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My part started today, checking out the campus. Rome had been right about me not needed to be up, though. I dozed in our unmade bed for another couple hours before I started getting ready to leave.
Roman had taken the car, so I ended up calling a cab. I'd have to get my car down here from Aberdeen or get another. I knew how Roman felt about my car, but it still worked, I didn't know what his problem was. I had to be there at ten. I was meeting a woman from the alumni society, Betty Lange, for the tour. She was a short woman with frizzy black hair, dressed in a weather appropriate sundress. I had looked at a map of the campus online, but it was massive and I didn't trust myself not to get lost. Betty apparently didn't, either. We met at the main admin building.
Five minutes into the tour, I was glad that I had worn flats that morning. My college back home had been smaller than this, but maybe some of the size here was just an illusion since I wasn't familiar with my surroundings yet. It was beautiful, though. Green and lush, loads of flowers and tall palm trees everywhere. Maybe it would feel smaller when it was filled with students. There weren't a lot of people still on campus since fall semester hadn't started yet.
"Do you want to see the residence halls?" Betty asked me.
"No need. I'm living off campus."
"I thought you transferred. Where did you get a place?"
"I live about fifteen or twenty minutes from here. I have an apartment."
"Yeah? That's a nice area," she commented, sounding complimentary but also curious.
"It is," I said, agreeing.
"Right by the water, too. Right?" she asked. I giggled. She was digging. The area Roman and I lived was definitely not in the budget of the ordinary college student who no longer lived with her parents.
"I don't live alone. I live with my boyfriend."
"How did you make the jump from South Dakota to here?"
"I transferred after summer semester at my old college because he got signed to play for the Hurricanes."
"Ooh, an athlete. I guess I don't have to ask whether he'll be joining us too since he's already a pro."
"Yeah," I said proudly. "He worked hard to get here, and we wanted to be close. Transferring wasn't too much to ask for us to be able to stay together."
"You must really love him," she said. She didn't know how right she was. She asked me questions about myself after that, mainly what I wanted to study. I looked after every question for a way to steer the conversation back to Roman. She didn't care, obviously, but it felt good talking about him.
It took coming up the elevator, letting myself into the apartment and face-planting on the bed to realize how tired I was when I got home. I rolled onto my back, trying to summon enough motivation to at least wash my makeup off. It had to be the heat. I hadn't acclimatized yet. It sucked the life right out of me. I closed my eyes, telling myself I'd open then again in five minutes. Yeah. Five minutes and I'd get up. It would be easier getting up and washing my face now than it would be to try to wash it off the sheets later.
I sighed, feeling the bed depress behind me. Roman's arm wrapped around me and pulled me back into his chest. He was back. I smiled, rubbing my hand up his forearm.
"What time is it?" I grumbled, remembering that I had meant to get up again.
"A little past ten," he said. There was something else about training camp that I had had no idea about – how long the days lasted. They weren't running around practicing all the hours that they were gone, but it was a long, stressful workday. I respected the hell out of him for it.
He would tell me about it when I asked, but he wouldn't talk about it like it was hard, or share just how demanding it was. It made me want to go full Stepford Wife, have food on the table and turned down sheets for him when he would get home.
"I wasn't supposed to fall asleep," I sighed. I rolled over so I was looking at him. He had gotten some color already, it was so hot here. He looked a little tired too though.
"Sorry I woke you. Again."
"No. I have to wash my makeup off anyway. Are you hungry?"
"I ate before I got here. How was the tour today?"
"It was good. The woman who took me around the campus was nice. It was nice," I said dreamily. "I'll be able to register no problem in a couple weeks."
"That's great, babe," he said.
"I need to bring my car down from Aberdeen."
"No. You're getting a new one. I'm getting you a new one."
"My old one still works."
