Accepted (12 page)

I laughed again and pulled my arm from his hand to elbow him playfully. "Yeah, yeah…I know. I may freeze to death, but at least I look cute."

Chapter Eight

By the time Thanksgiving break rolled around, I was actually looking forward to spending the long weekend by myself. Well, not so much by myself, but minus Amber and Randi and, even a little, Becca. It was just that I’d had so much — too much — solitude in my nineteen years. In the last three months, I’d soaked up all the companionship I could handle, and while I didn’t think there could ever be too much companionship, I was ready for a little break.

I planned to spend the holiday studying, running, relaxing, and catching up on some non-academic reading. And while I knew there were bound to be other students staying on campus over Thanksgiving, I rarely spoke to—let alone hung out with—anyone but the students I lived with on this floor. I had no advance knowledge of any of them staying here over break, so I assumed it would be a very quiet weekend.

Amber left for home right after lunch on Wednesday, and she was one of the last to leave. Randi and Becca had both left the night before. Most professors had cancelled Wednesday classes assuming, rightly, that many students would cut class to travel home early.

After my last class of the day — none of my classes had been cancelled — I stopped at the nearly-empty dining hall for my last free meal of the weekend. Once the clock hit five, everything on campus would close until Sunday afternoon and leave me to fend for myself.

Janie, my resident assistant, had drilled this concept into my head when I handed in my request to stay in my dorm on campus over the holiday break.

"Are you sure you don’t want to go home?" She made a face and swept her arms around the room as if to illustrate that the dorm wasn’t the ideal place to spend a holiday.

"Everything…and I mean
everything
, is closed." She over-exaggerated the second everything, then lowering her voice to a whisper, said, "There won’t even be RA’s."

Considering I hadn’t actually seen Janie since my first week here, I didn’t really think the lack of resident assistants would be a problem.

"Yeah, I know, but I really want to stay. It’s just too much trouble for me to go home." More like it’s too much trouble for me to find a home to go to, but that wasn’t Janie’s business.

"But what about turkey?" Janie asked, and as she did, she looked at me with wide, intensely sad eyes, and I had no idea why she was suddenly so heartbroken.

"What about it?" I didn’t even try to keep the confusion out of my voice.

She sighed and solemnly said, "I look forward to turkey all year."

This girl was seriously suffering for me, and I had no idea how to make her feel better, so I just sighed with her and agreed. "Yeah, me too."

And Janie reached out and hugged me as I tried desperately not to giggle.

This girl
seriously
loved her turkey.

"Well, maybe you can cook something downstairs in the kitchen." She gave me a little look of encouragement.

Our dorm was equipped with a fully functional, albeit old, kitchen on the bottom floor. No one but the resident director ever used it. I seriously doubted that I would come within twenty feet of that room over the course of the weekend, but poor Janie didn’t need to know that.

"Good idea. I completely forgot about the kitchen. Thanks, Janie." She looked so happy with herself that I smiled broadly and added, "You’re a lifesaver."

She beamed.

At least I knew she’d approve my request to stay.

****

The walk back from my late lunch was a pleasant one.

The normally frigid Chicago air was uncharacteristically mild, and the commonly ruthless wind had died down. It was the perfect day for a run. The idea cheered me, and I was almost skipping as I approached my vacant residence hall.

By this time, everyone one who was going home had already left, leaving only the handful of us who asked to stay on campus. I assumed there would be a few in my dorm but none on my floor.

Needless to say, I was shocked when I got to my floor and saw a solitary figure sitting in the common lounge next to Colin and Brett’s room and watching some sporting event on the big television.

And, even more shocked, when I realized that the figure was Colin.

I stood outside the door of the lounge, for what could have been minutes, thinking about the fact that he was still here — after everyone had left — after he should have left.

Finally, he looked up and noticed me standing there and he grinned, his whole face lighting up, and waved me into the room.

I opened the door and walked in.

"Hey!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing? Wanna watch the game with me?" He was so happy; I guess it was the prospect of no class for the next four days.

