Love

Chapter 10

The crimson and silver glistened in the air as they shook, the colors vibrated as the cheerleaders shook their pompoms. The colors glittered as the light met deep red and the slick silver, like old friends reuniting after a long separation, but then as they weaved out of the light, returned to more of a matte finish. Tyler shook his head, blinking several times as he came back to reality. He was sitting in a poorly cushioned chair several rows back from a stage, cheerleaders dressed in crimson and grey stomped their bedazzled boots on the ground sending echoes through the great hall.

The vibration ceased as the girls finished their routine in a pose, accentuating the stallion that had been branded the side of their boots. The crowd slowly began to rise in applause; Tyler's gaze regained perspective as he noticed he was the only one not standing. Rising to his feet, he glanced around the room, searching the area for an answer to a questioned that plagued his mind since he sat down: When does this shit finish?

Looking straight ahead he saw highlighted text float across a large screen, slithering out of his daydream, a large volume of voices filled Tyler's ears, reciting the words ahead as those around him held their hands to what he assumed was a T-Rex interpretation.

Sitting back down once the song ended, Tyler scanned the room once more, staring out the freedom that sat outside the door in the back of the large room and then trailed his gaze back to the front of the stage, scanned his soon to be peers along the way. Only he stopped short just a few rows behind him. Across the aisle sat this dirty blonde pretty boy, sitting with his parents.

Damn. I wouldn't mind sitting through this bs with him next to me.

His eyes traced the boy's tight physique, his tanned skin and sharp jawline. The boy glanced at Tyler's direction, as if sensing his eyes like a warm light on your face, realizing this Tyler turned and looked forward once more. Sinking back into a daydream, only this time he had a subject for his fictitious contemplation.

Throughout the presentations, Tyler stumbled in an out of active consciousness, following along on the program only to see how many more grueling acts were left in the play until the beloved fat lady sang. His finger traced over the words until he found himself nearing the bottom of the page, his smile brightened as his finger inched closer and closer to the bottom. Two more left. And then closing.

You can do this just a little while longer and then you can go check in and organize my cave, (haha).

The trace amount of microphone feedback shifted Tyler's gaze from the paper. "Okay everyone. Students please form into your groups for your tours and then meet back here after an hour," the ballroom erupted into a volcano of low conversations, individually would have been lower than a normal conversation, but multiply that by several hundred people and you have a volcano, voices melting through the floors and burning the air.

Tyler stood slowly, and trudged over to his major group.

The whole orientation was supposed to take three hours, or so a way too preppy table assistant informed him, some two hours ago. The time he had spent in the echoing chamber, made it seem as if time had increased, making him feel as if he had spent more than six hours on the uncomfortable chair, sitting among a crowd.

All Tyler could think about was unpacking his belongings and collapsing into a soft bed at the end of the night. His expectations were a little high seeing that all college beds were Twin XL and were anything but comfy or soft. His uncle had refused to assist Tyler in bringing up any of his belongings, only happy to rid himself of, what he liked to called: the parasite that was imputed upon him the moment of...that thing that happened. His uncle was no doubt sitting at some bar somewhere giving the bartender some sob story about how his only nephew had gone off to college and blah blah blah, in order to gain sympathy, and hopefully a free drink.