When the Moon Fell in Love with the Sun

The almost five hour drive from Summerlin to Irvine was extremely interesting with Katelyn, Brendon, and her mother driving. The two teenagers sat in the second row of the Chevy Suburban Helen had borrowed from a friend, Katelyn's stuff filling up the back of the large vehicle.
"Jesus, Kate! Could you have any more crap?" Brendon teased her constantly throughout the ride, but she just told him that he'll be going through the same thing when he has to go on tours.
"Well sorry, Brendon, that I don't know what I want to wear every day for the next five months!" She was getting a little annoyed and he could tell, so he eased off a bit.
"Kids, don't make me come back there and separate you two! I will turn this car around!" Helen had been waiting so long to say that to her daughter, but never had the chance to because she was an only child and Helen had never driven her around with friends because of work.
Katelyn shook her head and looked out the window, thinking about how in a little more than a week she would be starting classes as a college freshman. UC Irvine had a whole week of orientation planned, which seemed a little ridiculous to the girl, but she figured it would be nice to meet some new people.

Katelyn's roommate was a girl named Carla, from somewhere outside of Los Angeles. Carla wasn't there by the time Katelyn had arrived, so the girl sent her a quick text saying she was at the room. Apparently kids closer to campus had to move in at a specific time, but since Katelyn was from farther away she was there around 2 pm.
"This room is way bigger than I expected!" Brendon jumped onto one of the beds after setting down the girl's stuff he had helped bring in, noticing how stiff the mattress was. Looking out the window, there was a beautiful view of campus and the ocean wasn't too far away. The room was filled with the typical dorm essentials, two beds, two closets, two desks, and four sets of dressers. The setup made the room look pretty big, so Katelyn and her roommate probably wouldn't have to do any rearranging.
"I think I want the one near the window." Katelyn set her purse on the bed Brendon wasn't on, looking around at the furniture, surrounded by white walls. Helen watched her daughter, unsure of how she was going to handle the separation.
"I'm going to go for a quick walk. Will you two be okay here?" The kids nodded and Helen swiftly disappeared.
"So you realize that your roommate's gonna have to deal with me constantly being here, right?" Brendon moved off of the second bed and walked the short distance over to Katelyn, wrapping his arms around her tightly.
"She's probably gonna hate me for it, but yeah."
"From what you've told me she seems nice enough…"
"Just because people seem nice doesn't mean they are, Bren. I learned that the hard way. Want to help me unpack a bit?" Katelyn quickly changed the subject, heading to one of her suitcases and unzipping it.

It didn't take too long for everything to be unpacked and put in a designated spot, which greatly surprised Katelyn because Brendon was taking his sweet time looking at almost everything the girl owned.
Helen hadn't come back since she excused herself earlier, and Katelyn texted her just to make sure she was okay. Helen had responded that she needed some time to walk around campus and see where her daughter was going to be living for the next few months.
The pair of kids had decided to call it quits on the unpacking business. All of Katelyn's suitcases and boxes were empty, her clothes were put away on hangers or in drawers, but her desk was all that needed to be organized.
She and Brendon set to work on making the twin extra-long bed and made small talk in the process.
"So I was thinking about sticking around for a few extra days…" Brendon was supposed to be driving back to Las Vegas with Katelyn's mother in a day or two after making sure that the girl was all settled. But now he wanted to stay longer.
"And where are you going to stay?" Katelyn stared at him while she put a pillowcase on one of her favorite pillows and he shrugged.
"Here with you!" The way he sounded so excited and hopeful made Katelyn feel awful. As much as she would love for him to stay with her, that probably wasn't going to happen.
"We'll see how Carla feels about it when she gets here."
"See how I feel about what when I get here?" Katelyn and Brendon turned to see a dark haired girl standing in the doorway, a pair of aviator sunglasses in her hand and suitcases behind her.
"Hi, I'm Carla." Upon closer inspection, her dark hair was obviously covering up a mousy blonde and her pale green eyes glanced at Brendon curiously before she looked at Katelyn and smiled. Carla was probably a little shorter than Brendon, who was almost 5'9". He always stressed the 'and a half' in 5'8.5" whenever his height was mentioned in any conversation.
"I'm Katelyn, and this is my boyfriend Brendon." The girls shook hands, then Brendon shook Carla's hand politely, trying to get on her good side.
"So what were you two talking about before I got here?" Carla said as she hoisted her suitcase up onto her bed.
"Oh, it's not really a big deal right now. We can talk about it when you get unpacked." Katelyn tried to get out of it, but Brendon and his big mouth…
"Well I was just talking about how I wanted to stay around a few days after Katelyn's mom leaves, since I drove out here and stuff with them… We were wondering if you would have a problem with me staying here." Since when did Brendon become so forward and outgoing? Oh, that was right, since he started dating Katelyn.
"Yeah, that's totally cool. I probably won't be around here much anyways. My friends live in an apartment off campus like five minutes away." Carla seemed to be pretty decent, so Katelyn decided to go on a walk with Brendon to give her some time to settle in.

