Status: Active
Surrender the Night
Three.
By lunch, to my delight, I had survived two classes although with a severely damp sweatshirt. Leah and I had made it a thing that we would meet each other for lunch in the dining hall as soon as college officially started. We would see how long that'd last. I set a bet for no longer than a week. Surprisingly, her bet was only two or three days.
When I finally made it past the rush and into the hall itself, she was right there, already waiting for me. And she had brought a whole group of people with her. I hesitated before I took a deep breath and walked over to meet them.
"Hello," I said, waving. Leah immediately cut off her conversation with the redhead and skipped up next to me.
"Roxy, finally came to join us?" She gasped, and then began rummaging in her bag for something.
"Oh come on, a few minutes late never hurt anyone."
"That's not true. You intentionally burned a hole in my stomach." She grabbed her plain, white chapstick and glared up at me. "Are you so heartless?"
"Poor baby. Don't worry," I said, wrapping my arm across her shoulders, "I'll remember this any time you're late to meet me. Which you are... Ninety percent of the time."
Leah threw her head back and retaliated with a deep, hearty laugh. "Ha, ha. Hey guess what?"
"Hmm?"
"All these people here, yeah, they were in my last class. Professor Haime. Biology 102. And," she started whispering, "they're going to a lodge later."
"What's that mean for us?" I whispered back.
"Live music, duh. It's called the Elks Lodge. I guess it's a place where a bunch of college kids hang out, drink and dance a little. They invited us to come along."
I watched her face light up as she spoke, but I wasn't too happy about our plans. I didn't want to go out on the first night of classes, just so I could stay in my dorm to begin organizing everything. But being friends with Leah came with a price, and my intuition always failed to prepare me for her next jump attack. I should have known better though, being greeted by a bunch of people our age.
As I was just about to turn down the offer, one of the students took the quick silence as a chance to interrupt. "Are we gonna sit somewhere and eat or?"
"Oh. Right." Leah giggled and we all followed behind her as she lead us to the pizza station. My stomach growled menacingly as I took my time deciding on a single piece. Spinach or double cheese... Spinach or double cheese...
"Don't make a decision yet," she urged, popping up next to my right. I knew what she was referring to but the timing amused me. "I know you have alternate plans like studying, or whatever, but it'll be a good time."
"Just so you know, I'm gonna be tired as hell when I get back to the dorm."
"Then take a nap and I'll come back for you," she assured me, plopping two pieces of spinach pizza onto my plate. After spending a couple agonizing seconds finding a place for all of us to sit, I was introduced to the group but I knew it'd be hard for me to remember their names right off the bat. I was much better at remembering faces.
I'd admit, I was slightly disappointed when I realized Austin was not standing with everybody. He was the first male student I became acquaintances with. Maybe Leah really did see something the night before and didn't want anything to come of it. But she was like that. Always overreacting, or seeing things that weren't there. He wasn't exactly my type anyways, but explaining that to her would be pointless.
~~~
Night time eventually fell over Orono, and by 7:30pm, we were entering the Elks Lodge with no problems. With her nonstop complaining and blubbering, Leah eventually convinced me that it would be a good thing to get out for the evening. She used the term 'celebration' religiously, to the point where it didn't even sound like a normal word in English. Studying could wait a day (or two, depending on how wasted I was willing to get as the night led on).
I felt out of place with jeans and a racerback tank, since most of the students were hanging around in tshirts. Quite a few of them adorned the same shirt, the logo bright and simple, and kept multiplying the farther we walked. I couldn't help but release a painful cough due to the smoke wafting around us. It was thick, and came from multiple cigarettes, among other things.
"I cannot breathe in here, holy shit," I complained to Leah, making sure the students who invited us couldn't hear me. I didn't want to be that person who monitored everything and acted like the uncool mom. First impressions were extremely important. How someone behaves out in public shows you just the right amount of their character.
She gave me a dirty look and said, "try breathing through your mouth."
"I am," I snapped back, wishing someone, somewhere, would fling open a window and save me from asphyxiation. After grabbing a couple of beers from the bartender, we quickly found a vacant booth while others were filling in around us. I used the table to pop off the cap and chugged down three quarters of the alcohol. It wasn't pleasant, but it definitely soothed my throat.
"Could you be anymore embarrassing?" Leah wondered, as she placed her head on her palm and smiled awkwardly to the others. I didn't want her to feel like she had to cover up for my puzzling behavior but I had a hard time adjusting to these places if it had been a while. So I sat quietly, trying to disappear into everyone else and just listen to the conversations, until eventually, the lights began to dim.
"Who's the band?" I asked, not to anyone in particular.
A younger girl, to my left, answered me reluctantly. "They're called 'My Chemical Romance'. They've been around for a while."
I thanked her and we all waited excitedly for soundcheck to finish. Leah asked the redhead to grab her another beer but they started arguing over how it was too dark for him to find the bar. Another student was busy sticking their gum underneath the table and the younger girl who spoke to me was in the process of chewing off all of her fingernails. I sat very still, I didn't mind observing, and then a voice into the microphone bought our attention.
"What is up, Orono?" The lights remained dim on stage, but I squinted my eyes anyway as a reflex. His figure was visible but the face remained part of the shadowy illusion. The crowd yelled back to him, everyone around me beginning to loosen up. Then suddenly, he was surrounded by a flood of brightness, and I recognized the man from earlier, at the cafe. He looked uncomfortable, glancing over at the sides of the stage as he wiped his hair from his eyes.
