The Only Exception

Moving Day

 Chapter 1:

I stared at the back of my car’s trunk, wondering how I had acquired so much junk over the years, and what sentimental value had possessed me to bring these items to my new dorm room. I sighed loudly as my family began to pour out of the car and help me unload. My mother gave me a sad smile as she pulled her dark hair into a ponytail. My father began to pull the largest object from the car, my new mattress, with much difficulty before my mother started to help.  I took a deep breath and turned around to fully face my new dream school, here I was, finally starting UCLA, and everything was beyond surreal.

I felt a light pressure on my shoulders as my older sister, Juliette, draped her arms around me and gave a light squeeze. I noticed how perfectly her blonde hair cascaded down her back, and shifted uncomfortably about my own insecurities.

“It seems like just yesterday I was starting here and now my baby sister is a freshman.” Juliette began to fake cry and I groaned as I pushed her off me.

“I’m going to a school twenty minutes away, not joining a convent.” I heard my father’s muffled laughter along with my mother, as they struggled to make the trek up to my building. I took one last glance at the parking lot of incoming freshmen unloading their luggage. After years of imagining what my college life would be like, it was strange to finally be in that stage of my life.  

                I began to walk up to the little counter located in the center of the school grounds appropriately entitled “Dorm Keys”. I saw a flustered young girl talking to her mother, looked more like arguing, about who would approach the young man at the counter. I took advantage of their hesitancy and walked up to the very attractive man who was now wearing a very friendly smile. He had beautiful clear blue eyes and tousled, long blonde hair.

“Hello and welcome to the beautiful campus of UCLA. How may I be of assistance?” He dropped me a slight wink as his booming voice seemed to engulf the whole school.

“I’m Felicity D’Amore, freshman, and looking for my dorm key in the undergraduate residence halls?” I pronounced my predicament more like a question as I waited for him to find my name and the appropriate key; I wondered vaguely if Amber was already here. I took his distraction as a chance to really see the campus. To my right, I could still see the parking lot and athletic buildings but I looked over to the left to see the Pacific Ocean and wide open field stretched in front of me. I noticed a group of boys lined up in a circle, with a soccer ball, attempting to play keep it up.

They were actually very skilled and the best without a doubt stood over several hundred feet from me. He had a mess of brown curly hair that stuck to his forehead from the sweat of the activity. His pink lips were slightly parted as he took deep, even breaths and even from where I stood I could see his piercing green eyes, just mesmerizing. I took in his defined torso, and saw the tight fitting shirt accentuating his abs and muscles. He must have caught me staring for his green eyes locked with my hazel ones, and I felt paralyzed, as if my breath was taken from me. I quickly turned my attention back to the young man behind the counter.  I felt curly’s eyes on me the entire time and I wanted nothing more than to just sprint away. I took a deep breath and reminded myself, I had done nothing wrong.

I nonchalantly turned my head in his direction, pretending to be scanning for something in the distance, but just wanting to check to see if I still held his gaze. Sure enough, his eyes were scanning up and down my body and he was wearing a very amused smirk. I decided if he was going to stare, might as well give him something to look at. I slowly propped my arms on the little counter in front of me and arched my back, slightly giving him a nice view of my backside. I saw his smirk turn into a full blown smile and he nodded appreciatively. The young man behind the counter took my stance as an interest in him. He dropped the key in my outstretched palm before introducing himself.