by Claire Adams
We picked up our trays and followed the signs around the corner to the dish area, talking about what we still had to do that night. Georgia had gotten a nice-sized flat-screen TV as her birthday present from her parents, and she was suggesting that we could hook it up in the common area of our room, so we’d both have the freedom to watch TV whenever we wanted. I put my tray on the conveyor belt and laughed at a joke that Georgia made about binge-watching TV instead of getting our work done, shaking my head; I had already concluded that I had lucked out big time with my assigned roommate.
I took a step backwards, not even looking—a stupid idea, I knew even as I did it. Immediately, I collided with someone and half-yelped, turning on my heel to apologize to whomever I had run into. I looked up—and up. When my gaze lit on the face of the guy who I’d managed to bump, I felt my cheeks burning with the blood that rushed into them. It was Steel. Johnny Steel. I exhaled, trying to think of what I could say. “I am, gosh, I’m such an idiot. I’m sorry,” I said, laughing nervously.
Johnny shrugged, grinning down at me. “Should we exchange insurances? I don’t think you did more than ding my fender—I’d hate your rate to go up.” I found myself laughing more easily at the joke, and my blush started to recede. Off to the side, in the corner of my vision, I could see Georgia standing there, just staring at the two of us, almost openly gawking at the gorgeous man I’d had the bad luck to run into. “I’m Johnny—Johnny Steel,” he said. I smiled, still a little nervous at the confirmation of my suspicions. “What’s your name?” I tried to shake off my shock and nervousness.
“Becky,” I said, smiling again, feeling the warmth still lingering in my cheeks. Johnny smiled down at me, his bright eyes—up close they looked like they were blue—looking me up and down.
“Well, Becky, I’m glad to meet you. What’s your major?” My brain froze over. What was my major? I glanced sideways at Georgia, as if she could help me.
“Uh, my major…” I licked my lips, my heart pounding in my chest faster and faster.
“You know, that thing you’re here for?” Johnny’s playful smile took any sting out of his joke. “You know, other than parties and clubs.” I laughed and shook my head.
“English. I’m planning to major in English.” There was a quick silence, and I tried to think of something funny or at least smart, to say to him. But before I could, one of his friends called a question out to him, and Johnny looked away from me for a second, raising a hand to acknowledge the call and shouting back that he’d be right there. He looked down at me with another big smile on his face.
“It was great meeting you, Becky. I’ll see you around, I hope.” I nodded, unable to think of what else I could possibly say, and watched as he turned and walked away quickly, meeting back up with his friends. Georgia came back to my side, shaking her head with a star-struck grin on her face.
“Girl, you have got to be the luckiest person on the planet!” she said, managing somehow to keep her voice low enough to not be heard by the entire cafeteria. I rolled my eyes as we started to walk towards the exit. “Johnny Steel knows your name—and he’s… damn, Becky, he’s gorgeous. You’re lucky.” I shrugged.
“I’m sure he just…he’ll forget about me altogether in twenty minutes. I’m not going to let it turn my head.” I didn’t know what to think of the crazy random chance that had made me back up into Johnny. In my mind, as we walked back to the dorms, all I could think of was how gorgeous he was, the way his smile seemed so sweet and nice, his playful joking. I probably wouldn’t see him ever again—or at least, rarely—but it was a nice little twist on my first day on campus. I quickly discarded the idea that anything could possibly happen, but in spite of that, I wasn’t sure what to make of how charming he’d been to me. Probably just nice to everyone, I told myself as we walked across the quad towards the dorm buildings. Don’t think about it anymore. You’ve got way more important things on your plate. But I had to admit to myself at least that it was fun to have been noticed at all, even if I was pretty sure that I’d be forgotten in a matter of moments.
