah, grinning with his familiar confidence. Hannah pretended not to notice him.
“Miss me?” he asked and looked eagerly at Taylor.
“Terribly,” Taylor responded, jokingly.
“Yes, terribly,” Hannah parroted, less jokingly.
Addison could be heard in the background giving a terse description of their first stop.
“This is the administrative building,” she said. “You do your administrative stuff here. Any questions?”
Eric shot his hand up. Addison looked at Eric’s hand and then turned away.
“Great. Next stop, the fine arts building,” Addison announced and started walking.
Eric was not deterred, however, and hurried after her, shouting for attention.
“Excuse me! Excuse me! I have a question!”
Addison turned sharply and stared at him.
“Yes?” she said, impatient.
“If it’s called VanCamp University, where are the vans for the camping?” he blurted out.
Addison looked at him for a second, rolled her eyes, and then turned around to keep walking. Taylor hurriedly covered her mouth to stifle a giggle.
As they approached the fine arts building, Taylor couldn’t help comparing it to her old high school, a modest two-story brick building that could have fit inside any of these city buildings with room to spare.
Addison stopped in front of the building and turned to face the group.
“This,” she indicated with a half-hearted wave behind her, “is the Lenape Center for Fine Arts. I trust you can figure out what it is for.”
Eric’s hand shot up again. Addison looked directly at him, narrowed her eyes, and said, “No questions.”
Eric didn’t seem to mind, though. He just kept on grinning. Hannah, on the other hand, looked completely embarrassed to be in his vicinity.
“C’mon,” Hannah whispered to Taylor. “We should keep some distance from him. We don’t want Addison associating him with us.”
Taylor wasn’t worried about Addison blaming her for Eric’s behavior, but she wasn’t really attached to him either. She shrugged and followed Hannah’s lead to the other edge of the small crowd.
As soon as they started moving again, however, he was right back at their side.
The group came up to what Addison pointed out was the library. Taylor recognized this building from the brochure. It was decidedly more visually impressive than their dormitory, with stately columns and ornate stone details. Addison didn’t ask for questions at this stop, but Eric wasn’t paying attention regardless. Instead, he turned his attention to Taylor.
“What are you doing later?” he whispered to her.
Addison immediately picked up on this, however, and interrupted them before Taylor could respond.
“If you would like to turn this into couples' hour, the dorms are back that way.”
“We’re not...” Taylor began to protest, but Addison interrupted her.
“I’m sorry. It must have sounded like I asked a question. Let me rephrase. If you two are here just to disrupt, then you are welcome to leave.”
Eric walked right up to Addison. He hadn’t stopped smiling, and Taylor noted how indifferent he was towards authority. Even if Addison was just a resident advisor, Taylor had always been accustomed to simply deferring to those in charge.
“Hey, I have a question,” he said, standing inches from her face.
Addison did not acknowledge him. She turned her back as if she hadn’t heard him.
“I’m serious. It’s a real question,” he insisted.
Addison took a step away from him.
“Last one, I promise,” he persisted.
Addison pivoted sharply on her heel to face Eric again.
“WHAT?” she asked.
“Yeah, the administrative building... Is that where we can leave feedback on our RAs? Because there’s this RA in the girl’s dorm, and man, let me tell you, is she in the wrong line of work. Is that where I’d go to file a complaint?”
“No,” she said flatly.
“Oh? Then tell me, where would one go to get an RA fired?”
“Resident Affairs in the Redmund building,” she responded immediately and then paused as if she wasn’t sure why she just said that. “I mean, you go back to Harris Hall and mind your own business. I’m sure the ladies here don’t need your help.”
“Of course not,” he replied with a wry expression. “You’re doing a great job already.”
Addison continued to glare back at him and did not respond. Eric returned to Taylor and Hannah with a self-satisfied grin.
Hannah wasn’t having it, however.
“Wait a second. You are not going to piss her off and then immediately come to be seen associating with us. We do not want your problems,” Hannah said, placing her hands on her hips and inching closer to Eric’s face.
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about her,” he replied.
Hannah furrowed her brow.
“Right,” Taylor chimed in, hoping to loosen the mood. “It’s not like she has any control over our grades.”
“No, we just have to live with her, that’s all.” said Hannah.
“There there, Hannah, I’ll take care of you,” Eric said and teasingly poked at her side.
Hannah froze at his touch, and Taylor almost tripped over her. When Taylor regained her balance, Hannah was standing a few inches from Eric, her arms folded across her chest. Eric leaned back a little and scratched his head sheepishly.
“Hey, sorry. No touching. Got it.”
Still not saying a word, Hannah walked off ahead leaving Taylor and Eric standing there. Taylor started forward to catch up to her, but Eric stopped her with his hand on her shoulder. Her body tensed.
“Okay, no touching here either. Got it,” he said, releasing his hand. “Look, I’m not sure what I said to your friend, but I’m not trying to make waves here.”
“Oh Hannah, she’s not... I mean, we just met yesterday,” said Taylor.
In the background, she could hear Addison explaining meal plans and diner cards. So far, Taylor had not seen Addison explaining anything to anyone and this sudden attention to her duties after Eric’s thinly-veiled threat amused Taylor.
“I see,” he said. “You wanna ditch this tour then and go check out campus ourselves?”
