Chapter 2
“Erin, another glass before we head out?” asked Emily, her good friend from freshman year and now her roommate. The suite they lived in had a common room and two bedrooms, with two girls to each.
“No thanks I’m good for now. First night back I don’t want to go too hard yet.”
Erin was feeling a bit tipsy already and figured she’d better take it easy. It was only 9 pm! Her friends could really throw ‘em back.
“I was waiting for Dan to get over here first and we could all go together.”
“Why don’t you just text him and tell him to meet us there?”
“I have been,” said Erin, annoyed. “I sent him like 5 texts in the last hour, and I called him but no answer.”
“You should just go get him then,” said Emily. Dan’s dorm was only a couple minutes’ walk away. Erin thought about it. She had wanted to go out together but figured she might as well go pick him up.
“Yeah, alright. I need to go check up on him anyways,” she said jokingly.
“The place we are going is 28 Church Street,” said her other roommate Denise. “We were there once last year. I think you were there for that.”
“Yeah, I remember. Alright I’m gonna head over. I’ll see you guys in a bit.”
Erin grabbed her purse and headed out into the cool night air. It was great being back. Their college was somewhat out in the middle of nowhere, so there was nothing else to do on the weekend except go out and party. She had been to Dan’s dorm earlier in the day to help him move in. His roommate, Scott, seemed like a cute kid. Daniel and him had a lot in common – played football in high school, liked to go to the gym, both easy going with good sense of humor. She hoped they’d be a good match.
She’d actually lived in Dan’s dorm the year before. It was coed, with guys and gals on the same floor but separated into sections. She knew what went with that, and had met her fair share of guys as a freshman that she thought could have turned into something romantic.
Erin walked in and turned down the hallway on the way to Dan’s dorm room. When she turned the corner she could see a group of 5 or 6 freshman hanging out outside their room, one of them Dan. He seemed to be laughing with a tall, skinny blonde girl in light wash jeans with a white tank. That wasn’t really his type though, she thought, since Dan usually had a thing for girls on the “curvier” side, like Erin.
“Hey Er!” Dan shouted down the hallway.
Oh man, Erin thought. She could tell just from his tone that Dan had already had few and was buzzed.
“Hey babe, having fun I can tell!” She gave Dan a big hug and planted a kiss on his cheek.
"I might as well mark my territory," she thought to herself jokingly.
“Oh we just had a few brews. Ready to get going to this party. You sure it’s cool if we come?”
“Yeah of course, just your standard house party. 5 bucks to get in.” said Erin.
“OK great,” Dan said with a smile. She thought looked so sexy, as usual. Tonight he was wearing a light blue short sleeve polo shirt that showed off his toned arms.
“You’ve got to introduce me to your friends first,” said Erin cheerfully.
“Of course. Well you know Scott already. This is Miles and Mark; they live next door. And this is Katie and Megan, their room is around the corner.”
“Nice to meet you all. I’m Erin, Dan’s boyfriend.” Erin shook hands with each.
“Good to meet you too!” said the leggy blonde Katie. Erin noticed a glint of metal as Katie spoke, and thought her lips seemed to be a bit puffed out.
“We love it here so far. Thanks for the tip on the party. Hopefully you can show us the ropes,” Katie said to Erin with a laugh. When she laughed, Erin could see she had a mouth full of braces, the old school metal kind. And also a hint of what looked to be rubber bands, possibly? The white things stretched from the canines in her upper jaw back into the bottom back of her mouth.
“Oh man!,” Erin thought to herself, “I guess I don’t have anything to worry about with this one.” A full brace face in college? She seemed like a nice girl, and Erin felt sympatheric for her. It would be tough getting guys with those things.
“OK let’s do this – you guys ready?” said Dan. The others agreed, and they headed out…
