A New
Beginning
Chapter
2: Unpacking Luggage
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What am I doing here?
One week ago I was sitting at ‘my’ table at my favorite café, secretly feeding Bee under the table, waiting for my shift to begin at the restaurant. Now I was standing at college campus, not knowing where to go or who to turn to.
Guess if I accepted my scholarship? Of course I did! Man, I need to get better self-confidence again. I thought I’d taken care of that part, but I’m obviously just as insecure as before.
I had to tell my parents, and they were so happy that they even agreed on taking care of Bee while I was studying. Poor Bee. I’ll probably be one of those crazy people that call their dog and talk to them over the phone. I can hear myself trying to find excuses to why my parents are so strange.
I’d been to New York University before, but I still had no idea what it would be like when I got there this time. I tried to catch up with my college-skills by watching ‘Felicity’ all week, but I don’t think it’ll help very much.
After wandering around campus for a while, I saw a huge banner (which I hadn’t seen before) that told me where to go. I got stuck in a huge line, where I had to stand if I wanted to be registered and get my room-number and so on. There’s a lot of people with last names that begins with the letters A, B, C and D...
While I was standing there, minding my own business in the endless queue, someone tapped me on my shoulder.
“Cee? Is that you?”
A very familiar voice. I couldn’t quite place it though. It was so long ago since I heard any familiar voices at all that they all sounded strange somehow. The last time anyone called me ‘Cee’ was back with the Ducks. Fred never called me that.
I turned around to face the person. “Yeah, it’s me. Who are... you?”
For God’s sake, it was Adam Banks. I hadn’t seen him in over a year.
“You don’t recognize me? I haven’t change that much have I?” he teased me. No, actually he looked just like he used to look back in high school.
“No, sorry, I just didn’t recognize your voice,” I answered. “It’s great to see you!”
“Great to see you too,” he exclaimed. “Where have you been? I thought you’d keep in touch or something.”
A sting of guilt struck me. Yes, they’d all expected that from me.
“Well, here I am!” I told him and waved my arms around. I’m still a crazy little person, I think. Thank God for high school, without those years I’d still be that suicidal little depressed girl. Now I’m a crazy, content little girl. At least I’m not un-happy as I was constantly during my years at Lincoln.
“Yeah you are. You look different. Did you get a hair-cut?”
“Yes, several,” I said. “How ‘bout you? Why do you look... the way you do?”
Adam laughed. “Well, you’ve lost your insecure-streak. What happened to that girl who never had the guts to speak to anyone?”
“I think she got hit by a car outside Grand Central Station. That happens a lot. The new traffic-lights are very confusing.”
Yes, he’s right. I used to be unable to talk to anyone. I was too afraid to speak up, and when I did, I always said the stupidest things. I still do, but it doesn’t concern me as much. Does this mean that I’ve been improving my mature... ness? How did I get an ‘A’ in English Grammar?
“You speak like this to everyone you meet?” he asked.
“Yes, I talk nonsense to all strangers in New York. It’s a safe way to keep people away from you on the subway.”
Adam nodded slowly. “Right, you’re straight from the Big Apple. How’s it like to live here?”
“It’s great. I love it here!” I cheered. Adam gave me a strange gaze. I don’t think I ever cheered without reasons back in high school.
“You behave like you’re happy,” he concluded. “Could it be? Little Cee, the depressed hot-head, have become... happy?”
I nodded and smiled cheerfully. “You better believe it. Getting out of high school was the best thing that ever happened to me. Guess who’s not suicidal anymore?” That last thing was meant as a joke, but Adam took it a bit too seriously, I think.
“Good for you. So, where’s Fred?”
The question I’d been waiting for. “I don’t know. I don’t think he’s coming.”
Adam stared at me for a second. “You’re not together?”
“Nope. He went home to Sweden, and left me here alone. Well, he left me with Bee, but worse guard could possibly not exist.”
“Bee?”
“My dog. Fred gave me a dog. He didn’t like that I was alone in New York. So he gave me a freakin’ dog instead,” I muttered bitterly. “But I do love that dog.”
“What happened?”
“Well, it’s hard to not love a creature that keeps following you around, waving his tail whenever he sees you and curls up at your feet when you’re sleeping. That must be why I kept Fred for so long.”
“Not the dog, what happened between you and Fred? I thought you were more in love then ever when you left Miami.”
“We were, but Adam, c’mon. That was over a year ago. Could you picture us not fighting or breaking up for a whole year?” I joked.
“When did you break up? A week later?”
“No,” I replied. “We moved to New York, as we said that we were going to do. And we lived happily ever after. For a couple of months. Then he left for Sweden in March, and I lived on my own in New York. That’s the whole sunshine story. I’m just waiting for someone to buy the movie rights.”
“I see your sarcasm is still in use. I’ve missed it terribly,” Adam said. “Well, maybe Fred will show up anyway.”
“That’s okay. I don’t mind having him around. The chances are small though, because if he were here, he’d be in this line.”
