Bridgette - Chapter Ten: Nothing Can Stay the Same Forever - Part Two

We pulled up to the front of my dorm and I went to check in at the front desk to get my key.  After waiting in line for several minutes, I finally checked in and we headed up to my dorm room.  Julia’s and my room was on the fourth floor. As we walked up to the door and I noticed that it was open. I peeked inside and saw Julia standing inside.

She heard us in the doorway and turned around.“Hey Bridge! Isn’t this exciting?”

“Hey! It’s kind of crazy! Was it really crowded in the lobby when you checked in?”

“Yeah, they said it would be worse around five o’clock though. Let me help you all with your things.” Julia grabbed some bags and we walked further into our living area.  ASU had apartments for their on campus students. Julia and I shared a living space, bathroom, kitchen and dining area and then each had our own rooms.  I noticed that most of Julia’s things were still sitting in the living area.

“You haven’t put any of your stuff away?”

“No, I didn’t want to just take a bedroom; I figured I’d wait for you.” I thought that was really sweet of her.

“This looks really nice!” Mom commented. “Do you want our help unpacking for a little bit or would you rather we left?”

“I’m not going to kick you out, Mom, but I thought you all needed to get back.”

“We do, but I’m having a hard time leaving my baby girl.” Oh boy, here we go.

“Mom. . .”

“I know. We’ll leave so I don’t embarrass you anymore. Call if you need anything. Tell Carson and Trent we said hi.” We hugged and she squeezed me so tight I thought I was going to pass out.  She finally stopped hugging me and let Dad say goodbye.

“Bye Bridge. Be careful and call us every once in a while.” We hugged and then they started to leave.

“I’ll call you later tonight, after we’re all settled in.” I told them. I was never good at goodbyes and I just wanted to get this part over with. I was already exhausted from saying goodbye to everyone else that morning.

They left and Julia and I went to the bedrooms to choose which one each of us wanted. I asked her if she had a preference. They were pretty much identical one happened to be on one side of the bathroom and one on the other. We finally decided that Julia would take the one on the left and I took the room one the right. Once we chose our rooms we got to unpacking.  The apartment came furnished but Julie and I had gone shopping several times over the summer to purchase items to spruce up the place.

We had just finished putting things in place when there was a knock at the door. Julia went to the door and answered. “Trent!” I heard her gush. He had barely gotten in the door before they were kissing. Carson maneuvered past them and came up to me.

“Wow! You all did a great job decorating! Trent and I didn’t spend much time doing that.”

“Let me guess, you picked your rooms, threw your bedding on the bed, threw your clothes in the dresser and then relaxed.”

“Yup, that’s pretty much what we did.” He smiled and I laughed at him.

“Hey guys, why don’t we get something to eat? I’m starving!” Trent complained.

“Trent, you’re always hungry.” Julia stated.

“Hey, it takes a lot of food to fuel this physic.”

“Well I don’t know about you two, but we have no food in the fridge. We either have to order something or go out.” I mentioned.

“Oh! Let’s go out! When I was in line checking in I overheard some upperclassmen talking about a place that we could walk to.”

“What kind of place is it?” I asked.

“Oh nothing fancy, just a garb and go place. But it’s close by and it’s supposed to be pretty good.”

We all agreed to go and started walking. It was nice to see the small town that the university was part of.  There wasn’t much to the town but there was enough to keep the college students entertained.

We arrived at what looked like a big mall. “Is the place inside here?” Trent asked.

“Yup. This is apparently where everyone goes if they want to shop or grab a quick bite to eat.” Julie instructed.

We walked into the mall and found the eatery.  Soon we all had our food and we talked as we ate.  “I think I’m going to get some ice cream!” Trent exclaimed after we were done eating.

“I’ll come with you” Julia followed him.

Carson scooted closer to me. “Hey, you doing okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Really? I know you’re not a big fan of change and this is a big change for all of us.” He prodded.

“I mean, considering I really didn’t want to go to college and, like you said, I hate change, then yeah; I guess I’m okay.”

“Aren’t you the least bit excited?” He almost looked hurt.

“I’m sorry I’m not more excited about college, but there is one thing that I’m happy about.” I offered.

“What’s that?”

“I get to be here with you, and Trent and Julia of course.” I smiled at him and he grabbed my hand.

“Did we interrupt something?” Julia coyly asked as she and Trent came back to the table.

I rolled my eyes and smiled. “We were just talking about all of us being here, experiencing new things.” Carson explained. “Who knows, maybe we’ll even convince Bridge to stay more than one year.”

I smiled at him. Who knows, maybe they will.