Jo was very nervous. It was her first day of college and she had no idea what to expect. She had already registered at the main office and been given her room number and directions to the dormitory. To get there was another thing. Jo was a shy girl who couldn't say ‘boo’ to a spider never mind stand up for herself.
She had been like this since she first went to school and had to endure the teasing of the other children. She had light, honey- coloured hair, blue eyes that could become light aqua depending on her mood and very fair skin with freckles that was prone to multiply if exposed to the sun for any length of time.
The other children would always tease her about them and in time she withdrew more into herself until she lived in her own little shell.
Jo had promised herself that this year would be a new beginning. She would enjoy her college years as she hadn't been allowed to enjoy herself during her school years.
As she walked through the campus, she observed everything around her. There were a lot of trees around which meant that she could do some studying outside without having to worry about her freckles all the time.
She finally arrived at her dormitory and realized that she would have to climb to the second floor because there were no lifts available.
After lugging her suitcases and bags up the stairs, she had hardly any breath left to speak, so she just left everything at the top of the stairs and took one case with her to her room. As she dodged between the other people in the corridor she noticed that there were also male students roaming around, which meant that it was a mixed dormitory. As she reached for the door handle, it suddenly sprang to life and sent her flying backwards. She found herself lying on the ground, slightly dizzy and trying to figure out what the shape above her was saying. “You should really watch where you go, you know. Someone could get hurt.” the person said and turned around to walk away.
”I’m sorry, I didn't know anyone was in there.” Jo said softly and desperately tried to locate her glasses which could've landed anywhere.
“Well, next time be more careful. By the way, I'm Chris.” he said and proceeded to pick up her glasses and handed them to her.
As Jo put on her glasses, she suddenly developed bad hearing and extremely good vision, for Chris was Hercules and Johnny Depp all rolled into one.
“Uh, thank you.” She stuttered.
“No problem. Tell me where your bags are and I’ll get them for you.”
She slowly pointed towards the top of the stairs and hoped that he would not notice her trembling finger.
He quickly negotiated the passage and picked up all her luggage like it weighed nothing at all.
“Here you are. Where’s your room then I can leave it there for you.”
“This is my room.” She said and proceeded to get up.


Chris stood looking down at the girl standing up from the floor and thought to himself that she really needed some help. She had no sense of style and spoke no louder that a spider’s fart.
She couldn’t be serious. He had moved into the dormitory to get away from home. His three sisters were driving him crazy. He really loved them a lot and would do anything for them, but he had no privacy at home. They were always bursting in to his room and interfering in him personal life, such as it was. He didn’t think that he could cope with living with another one quite so soon.
He processed this in the subconscious part of his brain. The main thought running through his mind was the statement which she had just made.
“I’m sorry, I think you are mistaken. This is my room. My roommate’s name is Joe Sandler. I’ve never met him but the office gave me his name when I registered this morning” He said.
“My name is Jo Sandler. Short for Jo Anne. I think they must have thought that I was a man.” She said so softly that he had to lean down to hear her better.
“Let me put this down first and then I think we should go to the main office to see what they can figure out.”
They entered the room and Chris put Jo’s bags down on the floor. He saw her looking around and felt slightly embarrassed. He had not finished unpacking, so the room was in a mess, with clothes and shoes and all types of different things scattered around. It was almost as if a whirlwind had hit the room, throwing everything around. He was normally very organized, but he had not expected a girl to walk in and say that this was her room. He hastily shoved some bundles of underwear into his closet, hoping that she hadn’t noticed when he saw her blushing furiously, trying not to look at what he was doing. So much for not noticing.
“Uh, I think we should go and try to sort this out as soon as possible.” He said and opened the door for her.
As they walked through the corridor, Chris contemplated what it would mean if Jo would actually be staying with him in the same room. She didn’t look like she would be a problem, but he wouldn’t be able to walk around in his underwear – not that he did, but still-, he wouldn’t be able to talk like a guy and worst of all, where would he take his girlfriend?

