Like A.M. Radio

“Thomas!” Kandi squealed as she ran over to him, throwing her arms around his neck and planting a quick kiss on his lips.

“Hey,” the boy smiled, backing up to soak in his girlfriend’s presence.

“So these two are your shadows, please don’t get them into too much trouble,” she grinned, waving Logan and Kendall over. “Logan, Kendall, this is Thomas.”

“Hey, how’s it going?” Thomas asked, offering the boys his hand.

“Good, good,” Kendall nodded as Logan shook Thomas’s hand. “Is it time for dinner? I’m starving.”

“Actually, yes. We’re gonna go to the cafeteria right after I ask my roomie if she wants to come with.” Kandi smiled as Thomas slung his arm over her shoulder.

She had always thought he was just the perfect height for her. Kandi was only 5’3,” and Thomas stood only a few inches taller than her. She liked being just at his shoulder; everything just felt right with him.

Kandi and her roommate Kaci lived on the bottom floor of Greene, the mostly girls resident hall. The top floor housed a few guys, but other than that, the entire building was girls. The only thing she despised about living on the bottom floor of Greene was that it was a basement floor, so she got no cell phone reception whatsoever. She had to go upstairs or outside to have contact with the world.

“Hey girl, what’s up? We’re about to head over to Burwell for dinner, would you like to join us?” Kandi sped through the sentence as she slung her giant yellow purse onto the black futon in the center of the dorm.

Her roommate Kaci was typing away on her laptop at the desk on her side of the room. “Can’t K, I’ve got to finish this lab write-up for psych,” she replied, never tearing her blue eyes from the screen.

Kandi and Kaci were really good friends, but Kandi occasionally refered to them as “the odd couple.” While Kaci was a studious overachiever, Kandi was way too laid back for her own good. Kandi was always begging Kaci to take a break and go out, and Kaci was always trying to get Kandi to buckle down. They balanced each other out.

“You need to eat too! Burwell closes at six,” Kandi stated. “Oh, and this is Genevieve!” Kandi quickly turned to her shadow. “Is it alright if I call you Gen? I know some people are iffy about nicknames.” Her brown eyes darted over to Thomas, who was leaning in the doorway.

“Sure, I don’t really care,” Genevieve giggled.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Kaci, and I have to live with Kandi,” she laughed, turning away from her work to shake Genevieve’s hand.

“Hey Kaci, she’s a fellow fan,” Kandi grinned, nudging Genevieve with her shoulder.

“Of course! I noticed the shirt but didn’t put two and two together. I feel like you should know that Kandi and I are going to see them this summer at the beach. We’re spending a week down there just for the show. It is going to be awesome,” Kaci gushed. She pushed a short brown lock out of her eyes.

“Okay, well we’d better get going. You need to eat! Please promise me you’ll get something from Zach’s later,” Kandi says. Her eyebrows furrowed and her eyes grew hard as she waited for the response.

“Gosh Kandi, I swear on your life I’ll get something later,” Kaci chuckled, raising her eyebrows.

“Yeah, just kill me off why don’t you,” Kandi muttered and pushed past Thomas as she walked out of the room.

“Bye Thomas! Good luck with all that!” Kaci called down the hall after them.

Kendall and Logan were sitting on the steps outside Greene, waiting on the other three to come out. The sun was beginning to sink beneath the trees as the group walked together across campus to the cafeteria.

“So are you guys thinking about rushing this fall?” Thomas asked. He didn’t bother to turn to look back at the boys, instead, he kept his eyes focused on the sidewalk under his feet.

“Yeah, maybe. How many frats are here anyway?” Kendall asked. He adjusted his gray beanie on his head as he squinted to keep the small glare from the setting sun out of his eyes.

“Six, but Pike’s the best. I’m in Pike. If you ain’t Pike, you ain’t shit,” Thomas laughed and ran his hand through his thick brown hair.

Logan couldn’t help but cringe at the word “ain’t;” he was definitely in the south now.

“Don’t listen to him,” Kandi replied, batting her thick eyelashes at the younger boys, “the other frats on campus are just as good as Pike. Thomas is just being full of himself.”

“No I’m not, Kandi. First off, our house is the biggest on the Row. We throw the wildest parties.”

“Yeah okay, whatever.”

To be honest, Kandi didn’t really understand all the differences between the different sororities and fraternities at her school. They all did the same thing: party. Once a year, they’d do some volunteer work or fundraising to make up for the partying, but that was pretty much it. She hadn’t pledged herself; she couldn’t afford the five hundred bucks a semester to be in a sorority. Thomas was Pike, so he could get her into all the parties at the Row, so she never felt the need to go through rush.

“I wonder what Carlos and James are doing?” Kendall asked Logan as they walked down the sidewalk.

“No clue.”

“Who?” Kandi asked as she stopped to face the two boys.

“Two of our friends left the tour earlier to follow some girl. We lost them,” Logan explained, pushing his sleeves up to his elbows.

A girl with auburn hair and piercing blue eyes walked past them, but Kandi stopped her.

“Hey Alex, have you seen two guys, what do they look like?” She stopped and turned towards Logan.

“One’s tall, shaggy brown hair, most likely has a bandana somewhere on his body. The other’s on the shorter side, spiky black hair, probably wearing a helmet?”

“Yeah, so have you seen them? They’re prospects, and we’ve lost them,” Kandi laughed.

“Actually, yes,” Alex flashed Kandi a quick smile. “They’re hanging out with some Tri-Delts in Campus Life. You know how desperate Tri-Delts can be,” she giggled.