"So I know the lot of you have heard us before. We wrote some new songs while we've been away," he continued, grabbing the microphone out from the stand. He seemed nervous, which made me bite my lip to keep from cracking up. I folded my hands underneath my head and waited for them to start playing. I guess I was expecting amateurs. What I got was unexpected.
When I finally made it past the rush and into the hall itself, she was right there, already waiting for me. And she had brought a whole group of people with her. I hesitated before I took a deep breath and walked over to meet them.
"Hello," I said, waving. Leah immediately cut off her conversation with the redhead and skipped up next to me.
"Roxy, finally came to join us?" She gasped, and then began rummaging in her bag for something.
"Oh come on, a few minutes late never hurt anyone."
"That's not true. You intentionally burned a hole in my stomach." She grabbed her plain, white chapstick and glared up at me. "Are you so heartless?"
"Poor baby. Don't worry," I said, wrapping my arm across her shoulders, "I'll remember this any time you're late to meet me. Which you are... Ninety percent of the time."
Leah threw her head back and retaliated with a deep, hearty laugh. "Ha, ha. Hey guess what?"
"Hmm?"
"All these people here, yeah, they were in my last class. Professor Haime. Biology 102. And," she started whispering, "they're going to a lodge later."
"What's that mean for us?" I whispered back.
"Live music, duh. It's called the Elks Lodge. I guess it's a place where a bunch of college kids hang out, drink and dance a little. They invited us to come along."
I watched her face light up as she spoke, but I wasn't too happy about our plans. I didn't want to go out on the first night of classes, just so I could stay in my dorm to begin organizing everything. But being friends with Leah came with a price, and my intuition always failed to prepare me for her next jump attack. I should have known better though, being greeted by a bunch of people our age.
As I was just about to turn down the offer, one of the students took the quick silence as a chance to interrupt. "Are we gonna sit somewhere and eat or?"
"Oh. Right." Leah giggled and we all followed behind her as she lead us to the pizza station. My stomach growled menacingly as I took my time deciding on a single piece. Spinach or double cheese... Spinach or double cheese...
"Don't make a decision yet," she urged, popping up next to my right. I knew what she was referring to but the timing amused me. "I know you have alternate plans like studying, or whatever, but it'll be a good time."
"Just so you know, I'm gonna be tired as hell when I get back to the dorm."
"Then take a nap and I'll come back for you," she assured me, plopping two pieces of spinach pizza onto my plate. After spending a couple agonizing seconds finding a place for all of us to sit, I was introduced to the group but I knew it'd be hard for me to remember their names right off the bat. I was much better at remembering faces.
I'd admit, I was slightly disappointed when I realized Austin was not standing with everybody. He was the first male student I became acquaintances with. Maybe Leah really did see something the night before and didn't want anything to come of it. But she was like that. Always overreacting, or seeing things that weren't there. He wasn't exactly my type anyways, but explaining that to her would be pointless.
~~~
Night time eventually fell over Orono, and by 7:30pm, we were entering the Elks Lodge with no problems. With her nonstop complaining and blubbering, Leah eventually convinced me that it would be a good thing to get out for the evening. She used the term 'celebration' religiously, to the point where it didn't even sound like a normal word in English. Studying could wait a day (or two, depending on how wasted I was willing to get as the night led on).
I felt out of place with jeans and a racerback tank, since most of the students were hanging around in tshirts. Quite a few of them adorned the same shirt, the logo bright and simple, and kept multiplying the farther we walked. I couldn't help but release a painful cough due to the smoke wafting around us. It was thick, and came from multiple cigarettes, among other things.
"I cannot breathe in here, holy shit," I complained to Leah, making sure the students who invited us couldn't hear me. I didn't want to be that person who monitored everything and acted like the uncool mom. First impressions were extremely important. How someone behaves out in public shows you just the right amount of their character.
She gave me a dirty look and said, "try breathing through your mouth."
"I am," I snapped back, wishing someone, somewhere, would fling open a window and save me from asphyxiation. After grabbing a couple of beers from the bartender, we quickly found a vacant booth while others were filling in around us. I used the table to pop off the cap and chugged down three quarters of the alcohol. It wasn't pleasant, but it definitely soothed my throat.
"Could you be anymore embarrassing?" Leah wondered, as she placed her head on her palm and smiled awkwardly to the others. I didn't want her to feel like she had to cover up for my puzzling behavior but I had a hard time adjusting to these places if it had been a while. So I sat quietly, trying to disappear into everyone else and just listen to the conversations, until eventually, the lights began to dim.
"Who's the band?" I asked, not to anyone in particular.
A younger girl, to my left, answered me reluctantly. "They're called 'My Chemical Romance'. They've been around for a while."
I thanked her and we all waited excitedly for soundcheck to finish. Leah asked the redhead to grab her another beer but they started arguing over how it was too dark for him to find the bar. Another student was busy sticking their gum underneath the table and the younger girl who spoke to me was in the process of chewing off all of her fingernails. I sat very still, I didn't mind observing, and then a voice into the microphone bought our attention.
"What is up, Orono?" The lights remained dim on stage, but I squinted my eyes anyway as a reflex. His figure was visible but the face remained part of the shadowy illusion. The crowd yelled back to him, everyone around me beginning to loosen up. Then suddenly, he was surrounded by a flood of brightness, and I recognized the man from earlier, at the cafe. He looked uncomfortable, glancing over at the sides of the stage as he wiped his hair from his eyes.
"So I know the lot of you have heard us before. We wrote some new songs while we've been away," he continued, grabbing the microphone out from the stand. He seemed nervous, which made me bite my lip to keep from cracking up. I folded my hands underneath my head and waited for them to start playing. I guess I was expecting amateurs. What I got was unexpected.