Unlikely Allies (23 page)

Carol left when we were almost done so she could help her mom with dinner.

Rick and I finished loading up the back of the Expedi
tion, which I had to
admit had a ton of space once you laid all the seats down. Rick filled me in on what was happening at the camp while we worked. He was careful to skirt around
mentioning Mason and I was thankful for it. I hadn't cried over Mason since my first night home, but being around Rick brought the raw feelings back to the surface.

"So, Amy's gearing up for Red Rocks," he said, closing the hatch of the vehicle as my mom pulled into the driveway.

"Where's she staying?" I asked.

"In a small apartment off campus.
Her scholarship money and loans are enough to pay the bills and her classes. We're all pitching in for the rest."

"That's great. I know how much she wanted to go to college."

"She misses you," he said before turning to greet my mom. "Kate," he said, giving her hug.

"It's good to see you
,
Rick," she said warmly.

I headed to my room, leaving them to chat.

My room looked bare without all the boxes and bags that had cluttered it the last few weeks. Sitting on the edge of my bed, I thought about my conversation with Rick. I felt bad I hadn't called or returned Amy's text messages since I got home. I had pushed her away, afraid that talking to her would make me miss Mason more. I now realized it was selfish of me to do so. I valued her friendship and I wasn't doing a very good job showing it.

I pulled my cell out of my pocket and scrolled through my messages until I got to the one she had sent.

Hey girl I hear you're college bound.
I typed.

Who is this???
She answered.

Hahaha kidding :)
She texted back.

Sorry I haven't called.

I understand chica. I know something went down between you and
Greeky
but figured you didn't want to talk about it.

Yeah sort of.

That's okay. I'm here if you need a friend.

Thanks I value your friendship a lot.

Aww back
atcha
Twinsie
.

I
heart
you.
I texted smiling.

I
heart
you too <3
Don't
be a stranger.

I won't.
I typed.

Tossing my phone on my bed, I headed to my bathroom to shower since moving stuff translated to sweaty
ickiness
.

The evening passed much too quickly for my liking as Rick treated Mom and me to dinner out at my favorite Mexican restaurant. During dinner, Rick entertained us with stories of previous years at the camp. Mom and I were in stitches at some of the fiascos, or as he put it, fires he had to put out. The evening was bittersweet as I got a glimpse into what our life might have been like.

"I had fun tonight," I told them, giving them a hug goodnight as they continued to talk late into the night.

"Night,
Kimmie
," Rick said, standing.

"Night, Dad," I said, heading toward my room.

"I can't believe she lets you call her that," I heard Mom say.

"Oh sheesh, between Car and Mom, nothing's sacred," I muttered to myself.

My last mo
rning at home passed in a whirl
wind of activity as I rushed around like a maniac, grabbing stray art supplies that seemed to be strewn throughout the house. Finally, after many false starts, we were on the road, headed for the campus. The thre
e-
hour drive passed quickly as Mom and I talked about mundane things, trying to hold our tears at bay over our impending separation.

Th
e
campus was buzzing when we arrived and we wound up circling the block several times until we found spaces. Rick squeezed into the closest space while Mom and I parked a block away.

Carol showed up with her mom and dad in tow, and we made quick work of unloading all the vehicles. Before I knew it, Carol and I were standing alone in our dorm room with tears in our eyes.

"Well, we're college girls," Carol said dramatically, sweeping her arms out and twirling around.

"Yeah, I guess we are," I said, not sharing her excitement.

"Come on G
loomy Gus, we're here. Let's go grab something to eat and we'll deal with this mess later," she said, indicating the multiple boxes and bags scattered across the room.

"Fine, but you're doing your share when we get back," I said, knowing her well.

"Me?" she said, laying on the innocence.

Carol and I walked around the campus to get a better lay of the land before classes started on Monday.

"What time is freshman orientation tomorrow?"
Carol asked, sipping her large
iced
caramel
latte.

"Two in the afternoon, I think.
Why?"

"Just wondering since the campus seems pretty empty."

"That's what I was thinking. I guess not everyone is as dedicated as us," I joked.

"You mean
,
dweebie
, right? Come on, let’s go get dinner, maybe we'll meet some people."

"By
'
people
'
, you mean
'
boys
'
," I said, linking my arm through hers. "How can you be hungry anyway? You just downed an iced caramel latte."

"Hello, have we met?"

"Oops, that's right. I forgot I was talking to the bottomless pit," I quipped as she dragged me into the Terrace Food Court.

"Wow, pick your poison," I said, taking in all the fast food places. "Sheesh, this food court is better than the one at the mall," I joked, heading for the Panda Express.

"I'm going to make the rounds to see what I want," Carol said, dum
ping her empty cup in the trash
can.

"Okay," I said, placing my order with the girl behind the counter.

Carol still wasn't back by the time I paid for my food, so I picked a table for us. I was halfway done with my food when I saw her headed my way, dragging two very willing guys behind her. I
held back a sigh at their twin
like appearance
s
in khaki
shorts and girly-
colored polo shirts. Why guys suddenly thought it was hot to wear pink and lavender was beyond me.

"Kim, this is Chris and his friend Steven," she said, making quick introductions while I glared at her.