Jo was having a hard time keeping a straight face, breathing and walking all at the same time. Her heart was beating like a horse gone mad and her mind was racing faster than the wheels of a steam train.
What had happened? Here she was, assigned to share a room with a guy who looked like something from a dream, had excellent manners, because he kept on clearing the corridor in front so that she wouldn’t have to walk past anyone and had even collected her bags.
Things like this never happened. Not to her, anyway. She had never had a relationship before, so she didn’t know how to handle men at all. The closest she had come to exposure to a man had been one of her cousins and he had turned out gay, so she couldn’t even use that as a reference point.
Right now she wasn’t thinking straight. She had to concentrate and stop thinking all over the place. The office had clearly made a mistake and would rectify it as soon as possible. They had to. She couldn’t even contemplate what it would be like to live with a guy, especially one like Chris.
No, they simply had to fix this. She had wanted to enjoy her college experience, but this was not exactly what she had in mind. She had thought to maybe go out with friends or at least attend a party, but this was completely different.

As soon as they had reached the main office, they looked for one of the registration personnel to assist them, but the office was a mad house. It seemed that all the students had waited until the last moment to register.
“Come, that person over there doesn’t look busy. Let’s see if he can help.” Chris said and took her elbow to guide her through the throng.
When they reached the man, his badge proclaiming him as Stan, Chris started explaining their situation to him.
“Hi, my name’s Chris and this is Jo. We have a slight problem. I hope you can help us. You see, we have been assigned to the same room. I understand that the dormitory is mixed but that the rooms are supposed to be the same gender. I think maybe they thought that we were both male, but as you can see, we are not both male. What can be done? Could you maybe assign one of us to another room?”
“Listen, I understand your problem, but when you registered, you signed a form that said you were happy with your room assignment. And even if I could assign you to another room, everything has been taken. All the rooms are full. You can wait for about two weeks and then come back to see if there will be a room available then. There should have been a few drop outs by then.” Stan said and turned to the people behind them, his attitude dismissing them.
“Well, not exactly what we wanted to hear. I guess we’ll have to wait for two weeks and then come back.” Chris said and taking Jo’s elbow again, proceeded to twist and turn through the masses to get outside.
“I’m sorry. I never thought something like this would happen. I’ll try to stay out of your way. You won’t even know I’m there.” Jo said.
“It’s not the end of the world. I’m sure that we’ll get along. It’s just for two weeks anyway. We’ll be so busy that we probably won’t even see each other a lot.” He said hoping that it was true.

Walking back to the dormitory, they each silently contemplated the turn of events and what it meant for the near future. They would share a room for two weeks. Chris was used to sharing a home with women and was sure that he would be able to handle it, but he wasn’t sure how Jo would react. She was very quiet and from the little he had seen, she was painfully shy as well. He hoped she would relax before she developed permanent neck spasm. He could see her trying not to look like she was upset, but she wasn’t succeeding.
“It won’t be so bad. I promise I’ll behave.” He joked, trying to make her feel better.
“Yes, thank you. I’m sure that it will be fine.” She said, blushing. She would have to stop behaving like a young school girl every time Chris spoke to her.
Chris saw her red face and couldn’t help but wonder at the reason.

They arrived to find the dorm in the same mad state as when they had left.
Jo needed some time to collect her thoughts so she excused herself and went in search of the bathroom.
The bathroom was at the opposite end of the corridor. As she wended her way through the people she thought again about the impossible situation she found herself in. She had no idea how she would handle living with a man even if it was only for a few weeks.
She struggled to pull the bathroom door open and after a few seconds realized that she had the wrong end of the stick. She was supposed to push and not pull. She had been so preoccupied that she had made a stupid mistake. If she didn’t watch out she would be doing a lot of things like that, but who could blame her? She was living with the best male specimen around and instead of mulling over all the problems it might present she should be enjoying the experience and learn everything she possible could.
By the time she was finished in the bathroom she had come to an important decision. She would take the proverbial bull by the horns and enjoy everything until the last second had come and gone. It was time to start her education.

