Soft love

The college experience

"I'm hoooome", Lexi screamed for the whole building to hear. I grinned, we only met a week ago but I could feel we were going to be good friends. "Hi girl, how was your day?" "Good, excellent even, I got us some frozen pizza to eat for tonight on my way back from work. We have plans!" I froze for a second. Plans? So far, I'd just been going to work a bit extra, working out and stuff... But maybe it would help to distract myself. "What kind of plans?", I asked. 

"There's a party in town, kicking off the new semester. I asked Rebecca and Megan to come drink something here beforehand." I'd seen the two girls in passing yesterday and they seemed nice, it might be a good moment to socialize. But on the other hand, Bryan might be there... Lexi could see my expression, she said: "If you can't go to any party he will show up at, it will be an incredibly boring year for you. Come on Alina, you most likely won't even see him, and even if you do, you can show him he's not the only one loving the 'college experience'." I'd told her about my ex the first day I was here. I was heartbroken after he told me he wanted to enjoy college and not be chained to someone, the day after our high school graduation. Luckily, Lexi understood and cheered me up with a picnic last Saturday and a sad movie night on Tuesday. I steeled myself and said, "You're right, it'll be fine. I'd love to join." 

We put the pizzas in the oven and got dressed. At first, I wanted to put on jeans and a top, but Lexi convinced me to go for my sparkly pastel pink dress. Bryan didn't like it. But I guess that's another reason to wear it.

We ate the pizzas and when the girls came over, we put on some music and practiced our beer pong game. We need to prepare for college after all. After losing three consecutive matches, I decided it was time to make an end to this suffering. "Let's go girls, can't miss the party now, can we?" Rebecca, who was on a team with me, quickly agreed and started putting on her shoes. After making some more fun of us, Lexi and Megan also started getting ready to go. The club was pretty close, so we just walked together. When we got to the club, it seemed like we would have to wait outside for ages but Lexi got us inside pretty quickly. Privileges of being the girlfriend of a football player, I guess. 

He introduced us to his friends, there was a pair of twins, Jared and Elijah who he was in a dorm with and then a football friend, Lucas. The twins were in an intense discussion with Josh about which pizza place was the best one, since they lived right in between two pizza places. Lucas was listening absentmindedly. He was handsome, a little bit taller than me, broad shoulders, shiny black hair and a sharp jawline. I wonder if he has dimples when he smiles. Most of the time, we let the guys be and just danced in our little group next to them. "Girls, I'm gonna get something to drink, do you want something?", I screamed over the music. Rebecca and Megan shook their heads. "A beer, do you want me to go with you?", Lexi asked. "No, no, it's fine, I'll be right back."

I was waiting for my turn behind a tall guy, who was taking his sweet time talking to the bartender, probably friends. When he turned, I saw it was Lucas. He smiled at me and gestured for me to take his place. As I was smiling back at him, I could see Bryan coming our way from behind Lucas. Oh, no. Please don't let him see me. Our eyes locked. Screw me. He started walking towards me faster and I grabbed Lucas' arm. "Please stay, just a moment", I asked. He must have seen my panicked face because he put a hand on my shoulder and turned to look who was behind him. When he saw Bryan's determined look, Lucas looked at me questioningly. I could feel myself starting to tear up, so I turned my back towards Bryan and put my hands on Lucas' shoulders. Hoping it would look like we were dancing. 

He pulled me a little closer and started swaying slowly – even though they were playing techno. "What's wrong?" I sighed, "I'm sorry, it's my ex-boyfriend... I just really don't want to talk to him." His jaw clenched, "Alright then, let's go." He pulled me after him, closer to the dance floor. He grabbed my waist and started dancing. Before I knew it, we were pulling silly dance moves, he was twirling me around, I was twirling him around and we were laughing our asses off. It had been ages since I went to a party this fun. We were taking a breath, swaying slowly to the beat. I put my head on his chest and relaxed. I just felt so safe with him. But unfortunately, I had been needing to pee for some time. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom", I screamed in Lucas' ear, I hope he understood. I walked away with the biggest grin on my face.