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  “Oh my god, I have almost-Bingo on three different cards,” she told her friend, just loud enough for me to hear from where I was sitting. I saw that in spite of how distracted I was, I was in almost the same shape—I was one number away from a bingo on two of my cards, with another card two numbers away from winning. If you get a bingo, don’t say anything, I thought; I didn’t want to ruin her fun by snatching away her win at the last moment. I watched the two girls get even more excited as the last few numbers of the round were called, both of them checking and re-checking their cards, groaning whenever it was a number that didn’t line up with their existing ones.

  Finally, the person calling numbers called out “B-32!” and the girl almost jumped up out of her seat, dancing in place. “Bingo! Bingo—Bingo—I got Bingo!” I covered my face so she wouldn’t see me laughing if she happened to look my way; I didn’t want her to think I was laughing at her.

  She was absolutely adorable, dancing in place like a little girl as one of the RAs came over to verify that she had actually won. I sipped by Coke as the RA called out the numbers on the girl’s card, checking them against the master list.

  The girl let out an excited almost-squeal when the RAs running the game confirmed that she won; I looked over to see that the prize she’d gotten was actually pretty decent for a Res Life event: it was a basket with a few gift cards to the campus coffee shop, a book of coupons to the pizza place across the street, and a voucher for two free orders of ice cream at the parlor ten minutes away from campus.

  I played one or two more rounds, winning a prize of my own—which I agreed to split with Alex, since he’d been the one to force me to come to the stupid event—and then I saw the girl and her friend standing up, gathering their things to walk away from the table. They were still chatting excitedly about “Nic’s” win, giggling between the two of them.

  At first I thought I’d missed my chance—that they were going to leave the Student Union and I wouldn’t have an opportunity to talk to the girl at all—but they began to wander around the game tables.

  “I think I’m about done,” I told Alex. “Why don’t you see if you can’t scam some more snacks out of them and then we can go?”

  “You don’t want to see if you can beat the odds and win twice?”

  “Nah. I’ve had enough fun for the night,” I said, glancing quickly to make sure that the girl was still wandering around. “I’m going to say hello to some folks and then goodbye and then it’s back to studying.”

  Alex shrugged and stood, giving up his cards to one of the other students coming to try their luck at the game. I got up as well and started to move around the room, lingering at each of the tables, working my way over to where the girl and her friend had paused.

  My heart beat faster in my chest as I got closer and closer to her, and I tried to decide whether to just introduce myself straight off, or to be sneakier. At the last minute, I decided to go for something a little sneakier. I continued walking as I got closer to the girl and her friend and then turned just a little bit right before when I would have collided with them, just barely brushing against the girl. “Oh—sorry,” I said when she turned to see who was behind her. “I got distracted.” I smiled down at her and saw her blush slightly, answering my smile with a grin of her own.

  “It’s okay,” she said, shrugging off the collision. “No harm, no foul.” I looked down to see the prize in her hands.

  “Oh that’s right, you were the one who won a few rounds ago. At the Bingo table, right?” The blush on her face deepened a little bit and I saw the doubt in her eyes.

  “Yes,” she said hesitantly.

  “It looked really exciting. I actually ended up winning two rounds later.” I showed her my half of the prize that I’d split with Alex. “I had to split mine with my friend, since he was the one to convince me to come out tonight.”

  “I should have made you split with me,” the girl’s friend said, shaking her head with mock disgust. I laughed.

  “What’s your name? I’m Ty—Tyler,” I told the girl.

  “Nicole,” she replied, smiling again.

  “I haven’t seen you around before,” I said. “I’d remember if I had.” I saw Nicole’s friend grinning and saw her nudge Nicole.

  “I spend a lot of time studying,” Nicole said, blushing again. “And I’m a freshman, so…”

  “Getting used to everything here?” Nicole nodded. “Which building are you in?” Nicole glanced at her friend quickly; the other girl shrugged.

  “I’m in the Marchman building,” Nicole told me. I grinned down at her.

  “I’m right next door,” I said. “I’m over in Hill. Were you and your friend…”

  “Ashley,” the other girl said.

  “Were you and Ashley planning on heading back soon? I could walk with you.” I glanced over at the snack table; Alex was busy talking to someone, his quest forgotten.

  “I could head back,” Nicole said. She looked up at me for a moment, and then glanced at her friend. “What do you think, Ash? Should we let him walk us back to the dorms?”

  “I’m okay with it,” Ashley said, shrugging.

  I gestured for them to go ahead of me and slipped past the table where Alex was still chatting away; I’d probably get grief from him later, but that wasn’t as important as the possibility of getting to know Nicole a little better. I walked with her and Ashley across campus, joking about the Res Life events.

  “I actually almost didn’t go,” Nicole told me. “Ashley made me go, because apparently not studying is the way to learn something.”

  “That’s not what I said! I pointed out that after reading the same chapter three or four or ten times, it’s better to let it sit around in your head for a bit.”

  “She’s not wrong, you know,” I said to Nicole. “Rest and relaxation is just as important as studying.”

  “All work and no play makes Nicky a dull girl,” Ashley said in a singsong voice.