Chris had nearly finished clearing up the scattered bits and pieces when the door opened and Jo came in. He could swear there was something different about the expression on her face. She seemed less afraid.
She went to where her bags had been placed earlier and started hauling them one by one to her side of the room.
“Do you need some help with that? “ Chris asked.
“No thanks, I think I should be able to manage. I packed the bags myself so I should be the one to drag them where I need them.”
“Ok, if you’re sure.”
The unpacking continued for a couple of hours and by the time they finished with a take away pizza and some bad red wine, they were yapping away like old friends.
“You know, I have never shared so much with anyone in my life. I’m sorry if I’ve been boring you. It’s just that I have always been so self- conscious because of my freckles that I haven’t really made friends or gone out for that matter.”
Chris sat observing Jo while they talked. He could see a few things that she could do to boost her self- esteem. Growing up with his sisters and having been with his girlfriend for a year now, he had developed a sense of what looked good and what was better left alone. Like the outfit she had on was definitely better left alone. No way did black chunky boots with jeans that were miles too big and a sweat shirt that would’ve fit him, look good on anyone. She could’ve auditioned for a part as a gangster.
The main problem though, was how did he raise the subject and what would her reaction be if he did say something?
“I think I’m going to bed. It’s been quite a day and I’m exhausted.” Chris said, mentally shaking himself.
“A very good idea. I can honestly say that I have never experienced a day like this one.” She said and yawned.
While Chris left for a last bathroom break, Jo got ready for bed.
When he entered the room, he saw that she had already climbed into bed and that she was covered from head to toe in blankets.
“Don’t drown in there. Anyway, good night. See you tomorrow morning.” Chris said and switched off the light and got into bed as well.

By the time Chris finally surfaced from bed, Jo was extremely grateful. It seemed that she would be stuck with a wildly snoring roommate for two weeks. After the first hour she had given up trying to fall asleep and had simply lain awake hoping that the time would pass quickly. There had been a respite at around three o’clock, but just as she had started to drift away, the see-sawing started again.
She didn’t have the guts to confront him about the snoring so she decided to let it go and not tell him about it. And anyway, she was nearly running late for her first lecture and that would be an extremely stupid way to start the year. Be late on the first day.
She hurriedly twisted her hair up and stuck a pencil through it, grabbing her bag on the way to the door.
“I’m sorry I’m rushing like this, but I’m going to be late if I don’t go now. Enjoy your day.” She said and closed the door behind her.
She had no idea where to go, so she consulted the map she had received yesterday. The way she understood her schedule and the map, it looked like she would be having the bulk of her lectures in the main building, which suited her fine. That meant that she wouldn’t have to traipse through the whole campus from one class to the next.
She headed in the direction of the main building, her mission to be on time and to at least try to understand what the lecture would be about.
She arrived just as the last of the class filed into the room. As she entered she was almost overwhelmed with the amount of students in the hall. It was huge.
She headed towards the back of the hall, but most of the seats had already been taken, so she was forced to sit closer to the front than she would’ve liked. This would be part of her training in becoming less shy.
Finally the lecturer closed the door and strode to the black board.
“My name is John. You can call me John or Mr Bracken. Whichever. I’ve been trained to answer to both. I will be conducting this class for the rest of the year. Those students who don’t want to learn or think that this is just an excuse to have fun, there’s the door. I take my subject serious and I will only have people in here that can respect that fact. So, any questions?”
Amid the laughter and noise created by John’s statement, Jo looked around at the others and knew that she would enjoy this course.

Chris was barely awake when he heard Jo moving around in the room. He had slept surprisingly well and felt ready to face the day.
He stuck out his head from underneath the blankets and saw her standing at her bed, fiddling with her book bag.
Her hair looked like something had attacked her from the back. Either that or she had been used during the night to mop the floors with. Her outfit also screamed for release. The green tights with the mid length blue skirt and red jersey and boots were a combination to make anyone reach for some sunglasses.
He mentally shook his head and once again thought about how to raise the subject of her fashion cluelessness with her. It would definitely be a challenge. Such a shame, because she was a wonderful person once you got past the shyness.
By the time he was ready to get out of bed, she was heading towards the door, sticking a pencil in her hair and grabbing the bag she had been fiddling with, saying something about rushing and being late.
Well, he hoped she would be in time, because it would present a bad first impression if she arrived late for her first lecture.
Speaking of which, if he didn’t get a move on, he would be in the same position.
Chris threw back the blankets and rose from bed, stretching and yawning.
He finished getting ready in record time and as he was about to close the door he remembered that he hadn’t taken his books. He went back to retrieve them and saw the time on the alarm clock. He grabbed the books, closed the door and dashed down the stairs, jogging very fast. He took the stiff jogging pace very well, because he was in peak physical condition. All the practice over the vacation period had really paid off, even though he hadn’t thought that he would be using the skills in running to class on his first day.
He made good time and arrived well in time for the class. As he entered, he looked around and headed towards the back of the room. He couldn’t have the lecturer calling on him before he had time to settle into the course.
Just as he sat down, the lecturer entered and waited for the noise to die down.
“Good day everyone. My name is Mr Sloane. I will be teaching you the basics of Psychology. I hope that we will all enjoy this class. Please find your places and open your books on page 1.”
Thus started Chris’ first year of college.

