Unlikely Allies

"Night, Kimmie," Rick said, standing.

"Night, Dad," I said, heading toward my room.

"I can't believe she lets you call her that," I heard Mom say.

"Oh sheesh, between Car and Mom, nothing's sacred," I muttered to myself.

My last morning at home passed in a whirlwind of activity as I rushed around like a maniac, grabbing stray art supplies that seemed to be strewn throughout the house. Finally, after many false starts, we were on the road, headed for the campus. The three-hour drive passed quickly as Mom and I talked about mundane things, trying to hold our tears at bay over our impending separation.

The campus was buzzing when we arrived and we wound up circling the block several times until we found spaces. Rick squeezed into the closest space while Mom and I parked a block away.

Carol showed up with her mom and dad in tow, and we made quick work of unloading all the vehicles. Before I knew it, Carol and I were standing alone in our dorm room with tears in our eyes.

"Well, we're college girls," Carol said dramatically, sweeping her arms out and twirling around.

"Yeah, I guess we are," I said, not sharing her excitement.

"Come on Gloomy Gus, we're here. Let's go grab something to eat and we'll deal with this mess later," she said, indicating the multiple boxes and bags scattered across the room.

"Fine, but you're doing your share when we get back," I said, knowing her well.

"Me?" she said, laying on the i

Carol and I walked around the campus to get a better lay of the land before classes started on Monday.

"What time is freshman orientation tomorrow?" Carol asked, sipping her large iced caramel latte.

"Two in the afternoon, I think. Why?"

"Just wondering since the campus seems pretty empty."

"That's what I was thinking. I guess not everyone is as dedicated as us," I joked.

"You mean, dweebie, right? Come on, let’s go get di

"By 'people', you mean 'boys'," I said, linking my arm through hers. "How can you be hungry anyway? You just downed an iced caramel latte."

"Hello, have we met?"

"Oops, that's right. I forgot I was talking to the bottomless pit," I quipped as she dragged me into the Terrace Food Court.

"Wow, pick your poison," I said, taking in all the fast food places. "Sheesh, this food court is better than the one at the mall," I joked, heading for the Panda Express.

"I'm going to make the rounds to see what I want," Carol said, dumping her empty cup in the trashcan.

"Okay," I said, placing my order with the girl behind the counter.

Carol still wasn't back by the time I paid for my food, so I picked a table for us. I was halfway done with my food when I saw her headed my way, dragging two very willing guys behind her. I held back a sigh at their twin like appearances in khaki shorts and girly-colored polo shirts. Why guys suddenly thought it was hot to wear pink and lavender was beyond me.

"Kim, this is Chris and his friend Steven," she said, making quick introductions while I glared at her.

"Hi," I said, holding out my hand, reluctantly.

Chris shook it firmly before turning his attention back to Carol, making it clear who he was interested in.

I turned to his friend to shake his hand. He grasped mine longer than necessary, making a production of ru

"Sorry, there's only room at the table for two," I said, rudely.

"That's okay. We can get a bigger..." Carol started to say, but abruptly shut her mouth when she saw my thunderous expression.

"No problem," Chris said, looking at me like I had sprouted an extra head. "Here, let me program my number in your phone and maybe we can get together after your orientation," he said, reaching for his phone.

"Okay," Carol said, obviously already infatuated.

Taking a moment to appraise Chris, I guess I couldn't blame her. He was easily more than six feet tall with a mess of brown locks that fell across his forehead. His lean physique made him a prime candidate for most shirtless activities that most girls would dream about. Judging by the look on Car's face, she was already in dreamland. With Carol standing next to him with her long golden legs, highlighted by a mid-thigh skirt and a full chest, enhanced by the peasant shirt that tied just over her chest, they looked like they were posing for some clothing line.

"I'll call you," Carol said as they turned to leave. Chris turned to wink at her one last time and I had to bite back a groan. Carol was a goner for sure.

"I'm in love," she a

"I'm surprised it took so long, you've known him all of ten minutes," I said drily.

"Closer to fifteen," she said, smiling at me impishly. "Isn't this why we came to college?" she asked, picking a piece of Mongolian chicken off my plate.

I shoved my plate toward her.

"So, you were a little rude there," she said, digging in with gusto.

"Well, unlike you my dear, I'm not here to meet hunky guys, and especially not ones who assaulted my hand in a handshake."

"Oh I'm sure it wasn't that bad."

"Seriously, he rubbed his thumb along my pulse point. Who doesn't know that's a date move only?" I griped, taking a slurp of my Diet Coke.

"You know, it might do Mr. Mountain Dreamboat some good if he thought you were dating."

"Car, he has enough on his plate, like learning to walk again. This isn't high school anymore, no games allowed. He either wants me or he doesn't," I said, taking another drink to try to remove the sudden lump in my throat.

Carol looked like she wanted to say more, but changed her mind and continued to eat the rest of my di

Chapter 18

I let my head fall forward onto my desk with a thud. The pain radiated across my forehead, but it didn't alleviate my aggravation at the statistics problems that openly mocked me. "Why the hell an art teacher needs to know the probability of an ace of hearts coming up out of a gazillion cards is beyond me," I grumbled to myself, slamming the book closed in frustration. I was definitely going to have to hit a tutoring session if I pla

"Shut down your laptop, chick-a-roo, we're going to a party," Carol said, breezing into our dorm room.

"I can't, Car, I have a term paper due in my Teaching in Diverse Populations class, and this freaking Statistics class will be the death of me," I said, pointing to my textbook, accusingly.

"Kim, you haven't been out since we got here. That's almost niiiine weeks," she said, dragging out the nine like it was a dirty word.

"Car, I don't feel like going out."

"Look Kim, I know you've gone through a lot, and I won't even pretend to understand what you went through, but honey, you have to move on. No offense, but Captain Dickhead is obviously too stupid to know what he's missing. Staying in the room pining for him every Friday night isn't doing you any good."

"Car," I said, sighing. I knew she was right. When September had slid into October without a word from Mason, I faced the harsh reality that our short time together had meant nothing to him.

"Come out with me, please. It's Halloween and one of the fraternities is throwing a huge costume party. I even bought you a mask," she said, holding up a cheapo paper Zorro mask.