Chapter Four
By the time we were back in the dorm room, Gigi and I had finally managed to calm down a little bit about our run-in with Johnny—or rather, my run-in. We had both decided that it was high time to start organizing and unpacking the last of our things. Mom and Dad had set up my room for me, but of course, I wasn’t a child anymore—I could put away my own clothes, take care of a few things for myself. Georgia had more of her own stuff to tackle than I did, and of course there was also the common area to take care of.
We called across the room to each other as we went about the different chores we had in our own spaces, asking each other questions about what our lives had been like, what are parents were like, the sort of things you talk to your new roommate about. “I swear, my mom’s nuts,” I told Gigi while I was putting the last of my things in the shower. “All she cares about is money and status—she and Dad both hate that I’m planning to major in English. They’d much rather I did business or something like that.” Georgia laughed.
“My parents are pretty okay,” she called back from her bedroom. “I mean, if I had wanted to be an English major, they’d probably be a little bit wary of it…” I laughed. “But they’re okay with me studying whatever I want, as long as I’m prepared to work hard.” That was the thing, I thought; my parents didn’t want me to work hard, they wanted me to keep having everything more or less just handed to me. I knew for a fact that Mom still harbored the delusion that I was going to meet some wealthy trust-fund kid in college and never have to work a day in my life. Part of why I hadn’t chosen Brown University had simply been that I wanted out of that crowd.
“Everyone at my school was, like, shocked that this place even existed,” I told Georgia while we were taking a break from our unpacking, lounging in the common area. “All my friends were going to Yale or Harvard. One of the kids in my class is going to NYU for film; someone else is going to UC Berkeley. Big-name schools, precious networking opportunities.” I rolled my eyes.
“Well, you’re already doing pretty well on the networking,” Gigi said with a little grin, raising an eyebrow. I rolled my eyes. “What? Do you have a boyfriend?” I shook my head.
“I haven’t dated anyone in months.” I shrugged. Georgia looked at me in shock.
“Why the hell not? You’re hot as hell and you’re smart and funny. Obviously Johnny even thinks so.” I blushed and shook my head.
“At best, he thought I was some dumb, cute freshie. What about you?” Georgia shrugged and looked at her hands.
“I had a boyfriend, but I broke up with him like…a month ago.” She shrugged again, and sighed. “I miss the big dummy, of course.”
“Why did you break up with him, then?” I shook my head at her. “I mean obviously you liked him a lot.” Gigi laughed.
“Oh God, yeah—I mean, he was my first, so of course I liked him. But he’s going off to school in another state, and we were never going to be able to see each other, at least not until break…” she shifted on the couch and smiled. “I just decided that it didn’t make sense to try and play some long-distance relationship game, and it would be better for both of us if we were both free. He can do his thing and I can do mine. Besides, if it’s meant to be, we’ll end up together, and if it’s not, why put myself through all that heartache for no reason?” I had to admit that it made sense; if I’d had a boyfriend when I’d left for college, I’d probably have broken up with him, too.
“Yeah, if you’re really that far apart there’s no reason to drag it all out.” Georgia nodded and we were both quiet for a few minutes.
“So why the hell don’t you have a boyfriend?” She raised an eyebrow, grinning at me. “Not that it isn’t a good thing, but—I mean, is it just that you don’t want one or…” I laughed.
“No, I’m definitely into guys and definitely into the idea of dating.” I pressed my lips together, remembering the reason I wasn’t dating—a
nd the reason that I was so glad to be at college. “My mom’s kind of a snob,” I said. “My dad, too. Though usually he’s not quite as bad as Mom is.” Georgia tilted her head to the side, silently asking me to elaborate. “She was always after me to date these like, country club boys—the kids of the families she and Dad hang out with every weekend. People with money, you know? I kind of got sick of all the pressure they were putting on me and just decided that I wasn’t going to date until I was away from them. So here I am.” I shrugged and grinned.
“Here you are, getting flirted with by Johnny Steel.” Georgia lowered her voice dramatically when she said the name. Already, the RA’s comment in the orientation meeting was a joke between us, and the fact that we had both met the source of the comment made it even funnier.
