(Then) Lauren: Welcome to DU

Happy Thanksgiving to all my U.S. readers!  I hope everyone is enjoying time with friends or family and eating way too much food today. 

This is the last post for the week, but I'll see you guys Sunday evening with the next one! 
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I smile weakly at the RA that hands me the key for my room.  "Welcome to DU!  Your roommate hasn't signed in yet, so it's just you so far," she says cheerfully.  "I'll take you and your mom up there and then you can go ahead and get all your stuff moved in.  You should fill out this Inventory form with anything of concern in your room, so you're not charged for it at the end of the year.  I'll be here if you have questions along the way." 

I nod, completely overwhelmed already.  I have no idea why I thought it was such a good idea to go to school so far from home.  My mom and Liv have been my world for the past several years, and I suddenly can't figure out why I wanted to leave that.  At least my sister still lives here in town, but I'm worried about my mom, who'll be all alone at home.  As if reading my mind, Mom says, "Don't worry, sweetie.  Let's go get your stuff!"

Mom and I haul all my stuff from the giant SUV borrowed from one of her coworkers for the move.  Shortly after we make the last trip, a brunette with a placid smile steps into the room.  "Hi," she says sweetly. "I'm Kendra."

"Hi," I reply.  "Lauren, obviously."  We had talked on the phone a couple times, coordinating who was bringing what.

She surprises me with a quick hug, and her smile grows.  "I'm so glad to meet you finally," she says.  "I'm going to bring my stuff up."

I glance at Mom, who is smiling at me.  I wish everyone would stop looking at me like that.  It makes me feel weird.  "Honey, I'm going to go check into my hotel room," she tells me.  "Why don't you get settled in and get to know Kendra, and I'll pick you up tonight for dinner?"  I very suddenly do not want her to go, even for just a few hours.  She must see the panic on my face because she pulls me into a hug, saying, "You'll be fine.  I'll see you for dinner."  She pulls away, then adds, "6?"  I nod and say goodbye.

I help Kendra with her stuff, and we get to know each other while we haul it in.  Once it's all in, we both consider unpacking but instead flop down on our beds to be lazy.  This is going to be a great partnership.

My mom picks me up at 6 for dinner, and we go to a restaurant that Kendra recommended.  It's good, and I'm able to forget about the fact that my mom is leaving in the morning to drive back to Wisconsin.

We make plans to have breakfast together before my mom heads back in the morning, and she drops me off back at the dorm.  In the morning, after breakfast, I manage to not cry at all, which is more than I can say for my mom. 

The week of orientation flies by.  I'm excited for the start of classes.  High school was such a joke and I'm hoping for more of a challenge.  And you know, actually learning things.

The first week of classes is a serious let down.  The first day of every class devoted to nothing but going over the syllabus?  I can read on my own, thank you.  I'm already a week ahead in my reading and was hoping for something a little more stimulating.

On Thursday of the first week of classes, my phone rings, and I am thrilled to see that it's Liv.  "Hello?" I answer excitedly.

"Lauren!" she exclaims, sounding just as excited.  "I miss you already.  This making new friends thing is overrated.  You should just transfer here."

"Don't tempt me," I warn her.

"How is it?  How's your roommate?" she asks, steering away to more neutral subjects.

"Well, my classes are kind of lame.  Apparently I'm not going to learn things here either.  I looked over the syllabus for my statistics class and it's all the same stuff I learned in high school.  Waste of time."  Liv laughs at me.  "My roommate is nice.  I like her.  She's very calm, though.  Maddeningly calm.  Like, I want to poke at her until I get her to crack."

Liv laughs again.  "I think a maddening calm roommate is probably a very good thing for you," she says.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask, but I'm laughing too. 

It's so good to catch up with Liv, but it makes me miss home.  I'm moping when Kendra comes in and flops on her bed.  "Man, my math class sucks," she laments.

"I love math," I say automatically.  "I can help you, if you want."