Katelyn laced her fingers with Brendon's as they walked around the mile long circle that was the UC Irvine campus. It was around 4:30 now and the campus was buzzing with kids and parents alike, trying to get everything settled down.
"I can't believe you're gonna be in college…" Brendon let out a nervous laugh as he glanced around at the buildings.
"I can't either. But it was bound to happen… I'm not a child star and I didn't strike it rich as an entrepreneur, so I guess I need a college degree." The girl shrugged before saying that she really didn't feel like she was in college.
"Yeah, well I don't feel like I'm in a band that just made a record." Brendon's smile was contagious, just like he wanted it to be.
"Let's just see if we can find my mom."
Helen was talking to another parent in the bookstore when Brendon and Katelyn found her, and she seemed a lot better than when she had left. Helen was trying her best to deal with her baby leaving home, and talking to other parents helped her a lot.
"Hey momma bear, want to go grab some dinner?" Helen nodded at her daughter, telling the man she had been speaking to that she would see him later before waving goodbye as they left.
Before leaving for their hotel for the night, Katelyn had made sure that everything was in order in her dorm room and told Carla that she would be back the next day.
She wasn't quite ready to spend her first night in a dorm, and her mom was leaving soon. It was decided that Brendon was going to stay for two or three days, then fly back to Las Vegas. He wanted to stay longer, so that he wouldn't have to go to Summerlin only to turn around and come back for the release of the CD, but the school only allowed guests to stay for three days at the most. Katelyn didn't really want to push it before school even started, so she decided he could stay for two nights after Katelyn's mom left, which was the next day. So Brendon would be staying a total of three days with the girl before leaving.

Helen had a tough time saying goodbye to her daughter, but somehow she managed to leave Irvine without completely breaking down, and Katelyn felt bad about it.
"Don't worry, Kate, she'll adjust and so will you." Although she never admitted it, Brendon knew that she was going to have a hard time away from her mom.
"I know. It sucks though." She sighed, running a hand through her hair before walking with Brendon back to her room. He was going to tag along to all of her little orientation events and one of the first major events was a huge 'graffiti' dance party later that night.
"So they're just giving out white shirts and pens and telling you to write all over each other and dance?" Brendon looked shocked as they walked hand in hand to the ballroom where the dance was being held. The enormous room was dimly lit and Top 40 music was pumping through the speakers. The dance could have been mistaken for a rave if there had been glow sticks present.
"I guess so…" Katelyn was wearing the free, UC Irvine "Orientation '05" shirt that she was given and she had managed to score one for Brendon too, so he was wearing it as well.
"I don't know if I like the thought of people just, like, writing all over me…." He seemed a little overwhelmed by the earlier orientation things and Katelyn said that they didn't have to go to the dance, but he insisted that they go. He wanted to get his share of college experiences even if he wasn't attending.
"Yeah, well… That's how they think we'll meet new people, so whatever." She quickly uncapped her green Sharpie, writing her name on Brendon's chest, right over his heart. He smiled brightly, doing the same thing to her shirt and giving her a kiss.
Taking Brendon's hand, Katelyn led him to the dance floor and they danced around like the goofballs that they were.