Summer was over in the blink of an eye, but when Bree moved back to college for the fall, she moved back into the dorms. Dating Sam was one thing; living with him was something else entirely, and she’d realized after seeing Trent at the convenience store that she didn’t want to take the chance at moving in with someone and having him break her heart halfway through the first semester. Then, she’d have nowhere to go.
She’d just finished unpacking her things when her dorm room door opened. A tall woman with long dark hair and a smattering of freckles across her nose practically galloped in. “Oh, hey. Sorry. I would’ve knocked if I would’ve known you were here already.”
“That’s okay,” Bree said, smiling. “I’m Bree.”
“Melissa. I guess I’m your roommate.”
“Cool.” Bree shook her hand. “Are you new here?”
“Yeah, I just transferred from Illinois State. I grew up in Paducah, and my parents just wanted me closer to home.”
“That makes sense. Are you a senior?”
She shrugged. “I’m starting my fourth year, but, I’m not gonna graduate in May.”
Bree nodded, not thinking it was her business to ask why not. “What’s your major?”
“Uh… education.”
She stepped back into the hallway and brought in a couple of boxes while Bree tried to figure out why she didn’t immediately know what her major was. “What do you want to teach?”
Again, Melissa seemed unsure. “Probably kids. I don’t know. I just like to have fun.” She dropped the boxes on her side of the room. “I’m going to go get the rest of my boxes.”
“Do you need some help?” Bree asked.
“Nah, I’ll find some dudes.” She smiled and disappeared out the door.
Bree dropped down on the edge of her bed. Melissa was definitely nothing like her last roommate, Lilly, had been, and something told Bree this could go very badly if Melissa didn’t take school seriously and was out partying all night, coming in drunk and waking her up. Maybe she should’ve moved in with Sam after all.
A few minutes later, Melissa came in with a bunch of guys carrying boxes. They dropped them on the floor where she pointed for them. With a cute grin, she said, “Thanks guys! Where are we hanging tonight?”
“We usually go to High Life around nine,” one of them said.
“I’ll be there.” Melissa sure knew how to use her body as a flirtatious weapon.
“Bring you friend,” another one of the guys added, looking at Bree.
“I will also be there,” Bree said, though not in the same tone.
“Cool,” a third guy said. “Save a dance for me, beautiful.”
“I can’t…. I’ll be playing the music.”
“No way!” Melissa exclaimed, spinning to look at her. “You’re a rock star?”
Laughing, Bree said, “Not exactly. But I am a musician.”
“Get out of town!” Melissa seemed genuinely impressed. “That’s way cool. Do you play the guitar?”
Bree’s case was leaning against the wall by her closet. “Yeah,” she said, nodding at it.
“Well, I can’t wait!” Melissa said with a grin. “And I can’t wait to see you fellas there either. I’ll be sure to save enough dances for all of you.” She winked at them and the guys practically fell all over each other as she ushered them out of the room.
Melissa shut the door on them and then came back to her bed. “They were hot. Which one did you like the best?”
“I don’t know. I have a boyfriend so….”
“Really? Man, I’m learning all sorts of shit about you, Bree. Is he cute?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Awesome. I love cute guys. What’s his name?”
“Sam. He’ll be there tonight. We play together.”
“Oooh, we’re going to watch you play together?” She winked, and Bree wished she’d chosen different words.
“You can listen to us play music together.” Desperately wanting to get away from the strange new girl, she said, “I’m going to go see if he’s moved into his room yet. I’ll see you later.”
“‘Kay,” Melissa said, kicking one of her boxes out of the way. It didn’t look like she was in any hurry to unpack.
Bree walked down the hallway, dodging people coming in with boxes and friends reuniting. She didn’t think Sam was there yet, or he would’ve called her, but she was hopeful. It had been a long time since she’d seen him, and she desperately wanted to, but she also wanted an excuse not to go back to her room.
She found the room number he’d given her and knocked on the door. A redheaded guy with no shirt on opened the door. “Hey. What’s up?”
“Uh… hi. Is Sam here yet?”
He looked around him and then turned back to her. “Nah, I don’t think so.”
Confused, Bree asked, “This is his room, isn’t it?”
“I think so.”
“Is this your room?”
“Yeah.”
“Is your roommate’s name Sam Fowler?”
“Probably….”
A familiar voice to her left caught her attention. “Bree!”
