It's a Match! (6 page)

“How was work today, mom?” Cole asked, breaking the silence.
 

“Stressful. I need to go in after dinner for a meeting,” Cole’s mother replied.
 

“Another one?” Ralph asked, seemingly dejected.
 

“Yes. This is an intense time,” she replied coldly.

“It’s always an intense time,” Ralph added.
 

“My work is what keeps this roof over our heads. You seem to have forgotten that.”

“Believe me, you never let me forget it. You throw it in my face as often as possible.”

“Cole, go to your room.”

“Why?”

“Because I said so,” she replied sternly.
 

“Fine.” Cole threw his napkin on the table and headed to his room. Once he was around the corner, he stood and listened to the conversation between his parents.
 

“Ralph, I have something to tell you.”

“I know.”

“You know what?”

“I know there’s someone else,” Ralph replied, in a low voice.
 

Cole felt sick. There was no way his mother would do that. She loved his father … right?

“How do you know?”

“I saw an email. I didn’t mean to snoop. When I went to check mine, you were already logged in. I only needed to see a couple words to realize what was going on. How long?”

“It doesn’t really matter, does it?”

“How long?” Ralph repeated, raising his voice in a way Cole had never observed. Ralph was typically very timid and quiet, the opposite of his mother.
 

“Four months.”

“
Four
months?” Ralph asked, his voice becoming even louder.
 

“You asked,” she replied flatly.
 

“What does this mean?” Ralph asked, lowering his voice once more.
 

“I’m leaving.”

“You can’t be serious. What about Cole?”

“I can’t stay for him,” his mother replied, colder by the minute.
 

Cole’s hands were shaking and his heart was racing. Was this actually happening? It felt like he was living a nightmare.

“Can you stay for me?” Ralph paused for a moment. “For us?”

“There hasn’t been an ‘us’ for a long time. I think you know that.”

“We can fix this. We can talk to somebody.” Ralph’s voice was desperate.
 

“No, we can’t.”
 

Then there was silence. Cole rushed off to his room and slammed the door. He sat on the floor, leaning against his bed, fighting the tears. His family had been torn apart.
 

And he never saw his mother again.
 

Cole wondered if he would ever see or talk to her someday. A part of him knew he probably wouldn’t, that she was gone forever, but the small child in him had to hold onto the idea that she’d come back someday and hold him in her arms once more. How could she have cared so little? The scars of her leaving were ones he would carry with him forever. He wasn’t sure he could ever truly trust anyone again.

Well, obviously he trusted Sutton, but that was different. She had the purest heart of anyone he’d ever known. She would never leave him like that. She wasn’t cold, as his mother had been.
 

Cole wanted to let go of the anger. He wanted to forget his mother had ever existed at all. He had his dad and he had Sutton.
 

And that was all he needed.

SUTTON PULLED INTO
a loading zone in front of her dorm hall at around 6:30pm. As expected, she and Cole had indeed stayed up virtually all night at the hotel the night before, so she was exhausted. The moment she exited the car, she was accosted by an all-too-energetic guy in a bright yellow shirt that read
Welcome to the First Day of the Rest of your Life
.
 

“Hi there, newbie! How was the drive? Where did you come from? I’m Johnny, by the way. I’m your new Resident Advisor.”

He was far too loud and was speaking far too quickly for Sutton to compute right away, in her tired state. After a moment, she was able to piece it together. “Um … the drive was long. I was coming from California, San Francisco specifically. And my name is Sutton. Sutton Meyers.”

“Wow! That
is
far! Let me help you unload this car and move into your new room. Do you know which one you’re in?”

Sutton reached into her car and removed a crumpled piece of paper from the center console. She searched for the room number. “I’m in 304.”

“Ooh, third floor. We don’t have any elevators, but at least you don’t have any furniture.”

“Yeah, it shouldn’t be too bad. I mean, I have a lot of clothes. And probably far too many toiletries,” Sutton said, slightly embarrassed.

“In other words, you’re a girl,” Johnny replied. They both laughed as he opened the back of the car, then begin to pile boxes on top of each other.
 

They small-talked as they made a few trips from the car to the room and back. Finally, they had put the last of it in the room.
 

“Oh, your roommate is at the welcoming mixer by the way,” Johnny said. “You showed up a little late for that, but there are many more events to come.”

“Cool,” Sutton said, with a nervous smile. She hoped she would get along with her roommate, but there wasn’t really anyone Sutton didn’t get along with, aside from her parents of course.
 

“Well, last thing is to move your car to the student lot. Then you can begin to settle in. I’ll show you where it is.”

“Johnny?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you for your help.”

