Exactly...

It was Saturday night. I was waiting for something to happen. As if things just were "going to happen" to me. I had never had to search for things in high school. My friends, my job, my boyfriend, my grades... They all came to me, rather easily.


This whole college things was quite a different thing. I moved to Birmingham, Alabama upon graduating high school.  I was ready to be away from my family. I was ready for a new adventure. I thought. It wasn't as easy as I had hoped.


I'd gotten on campus 2 days earlier. All the freshmen were made to arrive a week early to school in order to get settled, I suppose. Campus was literally full of people so anxious to make friends and blend in, it almost seemed painful. I was just one of those people. Looking and searching for a friend. My roommate, Candace, was from Birmingham (she quickly would correct me she was from Vestavia... I was too dense to realize the nuance of this at first). She had a massive friend group built in. She also had plenty of friends still around town. I was from the Mississippi gulf coast. This wasn't my domain. I was on of those kids searching for a partner in crime.


Sure, there had been plenty of near finds, potential diamonds in the rough. However, none so far has stuck. I mean, the girl down the hall Michelle--she seemed normal. Then she started mentioning her love of cats. I don't like cat people. Cats will poop and pee on your stuff to show you they are better than you. I am not into that. Leslie was nice, but she was nice to everyone. All the time. It was daunting. And she didn't get my sarcasm. I was beginning to think my luck was wearing thin.


Harriet seemed like she had real potential. She didn't live on my hall, we just happened to sit at the same lunch table today. She told me she'd text me to hang out. She hasn't. I could just as easily text her to hang out, but I won't. I'm that person. I wait for things to happen to me.


In an attempt to make myself feel less restless, I walked out to the dorm quad. It was usually abuzz with the aforementioned anxious freshmen. There was a lot of Cards Against Humanity and Black Jack being played all the time on the porch. People had hammocks put up between trees. During the day, girls would sun in herds in the middle. I had been asked to sun in the herd earlier today with Harriet (Ree is what her friends call her) and her already amassing "crew."


I walked out timidly with my Kindle and iPod just in case no one asked me to join them, I could at least look like I was an elusive book worm type. I sat down and started reading The Marriage Plot. Not 3 minutes later, I saw Ree and her groupies. She bounded up to me. Her red bodacious hair bouncing beautifully. Her hair couldn't be natural as she was a nice light medium tan. Nonetheless, she was stunning.


"Kathleen! I was just about to text you!" She wailed.


I smiled weakly, not knowing the entire truth about that. "Oh really?"


She grinned honestly. "We're going to community gardens. Some guys got beer for us, and we're going to play Ring of Fire. Come on!"


This was what I'd been waiting on. A friend! An event! SOMETHING TO DO! I hoped up, trying not to look as eager as I obviously was. "Okay, let me put this up and change. Y'all are welcome to join me."


Ree looked to her cronies. "Come on girls, let's go with Kathleen. Then WE BOOZE!" They all giggled as if on cue.


Less than 20 minutes later, I'd met another crew member, Yvonne. She was from North Carolina and was here to play golf. I knew nothing about golf, but she seemed nice, so I acted interested. Shortly, we arrived at the community gardens and saw a hoard of guys shot gunning a round of beers.


I grinned. I was happy to be in on this. I was happy to be apart of it all. We all sat in a circle, and somehow I ended up between Ree and this guy claiming to be Mark. Mark was shaggy haired with a perfectly scruffy beard. He winked knowingly when I sat down. I smiled and melted like butter.


He burrowed his head in the crook of my neck. "You know what this means, huh?"


I snapped my neck questioningly, "Huh?"


He laughed softly with one deep, breathy "Ha!" I still looked puzzled. "I'm your partner all night. Anything we need pairs for, you're mine." He half smiled. God, he was so charming. I knew that meant he was a total ass...


Mark effectively forgot about me until we made a makeshift beer pong table out of a park bench, and he asked me to be his partner. "So, you meant what you said, huh Partner?"


He stifled a laugh, "I've never been a bullshitter."


It was my turn to laugh, "I'm so sure."


He grabbed my waist and turned me to him, his breath heavy with alcohol. "Just you wait, cutie." And he pecked my forehead quickly, as if it might have burned his lips. He then turned me around as quick as the kiss, and smacked my butt. Not in a rough, sexual way, but in a "let's do this, and win some beer pong" kind of way. And that was exactly what we did.