  When we got to their building, we all stopped and I decided to go for it. “Hey, I was just thinking—since you obviously need to learn a little bit more about how to relax a bit…do you think you might want to grab dinner sometime?” Nicole blushed a deep pink and grinned, looking up at my face and then away again. She licked her lips and I was grateful for the fact that her friend wasn’t saying anything.

  “Okay,” she said finally, smiling slowly. “Yeah—I’ll grab dinner with you sometime.”

  “Can I get your number and see when you’re free later?” I reached into my pocket and found my phone, handing it over to Nicole. She nodded and I watched her put her phone number into my phone. “I’ll text you later,” I told her. Nicole blushed again and nodded.

  “I’m looking forward to it,” she said shyly.

  “We’d better get in,” Ashley said. “She’ll want to read her textbook a few more times before she goes to bed.” I chuckled and stepped back, saying goodnight quickly before I turned to head back to my own dorm building.

  Chapter Three

  A few days after Game Night in the Student Union, I hurried back to my room after classes and started to try and get ready for my date with Ty. I wasn’t even really sure why I’d agreed to go out with him; I hadn’t dated anyone in months, ever since I’d broken up with my ex, Dillon. But there was something about the way that Tyler had looked at me, something about his smile and his eyes that made it impossible for me to say no to him.

  Ashley had given me a hard time about it from the moment that Tyler left us at the entrance to the dorm building, heading off. “He’s right you know,” she’d told me as we waited for the elevator to take us up to our floor. “You have no idea how to have a good time and relax. You need to take some lessons from him.”

  I started going through my clothes, wishing that I’d had time between classes and studying to go to the mall, or at least call my parents and ask them to send something to me.

  Tyler had texted me maybe an hour after we’d met and suggested
that we go out on Friday night and do something. I’d agreed to it and added his number to my phone, and ever since then we’d sent each other a few messages back and forth—mostly just friendly stuff, nothing really aggressive or intense.

  “What was that crash?” I poked my head out through my bedroom door and saw Ashley walking toward my side of the dorm room, looking worried and amused at the same time.

  “A box of stuff in my closet fell,” I admitted, cringing. I’d been sorting through my clothes so quickly and pushing the hangers around so hard that I’d shaken something loose on the shelf above them.

  “You’re really nervous about this, aren’t you?” Ashley raised an eyebrow and followed me back into my room. “All right. I’ll help you.” I rolled my eyes.

  “You’d want me to wear like, a miniskirt and stockings,” I said, shaking my head. I looked at my closet and sighed. I had no idea where Ty was going to be taking me—and somehow I couldn’t decide on which of the outfits in either my closet or my dresser was right for the occasion.

  “For a first date? Nah.” Ashley sat down on my bed and looked me over slowly. “You do probably want to show some cleavage though. And wear your hair down.” I reached up to touch the braid I’d put my hair in that morning to keep it out of my face; I’d taken a shower in the morning too—same as I usually did—but I thought I might get another quick shower before I changed clothes and put on makeup.

  “Down?” I thought of Dillon again. He had always had some comment to make about my hair when we’d been dating—about me constantly changing it, dyeing it or cutting it a different way. I’d only ever actually messed up my hair once or twice, but Dillon had never let me hear the end of it.

  Why did it take me that long to break up with him? It had taken me ages to see his negativity for what it really was. He didn’t criticize me because he wanted to make me better: he had always criticized me, I realized, because he wanted to control me, make me be what he wanted me to be.

  “It’s more sensual that way,” Ashley told me. “It makes you look all soft and feminine and sweet.”

  “What if I don’t want to look soft and feminine and sweet?” I stuck my tongue out at Ashley and looked at my closet again to try and look over my options.

  It wasn’t cold enough yet to really need to wear something warm, but I thought I almost definitely wouldn’t be wearing a miniskirt that night—it was just cool enough to be annoying to walk around in anything short, and on top of that I didn’t want to give Ty the idea that he could just make any kind of move he wanted on me whenever he wanted.

  “Do you want to go on this date with him?” Ashley looked me over speculatively. “It seemed to me like you liked him pretty well.” I shrugged.

  “I like him okay,” I said, thinking about the texts Ty and I had been sending back and forth. He’d asked about how I was doing in my classes, whether I had managed to figure out the material I’d been trying to learn on Game Night, and what kind of movies and books and music I liked.

  “It’s just…guys suck so much.” I shook my head and flipped through the clothes in my closet again for a few moments. I found a dress that I liked—the hem came down to just above my knee, and it had long sleeves, so at least I wouldn’t get chilly. I thought I could wear it with a cute pair of boots, and maybe I’d wear my hair down like Ashley had suggested. “What do you think of this?”

  Ashley looked at the dress and shook her head. “Nope. Not a first date dress. Way too much of you would be covered in that.”

  “Why does that matter? I’m not going to sleep with him on the first date.” Ashley rolled her eyes.

  “It’s not about sleeping with him on the first date,” she said, standing up and walking over to my closet. “It’s about getting the idea across that you might sleep with him eventually.” I laughed.

