- The trio in the college choose trio over anything – 01
- The trio in the college choose trio over anything – 02
“Sobered up too,” sky sighed.
The next couple of hours weren’t fun. Skylar and I cleaned up Zoe as best as possible and sat with her as she used the garbage can twice before finally passing out. Sky was nervous so I stayed with her until we were sure Zoe was going to be okay.
“I didn’t think she was that close to her boyfriend,” I sighed. “I mean I knew he existed, but he’s never come to visit.”
“I’m not sure they were that close anymore,” Skylar said after looking at me in silence for a moment. “But he was her first love and she was convinced that they’d end up together despite their problems.”
“Oh,” I sighed in understanding. “That’s sad.”
“Yes,” Sky agreed, obviously thinking about some issues of her own. “I guess we all have our sad little stories.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked, registering that something was on sky’s mind. It had the feel of an old wound that was resurfacing because of what happened to Zoe
“What almost happened tonight with Zoe and Jimbo, happened to me,” Sky replied, wiping Zoe’s face with a cold rag.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“It was my own fault,” she shrugged, refusing to look in my direction. “I got drunk with the wrong guy and he took advantage.”
“I don’t think you’re being all that fair to yourself,” I sighed.
“Probably not,” she said. “I was only a freshman in highschool and he was a senior.”
“That ass!” I snapped, honestly angry. My tone gave her the strength to look at me despite her embarrassment.
“He was definitely one of those,” she smiled sadly. “As you might have guessed, my breasts developed at a young age. They were always attracting guys they shouldn’t.”
“How many guys?” I asked, not willing to ask my question bluntly. It was okay. The sky was smart enough to understand.
“Too many,” she replied, blushing but still looking at me. “At least until I finally realized I didn’t like myself very much. None since then.”
“Good for you!” I smiled.
“Yeah right!” she snorted. “Now you know I’m not the nice girl you think I am.”
“Sure you are,” I insisted, and then took a chance. I wanted desperately to see her laugh right then and my next sentence would either do that or make things a lot worse. “Although, if you ever decide to go back to the way you were, you will look me up first, right?” The sky froze for a second and I held my breath.
“You bet!” she laughed. I smiled constantly and let my breath out.
We continued to speak for a while before sky looked at me and asked, “So what about you? Have you ever…”
“Yes,” I admitted. It didn’t seem right not to tell her after she shared her past with me.
“Who was she?” Skylar asked.
“No one special,” I sighed. “She was a science geek just like me and I think we both were more interested in gaining the experience before going to college than anything else.”
“Do you still talk to her?”
“Not really,” I shrugged and we fell silent for a few minutes.
“Thanks for staying tonight,” Sky smiled, thankfully changing the subject.
“What are friends for?” I asked.
***
“What’s up?” I asked as I walked into Zoe and Skylar’s room. They left me a voicemail to come visit.
“Nothing much,” Sky shrugged. “We just wanted to say hi. We haven’t seen you for a while. Not since you started dating Vickie.”
“Didn’t you hear?” I frowned. “Vickie and I broke up just before spring break. I think she was going to Mexico and didn’t want to be tied down.”
“Are you okay?” Zoe asked.
“Sure,” I replied. “I knew we weren’t meant for each other, but it was nice to have someone around for a while.”
“You used her?” Sky asked with a frown.
“I think it was more of a matter of mutual use,” I replied, knowing the sky was sensitive to these types of things.
“What happened to the nice guy we know and love?” she asked.
“And how come he hasn’t stopped by recently?” Zoe added.
“No reason,” I shrugged. “Things have just been crazy recently.”
“Want to talk about it?” sky asked.
I didn’t, but they didn’t let it go and kept harping on me until I told them what was going on. None of it was that traumatic, but it all added up. I’d forgotten how nice it was to unload.
“Thanks!” I said afterward. “I’ve missed you guys. I’d forgotten just how therapeutic our talks can be.”
“I’m glad we could help,” Zoe said. “But I hope you missed us for more than that.”
“Certainly,” I said, but then grinned and added, “If for nothing else then sky’s breasts and your ass!”
“That’s just lovely,” Zoe sighed, but the sky was grinning.
“Zoe, I’m sorry,” I said more seriously. “You too sky. You’re two of my closest friends. I don’t know why I haven’t visited that much recently.”
“That’s okay,” Zoe said. “We haven’t gone out of our way to visit you either. We talked about it last night and decided to do something about it. That’s why they called.”
“I promise not to let that much time between visits go by again,” I said.
“Us too,” Zoe added.
“By the way, I hope you’re planning on sleeping over tonight,” sky put in. “We’ve rented some movies we know you’ll love.”
“This is going to be painful, isn’t it?” I groaned. I could tell they were going to be major league chick flicks from sky’s tone.
“You have no idea!” she laughed. “But at least we’ve got beer to help deaden your pain!”
“Thank God!” I said, dropping onto the floor and kicking off my shoes. Sky’s comforter and Zoe’s extra pillow were soon dumped on my head. Zoe put on the television and Sky got the drinks.
I sat there next to the two ladies, making fun of the movie they chose and laughing constantly. At one point I realized that I hadn’t laughed that hard since I stopped coming by. I decided never to let that happen again. Suddenly, it hit me that whatever else happened, Zoe, sky and I would be friends for a long time.
***
“This ‘end of the year’ party was a great idea!” I sighed, feeling extremely full.
“It was, wasn’t it?” sky agreed.
