Hoping to alleviate my stress, I decide to go for a quick run. I’m already dressed in my nylon jogging shorts, T-shirt and running shoes. Plugging my earbuds into my phone and slipping them in my ears, I head out the door.
Our house is only a few blocks from campus and I usually prefer the quiet neighborhood streets to the crowded walkways around the quad, but something is pulling me toward the school. Specifically, toward frat and sorority row.
Yes, Brin mentioned she’s in the Mi Alpha Alpha sorority house. The big three-story one with the ivy-lattice brick exterior and the cute window boxes decorated in flowers.
My feet move with purpose as I pump my arms and legs, increasing my blood flow as I loosen up with every step closer I take toward the infamous Greek row.
I don’t think I made a conscious effort to run past her sorority, but by the time I get here, I’m stuck.
Because stepping out of the house and down the front path as soon as I near it, comes Brin and another girl, both giggling over something the girl has in her hands.
Brin’s laughter stops abruptly the moment she sees me standing a few yards away, panting and drawing in breath that literally escaped the moment I saw her.
I notice the other girl say something to Brin in the form of, “Are you okay?” but all I can see is Brin. She’s wearing shorts and a T-shirt, her hair up in a ponytail and she’s carrying a large paper bag in her arms.
I wave uncomfortably, coming to a stop at the end of the sidewalk as they near.
Coughing to clear my parched throat, I lamely say, “Hey. I was just out for a run.”
The other girl nudges Brin, who looks like she’s seen a ghost. Or a creeper.
“Hi.” She finally says, as her friend walks up to me with a smirk on her face, sticking her hand out.
“Hey, I’m Lola. And aren’t you…” she looks at me, then at Brin and then her gaze lands on me again with a hard look. “Aren’t you Preston Dahl? Number seventeen on the Bears hockey team?”
I shrug noncommittally. “Guess so.”
Lola gives Brin an accusatory smirk. “You didn’t mention he was a hockey player.”