“Ah, I’ll probably never see him again. You saw how many people there were in the dining hall. What are the odds I’m going to end up running into him again? Not that great.” We continued talking about our classes and everything we’d seen on campus, moving the furniture around and arranging things the way we wanted them, installing Gigi’s TV on the entertainment center, and doing all those little things that make a room at least a little bit like home.
We finally started to get exhausted; I knew the different excitements of the day had drained me totally, and that was without moving furniture around and unpacking. Georgia said goodnight, and I closed the door to my bedroom, smiling to myself. It had been a good first day on campus, all things considered. I was incredibly lucky that my roommate wasn’t some wealthy snob or some airhead I couldn’t stand to be around. Eventually, I’d know my way around campus and would get used to being surrounded by so many people all the time.
I stripped out of my clothes and crawled into bed without even bothering to change into pajamas. I smirked to myself as I reached over to turn off the light in the room, thinking that already I had so much more freedom than I was used to having, At home, I would never have thought of sleeping naked. My mom had a tendency to open the door right after knocking, without even waiting to hear me say “come in.” I definitely didn’t want to have the awkward moment of her seeing me naked—I knew she would freak. But here in the dorms, with my door safely locked behind me, in the dark, it didn’t matter. No one was going to just barge into my room.
My bed was so comfortable that I should have fallen right to sleep; instead I found my hands wandering over my naked body under the covers, feeling myself up. It felt so weird, and yet so comfortable. As I played with my breasts a little, jiggling them under the covers before I let my hands wander a little lower, I couldn’t help thinking of Johnny. I knew I shouldn’t. After all, like I’d told Gigi, there was practically no chance that anything would ever happen with him—I probably wouldn’t even ever see him on campus. He was an upperclassman, in totally different classes from mine, and on a team. But I couldn’t stop myself remembering his sweet-looking, gorgeous face. I remembered the sight of his hands, too—big, strong hands. I shivered, biting my bottom lip while I thought about what it would feel like for him to touch me with those big hands, cupping my breasts, moving down between my legs, caressing me everywhere. I shook my head at myself, knowing I was being ridiculous, but as I started to drop off to sleep, it was impossible not to think about the look in his eyes when he’d introduced himself, the way he’d laughed to his friends before that, the way he smiled at me, and how good it probably would feel to have him right there with me.
The weekend ended faster than I would have guessed; everyone was moved into their dorms, and even the upperclassmen were all on campus. Georgia and I had another day of getting settled in. We were definitely more than ready to start our classes, to see what it would be like. So when Monday morning came around and I had to wake up for my first class, I was awake even before my alarm went off. I took a quick shower and got dressed, agonizing more than I would have wanted to admit to anyone over the choice of what to wear to my first day of classes. Jeez, it’s not like the first day of school, I told myself. “Get your act together, Becky.” I shook my head and decided to go with a regular old t-shirt and jeans, a cute pair of shoes, and my purse.
Georgia and I had bought our books the day before, and I was more grateful than I had ever been in my life that my parents were well-off. Before we’d set out for the campus, Dad had pulled me aside and put a gold AmEx into my hands. “Now, the bills from this card are coming straight to me, so don’t think I’m not going to know what you’re spending it on,” he had told me. “But books are expensive, and you do deserve a little bit of fun—so as long as you don’t go over-budget, I’m not going to look at things too closely. But if you go over your budget, I’m going to make you find a way to pay for it.”
My first class of the day was my English course, and as I came out of the dorms, I saw dozens of other students making their way across campus, hurrying to get to their classes—a few of them had obviously already had a class today, and I shook my head, thinking to myself that it was at least good that I hadn’t had to wake up even earlier. I stopped off in the dining hall, knowing I had a little bit of time—not enough to sit down and have breakfast, but enough time to grab something to eat and maybe some coffee. I’d been so nervous and excited the night before that I had barely slept—I knew I was going to need the caffeine in me for the math class that came afterward.