“You’re welcome,” Zoe smiled.
We were walking back from one of the better nearby restaurants. It wasn’t a place we went to often because of the prices, but we decided to splurge since classes were done for the year. I was originally supposed to be on my way home already, but the girls convinced me to spend another day on campus.
“You only suggested it because you had to stay until tomorrow anyway,” Sky laughed. Zoe didn’t deny it.
“So?” she said.
“What now?” I interjected before the two could start arguing. “Should we go back to your room and relax?”
“Not yet,” Skylar said. “Tomorrow’s the last day of finals. The only people left are studying and I’m not in the mood to keep quiet.”
“Let’s go find a party!” Zoe added. “I feel like dancing.”
“Where are we going to find a party tonight?” I asked.
“Are you kidding?” the sky laughed. “There are small pockets of people who graduated this year still partying all over the place, especially off campus.”
The girls led the way and obviously had somewhere in mind. The party they took us to was pretty good. It was supposed to be for graduates only, but everyone there was drunk and I walked in with two women, one of whom stuck out her prominent chest at any guy who frowned at the sight of us.
“Those seem to come in very handy,” I teased.
“You have no idea!” she laughed.
“That’s not the way a nice girl acts to get what she wants,” Zoe said, with her nose slightly raised, but I could tell she was just joking.
“First of all,” Skylar sighed. “You’re just jealous.”
“Maybe a little,” Zoe admitted with that impish grin of hers.
“And second of all,” Sky added. “Don’t you ever get tired of being a ‘nice’ girl?”
“Skylar!” Zoe cried, but then giggled and admitted, “Sometimes.”
“Wow!” I said, more to myself than anyone else.
“Don’t get your hopes up,” Skylar said.
“It’s too late for that!” I replied, causing both ladies to laugh again.
“And just think!” Zoe teased. “Next year we’ll all be living together off campus.”
“I can’t wait!” I grinned.
“Yep,” Sky said. “Just like family, two sisters and a brother.”
“Not really,” I put in.
“What?” she asked in surprise.
” Sky, I love you and Zoe like sisters,” I admitted. “But it would be sick to fantasize about sisters the way I do you two!”
“He has a point,” Zoe put in, surprising me.
“There is that,” Sky agreed.
“You two are in a mood today!” I laughed.
We had a few drinks and danced together for a while. We were all in the mood to have a good time and that was exactly what we did. Eventually, I had to excuse myself for a few minutes to deal with nature’s call. Both Zoe and Sky were dancing with other guys when I returned. They looked like they were having a good time, so I wandered off toward the small bar in the corner. On my way there, I literally bumped into a girl I recognized from one of my large lecture hall classes. I didn’t know her name.
“Sorry,” I said with a smile.
“That’s okay,” she replied. “I feel like dancing. Do you want to dance?”
She was obviously a little buzzed and something was on her mind, but she was cute so I didn’t put too much thought into it. Besides, the school year was over! It was time to relax and have fun, and that’s exactly what I was going to do!
“Sure,” I smiled. “I’m Mark.”
“Rita,” she replied as I took her hand and led her back to where people were dancing.
She was a very good dancer and I was having a fun time until someone pushed me hard. I turned and saw a guy who was obviously mad at something. He looked ready to fight and I sighed to myself. Fighting wasn’t something I liked to do, but then again, I didn’t like to be pushed either.
“Why did you do that?” I asked.
“You’re dancing with my girlfriend!” he nearly growled.
“I’m not your girlfriend anymore!” Rita snapped.
‘Oh brother!’ I thought. ‘This is not what I had in mind for tonight.’
“Come on Rita!” the guy cried. “You’re overreacting. You know I love you!”
The breakup was new and raw, that was pretty obvious. I looked back and forth between the two and quickly decided that I wanted no part of this situation. Rita was cute, but it was my last day on campus and I was just looking to lay back and relax. The guy had pushed me, but his expression made it pretty obvious just how much pain he was in. I’d been dumped once or twice and knew how that felt. I decided to let it go. I was saved from having to actually say anything by the arrival of Zoe and sky.
“We leave you alone for one dance and look what happens?” Zoe said, taking one of my hands.
“Let’s go back to our room to finish this party,” Sky added, taking my mother. I looked at the guy and girl and shrugged as the ladies escorted me out of the party. Quite a few people were watching. If nothing else, it was great for my reputation, not to mention my ego.
“You know,” I said, once we were outside. “If you two keep acting like that, you’re sure to lose your nice girl image.”
“We would, wouldn’t we?” Sky laughed.
“Don’t worry about it,” Zoe put in. “Most of the people there are all seniors anyway. We won’t see them next year.”
I shook my head, but didn’t say anything. We made our way back to their room. The hall was eerily quiet, but once we entered their room everything was okay. We’d spent too much time in the room over the last year not to feel comfortable.
“I’m going to miss this room,” I said aloud to no one in particular.
“Me too,” Sky said.
“Let’s see if you two feel that way tomorrow morning when we have to pull everything down and pack it away!” Zoe teased. “My father is arriving with the truck tomorrow around lunch time.”
“We’re already done most of the packing,” Sky replied. “It won’t be that bad.”
“You’re not the one who is going to have to move the television and refrigerator!” I complained.
“Don’t worry,” Sky grinned. “We’ll do our part. We’ll help you empty the refrigerator tonight!” She opened it and pulled out our drinks. Zoe and I each took one.
“One more year closer to graduation!” I toasted.
“Thank God!” sky sighed.