"Really?  That's awesome," she responds, beaming at me.  "Oh, hey?  Lauren?"  I look at her curiously.  "There's this party this weekend.  A guy in one of my classes invited me.  I want to go, but I don't want to go alone, will you go with me?"

"A guy, huh?" I ask.  "Is he a cute guy?"

Kendra blushes immediately, and this is the least calm and cool I've ever seen her.  "It IS a cute guy!" I caw.  "Do you like him?"

"I don't know!" she squeals.  "I barely know him.  But he is cute.  Will you go?"  

"I'll go," I say finally.

She grins.  "Will you help me pick out something to wear?" she asks, almost shyly.

"I'll do that too," I reply.  "Will you help me with my makeup?" She wasn't as good as Liv, but she was far better than me.

"Yes!" she exclaims.  "This is going to be fun!"

On Saturday we spend two hours getting ready.  I make Kendra try on almost everything in her closet and end up loaning her one of my dresses to wear.  My makeup turns out perfect, so it works out well.

"You are so pretty," Kendra says to me wistfully before we leave.  I give her a weird look, because she is way prettier than me, and I tell her that.  She laughs.  "I don't think so.  Look at you!"  I do.  I don't see it.  I shrug and change the subject because this is uncomfortable.

We walk to the party, because it's close to campus.  My first college party, the first week of classes.  My sister would be so proud.  That reminds me that I should call her so we can hang out sometime.  I still haven't done that, whoops.  When we walk in, I'm immediately overwhelmed by all the people.  I do see someone that I spoke to briefly in one of my classes, and she waves to me.  I wave back, awkwardly.  I wish I had Liv and Lynn, my little social butterflies, to help me make the rounds.

I paste a smile on my face as Kendra introduces me to a few people.  Then she points out a guy.  "That's him," she whispers.  "Let's go say hi."  She practically drags me through the throngs of people to the other side of the room.  "Hi Christian," she chirps, in a way that's decidedly un-Kendra-like.  At least from what I've gathered in the whopping two weeks I've known her.  "This is my roommate, Lauren."

Christian smiles broadly at Kendra and I guess that I'm witnessing a love connection.  "Hi, Kendra," he says.  "Hi Lauren.  This is my friend Alex, and that's Brandon."  I smile and say hi, but Christian immediately turns back to Kendra.  They start chatting about their class, leaving me to try to make conversation with Alex and Brandon, who are just looking blankly at me.

"So...." I say awkwardly, scrambling for something, and pushing down my instinct to be sarcastic.  "The Broncos play the Chargers tomorrow, right?  Do you think they're going to win?"

This is clearly the right thing to say, because both guys' faces light up.  "They'd better," Alex says.  "I'd like to see them do better than last year's 10-6."

Brandon rolls his eyes.  "Because that's bad.  Try being a Dolphins fan.  If we hit .500 this year, that would be great."  Then he eyes me up and said, "Broncos fan?"

"Packers fan, actually," I respond.  The both look at me strangely.  "I'm from Wisconsin."

"I would have guessed Minnesota, based on your accent, but Wisconsin works too," Alex quips.  I give him a dirty look.

"Be nice to her," Brandon scolds him.  "Do you need a drink?"

I consider briefly, and figured one drink wouldn't hurt.  "Sure," I reply.  He leads me over to the keg and filled and handed me a cup.

"It's my house, you can drink for free," he says. smiling.

"Thanks," I reply, taking a drink.  I try not to cringe; beer is not my thing.

"So you must not be a freshman then?" I ask.  "If this is your house."  Students are required to live on campus for 2 years here.

"Nah, this is my third year," he replies.  "My little brother is good friends with Alex, so I've kind of adopted him and his roommate.  You know, making sure they get booze, know where the parties are, the important things."

"Yeah, of course.  The most important things," I reply sarcastically.

"Let me guess, you're here for an education," he jokes back.  "Don't let school eat you alive.  Loosen up and have some fun while you're here."