When Jo returned to the room after finishing all her classes, she found that the room was empty. It seemed that Chris was still attending a class. That suited her, because she wanted to have a bath and with a man in the room, she didn’t feel very free to flash around her underwear and bath products, so she enjoyed the little freedom that the empty room presented her with.
When she finished the bath and returned to the room she saw that he was back and was getting ready to go somewhere.
“Hi, how was your day? I must say, it was different to what I expected, but I enjoyed it.” He greeted her as she entered the room.
“Hi. It was good, thanks.”
“I was on my way to the movies and have had a cancellation. I don’t want to go alone, so if you don’t want to go with me, I’ll have to give the tickets away. It’s a comedy, in case you were wondering.”
She was so surprised by the offer, she was speechless. Go to the movies with Chris? She would love to go to the movies with Chris!
“Please come with me? I don’t want to beg, but I really want to see the movie.”
“Ok, I’ll come. But what about my work that I have to do?”
“Don’t worry about that. We’ll be back in plenty of time for you to do your work. I also have some stuff to do.”
“Ok, let me just get dressed, then we can go.” She said and grabbed some things from the closet and raced to the bathroom to get dressed.
She was so excited, she couldn’t get the buttons to close in order, so she ended up having the dress on skew, and the socks didn’t match up completely.

Chris nearly had second thoughts about taking Jo with him to the movies when he saw her coming back from the bathroom. Her dress wasn’t sitting properly and the socks she was wearing had a definite colour clash going on, but he could see her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were shining, which was difficult to do through her glasses, so he decided not to mention the fact that boots with socks and a summer dress don’t really go together.
“Ready? Ok, let’s go.”
As they walked, they chatted about the different things they had done and experienced throughout the day.
The street lights were coming on, because it was gradually growing darker. The street they were walking in was busy with the nocturnal student life inherent with college life.
“Here we are. I hope you enjoy the movie. Do you want some pop corn or anything? I don’t usually get anything, because it distracts my attention from the movie.”
“No thank you. I don’t really like pop corn, because the kernels get stuck in my teeth, then I have to spend the whole movie trying to get the things out of my teeth.” She answered.
They entered the cinema and found their seats towards the front of the room. They had barely sat down when the lights started to dim. The adverts and trailers continued for about fifteen minutes before the movie finally started
They laughed so hard during the movie, that when they eventually came out, they were both breathless and had aching sides.
“That was absolutely fabulous. Now, I don’t normally use the word ‘fabulous’ to describe anything, but I laughed so much I thought I would be able to launch a hot air balloon.” Chris raved when he had enough breath to speak.
“Yes, it was very good. I haven’t been to the movies in a very long time, so this has definitely been an outing for me. Thanks for inviting me.”
They started walking back to the dorm, discussing all the things they remembered from the movie.

They came back to the dorm about an hour later, after doing some window shopping and stopping for a coffee on the way.
“I am going straight to bed. I thought I would be able to handle the movie and the home work, but I enjoyed everything so much, I don’t have any more energy to stay awake.”
“I think I’ll follow your example. Luckily I only have to hand in my things by the end of the week, so I can still do them some other time. Good night.”
They both got ready and climbed into bed, almost falling asleep instantly. Jo was so exhausted from her first night’s lack of sleep and the excitement of the night spent with Chris, that she hardly registered the snoring coming from the other side of the room.