"Hi," I said, holding out my hand, reluctantly.

Chris shook it firmly before turning his attention back to Carol, making it clear who he was interested in.

I turned to his friend to shake his hand. He grasped mine longer than necessary, making a production of running his thumb over my pulse point. I jerked my hand back, frowning at him.

"Sorry, there's only room at the table for two," I said, rudely.

"That's okay. We can get a bigger..." Carol started to say, but abruptly shut her mouth when she saw my thunderous expression.

"No problem," Chris said, looking at me like I had sprouted an extra head. "Here, let me program my number in your phone and maybe we can get together after your orientation," he said, reaching for his phone.

"Okay," Carol said, obviously already infatuated.

Taking a moment to appraise Chris, I guess I couldn'
t blame her. He was easily more than
six feet tall with a mess of brown locks that fell across his forehead. His lean physique made him a prime candidate for most shirtless activities that most girls would dream about. Judging by the look on Car's face, she was already in dreamland. With Carol standing next
to him with her long golden legs, highlighted by a mid-thigh skirt and a full chest, enhanced by the peasant shirt that tied just over her chest, they looked like they were posing for some clothing line.

"I'll call you," Carol said as they turned to leave. Chris turned to wink at her one last time and I had to bite back a groan. Carol was a goner for sure.

"I'm in love," she announced, throwing herself in the chair across from me.

"I'm surprised it took so long, you've known him all of ten minutes," I said drily.

"Closer to fifteen," she said, smiling at me impishly. "Isn't this why we came to college?" she asked, picking a piece of Mongolian chicken off my plate.

I s
hoved my
plate toward her.

"So, you were a little rude there," she said, digging in with gusto.

"Well, unlike you my dear, I'm not here to meet hunky gu
ys, and especially not ones who
assaulted my hand in a handshake."

"Oh I'm sure it wasn't that bad."

"Seriously, he rubbed his thumb along my pulse point. Who doesn
't know that's a date move only?
"
I griped, taking a slurp of my Diet C
oke.

"You know, it might do Mr. Mountain Dreamboat some good if he thought you were dating."

"Car, he has enough on his plate, like learning to walk again. This isn't high school anymore, no games allowed. He either wants me or he doesn't," I said, taking another drink to try to remove the sudden lump in my throat.

Carol looked like she wanted to say more, but changed her mind and continued to eat the rest of my dinner.

Chapter 1
8

I let my head fall forward onto my desk with a thud. The pain radiated across my forehead, but it didn't alleviate my aggravation at the statistics problems that openly mocked me. "Why the hell an art teacher needs to know the probability of an ace of hearts coming up out of a gazillion cards is beyond me," I grumbled to myself, slamming the book closed in frustration. I was definitely going to have to hit a tutoring session if I planned on passing this class.

"Shut down your laptop
,
chick-a-
roo
, we're going to a party," Carol said, breezing into our dorm room.

"I can't
,
Car, I have a term paper due in my Teaching in Diverse Populations class, and this freaking Statistics class will be the death of m
e," I said, pointing to my text
book, accusingly.

"Kim, you haven't been out since we got here. That's almost
niiiine
weeks," she said, dragging out the nine like it was a dirty word.

"Car, I don't feel like going out."

"Look Kim, I know you've gone through a lot, and I won't even pretend to understand what you went through, but honey, you have to move o
n. No offense, but Captain Dick
head is obviously too stupid to know what he's
missing. Staying in the room pi
ning for him every Friday night isn't doing you any good."

"Car," I said, sighing. I knew she was right. When September had slid into October without a word from Mason, I faced the harsh reality that our short time together had meant nothing to him.

"Come out with me, please.
It's Halloween and one of the fraternities is throwing a huge costume party. I even bought you a mask," she said, holding up a cheapo paper Zorro mask.

I giggled looking at it.
"Seriously?"
I said as my giggles turned to laughter.

She smiled at me. "Actually, I bought you this one too, figuring you could pic
k," she said, holding up a plum-
colored mask decked out in gems and feathers.

"Okay, but you better not leave me stranded while you and Chris make out in some dark corner."

"Chris is so old news. I'm going with Michael."

"Michael?" I asked, wracking my head for a recent mention of him. "Regardless, you better not leave me high and dry."

“I won't leave your side," she said, smiling at me mischievously. "Scouts honor," she added, seeing my skepticism.

"You w
eren't ever a scout," I pointed out
, heading off to the bathroom to take a quick shower.

Carol's laughter followed me.

Two hours later I was standing alone against a wall watching the party unfold in front of me with Carol nowhere to be found. I was ready to wring her neck for leaving me in a crowd where I knew no one. Though I was seriously pissed at her, I couldn't help openly gawking at the people around me. To say that college students got into their costume parties would have been a gross understatement. Scantily dressed girls walked around in costumes, ranging from vampires to angels. The majority of the male population at the party had gone with the werewolf theme. I had lost count after like the twelfth one walked by my safe place. I felt out of place standing there by myself, clutching a solo cup of punch that some stranger in a werewolf mask had assured me would make me happy. By his staggering around, I was pretty convinced his idea of happy and mine were entirely different.