Over that first summer, between freshman and sophomore year, I decided I wasn't quite ready to go back home to the farm. I had actually made it back home that previous Christmas. It felt foreign to me. It was nice to see my mom and my sisters, and even my father to some degree, but I felt like I didn't really belong there anymore. College was where I belonged. So I stayed on through the summer.
I got a job at the bookstore and took some summer classes. I settled on declaring my major as World History, with a minor in economics. I helped with a freshman summer orientation program, something I hadn't even known existed when I came here. There was this one girl in the program who seemed pretty sweet, but RAs weren't allowed to date the freshmen, so nothing came of it. I don't even remember her name now. She was just a fleeting memory.
Zach was not a fleeting memory, and Lizzy was certainly not a fleeting memory for him. Over the summer, I realized the thing I missed most about home was the animals, so I got a beta fish for my dorm room (we weren't allowed to have much else in the dorms). I named the fish Steve. When Zach returned (my roommate once again), he missed Lizzy, or at least he missed having a girl hanging around, so one of the first things he said to me after the pleasantries about how was my summer was, "I'm gonna date a sorority girl this year."
I laughed. I had missed Zach. "What is it with you an sorority girls?" I asked.
"What? I don't have a thing for sorority girls," he insisted.
"I think you do," I said.
He shrugged. "Well, so what if I do. I'd better have a thing for them if I'm going to date them."
"Hopefully a thing for just one of them," I said.
He smiled and nodded. "Of course," he said. "I'm not an animal." Then he winked at me and turned back towards the door. "I think I'm going to go for a walk," he said.
"You just got here," I exclaimed with a laugh. "You're barely even unpacked."
He looked around the room. "Dude, I'm not unpacked at all," he said, "but still, it's a nice day for a walk. You wanna come or not."
I shook my head. "Nah, I've still gotta pick one more class to fill up my schedule."
He shook his head right back at me. "Dude, you haven't changed one bit," he said. "You've gotta have some fun! Don't take life so seriously!" And with that he was off.
I sat down at my computer and started to browse the course catalog. About thirty minutes later, I had just chosen my final course (American Sign Language I), when Zach came bursting back in the room gasping for breath. "Dude!" he exclaimed. "You will never believe who I saw on campus!"
"Your mom?" I guessed, spinning around in my chair to face him.
He almost laughed, but then he leaned over with his hands on his knees, still trying to catch his breath and said, "Dude, this is serious. I saw Lizzy!"
I shrugged. "So? Maybe she's going to school here now. You guys left things on good terms. It shouldn't be a problem."
"It shouldn't," he said, "but I think it is."
"Why?"
"I ran away from her, dude."
"What? You mean before, when you broke up?"
"No, dude, just now. I'm not even certain she saw me, but she started to look my way and I panicked."
"Zach, are you pulling one over on me again, like when we first met her."
He stood up straight, finally starting to regain his breath and shook his head. "No dude, I swear." He held his hands out palms up in a show of transparency. "I don't know what came over me. I just saw her and ran."
I was silent for a moment and then asked, "Did you want her to chase after you?"
Two beats and then he said, "Dude, I have no idea."
-----
I have no idea why Zach ran away from me when he saw me, but what was I supposed to do, just pretend I didn't notice him? Of course I ran after him! It didn't even matter if I had been there looking for him or not. What matters is that he had no reason to run from me. We could have had a perfectly fine adult conversation, exchanged pleasantries and all, or we could have just ignored each other. But to run away from your ex-girlfriend who never even gave you any sort of a hard time for breaking up with her? Who does that? So of course I ran after him.
Unfortunately, I lost him, even though that nice but confused looking girl tried to help me out. Well, I guess that's assuming she did point in the right direction. She very easily could have lied. How would I know? But why would she do that? But then again, why would Zach run away from me?
Oh well, I'm sure I'll see him again. I know he's not that into art, so it's doubtful I'll see him in class, but I'm bound to run into him somewhere. And then we can talk. And if he decides he wants to kiss and make up, that would be fine by me.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I'm taking an art history class this semester. I'm not a full time student, don't have the time or inclination for that, but I entered a contest this summer and won the chance to audit a course at the college for free. I think they're trying to get adults interested in continuing their education or something. The funny thing was, this wasn't even a pageant. It was just a random drawing. There were 10 winners, but still, I was one of them. I just wanted to tell Zach. I thought he'd be happy for me.
Okay, yes, so I was looking for Zach. What other reason would I have to be in the residential part of campus? That's why it hurt all the more when he ran away from me. The jerk. I still don't know what he was thinking. I suppose he probably wasn't thinking at all. That's so like a man. Just run away. It's like my... No I'm not going there. It isn't like that. Zach isn't like that at all. He was always good to me. He must just be having a crazy day. I'll blame it on his crazy spontaneous nature and catch up with him another time. I'm sure there will be time.
-----
Time is one thing there never seems to be enough of. When it comes to time spent with Alyse, there really never seemed to be enough. We spent every moment we could together, and I still couldn't get enough of her. Our engagement was pretty short, but during its duration, her writing career seemed to pick up, leaving her with little time for planning. It's pretty rare that a man is forced to make some of the key decisions for his wedding, but I was that man. Of course, Alyse was still a big part of it all. It was exciting, watching her shine with more and more anticipation each time I saw her as the big day approached. The one thing I had nothing to do with, naturally, was the picking of her wedding dress. I tried with all my might to get her to drop hints to me about it, but she wouldn't even confirm whether it was all white or had touches of another color! She was such a tease about it, and I loved every minute.
I love Alyse with all my heart. She's deeply ingrained in my soul even now, and I will never stop loving her.
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