  Ashley sorted through my clothes slowly, pausing on a few of the different pieces of outfits I had in my closet. She picked another dress out; it was a camisole dress, a little shorter in the hem than the one I’d picked out, with spaghetti straps and a sweetheart neckline. “This is what you want to wear,” she told me with a nod.

  “It might get chilly tonight,” I pointed out.

  “So wear a sweater over it!” Ashley turned back toward my closet and shuffled through my clothes until she found a soft, loose cardigan in the same color as one of the flowers on the dress. “Wear this open over the dress, maybe a nice necklace and some earrings, and a pair of boots and you’re set.”

  “Thank you, mother,” I said, pouting in Ashley’s direction. I looked at the dress that she’d picked out and decided it actually was kind of nice. It wasn’t so fancy that I’d feel like I had overdressed if we went somewhere casual, but it wasn’t a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, so if we went somewhere nicer I wouldn’t feel out of place either.

  “Get a quick shower, do your hair and put on some makeup,” Ashley suggested with a nod.

  “Why did I even agree to go out with him?” I sighed, throwing the clothes onto my bed and kneeling down to look into my basket of shoes underneath.

  “Uh, because he’s totally hot and sweet?” I shrugged.

  “I guess,” I said, blushing as I thought of Ty’s greenish eyes. Ashley was right about one thing: Tyler was definitely hot. “But I mean, my ex—Dillon—was hot, and he was sweet at first. And then he turned out to be a jerk.”

  “Well, if Ty turns out to be a total jerk, then we’ll ruin his life,” Ashley said, grinning at me. “Say he’s got a tiny dick or something like that.” I laughed in spite of how nervous I felt and picked out a pair of boots that I thought would go with the dress Ashley had decided on for me.

  “I will keep that in mind,” I told her, grabbing my towel. I thought—I hoped—that a shower would settle my nerves a bit.

  I was determined that I would at least enjoy my date with Ty, and if nothing ever came of it that would be fine. Ashley had been at least a little bit right that I hadn’t had very much fun since I’d started at the college a few weeks before. A date would be fun, even if it weren’t the best date I’d ever been on. I took a deep breath and went into the bathroom I shared with Ashley, ignoring the way she chuckled at my nervousness. I thought that I would wear my hair down, like she’d suggested, but I was going to stick with my own preferences for my makeup and my jewelry. I didn’t want to try and pretend to be someone I wasn’t for Ty—not on a first date. If he didn’t like what he saw, that was his problem.

  Chapter Four

  I knocked on Nicole’s door five minutes before I’d told her I’d come and get her; my dad had taught me when I was young that it was only polite to arrive five minutes early for an appointment of any kind, with anyone, and when I’d become a teenager he’d said it was especially important for a date.

  I smiled to myself as I thought about what I had planned for my first date with Nicole. I was fairly certain that she didn’t have any idea of what I had in mind—but that she’d love it nonetheless. I heard Nicole’s voice on the other side of the heavy door calling out that she was coming, and my heart beat faster.

  I’d spent a good hour getting my car cleaned up and cleared out on the inside; there wasn’t anything really bad in it—nothing that would make it stink or anything—but I wanted the old heap to look as good as possible when I let Nicole into the passenger seat. I’d lucked out in my schedule for the day when one of my professors sent out an email to the entire class, telling us that they had to stay home with one of their kids, so the class was canceled.

  I’d spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready for my date with Nicole: I’d gone to the bank to get the cash I knew I’d need, and I’d taken a shower, shaved, and picked out the outfit I wanted to wear. I was as ready as I could possibly be about twenty minutes before the time I’d given Nicole—so I’d spent the last ten minutes sitting in my room wondering if I was making a big mistake, planning the night the way I had.

  The door to Nicole’s dorm room opened and I took in the sigh
t of her. She was enough to make my mouth water: the dress she wore fit her like a glove, but looked sweet at the same time, especially with the sweater over it and the boots covering her feet.

  Her hair was down, and for a moment all I could think about was how much I wanted to run my fingers through it, how much I wanted to touch it and how much I wanted to kiss her. I shook off the feeling and smiled. “I know I’m a couple of minutes early,” I said, shrugging off my punctuality.

  “No—it’s nice,” Nicole said, smiling back at me. “It saves me the trouble of pacing around the common area all nervous for five minutes.” I chuckled.

  “Well, then, should we get on the road?” Nicole hesitated for just a moment and then she nodded.

  “Let me just check that I’ve got everything,” she said. She looked in her purse and muttered “Keys, phone, ID card, wallet…” and then looked up at me, her cheeks still pink. “Okay, let’s go!”

  I had put more thought into the date I was going to take Nicole than I probably should have—definitely more than I would have admitted to anyone. “Where are we going?” Nicole asked me when I unlocked and opened the passenger side door to let her in.

  “We’re going to the county fair,” I told her, grinning. I waited until she’d pulled the seatbelt around and closed the door behind her before walking around to the driver’s side of the car.

  I looked at Nicole’s face in the mirrors as I walked, hoping against hope that she wasn’t thinking about how stupid a date that would be; but instead of looking skeptical or disappointed, I saw that she looked incredibly excited—easily as excited as she’d looked when she’d won her prizes at Bingo.