“Thanks girl, see you in bio tomorrow!” Kandi yelled after her as the group continued walking.

“So where are they?” Kendall asked. Kandi and Thomas didn’t seem too concerned about going to find them.

“They’re only in Campus Life with some sorority girls. We’ll go get them after dinner,” Kandi replied with a flip of her long brown hair.

“Um, okay. Whatever you say.”

Burwell was packed, and there was a line leading all the way down the stairs and towards the entrance of the building. Thomas swung open the glass door and waited for everyone to stroll through.

“Is this how it is all the time?” Logan asked, his brown eyes tracing the line up the stairs and to the door of the cafeteria.

“Around dinner time it is,” Kandi replied. She leaned against the glass wall behind her and fiddled around with the hem of her dress.

“ I want something else to get me through this semi-charmed kind of life, baby baby, “ Kandi’s phone rang it her purse, and she fished around for it quickly.

“Hello?” she answered, her annoyance ringing through her voice.

Thomas’s greenish blue eyes were focused on her, trying to figure out who she was talking to.

“Yes, everything’s fine. I’m sort of busy right now, but I’ll call you back later. Love you too. Bye.” She slammed her phone closed and tossed it carelessly into her bag.

“Janet?” Thomas asked, but it was more of a smirk than a sincere question.

“Yes, I swear that woman does not let anything go,” Kandi replied and rolled her eyes; it was hard for her to talk about her mother without rolling those big brown eyes.

“And this is why I haven’t met her family yet,” Thomas chuckled to himself as he stepped up onto the empty step behind Genevieve. The line was beginning to move slowly.

“I don’t think you ever will, “ Kandi giggled. “They’re just too crazy. If you meet my family, you will just deem me as trailer trash and dump my ass.”

“Yeah sure, that’s just what I’d do.”

“So, Logan right? Where are you from anyway and what brings you to the humble state of South Carolina?” Kandi asked, ignoring Thomas completely.

Logan couldn’t help but notice the way she smiled at him and narrowed her eyes. It was as if she were tuning everything out except him.

“I’m from Minnesota, but I’ve heard this is one of the best schools in the south. I just need a change of pace, wanted to go somewhere new for college,” he rambled. He leaned against the wall beside her.

“Me too,” she sighed, her eyes gazing up at the ceiling. “Fucking Harvard of the south.”

Kandi rarely cussed; when she did, she was usually pissed or felt strongly about whatever she was saying. She felt strongly about being jaded when it came to Wofford.

Thomas couldn’t help but chuckle every time his girlfriend dropped an F bomb.

“Oh shut up!” she exclaimed, snapping out of her trance. Her brown eyes glared daggers at her boyfriend, but her warm smile and playful tone showed how she really felt. She was never able to stay mad at Thomas for more than a split second.

“Oh look, the line’s moving,” Genevieve said, trying to get everyone to move. She got tired of standing in the same spot; even moving a few inches would be an improvement.

“The only thing that would make this even more unbearable would be if they played elevator music here outside the cafeteria,” Kandi laughed, and for a moment she felt like her old self: before Thomas, before Rainbow flip flops, before the Row, before everything. It wasn’t long before her voice returned to its whiny pitch. “Thomas, I’m hungry. Just push all of the people out of the way for me?”

A slight smirk formed on his lips. “Yeah, like I’m gonna push all of these football players and wrestlers out of my way. Only in your wildest dreams.” He tugged his polo down and picked a tiny piece of lint off his chest.

Fifteen minutes later, they had made their way into the cafeteria and had found a booth near the corner of the room that would accommodate all five of them comfortably. Members of Thomas’s frat usually sat against that wall, but they recognized Thomas and immediately allowed the gang to sit there.

Oh the perks of dating a Pike, Kandi thought to herself as she placed her bag on the table.

“So guys, everything here is buffet, so feel free to have how much of whatever you like. I, personally, prefer the ice cream,” Kandi giggled before walking off with Thomas to get food.

While Kendall was packing his plate down with food, Logan wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted. Sure, everything looked good, but none of it was really what he wanted, so he took Kandi’s suggestion and went for the ice cream.

Kandi was already at the table eating when he returned.

She must have noticed him staring at her odd combination of chocolate-vanilla swirl ice cream, Lucky Charms, and apple juice because she just giggled and said, “I usually go to Zach’s when I feel the need to eat healthy. Burwell is just one big sugar binge for me.”

“What’s Zach’s? Is that like a restaurant or something?”

“Um, yeah. It’s the restaurant in the Campus Life building where your friends are. There’s another café there, a Chick-Fil-A, and a couple other things.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Nice choice, by the way,” she grinned, glancing at his ice cream.

“Thanks,” he mumbled. Logan didn’t know why, but he just felt so awkward being alone with her. He silently wished Kendall would hurry back.

Instead, Genevieve was the next to arrive with a slice of pizza. Logan felt closed in by the two girls; he had never been the “ladies’ man” type. Just as his breath was beginning to catch in his throat, Thomas and Kendall arrived. They were laughing, and Thomas was jabbing Kendall with his elbow.

As Thomas slid into the booth beside Kandi and Kendall took the empty chair beside Genevieve, Logan couldn’t help but feel alone. Everyone was paired up but him. Instead, he sat at the end of the booth beside Kandi and across from Kendall, on the outside looking in.

If only things had managed to stay that way, he would probably be a lot happier now.