"I thought that's what I was doing right now," I say, the sarcasm still in my voice.

He laughs.  "I like you.  You're feisty.  It's cute."  I roll my eyes at him and he laughs again.  "Come on, let me introduce you to some people."  I'm wary, but I'm sober so what can it hurt?  I check in briefly with Kendra who barely even hears me talking to her, and then I let Brandon introduce me to his other roommates, two guys and a girl, and some of their friends. Then he said, "Soooo...do you wanna go hang out in my room or something?"

I give him a dirty look.  "No," I reply shortly.  "I should find Kendra."

"Oh, come on," he wheedles.

"No."  I glare at him, then look through the people for Kendra.

He rolls his eyes.  "Fucking freshmen," he mutters, stalking off through the people.  I also stalk off to find Kendra. I paste a smile on my face when I find her, still talking to Christian, determined not to ruin her evening. 

"Hey," she greets me with a broad smile.  I smile back and spend the next hour chatting with her, Christian, and Alex.  Alex is actually a lot of fun to talk to, and unlike Brandon, he keeps his eyes on my face and doesn't try to talk me into disappearing with him.

Finally, Kendra signals to me that she's ready to go.  She announces our intention to Christian and Alex, who immediately offer to walk us back.  "We'll be fine," I protest, rolling my eyes.

"I'm quite sure of that," Alex remarks.  "But it's still late and we're not letting you walk back by yourselves."  Then he leans in close to me and whispers, "And I don't think that Christian is quite finished talking to your friend, so throw him a bone, huh?"  I laugh and relent.

As we walk, Alex and I drop back so Kendra and Christian can chat with relative privacy.  "Did you have fun?" Alex asks.  What a stupid question.

"It was alright, I mostly just came for Kendra's sake," I say bluntly.

"Brandon is a huge douche," he says.

"I won't argue with that," I reply darkly.  Alex stops walking suddenly and regards me carefully when I stop too.

"He didn't....?"

"No, he didn't.  And this is not at all a really weird conversation to be having with someone I just met a few hours ago."  I can't understand why Alex is so concerned over my well-being. 

"Good, sorry," he replies, and even in the dark, the relief in his face is evident.  I mutter something back absolving him from his awkward inquiry, and we continue to walk.

When we get back to our dorm, we stop awkwardly several feet away from the door, where Kendra and Christian appear to be exchanging phone numbers.  "So, Christian and I have a huge TV that is awesome for watching football.  Are you interested in coming over to watch a couple games tomorrow?"  I raise an eyebrow at him, not sure how to respond.  Is he asking in a friendly way, or more than that?  That question is answered when he smiles and says, "Nothing weird, I just know that watching games is more fun with other people, and Kendra doesn't seem like a football watching type."

"Yeah, I don't think she is," I reply, laughing.  "Sure, that would be fun."  Then we're exchanging numbers too, and it's weird, but okay.

Kendra is waiting for me by the door and I awkwardly say goodbye to Alex and Christian and join her.  As soon as we're inside, she turns to me and smiles placidly, her calm back apparently.  "So you and Alex, huh?" she asks.

"Not like that," I respond hurriedly.  "We're watching football tomorrow.  As friends.  I think."

She laughs softly.  "Any guy at that party would give his left arm to be Alex tomorrow, I think."  I raise my eyebrows at her in surprise.  "You didn't see them all looking at you?  All of them, Lauren.  Seriously."

"I guess I'll have to pay better attention next time," I mutter, embarrassed.  She laughs again.  I quickly change the subject.  "And you and Christian?"

She smiles broadly, a flush rising to her cheeks.  "He's taking me out to dinner next week," she says.  I smile, glad that she's happy.

When we get back up to our room, I pull out my phone.  When I had been putting Alex's number in, I saw I had a text from my sister.  I open it now and read, "You're the worst sister, you know that?  Call me.  I'm having people over next weekend and you should come.  I miss you!"  She's right, I still haven't even called her.  I resolve to do that tomorrow.