Frankie
I walk out of my advisor's office with a new cellphone, laptop and a look of wonder on my face. My advisor called me to his office and advised me that since I have a full scholarship, it includes a cellphone and a laptop. When I asked why a cellphone, I was advised that since the only telephone number that they have for me was to my dorm room, they feel that I need the phone for emergency's when I'm out by myself.
I put in the one telephone number that I do have. Rand's.
I go back and forth talking to myself about calling him. I turn on the phone and go the one contact that I have in there and press it, only to lose my nerve and hang up. I run out of time when I have to go into class and tell myself that I will definitely call him later.
I start to look for a seat when I hear him call my name. I look up and he waves me over. When I reach him, he pats the seat beside him, "I saved a seat for you."
I sit down, putting my backpack down and getting my things out of it to prepare for class.
"Do we have every class together?" I ask.
"All but one. Don't you remember me telling you the day before yesterday that we have all but one class together?" He says.
"You probably did." I shrug. "What class don't we have together?"
"English three hundred. It's an advanced class and I have regular English. You must be very smart!" I cringe at the compliment. I don't know what to do with it. It's never happened to me before.
"Are you okay?" He asks.
I nod, "I'm fine."
"It's a compliment. Just say thank you," He coaxes.
"Thank you," I repeat in a small voice.
He puts his hand on mine. "It's okay." He starts to say more when the teacher starts class.
I take notes and wonder why I feel so comfortable with him. He made friends with me during orientation, and I took to him right away. I never talk to anyone, even at my old school. There were some teachers and my bosses who looked out for me. I don't even feel this comfortable with the counselor that my teacher referred me to three years ago.
I don't usually like it when people touch me and he has held my hand and touched me numerous times and it didn't make my skin crawl. Maybe I'll call my counselor tonight since I have a cellphone now.
Class ends and we put our things away. "Since you are coming over on Saturday, we can work on our homework for this class also. Does that work for you?"
I nod, "It does, but I will be working on it until then, so don't be surprised if I'm already done with it by Saturday."
He smiles, "No problem. We can compare notes then. What are you doing until our next class?"
"I'm going to the library to study." I respond.
"Why don't you come to lunch with me? My treat." He asks.
I consider it for a second. I can study while we eat. "Okay. Where are we going?"
"There's a little café right off of campus that I love. I'm sure you'll like it also."
"How far away is it?" I ask. I don't know if I want to ride with him in a car.
"It's within walking distance. We'll have time to eat and do a little studying, before going to our next class. Is that okay?" He studies me.
"Okay." I agree.
He picks up my backpack along with his and grabs my hand leading me out the door.
We don't have to walk very far to get to the café. It's also right by our next class so we don't have to walk too far to get there either. When we step inside, I look around. It looks like what I have imagined a French bistro look like. There are small tables scattered around with wrought iron chairs. He leads me up to the register and we're greeted by the cashier.
"What can I get for you?" She asks.
I look at the menu board above the back of her head. I listen to Rand order and get the same thing except a smaller sandwich and add a water instead of a pop.
After he pays, he leads me over to a table in the corner that's large enough to accommodate our books and laptops. I pull out my laptop and put it on the table and the movement beside me stops.
I look up and Rand is looking at my laptop. "I thought you didn't have one of those."
"I didn't until this morning. They called me into the counselor's office and gave me this and a cellphone." I show him the cellphone.
He smiles, "Really? What did they say when they gave it to you?"
I shrug, "They said that it was part of my scholarship. They said that I needed the phone for emergencies."
He sits down, "I'm glad you have a laptop and a phone now. Did you put my number in it?"
I open the phone and show it to him, "You are the first and only number that I have in my phone."
"I'm honored." They bring over our order and we eat and study.
********************
Saturday morning finds me full of nerves. I'm going over to someone's house. A guys house even.
I get myself ready for the day, getting my books and laptop together before leaving the dorm. I decide to get myself a bowl of cereal and a coffee before I leave. I can't have my stomach growling while we are studying.
I barely get the cereal down because my stomach is in knots.
