I slipped on my pajamas, the same pair as last night, and headed down to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. When I got back to the room I was fighting back a yawn. I really was tired. I opened the door and stepped inside, putting my toiletry basket in its spot on my dresser. I looked at my bed. It was made, all nice and neat, and with clean sheets, thanks to Mitch. That was so sweet.Mitch was already under her covers. I looked at her, then back at my bed. I needed to just lie down. But last night had been so nice. And I didn't want another nightmare, and they tended to come in groups. I just stood there for what felt like an eternity, looking back and forth from bed to bed, and I felt so confused and scared.Then, Mitch looked up at me and just raised her covers in invitation. The confusion in my mind vanished, and I crossed the room and climbed in next to her. My anxiety just vanished as she put her arm around me. This was perfect.***I stood in the shower the next mo
"Sure." I crossed the room and sat on her bed, grabbing the blanket we usually used and spreading it out, holding her side open. Mitch snuggled in, putting her arm around me as she pulled up the DVD menu. I leaned against her shoulder, loving the feel of being close to her again."Mmm. I missed this."Mitch gave me a squeeze. "Me too. You remember where we were?""Oh, yeah. I know right where we were." I slipped my arm around her waist, something I'd never done before, but it felt so perfect. Friends did this, right? I looked up at Mitch, to see if it was bothering her, but she just smiled at me, those perfect blue eyes dancing a bit."Okay, then here we go." She hit play.***The first few weeks of school went great. I felt like I was back home, eating in the cafeteria, working out at the athletic center, going to classes again. And the classes were better, smaller, and with real chances to interact with my professors now that I'd gotten past the freshman weed-out classes. And Mitch
We went from just hitting around to playing a full match. Tiwana had improved substantially, shoring up that backhand that had been a weakness before and serving more confidently and smarter. But I'd improved too, and I took both sets. Afterwards we drove over to the local ice cream stand and sat at a shaded table."So what's Georgia like?""Big. SO big. Any one of the buildings on Campus is twice the size of Marin.""Yeah, but that doesn't take much.""True. How about you? Good year?""Oh, yeah. It's really starting to feel like my place, instead of my parents', if you know what I mean. Every time they'd take me up there they would talk in this, like, secret language. But now I get it, like I'm really in the club. And mom and dad are ridiculous. Just like, beaming. They came to every one of my matches this year."I shook my head, feeling a little jealous. "My parents still haven't come to see me. But then again that might be a good thing."Tiwana's brow crinkled. "Why?""Because of w
She looked at me askance. "I thought you disapproved of lying.""What? Hanging with Mitch isn't exactly conducive to study, and you know it.""She's been studying. Really. She's also been in a bad mood."I felt a spike of guilt in my heart. "Really? Like angry?" Was she mad at me?"Not angry, more, um, sad. Distracted. What happened after that party?"I could feel my cheeks turning red, and I took another bite of my grilled chicken sandwich to hide it. "Nothing. I was drunk. First time ever. She took me back to her room, and I passed out.""She took you to her room?" Carrie's eyes were wide."Yeah. I've been in her room a bunch of times. She wouldn't do anything.""I know that, but still. Are you sure it wasn't more?"I put an edge on my voice. "I was clothed when I woke up. And I'm not gay. Mitch wouldn't do that. Not to me." My voice dropped at the end."Sounds like you're trying to convince yourself." I just played with my food for a second until she continued. "You don't seem like
"Cindy, stop that. Please." There was a definite note of pain in her voice, which confused me, but I had no chance of wrapping my head around it in my current state.The elevator door opened, and we, or rather I, stumbled inside, Mitch keeping me upright. I could feel the fatigue start to wash over me when the door closed."No, no. No sleepies for you, not yet.""Aww."Somehow we made it into Mitch's room. "Okay, my roommate is gone for the weekend, so you can crash here."Crashing, yeah, crashing sounded awesome. I needed to lie down."Okay, you're not sleeping in that. C'mon, let's get it off."I sat on the bed and tried to unbutton my jeans. God, these things were super tight. I groaned, laying back and trying to push the denim material down over my hips.Mitch went down on one knee. "Just a second, shoes first." She picked up my left foot and slipped off the red canvas tennis shoe I was wearing. She peeled off my ankle sock and stuffed it into the shoe, then repeated on the other
I actually woke up the next morning feeling great. Maybe it was the fact that I didn't have to worry about whether Ethan was going to show, but I did feel like a weight had been lifted, just like Mitch had said I would. And I was looking forward to going out and partying like a single girl tonight. I never really had let my hair down with Mitch at a party. It was bound to be an experience.Our final match went well, Mitch and I won our doubles set 6-1, and both Carrie and Mitch won their matches handily. Overall the team went 7-0 to secure the conference championship.The party started in the locker room immediately after with, again, much music and an extremely unfortunate amount of dancing. We even got Coach Holiday to show us some moves, which were surprisingly not terrible.Luckily the seniors were the ones who had to deal with the press, so us three Freshmen were able to sneak away. We parted on the corner, each preparing to head back to our dorms and get ready for our night out.