The next few days passed in much the same manner. Sometimes Jo would arrive first and grab the opportunity have a leisurely bath and some time alone in the room, and other times Chris would be first, taking the time to relax and have some friends over, though they would leave when Jo returned, because they didn’t feel comfortable to be so open in front of a female.
They went out for coffee a few times and once they had even gone to watch a game together. They were starting to spend so much time with each other that they were getting to know each other very well.
Jo didn’t know how to handle the situation. She had never been exposed to so many new experiences, but that in itself would’ve been fine, except she suspected that she was secretly starting to like Chris more than just roommates. He was really good looking and well mannered. She was starting to have trouble keeping a straight face when they were together. She had even started to avoid being alone with him, in case he would notice something, which was difficult because they shared a room, but she would die if he ever found out that she liked him.
What she didn’t realize was that the more time she spent with him and the more things they did together, she was slowly letting go of her shyness and becoming less afraid to try new things, as well as the fact that she could now face a man without immediately looking down and being submissive and even having a conversation with him.
Time was going by too fast for her. She wanted to stop time and just be with Chris, but she was scared that she would betray herself and that was why she avoided him.
The Wednesday before she would move out, Chris cornered her in the room and asked her if she would like to go and have some drinks after class.
“I promise to make sure that you behave and not get too drunk.” He cajoled.
“I’m sorry, but I really have to get this done by tonight, otherwise I’ll get in trouble.”
“Oh man! You would send me out alone to face all those monsters in the bar? You are really cruel to me. Never mind. Never mind. We will have those drinks before you move. In the meantime, seeing as you are such a good example and you are making me feel guilty for neglecting my studies, I shall follow suit and also do some work.” Chris joked, throwing in a little teasing to get her laughing.
“I’m really sorry for disappointing you. I know you like to go out after class, but I can’t afford not to do well, otherwise I am out on my ear and then what would I do? I most certainly can’t go back home. I would go crazy there.”
“Well, we can’t have that. It’s settled. We’ll go for drinks before you move, but for now, it’s study, study, study!”
For a while the only thing you could hear was the turning of the pages and the scratching of pens as they made notes, with the occasional sound from outside intruding, but not disrupting the thought processes of the two.
The thoughts of the one, though, were continually being dragged back to the other occupant of the room and couldn’t quite focus on the page open in front of them.
Thus the time went by and before long, they both started yawning and stretching. Chris decided to call it quits and started to get ready for bed. Jo couldn’t hold out for much longer and also succumbed to the sweet invitation of getting into bed and sleeping.

The time rushed by so quickly that before Jo realized it, it was Friday and she was getting ready to move. All her cases had once again been packed and stacked close to the door so that when she came back from class, all she had to do was pick them up and take them to her new room and roommate.
“Time has moved too quickly. It doesn’t feel like two weeks have passed, yet. Now I’ll have to get used to someone else. What a bummer.” Chris said as he helped her get her things ready.
“Yes, well, I must say, it will be an adjustment for me too. I just hope that my new roommate is as nice as you have been.” Jo blushed as she realized that she had almost betrayed herself.
“Remember that we agreed to have drinks before you leave, so I think that for one day you and I can cut class so that we can have a proper send off. What do you say?”
Jo hesitated for a second and thought of all the reasons why she shouldn’t cut class but then thought of the one reason why she wanted to do what he suggested. She would probably never have another chance to spend time with Chris again. Who knew if he wanted to stay in contact after she moved?
“Sure, I think that is a great idea. I have never done something like this in my life so I say its time to try new things. Let’s live on the wild side!”
Jo was so nervous to skip class that she imagined everyone was looking at her and seeing a huge G for Guilty on her forehead. Her pulse was racing and she was breathing very fast, but for the first time in her life, she was feeling a sense of freedom.
They started the day by going to the amusement park so that Jo could experience all the wild rides that she had never had the nerve for. After the amusement park, they had lunch in a little coffee shop and went window shopping in the mall.
It was late afternoon when Chris took Jo to his favourite pub where he had spent more than his fare share of time. Everyone there greeted him as he and Jo went to his usual table.
“What do you want to order? I can suggest the Daiquiris. The taste is divine.” The waitress said and waited for them to choose.
“Sounds good. Make that two please. We will have the most incredible send- off ever.”
When the daiquiris came, Jo was surprised at how good they tasted. It tasted just like fruit juice, so she drank it rather quickly, but by the third one, she was starting to feel more relaxed and talking became so easy, she couldn’t keep quiet.
“I haven’t had this much fun in my life. I always sit looking from the outside in and never take part from the inside. So, now I know how you feel. Does that guy look weird to you? He keeps on tilting left. I wonder which one we can try next. Maybe the Long Island? What about the Bloody Mary? Ooh, definitely Margaritas.” She continued like this for another hour before her eyes started drooping and her speech patterns made about has much sense as a puzzle without all the pieces.
“Come, I think we need to get you back. You will definitely feel the kick in the morning. I should’ve realized that you wouldn’t be used to socializing so much. Come one, up you get.” Chris gently lifted Jo by her arm and guided her to the door. When they reached outside, he basically had to support most of her weight, so he decided to pick her up and carry her the rest of the way, making it easier and quicker to get back, rather than trying to support an almost horizontal person that had trouble seeing where to place her feet. Jo had long ago taken off her glasses and he had taken possession of them, otherwise they would have fallen victim to the happenings of the night.
He nearly dropped her when she started singing some song that was difficult to recognise through the slurring and intermittent speech bursts.
“Here we are. I’m going to put you down so that I can open the door. So hold on to my shoulder.” He carefully put her down and guided her hand to his shoulder so that she could hold on and not fall over, but he had not even turned around completely when he felt her hand trailing down his back and heard a loud thump behind him.
He opened the door and picked her up and carried her to her bed. He laid her down and pulled the blanket over her.
“Ok, I think you should try to sleep a little. If you feel sick or anything, just let me know. Good night.”

