LITMIR.BIZ

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Night, my pleasure.” I extended my hand.

      The girl smiled tightly and shook my hand although I thought she might want to rip it off my arm given the icy expression on her face.

      Andrew jerked his head back to me as if a huge horn had shot from center of my forehead.

      The girl went by us after a quick appraisal of my whole body as if she were trying to decide if she could take me in a one-on-one fight.

      I shook my head and rolled my eyes.

      Andrew eyes remained glued to that imaginary horn.

      “You’re Allie Night?” He withdrew his arm and leaned back as if touching me might cause him to implode or spontaneously combust.

      “Yeah.” I turned on my laptop. “I’ve only been here one day. Surely, there isn’t a rumor about me already?”

      “Um, no.” He fumbled through his bag as he gave me side-glances.

      The instructor came in and put his briefcase on the desk. He wrote his name on the big board behind him and added underneath it, WORLD RELIGIONS. He started the class, but it was hard to concentrate.

      Andrew stared at me almost the whole hour of class.

      I smiled a time or two.

      He returned the gesture but couldn’t stop giving me a wild, confused look.

      I’d have find out how he knew me.

      * * * *

      On the next day of class, Andrew sat across the room.

      I waved.

      He gave me a quick wave in response, but he wouldn’t speak to me after class ended. He rushed by and shuffled out the door without so much as a nod or smile.

      After the favor I’d done for him the day before, I didn’t appreciate being treated as though I had a communicable disease.

      I shrugged it off.

      Just like all other guys.

      Jerks.

      * * * *

      After settling into a peaceful nap, Nicki almost jerked me out of the bed. “There’s this really nice girl that I want you to meet. I met her in my English lit class, and she is dying to go out tonight. I told her we would all go together. There’s an Italian restaurant on the corner a few blocks over and they have karaoke. That would be a blast. Lacee says she can’t sing a lick, but I heard her humming and if you can hum, you can sing.”

      “Ugh. I already don’t like you.” I pulled the cover over my head. “It should be against the law to be as cheery as you are.”

      “Oh, you are so not getting out of this. I told her you were coming, so you are going to shower, put on some makeup, and that shirt is so twenty seconds ago. I have a shirt that will accentuate your positives. Come on. Get up.” She yanked the covers off me.

      “By positives, I hope you mean my attractive neck or cute earlobes. I don’t do that plunging neckline stuff.” I sat up. There was no use trying to bail on her.

      Nicki was not going to let me rest until I was partied out on my first week of school.

      * * * *

      Darkness dotted with intermittent light from lampposts covered the campus on the first night of classes. No one seemed concerned with class the next day.

      Exhaustion tugged me like gravity, but bright faces, red party cups and lively music made it hard to want to stay in.

      A burst of laughter exploded a few groups away from us.

      Nicki dragged me past them to Nellie’s. It was primarily an Italian eatery, but also housed a coffee shop and bakery on the side. That’s where the night’s festivities would be held.

      Tables placed close together near a stage were lit with amber candles. The rich aroma of ground coffee beans and pastries spiced the air with a homey feeling. Patrons varied from college students to families waiting to hear their friends and loved ones make either a star or a fool of themselves on the brightly lit stage.

      Lacee and Nicki were up after a group of tipsy college guys and a girl and her mother. I laughed at them and took small bites of a cream cheese pastry I ordered just to make Nicki happy.

      “You look like a malnutritioned, third-world country native,” she’d said.

      “I think you mean malnourished.”

      “Same thing.” She waved her mistake away.

      I couldn’t help but laugh at her, though I thought that she might be right. I didn’t need to get run down because some of my classes were already proving to be mind boggling. I’d need the energy to be successful, especially since the Andrew guy I met was such a distraction in world religions.

      I had seen him on the campus one other time that day. The way he’d turned and ran, it was as if he viewed me as the stalker now.

      After a very colorful evening at Nellie’s, we laughed the whole walk home.

      “I can’t believe that guy used his private parts in a pickup line. How lame is that?” Lacee said.

      “I almost fell off my stool.” Nicki stared ahead at the fraternity house situated across from our dorm.

      The silhouette of a guy walking about ten feet away caught my eye. His familiar gait was what caught me first. He ambled along slowly talking on his cell phone with his head down and his other hand in his trouser pocket.

      The guy took his phone from his ear and stared up at the stars for a few seconds.

      Nicki and Lacee turned back to find me stopped in my tracks.

      The guy looked so familiar as he turned, loped up the steps, and stood outside the frat house door for a few long seconds before turning the knob.

      “Are you coming or are you going to let the mosquitoes carry you off?” Lacee poked a hand in her hip.

      “I—yeah, I’m coming. If I had the natural energy you two had, I would never get any sleep.” I rejoined the girls.

      They smiled triumphantly as if I had bestowed them with a great compliment.

      * * * *

      Before leaving us, Lacee promised to wake us at 6:30 the next morning for breakfast.

      I tossed and turned in my sleep.

      In my dreams, Andrew ran from me all over the campus. After what seemed like hours of avoiding me, the dream switched focus.

      The mysterious guy I’d seen on the walk home stepped out from behind trees then disappeared again over and over in different naturistic settings. We were in the woods, one time. In another, we were in a park in the city. Then again, we were back at the school, but the trees were thicker.

      As it had been earlier that evening when I’d actually seen his silhouette, I still couldn’t put a face on him in the dream.

      * * * *

      I woke looking as if I had been run over by a truck.

      “You are a noisy sleeper, and I swear I heard you say a guy’s name. Is there some vital piece of information you’ve failed to disclose?” Nicki crossed her arms at the foot of my bed.

      “A guys’ name?” I groaned.

      How did she do that? Her makeup was perfect; her hair looked as though elf hairdressers had spent all night on her hair while she slept.

      “I don’t talk in my sleep.” I jerked the blanket off before she did it for me.

      “Cole, Colby, something like that.” She tapped her bunny slipper-clad foot.

      “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I don’t know that name.” It was too soon to go into my whole life

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