I take a deep breath before I leave and give myself a pep talk on the way to his house. He's just a guy who I do my homework with, there's no reason to be nervous.
I pull up to the address he gave me and look at the large house. This cannot be it. I double check the address and I'm at the correct place. The large brick house has the address displayed prominently on the gate.
I'm about to put my car in drive and leave when Rand comes out of the front door, "I thought that was you. Come on in!" He approaches my car and opens the door with a flourish, grabbing my backpack that's sitting in the passenger seat.
Reluctantly, I get out of the car following after him into the large house. I hesitate again as we walk into the front door. The Foyer is huge with hardwood floors and decorative pictures all around.
Rand grabs my hand, "Come on, I want you to meet my roommates."
He pulls me down the hall and into the living room. I look around and spot the leather couch in the middle of the room, flanked by a matching loveseat and recliner, facing a very large television. There are two guys on the couch playing a video game against each other.
"Guys," Rand says loudly. I try to move behind him a little bit to hide when the guys look in our direction. Rand pulls me forward, removing his hand from mine, putting his arm around my shoulders. "This is Frankie. Frankie, this is Dylan," Who looks vaguely familiar as he waves in my direction with a smile and says hi.
"And this is Cameron." Shocking green eyes look in my direction, studying me like he can see right through me. I give them a small, shaky wave and Cameron says, "Hi. It's nice to meet you."
"We're going to study now." Rand takes my hand again, pulling me from the room. As he pulls me through the house, I see a gigantic kitchen and a game room, before he pulls me into a den.
He leads me over to a desk that is set up with a chair on either side of it. He sets my backpack on one side of the desk, the other side already has his things out on the desk. I move over to the desk starting to remove my books and things I need to set up.
"I'm going to get us something to drink while you finish setting up. Is there anything specific that you want?"
I shake my head. "I'll be right back then. Don't be so nervous, we won't bite." I look up and he smiles at me before he leaves the room.
I finish removing my things from my backpack and start to set them up when Rand comes back in the room, holding a couple of bottles of water with Dylan trailing him.
"Do you mind if I sit in with you guys while you do your homework?" He asks.
I shake my head, "No, but why would this interest you?"
"You're a pretty girl, so I'm interested in what you are interested in," he flirts. Rand pops him upside the back of his head after handing my bottle of water to me.
He rolls his eyes, "I told him about the assignment and he took engineering one-o-one last year. He feels like he can help."
I nod, opening my notebook and pulling out the papers I printed out about the bridge we picked. As I spread them on the table, Dylan picked up one of the pages.
"This is a great bridge to pick. It is solid, but can use a lot of help. If you will allow me, I would be happy to help you. Just offering suggestions and things," He clarifies.
I agree and we get to work. We are so engrossed in our work, that we all look up in surprise when my stomach growls. I turn red and dip my head.
"How do you invite someone over and not feed them?" Cameron's voice comes from the doorway. I look up in surprise. "It's almost four o'clock and you all haven't stopped for a minute to feed her or get her something to drink."
"I can go home and get something to eat," I say quietly.
"Don't even think about it. I'm going to order a pizza and you are going to eat with us. I won't hear any arguments," Cameron states.
"You heard the man, you're staying for dinner," Dylan cheers.
Rand takes my hand and pulls me up out of my seat, "Are you okay, staying with us for dinner?"
I nod, "Yes. May I use your bathroom?"
Rand leads me to the bathroom. When we get there, he tells me, "Come into the living room when you are finished. We'll be in there."
I nod and close the door behind me. After using the bathroom, I wash my hand and rinse my face, contemplating my day.
Dylan
When Rand steps back into the room, he looks at us, "What do you think?"
"I really like her. She is so smart and very nice," I tell them.
Cameron considers the question for a second, "I watched you all and she's very shy. Although when she was contributing to your homework, she was very insistent. I really like that. We need to help her come out of her shell though."
"That'll come with time. We just need to be patient with her and talk to her. Everything we need to say has to be straight forward because we don't want her to misunderstand anything we ever say to her." Rand states.
"I agree. We just need to be upfront with her from the beginning." I say. We sit around the room, waiting for her to come back.
: