3. Kamryn
It’s the next day. Sparring right after having sex should’ve been awkward around Liam’s teammates, but it was oddly easy. I chose to spend the rest of the night alone and to get acclimated to my dorm before orientation. A few things needed to be tweaked before my roommate arrived. Mainly getting rid of the smell of sex.
I’ve just finished getting dressed when the door opens. The butterflies swarming in my stomach as I realize it’s Sarah has taken flight.
Do I sit on my bed? Stand and greet her like a hostess?
The door flies open and a tumble of red hair flows in the room. A girl with a cute button nose and dark hazel eyes survey the room before landing on my awkward form.
Walking over to the empty bed and plopping a suitcase on her bed, she turns around to face me once again. “Kamryn?”
“That’s me. And from the key you used to come in, you’re Sarah?” God, could I be any more awkward?
We’ve chatted so much online and now that we’re face to face, I’m stumped on what to say. Thankfully two people, who I’m guessing are her parents, follow in behind her.
“This place is cute. A few pictures, an area rug, and some curtains will make this place homier for you two.” A woman I’m assuming is her mom chimes. “You must be Kamryn. I’m Erica and this is my husband, David. Sarah has been gushing about you and we just knew you two would have the best year.”
“Mom,” Sarah scolds as her ears go red from embarrassment.
It’s nice to know mom’s follow some sort of handbook.
“Do you guys need help?” I ask. I feel awkward just standing around while they’re about to bust their butts bringing Sarah’s things up here.
“Oh, no sweetheart. You do not need to help us. Sarah has a few more things to bring up and then her dad and I will help get her stuff set up.”
Before I can respond, Sarah and her family are out the door. With nothing to do, as the welcome orientation isn’t until tomorrow, I decide to take a walk through the city. Grabbing the essentials: dorm key, phone, and wallet; I leave the door to our room open and start my journey.
I’m sweaty by the time I get to the campus entrance. The summer humidity is no joke in the south. But luckily the city is still relatively quiet. I pop into some small business and a record store. My dad loves looking at records. He’s not one to collect them, but seeing albums you grew up listening to in vinyl form is magic. I get lost in the rows of music with the radio from the speakers proving the perfect background noise.
I text a few pictures to my dad. Letting him know the next time they’re down here he’ll have to check this store out. Before I know it, hours have passed with me wandering around the area the city calls Five Points.
“You ready to go?” I ask Sarah as I tie off the last of my braid.
She spritzes her body with body spray and shakes out her hair. “Yep!”
We walk arm-in-arm down the hall of our dormitory, before pushing out into the early morning muggy sunshine.
“Is it always like this?”
Sarah nods. “Every summer like clockwork.”
My bubbly roommate was raised in Charleston. Her parents are old money rich, which I couldnt tell from her parents well-worn clothes. Her style is the complete opposite of mine. While I dress for comfort and still manage to highlight the assets I do have, Sarah likes to show off her assets whichever way she can. I don’t fault her for it.
Not only are we opposites in the way we dress, but also the way we look. My light brown skin turns a golden caramel when I’m out in the sun for a long time, like now, and Sarah’s fair skin burns easily if she’s not wearing her SPF, which she is today. My chocolate brown hair with red undertones, differs from her red hair with blonde highlights. While we’re the same height, I have more curves where it counts, while Sarah’s hourglass waist turns heads while we walk towards the basketball arena.
“Rawlins!” My name being shouted halts our steps. I turn and see Liam with his baseball buddies that are also freshmen.
“Who is that?” Sarah dreamily asks as Liam jogs over to us.
A pang of jealousy hits before I throw it away. But it would be weird if my roommate and best friend ever hooked up.
The smile that’s present on his face sends chills down my spine. We’re just friends hooking up. No need for me to go all googly-eyed for him.
“Sarah, this is Liam. Liam, this is my roommate Sarah.”
“Nice to meet you.” Liam says as he throws an arm over my shoulder.
“Likewise. So how long have you two been together?”
My body tenses and I know Liam feels it if his chuckle is anything to go by. “Oh god, we’re just friends.”
Sarah eyes me like she knows I’m not telling her the full truth. I’ll tell you later, is what I mouth to her. She relinks her arm with me and we resume the walk inside with Liam still hanging on my shoulder.
“Fingers crossed this doesn’t last long so we can get on with the rest of our weekend.” Brandon groans as a group of us take our seats in the arena.
Liam leans in, “Party tonight? It’s just some of us from the team?”
“Are any of them single?” Sarah asks and I hold in a laugh as the speaker drones on about how these are the best four years of our young adulthood.
“Hell yeah some of them are,” I hear from Brandon. His excitement for tonight is like an overeager puppy just willing to be out of his crate from the night.
Someone from the row in front of us shushes us.
“Sorry,” our group whispers as we focus on what’s happening up front.
When the speech ends, we branch off from each other as we peruse the selection of clubs and organizations the school has to offer.
“Any sorority?” Sarah asks genuinely curious.
“Maybe. You?”
She flips through a pamphlet for the school’s newspaper. “I was thinking about it. It would look good on my resume. But being around a big group of girls all the time…I don’t know if I could do it.”
In the twenty-four hours Sarah and I have occupied the same space, I’ve come to notice that while she’s outgoing she’s also a solitary person. While we were with Liam and Brandon I saw a mask slip into place. And until we were around them for longer than five minutes did I see her true self show up.
“My mom was in a sorority. One of the reasons I came here was because of it. Now I’m of the idea that I don’t care if I rush. So how about we scope out a few and see what happens.” Is what I barter with.
“Deal.”
We make our way to where some of the Greek organizations are located. Theres a bunch of them.
“This is so overwhelming. Like what are we supposed to look for?” Sarah’s deer-in-the-headlights look is so me.
“I have no clue. Let’s just find some good ones and then get out of here.”
I get lost in a sea of options. Club sports, book club, art club, culinary art club; the options are endless and my head is swimming by the time we leave.
“So what’s with you and Liam?” Sarah mumbles as she puts on mascara.
I could play dumb, but after a few days of living with each other she already knows me well enough. “We’re best friends. Who now have sex.”
“I knew it!” She fist pumps the air. “God the way he was looking at you on Sunday was so hot!”
“What? How was he looking at me?” My cheeks flame. Not from her knowing about us hooking up. But at the realization that Liam could have been looking at me the way I’ve always looked at him.
Sarah snorts very un-lady like. “Like he wanted to take you into the nearest bathroom and do very rude things to your body.”
My mind wanders as I picture him doing just that.
A pillow hitting my head pulls me out of my hot fantasy. “Earth to Kamryn! You were totally picturing him defiling you.”
I give her an ‘and’ look before finishing getting ready for the party.
“Well I for one am team Kamryn and whatever you choose to do. Or should I say whoever you choose to do. Just be careful.”
I look into her eyes and see nothing but sister love. “I will. Thanks, Sarah.”
It’s been a week of going to the intro meetings for all of the clubs I signed up for. I’ve made several new friends that have made this week away from my family easier. I haven’t seen Liam though. He hasn’t let me know what his schedule is like now that he’s playing in college, so getting time to see him will prove to be more of a challenge than when we were at home.
I’m preparing for the first week of classes. It’s something I’ve always loved; even in high school. It’s the start of something challenging that I feel I haven’t experienced before.
With the possibility of new challenges I can only hope for some sign that this school is where I’ll find more than just myself.