Carnelian (2 page)

I began reading just where I left off.
Marie, the protagonist, was just finding out her best friend was a
demon. It was sad. Marie’s family were descendants of angels that
were hunting demons. I felt bad for her. It was easy to slip back
into the story and forget about the world around me. I continued to
read and ignored the person who sat down next to me at my new
reading tree. No one could pull me out of my little world. I needed
to find out what Marie was going to do. Would she hunt her best
friend? I could hear imaginary music playing as I got more absorbed
into the story. If I could write music, I’d have a soundtrack to
each book I read. The real world was completely gone as I read with
the tune playing on in my head. I turned page after page and didn’t
even know how long I had sat there. The last page came too quickly
and the book was done. As with the rest of the books in the series,
I would have to read it again.

I closed my book and looked up from under
the maple canopy to the blue sky above. I had a normal life, but
girls in books always went on adventures. I guess that was what
going far off to college was to me, an adventure. My future was
already planned, but I’d give anything to be one of those heroines.
I wanted to live the life I found in these books. I was still lost
in thought over the ending when there was a thump on my lap.
College students were walking all around and a few tossing a
football between them. I looked down expecting to see a
football.

It wasn’t a football. The head of a
perfectly cute guy was lying across my lap. He had tipped over from
sleeping next to me and stayed fast asleep, even after his fall. I
looked at him and waited for him to wake. I mean, his fall startled
me out of my daydreaming. He didn’t wake. He kept sleeping
peacefully.

He was gorgeous—underwear model material.
His dark hair had a glint of red in it and was splayed across his
forehead. He had high cheek bones and perfectly-shaped lips.
Stubble ran across his cheeks, and it seemed like it had been days
since he had shaved. I looked at his fluttering, sleeping eyes and
wondered what color they were. Mystery man just kept sleeping, like
he had often found himself on unknown girl’s laps, and it didn’t
bother him. I needed to move soon, but I was stuck and couldn’t
help but admire him. He had his shirt off. It was draped partially
over his shoulder now, but mostly on the ground beneath him. My
eyes wandered down him to find he was very fit. Every muscle around
his shoulders and arms were perfectly defined, along with his
washboard abs. His athletic shorts were low on his hips showing off
more than I had been close to in a long while since I’d attended an
all-girls high school. I turned my eyes away before my eyes drifted
any further. I had to stop checking out this guy. I mean, yes he
literally fell into my lap, but I was beginning to feel like a
creeper. How could he still be sleeping?

He murmured a few words in his sleep. “Maat
mitra.” I didn’t know what they meant as I was sure they were
another language. Beautiful boy spoke another language, at least in
his dreams. A language I had never heard. He continued to talk
softly enough that only I could hear him, but none of it was in
English, or any language I knew, for that matter. He was foreign,
beautiful, and laying across my lap half naked. If I was a bit
bolder in my ways, I’d say I hit the lottery. This was going to go
down as the oddest start to my school year, but an embarrassing one
once he woke up and found me drooling over him.

I looked around at the other college kids
wandering about. No one seemed to even notice underwear model guy
sleeping on my lap. Or maybe no one cared. Didn’t this guy have a
girlfriend following him around devotedly? Some girl out there had
to be pissed at me right now. I glanced back down at him. Yes, he
was probably the cutest guy I had ever seen in person, but that
didn’t make it any less weird. I needed to move now, before he woke
up and it got even more awkward.

Gently my hand moved under his head. His
hair was soft, softer than I expected, distracting me again. The
dark auburn color was different. It was almost a chocolate brown,
but the red gleaming in it made it otherwise. He was a guy, but the
color was just actually pretty. The red was more subtle than my own
bright-red hair. I would have given anything to grow up with hair
as dark red as his.

