While You Were Teaching

Chapter 3- Orientation and Other College Monstrosities

Around 1 o'clock that night, I stumbled into my dorm room, cursing as I banged my big toe on an unidentifiable object. My eyes hadn't yet adjusted to the darkness and I was not familiar enough with my surroundings yet to know where the hell everything was and how to avoid it. Add in how late it was and it was straight up miracle that I'd only banged it once. I'd considered using the flashlight app on my phone to softly illuminate the room, but I was worried even a second of light would cause me to suffer the wrath of Blake. I was pretty sure that interrupting her beauty sleep would be worthy of the death penalty in Blake's mind, or at least would lead to restricted access to her closet, which was close enough. I locked the door and took my shoes off, then placed my arms out in front of me to try and feel what was in front of me in an attempt to prevent myself from poking out of my eye too. I was just about to reach my bed when-

"Avery." A loud whisper came from the right corner of the room and I jumped. This fast movement caused me to bump my toe(yes, that same toe) against my bed. Thanks, Blake.

"Blake? Shit, you scared the crap out of me!" I said, as Blake turned on the light by her head, immediately blinding me. I retreated to my bed and hid under the covers like a vampire evading the sunlight.

"I've been waiting up for 3 hours, missy. Do you know how worried I was?" I peeked out from under my covers and looed over at Blake, confused. She is so not the type to go all parental on me. I know this because I am the type who goes parental on my friends.

"What?" I asked, still confused. "You've been waiting up for me?"

Blake nodded her head fast and then threw a hand over her mouth, as her entire body began to convulse in laughter.

"No..." she said in between bursts of laughter. "I just got back fifteen minutes ago."

"Omigosh, I knew it." I said, laughing so hard that my sides begin to ache. "So how was your date with Brad? Is he your prince charming?"

"He is perfect, Avery! He's a writer and he said that next time we hang out he will show me some of his poems! What if he writes one about me? Oh, and he is so hot. Like incredibly hot, Avery. I couldn't stop staring at him the entire night. We are going to meet up at orientation tomorrow and maybe get some lunch. Ooohhh then maybe you can meet him. You are going to love him!" Blake was in full on girl mode now as she began to list off one by one all of the amazing things she learned about Brad tonight. From his movie star golden locks to his fear of spiders, Blake insisted I knew every excruciating detail. I tried my best to stifle any potential yawns. Blake's enthusiasm was always very contagious and I did want to hear about her date, but my clock had just struck  two o'clock by the time she began to wind down.

"And then he walked me to the front entrance of Brecker hall and I told him that I had a great time tonight... and I turned away slightly... and then he grabbed my arm and turned me back into him. It was so cute! I smiled at him and then he kissed me. It was absolutely perfect. I really like him, Avery. I can't remember the last time I felt like this."

"Awww, Blake. He sounds great. I mean I feel like I already know him...in fact I feel like I was there on the date with you, you gave so much detail." I said, teasing.

"Oh, shut up!" Blake whispered loudly, throwing a pillow at me. Her aim was so bad that instead of hitting me squarely in the face it landed sadly and pathetically at my feet. This caused my laughter to start up again and Blake had another pillow in her hand before she paused and said, "I told you, Avery. Priorities. If you refuse to interrupt me to talk about your night, then I will keep going on and on about Brad until dawn breaks."

"Well, when you put it like that..." I twisted my face into a look of mock horror. Like the idea of even more fun fact about Brad the writer would cause me to lose all hope to live.