She turned to see Sam coming down the hallway, his guitar case in one hand and a suitcase in the other. “Sam!” she ran over to him, and he put his stuff down in time to embrace her. His lips found hers, and once again, Bree wished she’d taken the leap of faith to move in with him.
“I missed you so much,” Sam said, once he’d come up for air.
“I missed you, too. How was your drive?”
“Long. But I’m here now. Just gotta finish unpacking.”
“I met your roommate. He’s… succinct.”
Sam chuckled. “I haven’t met him yet. How’s yours?”
Bree shrugged. “She’s interesting. A party girl, I think. She’s coming to the club tonight.”
“Great. Can’t wait to meet her.”
Bree helped him finish getting the rest of his stuff out of his car, found out his roommate's name was Dusty and that he never wore a shirt, and was thankful when they were alone for a few minutes while Dusty went down the hall to visit some bros. It had been a long summer, and finding Sam’s arms was a comfort.
“I need to go get ready to head to the club,” she said later that evening, after a bowl of Ramen noodles for dinner. Dusty was back and watching WWE at an ungodly volume. Bree was happy to have an excuse to leave.
“All right. I’ll come with you so I can meet your roommate.”
“Okay. It was nice to meet you, Dusty,” she said, giving the guy a wave.
“See ya.” He didn’t even look away from the TV.
In the hall, Sam slipped his fingers through hers. “I wonder if Dusty will go to the club,” he said.
“I don’t know. Probably not if their policy is no shirt, no shoes, no service.”
Her room was just down the hall. When she got there, she pushed the door open slowly so as not to alarm Melissa. She was on the phone, sitting cross legged on her bed. Very few of her boxes had been unpacked, but there was a sheet on the mattress and her pink comforter was tossed by her feet.
When they walked in, she looked up. “Gotta go, Syd,” she said and hung up her phone. “Hey!”
“Hi, Melissa. This is my boyfriend, Sam Fowler.”
She was already off the bed and coming over. “Nice to meet you.” Her smile was a little too flirty for Bree’s liking, but she knew that’s just how the woman was.
“Nice to meet you, too.” Sam looked uncomfortable but offered his hand.
She took it. “Wow, you have the fingers of a musician.” She smiled and took her time letting him go.
“Thank you….” It was an odd compliment, and he was obviously not sure what else to say.
“I’ve gotta get changed. You wanna swing by in 20 minutes, and we can walk down together?”
“Sounds good. Amps are in my car.”
“Cool.” Bree kissed him quickly on the lips, and Sam turned to head back to his dorm. It was nice to have him back, to know she’d get to see him every day.
“Wowzers, Bree. Your boyfriend is hot. I just love musicians. They’re so...cool, but like they don’t even know how cool they are.” Melissa’s eyes were clouded over, and Bree wouldn’t have been surprised to see drool pouring out the corner of her mouth.
“Yeah, he’s great,” she agreed. She’d never had anyone tell her they thought her boyfriend was hot before, but she thought he was, so it stood to reason that other people would, too. Lilly thought he was “cute, in a boyish way….” and another one of her friends had said he was “nice looking if you prefer thin to fit,” which Bree had taken to mean he needed to lift more. But in her eyes, Sam was pretty darn perfect--even if he didn’t have washboard abs and killer blue eyes. There was something to be said for not dating the hottest guy in the universe.
She tried to shake away images of the guy that had popped into her mind at the word “hot.” There was reason to be thinking about Trent at the moment.
“So… do you guys have a method for letting your roommates know when it’s a bad time to walk in?” Melissa asked as Bree got the outfit she was planning to wear together.
“Uh… what do you mean?”
“I assume you don’t want an audience, although, if you do, that’s cool.”
“Oh.” Bree figured out what she meant. “No, we don’t, uh, that hasn’t been an issue.”
“Wait, you’re not screwing that guy? That hot musician? You’re not getting it on with him?”
Bree’s eyes bulged. “That’s not what I said.” She felt her face turning red. She’d never talked about stuff like that with Lilly, and they were good friends. “I’m just saying….” She didn’t know what she was saying. She stopped talking.
“Okay, well, I prefer the old towel under the door. If you’ve gotta force your way in, you should probably stay out. Know what I mean?”
“I’ll try to remember that.” Bree gave her a small smile and then went into the bathroom to get dressed. She didn’t need an audience for that either.