Jo woke up with a feeling in her stomach that was gradually working its way up. She started to sit upright and suddenly the whole world felt upside down. She had a massive headache, a dry mouth and was on the verge of becoming sick on her bed. She slowly inched her way to a sitting position and gingerly placed her feet on the floor to stand up. She worked up enough energy to get up and started wobbling over to the door. If she didn’t speed up the process a little she wouldn’t have to go to the bathroom any more.
She opened the room door and holding her head with one hand and guiding herself by holding onto the wall with the other, she managed to reach the bathroom without too much trouble. At least the dormitory was quiet.
She went into the bathroom and stayed in there for about ten minutes before venturing back to the room. She was feeling slightly more human, but this had been one of life’s lessons that she had learned the hard way. She had noticed in the bathroom that she was still wearing the previous day’s outfit, which had seen better days, in any case, and her hair was living a life of its own up there. She never really noticed her hair, but you had to be blind not to see the condition she was in.
She tried to open the door silently in order not to wake Chris up, but she still had very limited control over her actions and as she took the handle in her hand and pushed, there was just a little too much power and the door opened with a crash against the wall.
“Wha…?” Chris sat upright with a confused look on his face. What had happened? His faced cleared when he saw that it was Jo.
“Why are you up? You should be sleeping off the huge amount of alcohol you consumed last night.”
“I was feeling a little under the weather, so I had to make a stop in the bathroom.”
“I’m not surprised. Anyway, sit down before you fall down. You know, you caused quite some entertainment last night. I ended up carrying you back, otherwise we might still be walking, or rather stumbling, back. Just make sure that you don’t have any bumps or bruises because you also fell down when I opened the door.”
The more he talked, the more Jo blushed, realising how much he had done for her and also how much she had thrown her name away with her reckless behaviour.
“I..I don’t know how to thank you. And I also want to apologise. I never wanted you to see me in such a way. You really mean a lot to me and to see me like that…” Jo stopped talking, realising what she had just said. She had just told Chris what she had been trying to hide for the last week or more.
“I’m sorry Chris. I never wanted you to know that I like you. I started to feel something for you ever since you basically saved my life that first day. You talk to me like I’m normal. You don’t judge me about how I look and I have never had so much fun with anyone.”
Chris was totally taken aback. Where was this coming from? She liked him? He had never had an inkling that she even thought about him like that.
This presented a major problem on Chris’ side, because he had a girlfriend. Even though Jessie had been away for the last two weeks, helping her parents with a family crisis.
“I’m sorry Jo. I wish I could tell you that I feel the same way, but you know I have a girlfriend. I had a lot of fun with you too and you are a wonderful person. I don’t know what else to say.”
“How am I supposed to know that you have a girlfriend? You never mentioned her. Anyway, I think I’ll leave now, before I do anything else to humiliate myself further.”
With those words still floating in the air, she once again turned to the door intending to rush away so that she could nurse her wounded heart in private.
She felt so stupid. This was not what she wanted to remember. What had made her do that? Now she would never be able to face Chris again and on top of that he had a girlfriend in any case, so even if there had ever been the slightest chance that he might have liked her that was not possible at all anymore.
“Wait Jo, don’t go. Let’s talk about this. Jo!” Chris tried to stop Jo from leaving but she was very quick and had the door open and was gone before he could even get out of bed.
He lay awake for the rest of the night waiting for her to come back so that they could discuss the situation, but she never came back. With a heavy head and tired eyes, he got ready for class the next morning, waiting until the last minute, hoping that she would be back, but the waiting was in vain.

