Generations: The Long Game

University Girl

Carly had been at Uni for a few months now and was surprised at how well she was doing. She was so focused on her studies and didn't let anything distract her. She had been to a few parties, but she didn't make a lifestyle of it. She had purpose.

When she did have time, she called home. She made a point to call a different family every week, so everyone knew she was still thinking about them. Reece and Char always told her how proud they were of her. Reece and Mia always checked in on her eating. Char always filled her in on all the gossip. She even talked to Autumn one week when she was filling in for Char.

Her plan for tonight was to relax she had just had a major exam in her Early Childhood Psych class, and she was exhausted from all the studying in the weeks prior. Her roommate however had other plans. She wanted to drag her out to some party because the boy she liked was going to be there.

"Gah! Fine but only for an hour or so. I am too tired for any nonsense."

She got up to get ready. She had stopped wearing the side pony and had taken to just pulling it straight back. She touched up her make up and deemed herself ready. She wasn't going to make a huge effort for tonight.

Her roommate was full of energy looking for this boy called Andrew. When she finally spotted him, he was surrounded by mates. She pointed him out to Carly, but Carly was mesmerized by one of his mates. He seemed vaguely familiar but was he gorgeous. He was tall and muscular. His brown hair shown red in the light. He was confident among his mates. Did she mention gorgeous?

Carly made the decision. They were going in. Her roommate was dying to talk to Andrew, and she was going to find out who Mr. Gorgeous was. She decided to use the accidentally bump and apologize technique. According to Mia if you do it exactly right it is a guaranteed success.

She moved through the crowd and "accidentally" bumped into Mr. Gorgeous. "Oh my! I am so sorry"

When he turned around she was done for. He had the most beautiful deep blue eyes. They were mysterious yet so kind.

"Carly?"

Wait what? He knew her name? Did they know each other? Crap she couldn't remember. How had she forgot this face?

"I am so sorry. Do we know each other?"

In one fluid movement he grabbed his mate's specks and ball cap and put them on with the ball cap backwards. "It's me Eric!" He said handing his mate back his stuff. Even with the ball cap and specks he did not look like the Eric she remembered.

"Oh my goodness! I had no idea it was you. How have you been? I haven't seen you since ..."

"The night of the ball." He finished her sentence. "Yeah, after that night. Seeing what Roger did. I didn't want to be the creepy kid, so I left and came here." She was shocked. They spent the rest of the evening talking, and she did manage to get her roommate introduced to Andrew.

As he walked her back to hers, he began to fidget. The first glimpse of the old Eric she saw all night. As they reached her door he looked nervous. "Carly, um, Carly, would you like to go on a proper date sometime?"

She blushed. She hadn't really expected it. They had had a lovely evening talking, but she had treated him pretty poorly in the past. "Yes, Eric, that would be lovely."

It took them a few weeks to actually arrange something that fit with both their schedules. He had arranged a lovely dinner, and they talked about everything and anything. Eventually Carly apologized for their past. Then he did.

Before they knew it, this had become a weekly date night. Neither of them had questioned what it was or tried to put a label on it, but it was clear to their mates that they were falling in love.

One night after their usual walk home, he stopped and turned to her. "Carly, can I..." before he could finish his sentence, she bridged the gap and brought his mouth to hers and kissed him. When they finally pulled away, he teased her for cutting him off when he was asking for consent.

Summer break was coming up and Eric and Carly we're going home. Luckily, they lived in the same general area and wouldn't actually be separated. On their last date night before going home Eric asked her if she would be willing to meet up with his parents while they were home. She was over the moon that he wanted her to meet his family, but he didn't know that his mom despised her for the way she behaved back then. She decided to just go with the flow and hoped that it wouldn't be too awkward.

She was ever so pleased to be home. She had decided to spend her break between her three homes. Her siblings who had always shared a room had taken hers over, so nights would be spent either at Reece and Marjorie's or Char and Mia's. As she arrived at Char and Mia's that first night the girls came barreling into her and the boys were walking. They were walking! She was sad that she had missed it, but so proud of them as well. Their house was far more chaotic now with the three boys easily able to get around and get into everything. Carly was so happy to be home and she had so much to tell them.