I rolled my eyes at her playfully and we started walking again. When we got back to the dorm, I noticed that Terrell was much quieter than when we’d left. He barely even said “bye” when he went into his room. I ignored the change in his behavior and continued on to me and Deanna’s door. It was 10:45 now and we agreed that that was a suitable time to retire for the evening.
She was snoring only seconds after I turned off the light. I lay there staring up at the ceiling and gave in, finally picking up my phone to text AJ. Before I could even type in the first letter of my message, my phone sounded off.
“Miss u already,”was all AJ’s text said.
“Missed u b4 I even left u,”I replied as I turned over and shut my eyes. Sleep was the only thing that would keep me from getting emotional, so I laythere, anxiously awaiting it.
*****
The first day of class, my stomach was in knots as I thought of being surrounded by total strangers. It was time for me to leave if I was going to get there on time, so I pulled on my shoes and grabbed my things. Deanna was smart. She didn’t schedule her first class until 10:00 am, whereas I had to be seated in my English Lit. class by eight.
Surprisingly, there were quite a few students already walking across campus headed toward their classes. I spotted Terrell and made a b-line in the opposite direction. I had plenty of time to take the long way to class and I could use the exercise anyway.
“Wait up,” he called from behind me just as I was turning around. Here we go again.
“Hey,” I replied flatly.
“What class you got?”
“English Lit. in the Hanson Building. You?”
“Chemistry.” He turned to look at me. “What’s your major anyway?”
“Interior design,” I sighed.
“Hmm……that’s cool. I’m pre-med. I’m hoping to be transferring to Johns Hopkins in a year or so.”
Impressive. “I’ll be honest. I didn’t picture you as a doctor.”
“What’d you picture me as?” He asked mockingly.
“I don’t know; I guess maybe you could’ve been here on a football scholarship, waiting to go pro or something.” He laughed at my explanation.
“So, you assumed that I was just some dumb jock,” he stated. “Well, you were half right. I do have a football scholarship, but I’m far from dumb.”
I had to admit that he’d surprised me. “What kind of doctor do you wanna be?” I was a little shocked that I cared enough to ask.
“A cardiologist.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, heart problems run in my family so I decided that was what I wanted to do when I was like eleven.”
I laughed a little to myself. “You don’t usually see eleven year olds aspiring to be heart specialists.”
Terrell’s smile faded and he lowered his gaze to the ground. “My pops had congestive heart failure and died when I was ten. My mom bailed like two years before that, so my baby sister and I had to go live with my grandma.” He was lost in thought for a few seconds as we continued to walk. The smile returned as he began to speak. “I don’t even know why I just told you all that. I think its ‘cause you remind me so much of Danielle.”
The look of confusion on my face prompted him to explain. “Danielle’s my little sister. You’re the same complexion, your hairs just like hers, you have the same snotty attitude, and you’re even short like her.”
“Whatever, five-five is not that short. Thank you very much,” I replied jokingly, not denying his accusation in regards to my ‘snotty attitude’.
“Just playin’, but you do look a lot like her. I think that’s why I bug you so much. You make me feel like she’s here with me.”
And there was my explanation for why he’d been clinging to me; now it made sense. I started to feel bad for jumping to conclusions. He wasn’t drawn to me because he wanted to get with me; I made him feel like he had a little piece of home here with him. There was no harm in that. Plus he proved pretty useful to have around the other night at the store.
He walked me up to the door of the Hanson Building and stood there on the steps for a second. “What time is your class over? Eleven?” He asked.
“Yeah, I think so.”