"I’m actually about to go for a run." I didn’t want to explain to him that I didn’t even know which sport he was watching.

"Oh, cool. Want to get dinner when you get back?"

I looked at him, confused. "Colin, don’t you have to go home? I mean, what time are you staying here ‘til?"

He smiled again. "I’m not going home, Ash. I’m staying here for the holiday."

I processed that for a minute. He has a family in this state — only a couple of hours away — and a friend who could have given him a ride. What could possibly have possessed him to stay here over the holiday?

"Why?" I didn’t even bother trying to hide the shock in my voice, which came out sounding a little like disgust.

He ignored my tone, just kept smiling and shrugged.

"My mom’s working at the hospital tomorrow. She always works on Thanksgiving, so she can have Christmas off," he explained. "My brother and sister are eating Thanksgiving dinner with my grandparents, but I have a big Genetics test on Monday, so I decided to stay here to study. It’s so quiet over break. I figured I’d get a lot done."

"Oh," was my brilliant reply.

I was still stuck on the fact that
he
was here and no one else was.

"So, wanna get dinner later?" he asked as a lazy smile crossed his face, interrupting my thoughts. "After your run?"

"I had a late lunch. I knew the cafeteria was closing…" I trailed off.

Suddenly, I wished Janie hadn’t gotten me all worked up about everything being closed for the weekend.

"Well, I can grab a snack, and we can eat later, you know, when you’re hungry."

"Okay," I agreed. I wasn’t going to argue with him.

"Well, enjoy your run then. Work up an appetite." And he turned back to the television.

I turned to leave the room, and as I walked out the door, an upsetting thought hit me.

Colin had never asked
me
why I was there.

****

I mulled that little morsel over for the entirety of my sixty-minute run, trying desperately to figure out why Colin wasn’t at all surprised by my presence here over the break like I was by his.

I knew I hadn’t mentioned to him that I was staying over the holiday. I’d told Becca, but it seemed very unlikely that she’d mention it to Colin. The two of them rarely spoke. Amber knew, but as my roommate, she also knew how fiercely private I was about such matters, and, honestly, I doubted that she’d opened up about my holiday plans to anyone, including Randi and especially Colin. I guess I was wrong.

Colin knew a lot about me, more than most people, but he couldn’t know enough to guess I’d be staying here.

Maybe he was just so happy to see me that he didn’t question why I was there.

Yeah, right.

****

When I got back to the dorm, Colin was nowhere to be found.

I grabbed the basket where I keep my toiletries and went to take a shower. It was great to be the only person in the bathroom—I hadn’t known the joy of unlimited hot water since I got here.

When I was done in the shower, I wrapped myself in my favorite robe. Old and ratty, the fabric was stretched and worn thin, but it was my most comfortable piece of clothing. I rarely wore it here because it was so stretched that it didn’t close well and, combined with its short length, showed a little too much skin for mixed company.

It was still early, and I wasn’t hungry yet, so I decided to relax and read a bit before finding Colin.

I curled up in the corner of bed, grabbing Pride and Prejudice, my favorite book, on my way and prepared to spend a couple of hours with my favorite fictional boyfriend, Mr. Darcy.

Just as Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy were about to meet, someone, presumably Colin, knocked on my door, pulling me from my fictional world. I jumped up, startled, and hurried to the door to open it.

"Hey." I looked up at Colin standing in the hall.

He didn’t say anything for a moment, just looked down at me. Then, after a minute or two, he smiled and it looked like he was blushing.

And that’s when I remembered I was only wearing my robe — my too short, too thin, too stretched robe.

I quickly took a step back and pulled the door closed a little as if to shield myself a bit.

"So," I nodded my head, "I guess you’re ready to eat." I tried desperately to sound casual, despite the fact that I was standing less than a foot from him, half-naked.

He just nodded, still smiling.

"Okay, let me just throw something on. Be right out." Mortified, I hastily closed my door, pretty much slamming it in Colin’s face and rushing to throw on jeans and a t-shirt.