Jo watched Chris walk away from the dormitory and head towards the main building, so she knew he was going to class. She stepped away from the tree where she had been hiding and walked to the entrance of the dormitory. When she had left last night, she had no idea where she was going, so she ended up staying in the bathroom for most of the night. While the sun was rising she had left the dormitory to get some fresh air and to clear her head before going back to fetch her things. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to face him again, so that meant she would have to watch the building and get her things when he left.
She opened the door and saw her bundle of things standing by the door, ready to be picked up and taken to her new room. She sat down on her bed and couldn’t stop the tears from running down her cheeks. She had been able to withstand the urge up to now, but the realisation that she would never see Chris again and that they would never share a room again, made the tears too heavy to resist and so she gave in and let them come. She sat and sobbed for the better part of an hour before she could control herself enough to stop. This was not getting her anywhere. She would have to pull herself up by her bootstraps and show the world that nothing would get her down, otherwise this whole college experience would have been for nothing. She couldn’t let the fact that the first boy she met and broke her heart drive her away from her dreams.
She stood up and started lifting the bags and things to take to her new room. If she didn’t hurry up, she would run into Chris when he came back from class.
She left the room with almost everything, but she would have to return one more time for the last few things. As she struggled to carry everything, she resolved to bring less stuff next time, because this moving thing was really annoying.
By the time she reached her new room in the dorm next door, she was breathless and fighting muscle cramp. She opened the door and scanned the room to see what was awaiting her. The room looked quite inviting, with more feminine things around than the one she had shared with Chris.
“That must be my bed over there.” She said and realised that she had spoken aloud with no one else in the room.
She dropped her stuff on the bed and left the room to fetch her other things from Chris’ room. She felt slightly distanced from her life, like she was looking in on someone else. Guess that happened when you were in transit.
She picked up the rest of the things and returned to her new room where she started unpacking.
By the time she had finished, she was exhausted. Moving and emotional ups and downs had taken their toll, so she decided to lie down and catch a few winks before her new roommate arrived, but she slept straight through the night.
She woke up the next morning feeling very refreshed. As she stretched she noticed that her new roommate was still lying in bed, but was awake and looking in her direction.
“Good morning. I’m sorry that I slept straight through, but I wanted to be awake to meet you. I must have been more tired than I realized. I’m Jo.” She said and sat up to pick up her glasses so that she could see better.
“I’m Liz. Morning. I could see you were quite wacked, so I left you to sleep. I’m glad that I can finally meet you. Things have been very quiet the last few days. I’m studying as a beautician but with a business twist so that I can manage my own business. I don’t want to be someone else’s lackey. This girl takes orders from no one but herself.”
Jo could see that Liz was quite talkative and she liked her openness and frankness.
While they weere getting acquainted and discussing things in general, they were dressing and getting ready to go to class.
“Well, I’ll see you later. By the way, I noticed that you have some serious wardrobe and hair issues. I hope you don’t mind my being so forward, but I want to use you as my project for my end- of- semester assignment.”
Jo was so speechless that she could only nod her head. Wardrobe issues? What was wrong with her hair?
Before she could ask, Liz had left, making her wonder what the next few months had in store for her.

Jo was completely taken under Liz’ wing. She had her hair styled and coloured, her nails done, her glasses changed with contact lenses and her whole wardrobe was thrown out. The only thing still left to change after Liz was finished with her was her self- confidence. Even though Chris had helped her to climb out of her shell, she still had a way to go before she realized what a good looking person she had developed into.
“Tonight is your debut. We will introduce the new Jo to the world. There is a party at one of the dorms and the whole campus will be there, so we need to make sure that we dress you to stun the male population into submission. I have just the dress for you.”
All the while that Liz was talking, Jo’s heart was tripping.
Would Chris be there? Would his girlfriend be there with him? What would she say if she saw him again?
If she was honest with herself, she was actually looking forward to seeing if he would be there, so that she would be able to see what his reaction would be. She was a changed person. No longer the shy little girl who couldn’t say boo to a spider, but a full- grown gorgeous woman who could hold her own against any female on campus.
With a toss of her golden mane and squaring her delicate shoulders, she adjusted the green silk dress and pulled her handbag strap over her shoulder.
“Let’s go. I’m ready.” She said to Liz and together they left the room for the party.

