Odell Quickies

Hurricane Season

It was late August in Orlando, Florida. Hurricane season was in full effect so the weather was constantly changing around University of Central Florida. What started out as an extremely hot sunny day changed in a matter of minutes to a dark ugly hour and a half of heavy rain, strong winds, and ear shattering thunder.

Before that though, Kai was leaving her anatomy class with her messenger bag that carried her books slung over her shoulder. Pulled up into a messy bun, her box braids began to fall and rest on her shoulder. The science building was well lit with few windows so she wasn't expecting to walk out to the sky being dark as if it was 8 or 9 at night instead of 2:30 in the afternoon.

"Fuck." She sighed looking out into the sky. Her car was across campus and she was actually really hungry so she figured she could race about halfway to the cafe and grab a bite and wait the storm out maybe. So taking a look at the sky once more she breathed in deep and bolted out the doors across the well lit path.

She barely even made it halfway before this huge clap of thunder scared her into taking shelter in a close by building. The abrupt change from humid muggy heat to cool brisk A/C made her glasses fog up so she took them off for a second; she looked around the building, usually there was an area for people to sit and study or something so she walked around trying to find it. Instead she found herself running face first into the back of some guy.

He wasn't very tall, but then again she was pretty tall herself. Under the short sleeves of his plain white shirt she saw an array of tattoos, ranging from names to numbers and quotes to your typical religious cross and prayer hands. What papers and notebooks she had in her hands went flying on to the floor. "Sorry, so sorry." She apologized kneeling down and grabbing her things.

The guy turned around with a smirk. He had a beautiful tanned honey complexion, his smile was sexy in an innocent way, and his eyes had a spark in them you couldn't quite read. He kneeled down and picked up a few damp sheets. The muscles in his forearms rippled under his skin. "No problem." His voice was deep and smooth, it fit his looks perfectly. They stood at normal height again and Kai took her things with a smile.

"No, I should have been paying attention." She briefly looked back in the direction in which she came, the rain seemed to be falling out of the sky like a hole had opened and lightening lit up the sky like a camera flash. "It's fucking terrible out there." She complained as she stuffed her things in her bag and readjusted the strap on her shoulder.

"Yeah, I ran in here not too long ago. I missed my last class by now for sure." There was a weird accent hanging in his words that she couldn't quite place. She was born and raised about two and a half hours away in Jacksonville and the accents there weren't anything like his.

"I just finished for the day, my car is on the other side of campus. It doesn't look like it's gonna let up any time soon either." They stood there momentarily in an awkward silence. "Sorry, I'm Kai." She spoke suddenly with her hand out.

"Odell," he grabbed her hand and smiled at her, "nice meeting you Kai." They peeked around the corner and looked out the doors once again. "Guess we hang out in here until it blows over?"

"I guess so." They walked together to the common area of the building only a few more students sat around looking at their laptops and books or making small talk. Most seemed to know each other though. Odell and Kai sat at a table with a good view of the weather outside. "So Odell," her tone jumped up a little at the mention of his name, "you have a really different accent. Are you from here?" She set her bag on the table and fixed her hair into a more secured ponytail.

"Nah," he pointed to a 'Baton Rouge' tattoo on his arm, "New Orleans. I'm here on an athletic scholarship. You?"

Thunder cracked overhead and Kai jumped a little. "God I hate thunder but to answer your question, I'm not from here but I am from Florida. Jacksonville actually."

"I could kinda tell honestly." He squinted his eyes at her and licked his lips. "Y'all have this air about y'all down here."

"How?" Kai was genuinely curious by what he meant.

Odell just shook his head and grabbed his phone from his pocket. "I don't know. All southern people have this thing about them that you can pinpoint but people from Florida are weird." They both laughed but Kai was a little confused still and it read on her face. "Let me explain better, it's a lot of retired people here and people that just move down here to get away from the cold or just to have warm sunny days year round, so because of that y'all demeanor is different than the rest of the south. It's weird I know."

"Nah, I've heard people explain it like that.  It's really different in Jacksonville cause it's so huge and we have 2 universities and a couple military bases so it's all types of people there. What sport are you here on scholarship for?" Kai pushed her glasses up on her nose.

"Football, I play wide receiver. It's my sophomore year."

"Mine too, I'm a medical sciences major." She glanced over at him, he had his hair cut into a mohawk with blonde on the ends. Normally she stayed away from guys with flashy styles like his, 9 times out of 10 they were no good but Odell seemed to have something different about him. "So you like it here?" 

She was now just making nervous small talk with him. Kai was a nervous wreck, trying to maintain her social anxiety at a tolerable level. One reason was he was so attractive and it made her a little self conscious of herself and second he had a vibe to him that was weirdly unreadable which made her uneasy. Odell seemed really sweet though, they bonded over their childhood for a bit then their family lives. Before they knew it the sun was peeking back out through the clouds.

"I guess we can bounce." Odell noted, he grabbed her bag for her. Kai looked out the window and agreed.

"It was great meeting you, thanks for keeping me company." They both walked slowly down the hallway, looking down at their feet on the white floors.

"Yeah, you seem cool as hell. I'm surprised I don't see you around much." They stopped just outside the doors and talked a little longer.

"I stay to myself a lot. Keep my head in the books you know." Kai looked out towards the general direction of the cafeteria.

"Well you should get out more, with me and my boys." He seemed genuine in his statement. "Here give me your phone." He held out his hand while Kai dug it out her back pocket. "Call me later, there's a party I'm having at my place tonight. It would be nice to see you come through."

Kai saved the number and dialed so he would have hers as well. "Well I'd love to." They smiled awkwardly at each other. "Thanks again for killing time with me."

Odell wrapped her in a hug, when they broke away they smiled and parted ways.