The Broken Hearts' Society of Suite 17C

Chapter 2 - Arielle

The quad of Indiana Northern buzzed with energy, but Arielle knew she was more excited that every other new student at this school combined. Soon, the nervous trembling in her limbs would stop, and the rest of her life would begin. Soon, she'd see Rachel for the first time in almost two months, and then every single day after that.

Rachel and Arielle had been stealing kisses and whispering in ears and letting hands wander every time Rachel could make the two hour trip home to Indianapolis, which, lately, had been far less often than Arielle would like. That made the blow of getting waitlisted for Northern, where Rachel was starting her second year, that much worse, and the high of getting the letter that she'd been pulled off that waitlist that much more exciting.

She'd found out three weeks before school started that she'd actually be attending, but tried to keep a sad face while Rachel stroked her hair before she left, told her it would be okay, that they'd see each other for the holidays.. Rosh HaShanah wasn't the most romantic of holidays for most people, but given that the two girls had first hooked up in the synagogue coat check room on that day a year ago, Rachel's words were extra swoony.

For the entire month of August, Arielle had kept the news to herself. She'd be going to Northern after all. They could finally, really, seriously be together - a normal couple.  See each other every day, meet up for coffee, go on dates. And today would be the day it all started.

"You ready to jump in there?" Amy asked in her soft, patient voice.  

Arielle had agreed to walk with her new roommate, just because it would have been weird if she'd refused to. The girl had an odd air about her, like she was made of lambs' wool and bemused contentment, like life was a fairy tale unfolding around her and she was happy to be part of the ride. But she wiped down the sink every time she washed her hands and she'd been really sweet about letting Arielle choose which room in Harrison Suite 17C she wanted (The one with the view of the quad, obviously.)

"Yeah. I think the Greek life stuff is that way."

"Okay. I'm headed just over there. Church stuff," Amy explained with a nervous smile.

Arielle nodded, then craned her neck to find the group of tables representing different sorority houses on campus. Rachel had been pulled into one during informal Spring recruitment last year - something that started with "Delta." Delta Pi...something? Arielle had grimaced when Rachel breathlessly told her about the whole process when she came home for Passover, but soon it became clear that Rachel loved sorority life. There was some invisible connection that lived in the Greek letters that Rachel seemed to have emblazoned on everything that Arielle just couldn't grasp.  But Arielle loved Rachel, so she would hang out at the sorority parties. No problem.

A flash of long, shining chestnut hair caught Arielle's eye, and her heart stuttered. It started up again when she heard the laugh. She'd know that laugh anywhere - the one that made her feel safe when she was uncertain and put her on top of the world when she was sad. The one that had helped her figure out her place in her messed up little corner of Indiana. Even though Rachel's gorgeous smile was aimed at some guy as she handed him a flier, Arielle knew it as the same one that made her fall head over heels for this beautiful, ambitious, about-to-be-ecstatically-surprised girl. Arielle's legs couldn't carry her to the Delta Pi table fast enough.

With every step Arielle took, the noise and hustle of the crowd melted into slow-motioned, muffled, meaningless activity. As the guy turned away from Rachel and kept walking along the quad path, Rachel's eyes roamed over the crowd.

Come on, look this way. I'm here. All you have to do is turn a little more...

And then it happened. Their eyes locked, and Arielle's heartbeat counted the fractions of seconds it took for Rachel's eyes to go wide with happy surprise, for her smile to crook the corner of her mouth up and deepen the adorable one-sided dimple next to it.