Given my extreme headache, I'm thinking it's likely I'm going to go to bed early [3 Ibuprophin didn't touch it, I'm not sure the other 3 will help either and I didn't sleep well last night]. So, I'm going to post this early since it's nearly dinner time and as soon as the kids are in bed, I'm likely to be as well. Look for Ch. 3 probably late Monday night [and then Ch. 4 Wed AM].
Thanks as always to my fabulous BRs
.
Last time:
ClarkI sighed. There just wasn't much room in the bathroom for getting dressed. I'd showered and toweled off, but space, apparently, was at a premium in Weller Hall. I glanced through the wall to make sure there was no one in the common sitting area. Giggles were coming from Lana's room so I figured it was safe to run the gauntlet to my own room. I turned my eyes that direction. Nope. No roommate yet.
I grabbed my clothes – old and new – and headed to my room. I was just getting ready to drop the towel and pull on a pair of boxers when I heard the key in the lock. Best wait on that, I decided. Sure, guys generally had a locker room mentality but I hadn't even met my roommate yet. In the buff probably wasn't the best way to do it and who knew if anyone else was there or walking by in the hallway?
Well, here went nothing.*~*2*~*
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
"No. It's Lois. L-O-I-S. Not Louis. L-O-*U*-I-S. Lois." I glared at the woman seated in front of me. "Lois Lane. Lane. As in Dr. Sam Lane. As in Lane Hall and Lane Athletic Center and the Ellen Lane Memorial Medical Building."
"I'm sorry for the mix-up, Miss Lane. Whoever entered your information in the computer must have slipped and misspelled your name."
"Well, duh. I get that. Now can we get it fixed?"
A few more clicks on the computer and a new piece of paper came out of the printer at the end of the table.
"All done. You're Lois Lane as far as the University is concerned."
"Thank you. Now, my dorm. I specifically requested to be on the academic floor of Lane Hall – an all girls dorm with a strict no men policy on the floor and enforced quiet times for studying with a private room and bath. This says I'm in a co-ed dorm, with a roommate and two more suite mates sharing one bathroom." Part of me wished my father was there to straighten all this out. With the obscene amounts of money he'd donated to his alma mater in the years before he almost went broke, he still held some influence and he'd used it to get me on the short list for the dorm I wanted. The rest of me was proud of myself for handling this on my own.
"I'm sorry, Miss Lane. All the dorms are full. The last two years have seen the largest numbers of freshmen by far and since most sophomores and virtually all freshmen are required to live on campus, we have a bit of a shortage. That floor in Lane Hall is overflowing. There are no private rooms there at the moment and many of the suites actually have six residents instead of only four. I'm afraid there's nothing I can do for you there."
"I want to talk to the head of Housing." I crossed my arms and tapped my foot annoyingly.
"I understand, Miss Lane, but he's going to tell you the same thing and he has a line of about..." she glanced at a group of people behind her, "...fifty students who are in the same predicament you're in. They're all unhappy about their dorm assignments too. When you sign in here, you're logged into the system. If I don't confirm your dorm assignment at the same time, there's a chance that it may be given to someone else and you won't have a room at all."
I sighed. "Can you at least tell me if my suitemates are males or females?"
A few more clicks on the computer. "Female."
"Can you tell me who they are?" I knew a few girls from school who were planning on attending Metropolis University and living in Weller Hall and I didn't want to be room or suite mates with any of them."
"I'm sorry, Miss Lane. Confidentiality laws forbid me from revealing that information. You'll have to wait until you meet them."
I sighed again, ignoring the calls of 'would you hurry up already? There's a line here' coming from behind me. "Fine. I'll take it."
*****
I pulled my graduation present – a slightly used, but still very nice silver Jeep Cherokee – into the unloading zone in front of my new – temporary – home. After checking in at the registration desk, Joe, my on again, off again boyfriend, met me and began to help me move my things into my room. I was grateful that it appeared that none of my suitemates had arrived yet.
I unpacked and took the dresser, closet, desk and bed I wanted the most. Weller Hall was equipped with bunk beds and there was no way I was taking the bottom bunk. I liked to be on top. I called my dad who said he'd see what he could do, but that he knew about the housing crunch and doubted there was anything he could do to change things this semester, but he'd look into at least getting me into the other dorm in the Spring.
It didn't take too long – I hadn't brought everything with me and most of the rest I did have in the car would come up trip by trip. My dad's house was close enough that if I needed anything, I could run over. For instance, I hadn't brought my winter clothes with me. There was really no need and storage space on campus was at a premium. My school supplies and books had yet to be purchased and probably wouldn't be for a couple of days yet so my desk was easy to set up. Mostly just a pen holder, a CD player and a couple of notebooks in it to tell my roommate to back off. And a wireless keyboard and mouse to go with my laptop, which I wasn't about to leave unguarded until I met my roommate. My suitcase was quickly unpacked into the drawers of one of the dressers and most of my hang up clothes were put in the closet as Joe and I brought them in. He'd wanted to try out my new bunk as a make out spot but I'd shooed him away saying the sooner he got his stuff out, the sooner we could go to dinner. I quickly made up the top bunk and stowed the rest of my things.
Joe had finally left me to my own devices while he finished moving in to his room two floors down – I hadn't been very happy that he wanted to be in a co-ed dorm, but now I guessed it was for the best. At least he knew his roommate – his best friend from high school, Les.
Joe and I went out for dinner that night with Les and Peggy, his long time girlfriend. We were out late and by the time I returned to my room, my roommate had already moved in and was sound asleep on the bottom bunk. I changed clothes and climbed into my bed.