“No problem, Sutton. That’s what I’m here for.” And, with a very genuine smile, he directed her to the student lot and wished her good luck.
 

I’m going to need it,
Sutton thought.

Once she returned to her new home, she sat down on the edge of the bare bed and looked around at her many boxes and suitcases, mildly overwhelmed at the concept of unpacking. Maybe she should have listened to her father and packed lighter, but she wasn’t a huge fan of ever listening to her father. She’d probably packed even more stuff just to defy him. She smiled a bit at the thought of not having to live with her parents anymore. It wasn’t like she didn’t love them; she just wanted them to understand her. She’d have thought they would want her to be happy.

She wasn’t an argumentative person. She was an introvert. She was the opposite of a lawyer. The fact that her parents couldn’t see that was beyond Sutton’s comprehension. It was like they didn’t know her at all. They seemed to have had their minds made up about her before she was even born. If she didn’t fit into the cookie-cutter mold they created for her, she was merely a huge disappointment in their eyes.

COLE FELT A SUDDEN
burst of energy as he pulled up to the dorms. Though he had only gotten a couple hours of sleep the night before, he was ready. He was ready for whatever awaited him. It was a fresh start, a clean slate. Nobody here knew who he was. He could be the coolest guy in the world, for all they knew.

Cole found himself wondering what his roommate would be like as he headed to his new home. He’d brought so little stuff that he only needed to make one trip, which was good since the parking lot was fairly far from the building he was going to be living in.
 

He walked up to the door to his new room, beaming with excitement. He opened the door to find a guy feverishly typing on his laptop. The guy looked up, saw Cole, and stopped what he was doing for a moment. “Hey, you must be Cole.” He extended his hand without standing up, then added, “I’m Hunter Williams.”

Cole shook Hunter’s hand eagerly and took a look around. His roommate appeared to be all moved in already. Hunter’s side of the room was covered with Star Wars memorabilia, all the way down to the Darth Vader sheets on his extra-long twin bed. Hunter had a head of wild, curly blonde hair and tired-looking hazel eyes, and looked somewhat disheveled with his unkempt facial hair. He was perhaps the pastiest human being Cole had ever seen and was virtually speckled with freckles. Cole found himself wondering if Hunter’s skin had ever actually seen the light of day. His goofy smile was warm and welcoming, and Cole had a good feeling about him, since he believed one could tell a lot about a person from the first interaction.

“Did you need help with your stuff?” Hunter asked, turning back to his laptop.
   

“Nope, this is it.”

“Man, you pack light.”

“Yeah. So … what are you working on?” Cole asked curiously.
 

“A bio chem prep test,” Hunter replied, in a mildly stressed tone.

“Am I missing something? Prep test, already?”

“I like to be prepared.”

It was obvious to Cole that Hunter was one of those intelligent, overachiever types. He would probably be a good influence on Cole, making sure he didn’t wrap himself up too much in football. Cole nodded a bit as he heard his phone beeping. He put his bags down on the bed and pulled the phone out of his pocket. It was Sutton.
 

Hey C- Did you get there yet? My roommate still isn’t back from this mixer thingy.

Just got here. My roommate is a Star Wars fanatic who’s already prepping for bio chem.

Eek. Well, is he nice at least?

Yeah, he seems cool.

That’s good. I hope mine is too.

I’ll be crossing my fingers for you.

Oh hey, my roommate just walked in.

Let me know how it goes.

Wish me luck.

Good luck, Sutton.

SUTTON STOOD UP
and walked over to her new roommate, who flashed a wide smile. She was tall and slender, with a model-type figure. She had bleached-blonde hair pulled back into bows with little sparkly pink clips. Her eyes were crystal blue and she wore a fitted black dress with tall red heels. “You must be Sutton! It’s so fantastic to meet you! I’m Ava.”

Ava was brimming with excitement and it was infectious. Sutton smiled back at her. “Hi, nice to meet you. How was the mixer?”

The petite blonde girl took a seat on the edge of her bed. “It was awesome! Everybody is so nice.”

“I’m sorry I missed it. It was a really long day of driving.”

“Where did you come from?”

Sutton walked over to her bed and took a seat, facing Ava. “San Francisco. So, pretty far. How about you?”

“I probably had about an hour longer drive than you. I’m from Portland. What made you decide to go to school so far from home?”

Sutton took a deep breath, contemplating how much of her story she felt like divulging to her new roommate. She decided it was too early to talk about her need to get as far away from her parents as possible. “There’s a really good writing program here. I got a scholarship.”

“That’s awesome! Oh, hey, there’s a fair thingy tomorrow with all of the school clubs and stuff. Want to go with me?”

“Yeah, I’d like that.”