Once I was fully clothed, I waited a minute to compose myself and then went out into the hall, grabbing my coat on my way from the room. Colin was waiting for me. It seemed he’d composed himself too.

"So, what are you in the mood for?"

I thought about it for a second and realized that one, I didn’t really know where anything was around Chicago yet, and two, I was still too embarrassed to form any original, rational thought, so I just shrugged and said, "It’s up to you. I’m cool with anything."

"You want to grab a pizza?"

"Sure."

As Colin and I walked across campus to the lot where he kept his car, I wondered if I’d actually get over my mortification tonight, or if it would take the entire weekend.

"Have you even had Chicago pizza?" Colin asked me as we approached his car.

I shook my head. "Nope." And I looked over at him.

"Really?" He sounded excited.

"Why? Does Chicago have special pizza?"

"Uh…yeah," he responded, looking down at me like I was insane. "Chicago has
very
special pizza. It’s the best pizza in the world."

All pizza tastes the same to me, but I wasn’t about to tell him that. Instead, I looked up at him, chuckling a little at his tone.

"Well, then I’m glad I said yes to pizza."

"You have no idea."

By this time, we were pulling out of the parking lot. I looked over at Colin in the driver’s seat and noticed that he looked really happy — so happy, that just watching him made me smile reflexively.

"So…what makes Chicago pizza so special?" I wanted to make conversation, and I couldn’t think of anything else to say.

He looked over at me quickly and then began to explain.

"Chicago-style pizza is deep dish." He said this as if it was common knowledge, as if I should have known it. "It’s like a pie." He clarified looked at me. "He shook his head. "You’ll see. It’s the best pizza in the world."

I laughed. "Yeah, you mentioned that."

"My dad, he grew up in New York. He went to college here in Illinois, and he always said that he came here for school but stayed for the pizza." Colin laughed, lost in the memory as I watched him, mesmerized.

He was looking toward me, but his eyes were focused over my shoulder, his mind clearly caught up in another time. His face was amused, and it was happy, the corners of his mouth tipped up, just the smallest bit, his eyes twinkling.

He was mesmerizing.

"Where’s your mom from?" I asked, just to keep him talking.

"Here. She’s from here—Illinois." He smiled to himself, and then turned to me. "He blamed the pizza, but everyone knew he stayed for her." He looked back at the road. "The pizza was a close second, though."

****

"Okay, you’re right."

Colin looked up from his plate. "About?" he prompted.

"This is
definitely
the best pizza in the world."

"Told you," he said smugly.

It really was delicious. Colin had brought me to Gino’s East—a pizza restaurant that he had assured me was both famous and had the best pizza Chicago had to offer.

I wasn’t about to argue. It was really good.

Everything was really good, actually. We were having fun — Colin was making fun of me for my lack of knowledge about anything Chicago, even though I’d taken up residence here almost three months ago, and I was making fun of Colin for eating almost the entire pizza single-handedly.

"Hey!" He looked at me with mock hurt. "I haven’t had anything but that mediocre cafeteria food for months. I deserve to overstuff myself on pizza."

I laughed at him. "Seriously, you should have taken your Genetics studying home, so you could at least have some decent meals."

"I know! What was I thinking?" he whined. Then, a little more seriously, "I am going to really miss Thanksgiving dinner, though. I love turkey and stuffing. Oh…and the rolls and the gravy and the mashed potatoes!" He looked at me with the most miserable expression. "That part really sucks, you know?"

But I didn’t.

So, I just shrugged.

He chuckled at my seeming nonchalance. "Not a big fan of turkey dinner?"

I smiled at him awkwardly and shrugged. Might as well get it over with.

"I don’t know, actually. I’ve never had a big Thanksgiving dinner." I looked up at him but didn’t stop talking. "I mean, I’ve had turkey…turkey sandwiches and I had turkey bacon once, but I’ve never had a whole, you know." I gestured with my hands. "Big turkey…with side dishes…" I trailed off.

"Never?" His tone was incredulous.

"Never." Mine was insipid. "My family’s not really into holidays." I shrugged again.