“Ever have your girlfriend try to give you a makeover?” Chad asked Bryan. “And you know you can’t tell her no, right?”
“Especially his,” Mike replied.
“No one can say no to her,” I said as I threw my hair back, which was probably the least ‘manly’ thing I could have done at that moment as it made me look as I was doing some sort of make-up shoot.
Bryan and Rick slowly nodded and then motioned us to follow them.
“You got the doors marked red. Two guys to a dorm.”
“What’s your choice, Lin?” Chad asked.
“The key cards will open either door for your school. We have to be on the far end of the gym in about thirty minutes. We’ll see you guys there.”
“Catch you later then, Bry,” Chad shouted as he opened the dorm room and took a step in. “My God, it’s worse than a Motel 6 and there’s no minibar.”
“If my portable refrigerator still works…”
“Oh, that’s you had.”
“Yeah, that’s what I had, doofus,” Mike answered as the door clicked closed.
I opened the door across the hall and walked into my home for the week.
It was barren: a bed, a desk, dresser and something that could pass as a rug. The sheets and pillows looked ‘hostel-issue’ but I wasn’t going to complain as long as the AC worked.
I laid my backpack on the desk and lifted the duffel onto the bed. I felt bad about Melissa’s bag and shook my head on how we were almost late for bus neither of us bothered to make sure our stuff was actually loaded up. Perhaps Melissa could borrow some items or maybe Mrs. Humphrey would have Melissa call her dad and then drive back three hundred miles to retrieve the bag.
I unzipped the tip of the bag and a large black cord poked out.
“What is that? I asked to absolutely nobody as I reached into the bag and my hand touched up against a plastic bag. “What is this?”
I pulled the bag out and saw it was an unopened pack of underwear. Girls’ underwear to be specific.
I dropped that bag on the floor like it was on fire.
“Definitely not mine,” I whispered as I felt my heart race. “This has to be Melissa’s bag.”
I yanked at the cord and a curling iron flew out of and landed on the bed.
“Yo, Lin!” Chad shouted as he knocked on the door. “We gotta get across the field.”
“Yeah, I’ll be right out.