Taylor paused for a moment, and Eric looked at her eagerly. Off to the side, Hannah was chattering away with someone she had probably just met.
“I can’t leave my roommate. We came together,” said Taylor.
“Well then, what are you doing afterwards?”
“I dunno. Hannah has been kind of leading me around this whole time. I don’t even know what’s scheduled this afternoon.”
“Just another tour," he said. "We’re free for the afternoon."
“Okay. After lunch, we can go check out campus.”
“Sweet."
Taylor tried to hide her smile as they continued on the tour. Addison continued to tersely explain the details of campus life, but Taylor wasn’t listening anymore. Instead she looked forward to the afternoon.
The last stop on the tour was the largest building on campus and what appeared to be the newest as well, the Redmund Student Life Center.
After introducing herself to everyone on the tour, Hannah was back at Taylor’s side. Eric, meanwhile, had been floating through the crowd looking for opportunities to make a nuisance of himself and irritate Addison at every stop. Joseph, whom Taylor hadn’t even noticed had rejoined the tour until now, stood aloof from the cr
owd and occupied himself by making strained faces at Eric’s antics.
“Okay kids,” Addison said, looking directly at Eric. “Tour’s over. Lunch is inside.”
The pace of the group had begun to lag, but the announcement of food reinvigorated them, and they walked more quickly as they followed her inside the Redmund building.
Taylor had never seen a building this spacious on the inside. With three-story vaulted ceilings, walls lined with shops full of university-themed gifts, and every side dotted with coffee shops and concessionaires, it looked more like an upscale boutique shopping mall than a school building.
Addison led them to a corner of the building and directed them inside a small room set up with folding tables and chairs. In the corner, pizza boxes were stacked on a table next to several bottles of store-brand soda.
“Oh good,” said Eric. “I haven’t had pizza in forever.”
“Yeah, it’s been hours,” said Taylor.
Eric flashed Taylor a grin while Hannah scowled. Addison ignored them both.
“The rest of the afternoon’s yours,” Addison announced and then promptly exited the room.
“Want me to grab you some?” Hannah asked Taylor.
“Yeah sure,” she replied and went to go sit at one of the tables.
Eric immediately pulled up a seat across from her.
“Not hungry?” Taylor asked.
“Not for pizza, no,” he answered.
Taylor was about to complain about the pizza herself when Joseph sat down beside her without a word. The brothers' eyes met for a moment and everyone was quiet.
Hannah broke the silence when she sat down on the other side of Taylor and slid a paper plate with a flaccid slice of lukewarm pizza in front of her. Hannah grabbed her own slice and started munching away.
“You’re not eating?” Hannah asked, looking in the direction of the brothers.
“Not pizza,” Joseph replied.
“They’re pizza snobs,” said Taylor.
“I bet they are,” said Hannah.
Hannah then proceeded to chew her pizza without taking her eyes off Eric. Meanwhile, Joseph stared only at his brother, who seemed happily oblivious to the attention of anybody but Taylor. Taylor found Eric’s self-confident indifference appealing, but his cluelessness, feigned or otherwise, made the situation even more uncomfortable.
“So,” Eric said, resting his elbows on the table and his chin in his hands while leaning forward eagerly. “Tell me all about yourself!”
“What is this, an interview?” Joseph interjected.
“Either that or a staring contest,” Eric quipped and then turned immediately back to Taylor.
“Where are you from?” he asked.
“We moved a lot growing up, so I wouldn’t say I’m from anywhere,” said Taylor.
“Ah, so military brat?" guessed Eric.
“No, we just moved around a lot.”
“Your dad was a contractor then?”
“No, he...” Taylor began, but was cut off by Hannah.
“I don’t think she wants to talk about her father,” she said.
“Hey, hey,” Eric said, holding up both hands in mock surrender. “I’m just asking. What would you like to talk about, Taylor?”
Hannah was right, Taylor didn’t want to talk about her late father, but she felt perfectly capable of handling innocent questions about him without Hannah’s assistance.
Taylor was beginning to feel that everyone at the table was focused solely on her. Hannah seemed to regard every interaction with these boys as a test of roommate loyalty, Joseph seemed to have a personal interest in ensuring that Eric did not hit it off with Taylor, and Eric was clearly interested in defying both of them. Though Taylor did begin to wonder if Eric's interest in her wasn't more about pissing off his brother than anything to do with her.
Taylor resolved then that her interests came first, and though she wanted to stay friendly with Hannah and she didn’t want to divide siblings, she was beginning to feel that everyone in this conversation had an agenda for her that did not at all take into consideration her feelings. She decided that what she desired most at the moment was space. It was only her second day on campus, and everyone already had expectations of her.
“You know what?” Taylor said. “I think I could use some fresh air.”
She stood and all three of her lunch companions stood up with her.
“Which is code for ‘me time’,” she said with a sigh.
Eric and Joseph sat back down, but Hannah didn’t move.
Taylor walked towards the door, and she could hear Hannah following behind.
“Hannah,” Taylor said, turning to address her.
“I’m coming with you."
“Look Hannah, I appreciate it, but I haven’t had a moment to myself since I got here. I’ll be fine, I promise.”
Hannah appeared poised to protest, but Taylor did not wait to hear it. She pushed open the door and disappeared into the commons.