Everyone was enjoying the party by the time that Jo and Liz arrived. To be fair, most of the girls there had really gone to a lot of trouble to look good, but the moment that Jo entered, you could hear the hush falling.
“Who is that? She must be new.”
“I haven’t seen her before.”
“She looks good. Wonder if she’ll be interested in me?”
Some comments were starting up as they made their way into the centre of the party.
Chris was becoming aware of the reaction of the people around him. He hadn’t really wanted to come to the party, but his friends had insisted, saying that he had been very anti- social the last few weeks.
“What’s going on, John?” he asked one of his friends, but his attention couldn’t be moved from where he was looking.
“John?”
As he tried to get John’s attention, his was diverted by a sight that took his breath away. He couldn’t believe who he was seeing.
It was Jo, but a different- looking Jo. She was dressed in a very sexy dress, with actual heel shoes and her hair was in a hairstyle other than messed- for- success.
Without realising it, he had started moving towards her, being drawn like a moth to a flame.
Before he knew what he was doing, he was standing in front of her.
“Jo.”
As she looked towards him, he saw her face and her eyes and knew that she was the same sweet, generous Jo that he had fell in love with. It had never mattered what she had looked like, but he only realised that now, when he saw her again, when he knew that he would never be able to live without her in his life. The last few weeks melted away as he stood there.
“Jo, I’m so glad to see you. I’ve missed you so much.”
“Hi Chris. How are you doing?”
“I want to talk you please.”
“Ok, let’s go into one of the other rooms where it’s less noisy.”
They made their way to the study and Chris closed the door. He was not taking any chances. He wanted to tell her how he felt and how much he had missed her. He also wanted to tell her that he was sorry for the way that he had reacted when she had shared her feelings with him.
“Hi Jo.”
“Hi Chris. So, what do you want to talk about?”
“ I actually want to apologise for the way I behaved when we last saw each other. I haven’t been able to cope normally since then. I never understood why until I saw you this evening. I also fell in love with you but never realised it.”
“You only realise this now? After all this time? Are you sure it’s not just your hormones talking? I mean, I left a while ago, remember, and you told me that you had a girlfriend. So, suddenly she has disappeared? You really hurt me a lot back then Chris. I have never been so upfront with anyone before and you just pushed me away. How can I trust you? How do I know it’s not just the way that I look now?”
The more Jo talked, the more Chris felt as if his world was disappearing.
“I know Jo. I can never really apologise enough for the way I treated you. I was completely wrong. You look like a dream tonight. As soon as I saw you, I realised what my feelings for you were and that looks doesn’t matter to me. I know now that I fell in love with who you are and I can see that you are still the same. A heart as big as anything and enough love to fill the world. I will do anything to have you know what you mean to me. I don’t care if you want to wear boots with your dresses or if you never comb your hair. You are perfect.”

Jo couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This was what she had wanted more than anything. To hear Chris tell her that he loved her and that he wanted to be with her. But he had still not answered her question about his girlfriend.
“What about your girlfriend?”
She could see that Chris was taken aback by her question.
“Jo, I broke up with her just after you had moved out, because I didn’t want to be with her anymore. It was like I couldn’t be interested in anything that we did, even before you left. I guess it was because I was falling in love with you. And she was also cheating on me with her ex, so that also helped to make it easier.”
Jo was speechless. Could this be happening?
“So Jo Anne, do you think that you might forgive me?”
She was so overwhelmed with emotion, that she could only nod, the tears slowly rolling down her cheeks.
“Why are you crying? I don’t want to see you cry. I’m sorry. I’m such an idiot.”
Slowly Chris raised his hand and wiped away Jo’s tears.
“Don’t be sorry. I’m crying because I cannot believe that this is happening to me. This is the first time that someone has told me that they loved me.”
“Well, it won’t be the last. I have learnt my lesson and have already let too much time pass. From now on I will always tell you that I love you. Every single day.”
As Chris was talking he gently wrapped his arms around Jo and slowly lowered his head and carefully laid his lips on hers, the world making sense at last.

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 07.10.2009

Alle Rechte vorbehalten