I grabbed a banana and some pre-toasted bread and tucked it into my backpack carefully and poured myself a carry-away cup of coffee. I was still feeling confident as I got out of the dining hall, following the flow of students leaving and heading out to the other side of campus where the different class buildings were. My English class was in MC1012, which I had at least figured out was the Marchman building, named after some author who had gone to the school ages before and then, when he had gotten wealthy selling books, had endowed the English department. But I had no idea where the Marchman building was, and suddenly, the tiny campus seemed huge.
I wandered around, trying not to check the time too often on my phone as I looked for any of the signs that could have told me where I was on campus or where the different buildings were. I had plenty of time, I told myself over and over again. I had left my room early. I sipped at my coffee, trying to fight down the sense of rising panic that filled my head as I wandered around without any clue at all which building I needed to be at. I thought about going to the Admissions building, but that was all the way on the other side of the campus—I would be late for sure if I did that.
I saw some other kids, obviously upperclassmen, walking past me. “Hey,” I called out, keeping my voice as calm as possible. “I’m—kind of new here, first day and all; could someone tell me where the Marchman building is?” They acted like they hadn’t heard me, but I caught one of the girls—a sorority girl with one of the pins showing her affiliation—grinning to herself as she turned away.
As I wandered around, trying to find a sign, a guidepost, anything, and asking people if they knew where the building was, I realized I was completely and totally lost. A bunch of the people I asked were Freshmen like me, and had no clue that there even was a Marchman building; some of the just didn’t answer, one or two at least had enough politeness to say that they were in a rush to get to their class and couldn’t stop to help me. I was starting to lose any hope and felt humiliated by the fact that I couldn’t even make it to my first class of the day.
“Becky!” I wheeled around at the sound of my name on a slightly familiar voice, my heart pounding. I almost gasped as I saw the source: Johnny was walking towards me, a smile on his face. Blood rushed into my cheeks and I bit my bottom lip, taking a deep breath. Nothing could have completed my humiliation more elegantly than for Johnny to see me being completely and totally useless. “You look like you’re about to cry,” he said, frowning slightly as he came closer to me.
“Just—a little frazzled,” I said, trying to smile and brush the look off of my face. “I’m so useless; I can’t even find my first class.” Johnny gri
nned.
“That’s nothing to cry about,” he said. He leaned in closer to me and I saw his bright eyes sparkling. “Seriously, everyone who’s ever been here has had a class they couldn’t find—hell, last year I spent most of the first session of my Chem class trying to find it. They’d moved it around three times before the semester even started.” He pulled me to the side slightly, to let some of the other students pass. “So what class are you going to?” I took a deep breath.
“It’s—it’s American Literature to 1890, in the Marchman building. MC1012.” Johnny’s eyes widened slightly and he looked around us.
“I hate to break it to you, Becky, but you are totally in the wrong place.” I sighed, closing my eyes.
“Great.” Johnny patted me on the shoulder, giving my hair a playful tweak.
“The good news is that I happen to know exactly where that room is.” I looked up, hopeful. “Before you even ask: yes, I’ll take you there.” I saw that he had a book bag slung over his shoulder.
“But you have class, don’t you? You could just tell me how to get there…” I couldn’t say that I wouldn’t love to have Johnny walk me to class, but I would have felt guilty if he got in trouble to do it. Johnny shrugged.
“The prof won’t mind,” he told me. “Now come on—let’s get you to your class before you’re late. If you’ve got Barrett, you want to get off to a good start with her, and being late is something she hates.” He put an arm over my shoulder and steered me into the thick of the students moving along the walkway, pushing his way through a harried group and starting off in the direction of the building in question. I felt relief flooding me. I wasn’t going to be late; I was going to be just on time. Johnny was so sweet to help me out.