The Story of Us

Chapter One: Naomi

Chapter One: Naomi

He leaned in slowly and brushed a wisp of hair behind my ear, kissing me softly as he whispered, “It was always you.”

*   *   *   *

I woke up with a start to the sound of Pink blaring over the radio. I looked at the time. It was 6:45 AM and I didn’t have to be at my morning class for another hour and a half, so I wacked the snooze button and rolled over. But I couldn’t get that dream out of my head. I looked over at Beth sleeping across the room, her blond hair framing her face. I felt a little guilty, but it was only a dream, right? Right.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to fall back to sleep, so I rolled out of bed and turned off my alarm. I went to the bathroom and washed my face. I took more time with my makeup and hair because of the extra half hour. I pulled on a pair of suede boots over jeans, and then threw on a grey and white striped t-shirt. As I was walking out of the bathroom, Ashley stepped out of her room. She had a class at 8:15 too and we usually go to breakfast together. “You’re up early.” She said as she rubbed her eyes and yawned.

“Yeah, I had a bad dream. Couldn’t go back to sleep.”

She made a sympathetic sad face as she stepped into the bathroom, closing the door behind her with a click.

*   *   *   *

Forty five minutes later, we were sitting at a table in the cafeteria with toast and fruit salads. “So you want to tell me about your dream?”

“Not really. It’s… I just don’t want to think about it.” I said, picking at my toast.

“Oh, was it one of those dreams?” she said with a smirk.

“No you goof. It just… I just want to forget it.” I said, stabbing a piece of cantaloupe with my fork.

“So… It’s the start of a new semester and you are back rooming with Beth. How is it going with her?” Ashley asked with between bites of toast.

“We seem to be making pretty good roommates so far. I really like her, we always wind up having these deep conversations. And she stays out of my stuff, which is nice.” I said with a laugh.

“Yeah. It seems like Liam and her are getting along pretty well too, don’t you think?” She asked.

“Yeah. I don’t totally know how I feel about that… I don’t know. It just seems weird. Like, I love Beth… but she seems like kind of a heartbreaker and… well, I am pretty sure she has slept with, like, half the guys in this school. Totally love her, but I think she has some guy issues.” I whispered, even though I knew no one was around. A little caution never hurt anyone.

Ashley laughed, “For real. Guys melt like honey around her. It’s ridiculous. I just don’t even understand. If only…”

“Whatever! We got game!” I said as I high-fived her.

We quickly finished breakfast and left for our classes. My first class of the day was Art History. I walked in a sat down in the middle row. I set my worn messenger bag on the floor and pulled out my book and a paper that was due on Monet. As I was reading through it, a pair of hands covered my eyes and a voice whispered in a terrible French accent, “Hello my lover. I’ll meet you on the balcony at midnight. Wear that sexy red dress of yours.”

“Hey Liam.” I said, not phased.

“Ok, how do you always know it’s me? It’s creepy, really.” He said, taking his hands away and sitting down. He reached to grab my paper and I smacked his hand.

“One, because you are the only person in the world who would do that to me, and two, because I have known you since I was seven. I think I should know your voice by now.” I said sarcastically.

“But I was using my French accent and my sexy voice!” He cried, feigning hurt.

“Yes, and both of those are a failure. Particularly together.” I said with a grin.

“I hope you all finished your papers, because they are due at the end of class. And remember this isn’t high school my young scholars, this is college and late means it doesn’t exist, therefore being a zero.” Professor Edison shouted from the front of the class as the room began to fill up.

I hear Liam mutter a curse word under his breath, “You didn’t do the paper, did you?” I said.

“Nope.” He whispered as we watched Edison walk to the door, shut it, and lock it. We had all learned at some point in the semester that being late was not tolerated in Edison’s class. Liam had learned twice.

*   *   *   *

I walked back to the dorm to the beat of Maroon 5, excited to tell everyone about dinner tonight. I have missed Peppe’s, and I can’t wait to go with everyone. I walked up the stairs after swiping my pass and unlocked my door. Inside my room I could hear Beth’s voice and… Liam. They were laughing quietly and whispering. I opened the door cautiously.

Liam and Beth were sitting on her bed, looking at her computer screen. Beth didn’t even look up when I came in, but Liam looked up quickly, nodded, and then went back to staring at the computer screen. I turned around and rolled my eyes, stung. I am bigger than this, I thought to myself. “Hey guys, we are planning on going to Peppe’s tonight. You both want to come?” I said as I was taking the books out of my bag and replacing them with others.

Beth looked at Liam, waiting to see what he would say. He looked at her and said, “Hey, what you doin later tonight?” She giggled and he broke into a fit of laughter.

“Ok, I will take that as a yes.” I said as I walked out of the room and slammed the door. Hard.

*   *   *   *

I walked into Willoughby’s and standing there, holding what I assumed was a venti soy latte, was Adam. I shrieked and ran and gave him a huge hug, “Careful, you almost made me spill my coffee on you Nay!” Though it may sound harsh, he said this as he was practically squeezing the life out of me.

“I missed you!” I said

“I missed you too. A lot.” He replied.

We sat down near the window after I ordered and I immediately grilled him on his entire trip to France. I forced him to recount everything, every single boring detail.

Two hours later, he was in the middle of telling me an epic story about how he got chased by a herd of cows while trying to photograph children playing in a field. Unfortunately he had been on the wrong side of the fence. Halfway through his story, my phone rang, “Hold on Adam,” I said.

I looked at my phone. It was Ash, “Hey! What’s up?”

“Did you tell Adam about dinner?” She said quickly.

I grinned, “No, hold on,” I put my hand over the receiver and said, “Do you want to go to dinner with everyone tonight? It’s Peppe’s!”

He rolled his eyes, “Yes, but you know I hate the girl Beth. I refuse to talk to her. And Ashley.”

I shushed him and glared as I took my hand off the receiver, “Yeah, he’s coming.”

“Ok, great!” She said and then hung up the phone.

This was going to be an interesting night.