MARCH
As Nick Brenner walked across campus, the heat caused perspiration on his back. Glancing at the time, he picked up his pace. He didn't want to be late for his lab.
As his feet moved his body ignoring the fatigue. Nick wasn't tired of classes and hours in the lab, but the heat and being away from home made him weary. He missed Sophie, his twin, most of all, although the list was long. He even missed the snow. At seventeen, he had thought he needed distance from Maine and the cold winters. The only schools he applied to were in the south. Three years later, it was too late for a redo.
Florida was pretty far south. His mother hid the fact she hated him so far away by saying at least he had family to look out for him.
His father's sister, Aunt Liz and her family lived nearby. His cousins were older than him, but they hung out occasionally. Lauren lived at home after graduating with a health administration degree. She worked at Tampa General. Adam was in southern Florida at Optometry school. His father, also Adam, was an optometrist. Nick planned to stop by the house for a haircut and a free meal after his lab.
Three hours disappeared and Nick stepped out into the heat again. Maybe it was the long stretch before spring break that was getting to him. Time always flew during the second half of the semester. Shutting his eyes, he thought of sitting on the beach with the cool wind blowing in. In Tampa, he was near the water, but not a beach which was a half hour away. The white sand, palm trees and clear water should look like paradise, but it didn't look like home. Where were the long stretches of dunes to hide him at night. No one was having sex on the beach with a road running along the length of it.
Heading towards his car, a streak of blond hair came running at him. Trinity lunged at him. "Nick, come on."
He caught her before he reached the piece of shit car he bought off Lauren after she graduated. "I'm going to my cousin's house. I thought I told you."
She pouted. "I forgot. Do you have to?"
He nodded. "My aunt's making dinner."
"Lucky you, a home cooked meal.' She pouted. "I'll eat alone."
He chuckled. "Alone with your sorority sisters."
She hung on his shoulders, so he planted a kiss on her forehead. "I have to go."
"Can I come?"
"Sorry. It's rude to bring an uninvited guest, plus she's having steak." Nick didn't know what his aunt was cooking, but Trinity hated red meat.
Lauren had met Trinity a few weekends before. They ran into each other at a music festival. Nick didn't need to be the honors student he was to know his cousin didn't like his girlfriend.
Greek life wasn't Nick's thing, so he never pledged a fraternity. Still, everyone knew the best parties were at frats. His friend, Xavier, did the pledge thing freshman year and got into Phi Gamma Delta. FIJI, for short, threw bashes and Nick went because X-man was his best buddy on campus. They bonded over their chem lab together. He saved the term best friend for Ben Probst. Kevin Bennett was second in line. Sophie's place was special - best friend, womb mate, sister.
With X-man at his side, he drank warm beer from the keg. Honestly, Nick was having a good time because he wasn't comparing it to beers from bottles on the beach. The summer before Ben was twenty-one so they no longer had to sneak booze from their parents. Nick was pretty sure his parents knew. They were cool, although his father hammered into him some important rules. Don't rely on birth control, always wear a condom. Nick got it. He was a fan of safe sex, but mostly he was a fan of sex. Always prepared, he had a foil package in his back pocket. Hooking up happened on campus and he was all for it.
No one was more surprised than Nick when the beautiful blonde from his global issues class pressed into him at the keg. "I can never get it to work."
He smiled. "It's flowing now. If not, just pump in a few times." He pumped the keg. "See up and down."
She smiled. "Like in and out."
Nick's dick stirred. Was she hitting on him? Feeling like he won the jackpot, he smiled. "Yeah, that too. I'm Nick by the way."
"I know. We have class together. The prof calls on you. I'm Trinity, but I don't raise my hand."
"What's your major?"
"Marketing."
Nick nodded it was a popular major. "Biology with a minor in chemistry."
"What do you do with that?"
He chuckled, because a marketing job seemed ambiguous to him. "Go to grad school. Then work in a research lab. My dad works on cures for cancer."
"You want to cure cancer?"
"Maybe not. I don't want to work with him." That would be weird.
"You wanna dance?" And so it began grinding on the dance floor and then in his single in the dorm. In his room, no clothes were involved. The sex was good, so when Trinity kept hanging around he didn't mind. Somehow they crossed the line to relationship, and she wanted to go visit relatives with him.
In the afternoon heat, he brushed his lips over hers. "I won't be late. We can work on our papers together."
"Can we do something fun this weekend? Please?"
"Friday. I'm on duty Saturday." Nick was a resident assistant. RA was a great job most of the time, and the leadership role would look good on his grad school applications.
There was no guilt leaving Trinity behind. As much as he liked her, he didn't love her. Their relationship had a shelf life. All summer he would be in Maine, working and hanging out with his true friends. If they survived the summer apart, they wouldn't survive when he returned to Maine for grad school. His plan was to stick close to home.
Walking into his aunt's house, he called out, "I'm here." How many times did he walk into the house across Plover Way? Liz reminded him of Kristi, both were wacky.
His aunt rounded the corner. "Nicky. Look at you. It's so long." She reached up and ruffled his hair.
Her sparkling green eyes were the same as his dad's. People said he looked like his father and Sophie looked like their mom with brown eyes. Abbie was all mom too, but with hazel eyes.
"Good thing you can cut it." He winked.
She chuckled. "You remind me of your dad. Lauren told me you have a girl."
"We're just dating."
She chuckled. "Don't be stupid like your dad." His back straightened. "He was when he was younger. In high school, he made decisions with the wrong head. There are girls in this world who are selfish. Their priorities are having fun and they usually need a man to have fun with."
He gritted his teeth. "Do we have to do this?"
"Yes. It's the cost of your haircut and just to clarify, I mean sex."
"My dad had sex in high school."
Liz laughed. "A lot of it and then he woke up and stopped being just friends with your mom. His high school skank never left them alone."
"Was she the reason for the separation?" Nick had some memories of when his parents didn't live together. His bigger memories were of the happiness when they were together again.
Liz frowned. "Stupidity on both their parts was the reason, but the skank helped steal the brain cells of two otherwise very smart people. You have good genes, kid. Sit, so I can cut it." She pointed to the sliding door.
Liz cut his hair outside. The deck and the built in pool had a roof over them to keep the sun from evaporating the water. Pools in Maine were still covered for the winter. In Florida pools stayed open year round.
He looked at the water. "You can swim after I trim you up."
"Maybe. I have a paper to write tonight."
"Poor thing. I hated school."
Nick laughed. "Dad told us. When we dragged our feet on school work, he would say, don't be like your aunt, she's lucky she passed high school."
"It's true but you are much smarter than me. My kids got Adam's genes. Thank God."
After an enjoyable dinner of grilled chicken, Nick returned to campus. He was walking from the parking lot when his phone rang.
"Hi mom."
"Hi honey. I haven't heard from you in a few days."
"Sorry. Just busy. I just got a haircut and a free meal."
"How's Liz and everyone?"
"Good. Liz was telling me about dad in high school."
"You don't need to hear those stories."
"She thinks Trinity is like some girl dad dated."
"I hope not. Nick, have fun but be careful. You need a girl like Sophie."
"Gross." He loved Sophie but not incestuously.
"I mean smart, caring, and puts others first. Like you."
"Yeah. Yeah." Trinity was more like the one Liz described. "I'm writing a paper on civil unrest around the world."
"I'd love to read it. How are you narrowing it down?"
He talked about his plan, and she gave him a few suggestions. History and world events interested him. They always had discussions at the dinner table. He had some of his mom in him since she taught civics and history.
Once he reached his room, he texted Trinity and continued talking to his mother. Before she hung up, Abbie got on the phone. She updated him on all The Point gossip. "The biggest rumor is Rick's retiring and selling The Landing."
Dread ran through him. "He can't, it's too important." Not to mention, Nick liked his job.
Needed to be cheered up, Nick agreed to sex first, paper writing second.
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