Finding Joie de Vivre

the beginning // part III

"Shelly! Adrena! Let's go!" my mom calls.
"Okay!" Shelly yells.
I follow her downstairs while checking my phone.
I should probably tell Mercy and Asher that we're leaving the house.
I'm leaving the house.
I text both of them the same thing and exit the house. I stroll to the car and get in on my side. Despite my nonchalant appearance and attitude, I'm slightly nervous about going to college for the first time. But, come on, who wouldn't be? My mom finally opens the door and slides into her seat, jamming the keys into the ignition.
"Alright, who's excited?!" my mom asks as she backs out of the driveway.
"I kind of am," I say.
"Shelly?" my mom asks.
She responds with a mere 'eh'.
"I mean, it's my fourth time doing this," Shelly explains.
My mom agrees, and tells her that it makes sense.
You might be curious as to why my 22-year-old sister and I are being driven to college by our mother. Most kids drive themselves to college, and I'm very aware of that. I already established the way that my mother is. She is just that way, and it's always been her "tradition" to drive Shelly to school on her first day.
We're almost there. It's not too long of a drive to the university.
Upon approaching the school, my mom asks us where we want her to drop us off.
"The park," I say.
"Shelly, what about you?" my mom asks.
"Doesn't matter to me."
"The park it is," my mom says, pulling into a parking lot near the campus park.
"Promise to visit me?" my mom asks us.
"We'll visit you, Mom," I say, getting out of the car.
"Aww. I love you girls. Have a good time and good luck!" she says out her window.
"Thank you!" I say, giving her a kiss through the window.
"I'm going to miss coming home to you and mom," Shelly says, giving me a hug.
"I know, but now I get to come home with you. And we will be in closer proximity now, with both of us on campus," I say, looking over my sister's neck.
"Mhm," she says. "And don't forget, I'm in North Hall H, Room 466. You can visit anytime, you know my schedule."
"Okay. Same for you, Shell. Visit me whenever in the house."
I say the rest of my goodbyes to Shelly and walk into the park area. My phone lights up and I look down at it.
New Message from Mercy Sandt
I found our house (: what time do you think you'll come to the house?
I smile, happy that she's not lost anymore. Considering it's 7:24, I would assume that I'm going to be at the house in twenty minutes to a half hour.
I'll be there in about a half hour!
I send her the text while walking further into the park. There's students everywhere.
How am I even supposed to find Asher?
I unlock my phone and send him a text:
Where are you? this park is huge and there's students EVERYWHERE.
My phone lights up with a text from him. That was fast.
I'm sitting on a bench.
Suddenly, I bump into someone who was only directing their attention to their phone, just as I was.
I look up at them to say sorry.
"Sor-"
I realize upon looking at this boy that I find him very attractive.
"My bad," he says, turning slightly red. He combs his blonde hair up with his fingers and touches my shoulder as he walks away.
It sends a feeling of electricity from my shoulder to the tips of my fingers, but I shake it off and keep walking.
I've finally spotted Asher, sitting on a bench, right in the middle of the park.
I break into a run, and make my way further towards him.
"Asher!" I say, coming to an immediate stop.
"Hey," he says nonchalantly.
Asher always has a nonchalant demeanor about him, which is occasionally mistaken for shyness. Lots of people get shocked when they hear him speaking loudly, telling jokes, etc. However, most people who take the time to get to know him better don't really think that of him much, because he can easily start a conversation.
I sit down next to him on the wooden bench, staring at the traffic in front of us.
"It's a really busy place here," I point out.
"Yup. So busy, that I couldn't find the ΔΚΕ House," he says, laughing.
"I know where it is. It's right down the road," I say, laughing even more.
"No it's not, you're joking," he says, in disbelief.
"It is! I'm serious! I'll walk you there," I say through laughter.
I get up from the bench.
"Alright, alright," he laughs, getting up.
We begin to take the long walk there, strolling alongside the busy road.
We walk in the direction of downtown Kenton.
The walk is roughly twenty minutes from the campus park at Kenton U to our houses.
Asher starts to whine.
"Are we anywhere close even?"
"Yes," I say, pointing to the other side of the street in front of us, "they're right up there. See?"
"Ohhhh," he says. "So we need to cross the street."
I nod, and press the button to walk across. We stride across the ever-busy West Exchange Street and continue walking towards our houses. His house is on the left, with the letters ΔΚΕ painted in blue and gold on the sidewalk that leads up to their porch. A boy in a forest green hoodie sits on the stairs of the porch, playing on his phone.
"Hey Nate," Asher says, walking up to the boy. I stand on the sidewalk, watching.
"Adrena, come here," he adds.
"Hey," the boy says, staring up at Asher and I.
"Hey," I respond.
"Nate, this is Adrena. Adrena, Nate."
I nod.
"So, how long have you known Asher?" Nate asks.
"Like, middle school. Why?"
"He's been talking about you."
"Oh," I say, chuckling.
"Sooo... are you twooo...?" Nate asks.
"No!" we say in unison.
"Friends! I was gonna say are you two friends," Nate says, obviously lying.
"Uh huh," I say, "because it's definitely unclear whether we're friends or not, we just walked here together and magically know each other's names."
"Fine, fine, you got me!" he laughs.
I laugh along with him.
"Adi!" a voice calls.
I look up and see Melanie, another one of my sisters, leaning out the top window of our house.
"Oh, hi, Melanie!" I yell back.
"Who are those boys you got there?" she asks, making a face and then laughing loudly.
I laugh with her.
"This is Asher, and that's.. thats, uh..."
"NATE," Nate yells, finishing my sentence.
"Yeah, Nate!" I tell her.
"Are they in that house?"
"Yeah, they're in ΔΚΕ," I say.
"Hmmm. Nice!" she says.
I laugh and shake my head.
Melanie's such a flirt. It just goes with her outgoing personality that goes well with mine. It's why we're good friends.
"Well, get in here Adi!" she yells, motioning for me to come inside.
"Who's even here?" I ask.
"Me, Madi, Mercy, Jacky. Jetta's in class."
"She has class? This early?" I ask.
"Yeah, she's in painting right now. Her choice, not mine."
"Huh. Oh well. I'm coming!"
Melanie closes the window and draws the blinds.
"Well, I'm going to go in my house," I tell the two boys.
"Bye Adrena," Nate says.
"See you later, Adi," Asher says, giving me a friendly hug.
I walk off into my new yard and climb up the porch steps and into the house.
From what I'm seeing, this is going to be a good year.