Back on task, I lifted his head gently as to
not wake him. He was a bit heavier than I expected, but I kept
going, needing to get away soon. The longer I stayed, the more
likely he would wake, probably with my drool on him. Slowly, I slid
my legs out from beneath him. I moved his head to the ground with
my hand still beneath it. With my other hand I grabbed my book and
pushed myself up to a squatting position. I inched my hand out from
beneath his head and quickly made a run for it back to my room. I
dodged students as I ran around the corner of the building to the
stairs. He was already sitting up, awake, and looking around.

I didn’t notice the two students in front of
me until it was too late. I bounced off the larger of the two. He
was gigantic—probably the largest college student I had seen thus
far. His shoulders alone had to be at least three feet wide. He
smiled at me and quickly grabbed my arms to keep me from falling
down. He didn’t move an inch. He was as solid as he was massive,
and I was just a measly fly.

“Sorry about that,” I mumbled. I needed to
get away quick. It looked like underwear model was looking around
for me as I turned the corner.

“Watch where you’re going,” the tall, skinny
guy next to the guy I bounced off replied. He was as abnormally
tall as the other was wide.

“Not a problem,” the guy I ran into said.
His voice was low and there was a slight chuckle in it. “I don’t
mind when beautiful women run into me. You can run into me any
time, sugar.” He winked at me as I blushed.

I quickly stepped around
the two guys and hurried back to my room. An embarrassing start to
college, for sure. I flopped down on my bed… I might not survive
after all. Morton Carole was a small college, only a few hundred
people in each graduating class. I was sure to see “underwear
model” guy , “tall ornery” guy, and “big, run-into” guy on campus.
And, as most of the students lived in the dorms, I’d probably see
them more than I wanted in the one cafeteria.
Ugh.
College was just beginning, and
now it sucked. I threw my pillow over my head. Maybe I could just
climb into bed, go to sleep, and start this day all
over.

The door lock
clicked as someone unlocked it from the other
side. I sat up from my self-wallowing. In strolled a petite,
olive-skinned, girl with long, dark hair. She was followed by a man
in a turban and a woman in a sari. My new roommate, Sim, had
arrived with good timing to distract me from my failed first day of
being a grown-up. Her grin grew as she saw me, and she ignored her
prattling father, coming over to me instead of where he was
pointing.

“I’m excited to finally meet you,” Sim said,
still ignoring her father and mother who were now disputing
something about the room. All I caught was that the window wasn’t
exactly how the dorm people had described and that Sim’s mother
thought they should have come to measure.

“Do you need some help?” I asked. Anything
to distract me was a good thing at this point. Not like I could
make my day any worse.

“Mom, Dad,” Sim interrupted her parents. “We
are going down to get stuff from the car.” Her parents nodded and
kept arguing about details of the room. I was surprised they
actually heard Sim. She reached over and took the keys out of her
animated father’s hands.

I turned to follow Sim back out of the room.
She wove her way back through the adjoining hallways that I hadn’t
used yet. All four dorms were connected, but it was actually more
trouble to go through the dorms than around the outside. I’d have
to tell her that for our way back. Navigating the narrow hallways
with boxes sounded like it would just add to my failing day.

“When did you get here?” Sim asked.

“This morning,” I replied. “We spent the
night in Minneapolis, rather than show up here at ten last
night.”

“And your parents are gone all ready?” Sim
asked. “I’m going to have to push mine out of here after I get
everything to our room and even then, I doubt they will leave
easily.”

“Grandfather got called by a client. He’s in
the private antique business. If a rich client calls, he goes
immediately. They left before I even drove up here.” I tried not to
make the story sound sad. I was really used to it by now.
Grandfather had gotten called away almost weekly for as long as I
could remember.

“Oh, you moved in all by yourself?” Sim
sounded sad. Even if she had just been complaining about her
parents, she liked their doting.

We made it back through the dorm facing the
parking lot and out to her parents’ car. The midsized car was
packed full. I couldn’t even find where Sim sat for the ride. Sim
took one box and a bag.

“Could you wait here until my father comes
down? He’s supposed to be helping while Mom unpacks,” Sim
explained. “If one person always waits at the car, we won’t have to
keep tossing the keys between us. My parents always demand I lock
my car. Something about America not being safe.” Sim rolled her
eyes at the last comment.

