He Will Be Mine

Chapter 14: Girls' Night

*** Alyssa's POV ***

The first week of classes has flown by. It comes as no surprise that my favorite classes are the ones with Matt in them. He seems happy about it too. When he walked in and noticed me in our biology class Tuesday, he came and plopped his stuff down right across from me at my lab table. Whether he realized it when he did it or not, that decision made him my lab partner for the rest of the semester, and now we have this big project we have to complete together. I've never asked or indicated that I wanted him to sit with me, so it feels pretty satisfying that he keeps doing it on his own, in both classes. It's the one way that he shows he wants to be near me as much as I want to be with him, consciously or not.

Despite looking forward to seeing him in a Jessica-free space every weekday, a full-time schedule of classes and homework is still a lot. By the end of my last course Friday afternoon, I am completely fatigued, and my brain feels like it is turning to mush in my skull. I decide to put off doing any of the homework I will need to finish by the end of the weekend and turn my attention instead to finding something fun to do for the night.

Ronnie is in our room when I get back from class. She has books, notebooks, and miscellaneous papers and notecards spread out in a semi-circle around where she sits cross-legged on the floor, despite the fact that I know she doesn't have any more classes until Monday. It is a sight to behold, and I realize it is also a demonstration of what perfect grades look like in practice. All week, her hard at work is what I have come home to. I admire her dedication, but I also decide I am on a mission to make the girl set it aside for a minute and enjoy herself for once.

"Got any plans for tonight?" I casually ask her as I come in and drop my bag beside my desk.

She looks up at me, and then back down at her work, an adorably confused expression on her face. "I, uh, yeah. This is my plan. Weekends are the perfect opportunity to get a start on notes and collecting research for upcoming papers and assignments."

"I was thinking more along the lines of something fun to do," I tell her.

"This is fun," she mutters.

I think she didn't intend for me to hear that, so I ignore it.

"If you mean a party or something, then no. It's not my style and I'm way too young for college parties anyway," she explains.

"There are other fun things to do besides party," I argue. "What about going to see a movie or something? Would you want to come with me?"

"I'm not really a going out kind of person. Besides, it's expensive."

"A movie here then. We can stream one on my laptop."

She pauses to think about that, tapping the fingers of one hand with a pen held in her other hand.

"Okay, yeah. That I would be okay with," she agrees. "I'm not picky about movies. Whatever you want to watch, chances are I haven't seen it, so you pick."

She works on carefully picking up her notes and books and setting them aside in an orderly fashion, and then we toss down some floor pillows and blankets to make a cozy spot for us to hang out. I decide to order some pizza for dinner so that we can get into our pajamas early and just stay in for the whole rest of the night.

We go out into the common area to wait for the pizza, and some of the other girls on our floor catch wind of our plan and invite themselves to join. Sarah apparently has a giant bean bag we can all share, which sounds like an upgrade from our floor pillow plan, so we gladly accept. I add a few extra pizzas to our order so that we have enough to pass around. Before we know it, our quiet girls' night for the two of us turns into a pizza and slumber party for all of 3-East, and even Felicity is coming.