The sun woke me up entirely too early and I buried my head under the pillow. My roommate, it seemed was already up, but at least was trying to be quiet. The door opened and closed and I heard both male and female voices in the suite's common living room. Great. One of my suitemates must have already had her boyfriend stay the night.
I looked around and saw precious little to tell me about my roommate. A non-descript gym bag sat on the desk I hadn't claimed and a couple of boxes were visible next to the other closet. I glanced at the alarm clock I'd put on the little shelf attached to the top bunk. 6:45 in the morning. Even better. My roommate was a morning person. Just what I needed.
With a sigh, I decided that it was probably best to go ahead and get up. My dad was likely to be calling before long and it wouldn't do for him to know I'd been out late the night before. Even though classes didn't start for a couple of days, he wouldn't be happy about it and now that his practice was back on its feet, he was paying for me to be here. Well, for the little that wasn't covered by scholarships. And gas. And spending money.
I climbed down and noticed a note taped to the door.
"I'm heading out for the day but hopefully we'll catch up later. Looking forward to meeting my roommate for the next year," I read aloud. The only signature on the note was my roommate's initials and that didn't tell me much, but it was written on a piece of sticky note paper that proudly proclaimed the name of a high school in some town I'd never heard of. I scribbled 'See you later' and my own initials and left it there.
I sighed again and got dressed, grabbed my purse out of my closet and headed out to meet Joe, Les and Peggy for breakfast. There were two doors to the room – one to the living area and one to the hall. Unless I had to go to the bathroom or take a shower, that was the door I planned on using for the duration.
*****
It had been a long day. Even though I had a pretty good idea of where things were on campus, Joe had insisted we actually walk our routes so we had a better idea of how long it would take to get from class to class. We'd walked my schedule and then his. Then there was freshman orientation – four hours of information that I could have gleaned in ten minutes with a good pamphlet or the handbook they handed out at the end of hour three. But I had to sit there through the entire thing.
And it was so hot.
But Dr. Monroe informed us that using the handouts of the schedule as fans would actually burn enough energy that we'd actually end up warmer than if we didn't use them. The output of energy would be greater than the offsetting breeze created by the papers.
And so there I was – Freshman Orientation – the highlight of my day. I used the time to people watch, something I often did, making up stories about the people as I went.
Like there. A redheaded girl wearing a halter top was actually making out with her blond boyfriend who was likely on the football team given his Metropolis University practice jersey. They may as well have been sharing a seat.
Or there. Two science or math nerds sat next to each other. Twins by the looks of it, complete with pocket protectors and calculators. Both had glasses that had seen better days and dark hair that needed a barber desperately.
Behind them was a couple of high school cheerleaders who probably hoped to make one of the squads at Met U. I actually almost snorted. Good luck. Competition was fierce and Met U's cheer squads regularly placed in national competition. The blonds with school colored ribbons around their pony tails probably didn't stand a chance.
I looked to the other side of the large auditorium.
There was a blond country girl – evident by her hair and clothes that were at least two seasons out of style and probably not really in style then. Well, I amended mentally, probably a small town girl. The dark haired boy next to her put his arm around the back of her seat and whispered something in her ear. The girl blushed. Probably whispering about what they could do in their co-ed dorm now that they were away from Mommy and Daddy. He looked up and straight at me. For just a second our eyes met and then he turned back to the speaker at the front of the room.
My eyes narrowed. What was that all about?
I moved a few rows behind the couple from Podunk, Iowa.
Goths.
Behind them a few more football players and then a guy I knew had been recruited for the basketball team. Playing 'this is your life' with them was no fun – it was too obvious.
Another blond. This one was going to be a doctor.
The brown haired jock behind her was probably going to be one, too. I could tell he was a jock, but this one was probably fairly intelligent judging by the book in his hand. He was paying less attention to the orientation than I was and the book he was reading was as thick as a phone book. Squinting, it looked to be one of the Lord of the Rings novels, but I wasn't sure.
Behind him was a mousey brunette female. Probably barely made it out of high school and was here because if she wasn't her parents would stop paying for her car insurance and make her get a job.
My gaze moved roamed the room again, not stopping as I noticed the dark haired country boy glancing my way. I passed by them, until I saw a green mohawk I'd managed to miss the first time around. He was asleep. Real college material.
I sighed and realized that the handbooks were finally coming around. I took one from Joe and passed the box on.
Joe put his arm around me and asked if I wanted to go out to dinner again.
I shook my head. I needed a good night's sleep and if there were going to be boyfriends over regularly, I was going to have to get to my room early and stake out my space. There was no way I was going to let my roommate keep me out with a rubber band or tie or some such nonsense on the door handle.
Finally the meeting broke up. I was grateful my dad had bought me a mini-fridge and a microwave and that I'd had the foresight to have it stocked already. The food service my dad used for his meals gladly packaged some up into single servings, but they would only be good in the fridge for a few days. They'd last longer in the freezer, but the freezer on that thing wasn't worth even trying.
Joe and I separated as he found Les and they headed off for dinner then a football meeting.
I stood in front of the door to my room. Someone was moving around inside.
Here it went. Time to meet the roommate. I checked the door again to make sure there wasn't some sign that I was supposed to stay out and came up with nothing.
I stuck my key in the lock and turned it, opening the door as I went.
I was taken aback by the sight in front of me.
The country boy from the auditorium was there. His hair was damp and he was wearing only a towel.
Something in me snapped.
"Who are you and what the hell are you doing in my room?"
*****
TBC
