Never Say Goodbye

Chapter 12

         

"Which way to your dorms?" Zach asked as he drove onto UCLA Campus.

"I'm in Courtside so right, onto Charles E Young Drive North, then right again at De Neve Drive" Ness replied, "Thanks for helping me move in, I didn't want to ask Mom and Dad and I figured you'd have room in the car for my few bits, I did consider trying to carry it on the bike, but it turns out I needed more than I could manage in one trip." She added,

"You're kidding, right?" Zach asked as he maneuvered through the traffic and students, some of whom seemed to already have a death wish, "did you really expect me to say no? Although I can imagine you arriving with everything piled on the back of your bike, it would certainly introduce you to UCLA" he grinned and winked at her,

"Shut up already and keep your eyes on the damn road!" She laughed as she spoke, it wasn't possible to be serious with Zach, even if she wanted to be.

A few minutes of silence passed as Zach finally concentrated on the task at hand and he was soon pulling into the underground parking lot of Ness's dorm building

"I see why you chose Courtside, your bike will stay dry here," he said, drawing a smile from Ness

"It's also a pretty block, you forget, like everyone else; that just because I'm a biker girl, I still like pretty things" she replied, Zach turned sharply in his seat,

"I don't forget that you're a girl, and I know you like pretty things, my car is currently full of them!" he waved his arm to indicate the pink and lilac invasion and ducked quickly away from the fist heading toward him and pushed the car door open. "Come on then, let's get you moved in" he added as he popped the trunk and grabbed her suitcase. Ness followed suit and was just rounding the corner when Zach hefted her case out and almost dropped it on his foot,

"Have you got the whole house in there? Geez, Ness, that is heavy!" he yelped as he dragged his foot out of the way

"Stop being such a drama queen, it's not that heavy" she proved her point by lifting it with one hand before replacing it on the floor and quirking her eyebrow at him "You're not actually that weak, are you?" she added over her shoulder as she wheeled the case away. Zach grinned as he picked up a box of miscellaneous, fluffy toys and followed in her wake.

They arrived at her room a few minutes later and were met with the sight of her roommate rummaging through her own belongings in search of something, a moment of awkward silence followed when she spotted them and then she was bouncing toward them, a massive, welcoming smile on her face

"Hi! I'm Melissa, do you need a hand with anything? Have you got anything else to bring up?"

"Hi, Melissa, I'm Ness, this is my friend, Zach" Ness responded, indicating Zach with a wave of her hand

"Hi!" He said nodding his head as his hands were still full.

"There's a couple more boxes in his car but I think we can manage them, even though he's a great wuss." Ness grinned as he groaned dramatically "probably best to just ignore him, entirely"

Melissa looked momentarily confused and a little shocked at the way the two of them treated each other but shook her head and grabbed the box from Zach,

"you'd best get the next box then, I need to properly meet my new roomie and I can't do that, with you hovering in the room!" said Melissa, Zach looked at Ness, who was making the shoo gesture,

"Okay, okay, I'll go grab the rest of your stuff, but will you still be helping me move into my dorm?"

"Of course, dude! You're giving me a ride home to pick up the bike so I'm not gonna just drop you, I'm way too mercenary for that." She winked and grinned and once again waved her hands in the universal language for shoo. Zach laughed and backed out of the room.