“Sure,” I replied. Sim wove her way back
through the lot.

My thoughts began to wander and underwear
model’s face flashed in my memory. I could still feel how soft his
hair was. I kind of wanted to touch it again. If I had been brave,
I probably could have sat there longer with him. I mean, when am I
ever going to be alone with a guy like that again? I had to stop
thinking about him. Those thoughts were a bit stalkerish and
depressing, but I couldn’t help my wandering mind. I really
shouldn’t be left alone. I looked around the parking lot for a
distraction. I didn’t want to see any of the guys I met today, but
I needed something else to think about rather than underwear model
guy.

Sim’s dad, Mr. Singh, made his way back to
the car, his turban bouncing with each step. He was very energetic.
Maybe it was because I never had a father around, but I always
pictured dads to be like my friends’ fathers. They were all lawyers
and doctors, very serious men with no bounce to their step. Mr.
Singh was very energetic and spoke with a thick Punjabi accent.

“Miss Mari, you’re waiting very patiently,”
he commented, coming up next to me. “By now my Simardeep would be
yelling at me to hurry up and nagging about how long it took me.
Your parents raised such a patient child. I’d love to know
how.”

“I’ll have to ask my mom for you,” I
replied, picking up two boxes. Mr. Singh smiled at me as I walked
away.

I walked around the dorms on the wider
pathway outside. It was easier to maneuver between college students
on the sidewalk rather than the three foot wide hallways. I kept my
eyes open as I turned the corner; this time I wasn’t going to run
into someone on my way. No one was around the corner, and I made my
way inside to climb the one flight of stairs to our floor. As I
neared my room I could hear Sim and her mother arguing. Sim seemed
to be as loud as both her parents, and even had a hint of an accent
when arguing.

“Where should I put these?” I asked,
interrupting the glare Sim was giving her mother.

“On the bed is fine,” Mrs. Singh replied in
a friendly tone, like there hadn’t just been an argument.

“I’ll go get more,” I suggested, not really
wanting to get between the mother and daughter war that was going
on. Mrs. Singh smiled and nodded as Sim continued to glare at her.
I quickly backed out of the room and into the hall. I never really
fought with my mother over anything. It was strange, but funny, to
see them argue.

As I began my walk around the dorms yet
again, I was continuing to be cautious. I slowed as I neared the
corner. Underwear model guy was standing just around it, talking to
big guy and tall guy. I stopped before I could make it around, and
paused to see which way they were going.

“I swear I found her this time,” underwear
model guy said. His voice was as beautiful as he was. “The goddess
promised I would know when I found her. I do know. I found
her.”

“Just like the last twenty-three times,”
tall guy replied. His voice was fairly nasally for being such a
tall guy. I would have expected maybe a deeper voice.

“Dee, don’t tease him,” big guy warned.
There was a mixture of warning and sympathy in his voice.

“No. I swear to you guys. She’s the one,”
underwear model replied, unfazed by his friends doubt. “Maat came
to me in my dream. I promise you this girl is the one we’ve been
looking for.”

“Sure, just like Melissa,” tall guy
remarked. “Or was it Sarah, or Jenny? Just admit it, Seti, you
found another pretty face you want to make yours. By all means,
man, go ahead. No one is stopping you. Can you tell us who she is
so that we don’t go after her, too?”

I backed up slowly. I didn’t need to hear
more about underwear model’s conquests. Guys like that always had
girls throwing themselves at them. He was more appealing before
learning that he was a player. I went back inside the dorms and
prayed they wouldn’t come in as well. Looping back through the
dorms, I exited the door to the parking lot. The guys were nowhere
in sight. I dashed across the lot and made it to Sim’s car about
the same time she did.

“Papa,” Sim complained as her father was
lying in the driver’s seat, trying to take a nap. He opened his
eyes and grinned sheepishly at us both.

“Old men are allowed to take naps,” he
replied. Mr. Singh was not what I would consider old.