“No, the chance that you see someone you recognize in this line is more unlikely,” Adam pointed out. He has a good point, damn him.
After it was finally my turn (after like ten hours in line), Adam went over to pick up his luggage, so I was on my own again. I decided to check out my new room. I had no idea who my roommate was. I never had a roommate in high school; I lived alone like the rest of the girls on the team. I wonder if I’m suit to be somebody’s roommate? I’m probably the roommate from hell.
It was a complete mess in the hallways. There were things and people everywhere, and I had to practically climb over both furniture and humans to get to my own hallway. The weird thing was, it was completely quiet in that hallway. No people, no things, no furniture. Completely empty. It was very spooky.
Since I’m a brave person, I walked quickly through the hallway. My room was in the end of the hallway. No, it wasn’t, actually. I had room-number 25, but when I opened the door I found myself standing in a living room. Cool, I’ve been passed on to live on the couch for the next four years.
I sneaked around, looking through the room. It had a couch, a table, a bookshelf and a kitchen table with chairs. And also a small kitchen. As long as it has a microwave, I’ll be fine. I looked at my key again. Except from the number 25, it also had the number 4 carved in. So now I had to find a room with the number four. Could be hard, since none of the doors where numbered.
While I was investigating the area, I carefully checked if any of the doors where unlocked. There were four doors connected to the living room. One of them was unlocked, so I stepped in.
“Hello? Anyone here? I’m not snooping, I’m just... curious,” I explained quietly. No one answered, so I decided to take a closer look. There had to be someone that had been there before, because there was boxes on the floor and bags thrown on the bed. I kept talking quietly to myself, while going through the stuff on the bed. I think I’m going crazy.
I can’t really remember how I figured out the room-numbers, but I did somehow. I unlocked the door to number 4 and stepped in. Huge mistake.
Someone else was already in there, and stupid as I am, I didn’t knock before I entered. I stopped abruptly when I heard a surprised voice shriek at my presence. “Cecilia?”
I turned my head away when I realized that I’d intruded on two people I recognize very well. “Connie?” I said with a surprised voice. “I’m sorry, I’ll leave.” I was already on the other side of the door, laughing at the embarrassing situation. I’d just done the same thing Charlie used to do when I was with Fred in their room back in high school. I’d walked in on Connie and Guy making out. Well, it’s fair, since they walked in on Fred and me a couple of times too. I’m just glad that they weren’t doing anything more advanced.
Jealousy struck me. In high school, Fred and I was the wild couple. Connie and Guy were the eternal virgins, or at least compared to us. I have a feeling that I’m the closest one to a virgin by now. Damn Fred to break my heart like that.
I heard the door open behind me, so I twirled around, afraid to catch someone else in an embarrassing situation. I did, kind of.
“Hey.”
I blinked at the person standing in the door. Speak of the Devil, guess who it was? The guy who broke my heart, who else? What was I supposed to do now? I didn’t hate him or anything. I’m not even angry. At that moment, I was happy to see him again.
“Hey,” I answered quietly.
Right at that moment Connie decided to show up. She slammed the door open and stumbled out. “Hey, Cecilia, I am so...” she began, but when she saw Fred she decided to be silent. I didn’t pay any attention to her; I just stared at Fred.
“So, you’re here too?” I mumbled.
“Yeah,” he nodded. “It’s... It’s nice to see you again. I mean... I haven’t seen you since... It’s nice to see you.”
While I was listening to his stuttering, I realized that I’d missed him more then I wanted to admit to myself. He took a step closer to me, so by old habit I did the same. We both stood there in the worst awkward silence I’d ever experienced, until he decided to put his arms around me. I hugged him back, and I felt my feet lift from the floor when he picked me up. He always does that; it must be because I’m so short.
He didn’t let go at once, but way too soon anyway. “I missed you,” he told me. “How’ve you been?”
“Fine, how ‘bout you?” I replied. “How’s the parental unit doing?”
“Up and running,” he said. “No blood-spilling for months now.”
I just nodded. What else could I do?
“Uhm, so, what’s up with you guys?” Connie asked from behind me. “Did I disturb you?”
“Not more then I disturbed you,” I smiled. Connie blushed and smiled back.
“Sorry ‘bout that, I thought you weren’t coming until three. You’re my roommate? Great!” she went on. “I took the bed next to the door, so you can have the one by the window. So, did you two brake up, or what?”
“Yeah, we kind of did... Hey, show me what bed’s mine, I need a nap,” I said.
Connie tilted her head and gave me a sympathized look. Man, I hate those.
“So, you live here too,” asked Fred. “I guess they paired us up into how we used to live. What room is number 3?”
I pointed at the unlocked room, where I’d been sneaking around in earlier. “Whomever you share with is already there,” I told him. “Good luck fitting all your stuff in there.”
He gave me a smile and went over to the room I’d pointed out. He was being nice to me. That makes it hard for me to dislike him.
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