Letters to Victoria

Chapter 3

The parking lot in front of the residents hall was packed, but luckily Bustopher managed to find a parking space relatively close to the dorms. Michael quickly exited the car and patiently waiting at the trunk, he was buzzing with excitement.
"Okay, so here's the game plan, we're going to go in and do the final part of registration and then we're gonna grab a cart and get my stuff all set up." He was almost out of breath from talking so fast, he took a deep breath, "Sorry, I'm just very excited." Michael silenced himself and looked to his father.
"I understand sport, let's head on in and finish your registration." Bustopher said with a grin. The three filed into the central room of the residence hall, where a bunch of tables, staff, and RA's sat waiting to assist the next person. Michael proudly marched to the front desk and stated his name, the man sitting behind the desk handed him a sheet of paper and just told him to sign it and hand it to the table marked C, after that he'd be given his keys to his dorm. Michael scrabbled to find a flat surface to sign the paper on, with a swift flick of his wrist he was signed in. He shuffled quickly into the line for table C, by this time Bustopher and Victoria had caught up to him. "Michael, I know you're excited, but please don't run away from your sister and I!" He said sternly, "It is extremely difficult to find you in this crowd." Michael hung his head. "Sorry guys." For the rest of the wait in the line everyone stayed silent.  Michael finally reached the front of the line and handed in his paperwork and received his key. He swiftly walked out of the room closely followed by his sister and father, as he exited he was greeted by an RA who asked him where he was living, he responded "203", she directed him to the left and told him if he goes down the hall he can get a large bin that he can put all his stuff into to move it up stairs. He gestured for everyone to follow him to the end of the hallway where they received their bin. Michael, trying to contain his excitement speedily walked back to his car, attempting to go slow enough for his dad and sister to keep up with him. After some stopping and waiting, the three finally reached the car, Michael popped the trunk and stared into the car, meticulously planning where to put everything in the bin. The first thing he grabbed was a mini fridge and his microwave, he set them into the bin, with a little help from his dad. The next thing he placed in the bin was his under bed storage, he made sure to put it in carefully, as to not disrupt what he'd already packed in. Michael stared at the car again, unsure of what to put in next.
"Why don't you put your dance box in here?" Victoria suggested. Michael nodded and placed his box in, he turned to his family, "I don't think I have any other priority stuff to put in here, so why don't we all just grab a box and start piling them in." Victoria and Bustopher shrugged, but agreed to comply with Michaels commands. The three started to pile the boxes on top of each other, and did a pretty good job of getting a majority of what needed to be in the bin, in the bin, they only had about a quarter of stuff left to bring up. Michael pushed the bin up the pathway leading into the residence hall and pushed the bin into the line waiting for the elevator. Michael was trying to contain himself, he turned to his sister, "Tori, I know I'm going to miss you and all, but I'm so fucking excited!"
"Michael, you've been like jumping up and down since we got here." She giggled, "I kinda assumed you were pumped." Michael blushed, and moved further up the line.
Pretty soon they reached the front of the line, and waited patiently to get on the elevator. Ding! The elevator doors swung open and the three shuffled into the elevator, Michael pressed 2 and away they went. They arrived on the 2nd floor and Michael pushed the bin to the left, the hallway was narrow but he managed to slide in and navigate the cart. He arrived at his dorm and unlocked it, he directed everyone into the dorm and was greeted by an empty room. "Perfect!" Michael thought. He pushed the bin in and set it in the common room. The three of them started to unload and set the boxes down, once the bin was emptied, Bustopher offered to load the rest of the box's from the car into the bin, Michael agreed and handed over his keys. "Oh, and could you also grab my bag for me?" Michael shouted as Bustopher left.
"Of course!" Bustopher responded.
Michael started on the big things, he plugged in and set up the fridge, then proceeded to repeat the same process with his microwave. "Tori, do think you could help me set up my under bed storage?"
"Sure."
The two opened the box and emptied it, they pulled out the instructions and set everything out. As they were setting up Bustopher came back in with the rest of the boxes, he emptied the bin and set the boxes down, he then joined the siblings in building the storage space. They finished rather quickly, and moved the case under Michael's bed. Micheal pulled out his box labeled "Clothes" and started to unpack them.
"Dad, do you think you could set up my desk? And Tori, do you think you could help me organize my dance stuff?"
Bustopher sighed, "sure, do you have any particular way you want your desk organized?"
"No, not that I can think of." Michael had his attention focused on his clothes. Victoria grabbed the dance box and started putting things away. She stacked his shoe boxes on top of each other and placed his empty duffle bag on top of the boxes. The front door opened, "Hello?" A voice said from the common room, Michael stepped out and saw a young man standing in the dorm, he had on a gray t-shirt and black jeans. His long dark brown hair was pulled into a bun, and his gray eyes peered over to Michael, "You must be Michael." He extended his hand for a hand shake, "I'm Jackson, but you can just call me Jack." The two shaked hands. "Well it's very nice to meet you, Jack." The two released, "Sorry my stuff is all over the place, I'm in the process of putting it away, I swear." Michael stated embarrassingly.
"It's no big deal!" Jack smiled. "My dad and brother are coming on up with my stuff, so, I'm probably gonna do what you did. If that's okay with you."
"Totally!" Michael smiled, "Well, I'm gonna get back to unpacking."
"Sounds good."
Michael walked back into the bedroom and continued to unpack his clothing. He hung everything up carefully and precisely. After he was finished with his hanging clothing, he went into the common room to grab his foldable clothing, he was so focused on grabbing the box that he was paying attention to his surroundings. As he went to grab the box he bumped into someone, the collision completely brought Michael back to reality, "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention." Michael looked up to see who he had hit; he towered over Michael, his muscular arms being the first thing that caught his attention, Michael still trying to look this stranger in the face continued to look up, their eyes met, his eyes where like a foggy forest filled with pine trees, they were so green and cloudy. The tall stranger smiled at Michael, his eyes blinking brightly, "It's totally fine man. I'm Tyler by the way." Michael stared blankly, he didn't quite know how to respond, "Hi Tyler," his voice grew hushed, he freed one hand and extended it out to him, "I'm Michael." Tyler had a strong grip, he looked into Michael's eyes and smiled. Michael got a little lost in the moment, but he cleared his throat to recenter himself, "well, it was nice meeting you, but I have to put my stuff away." Michael darted into the room and quickly put his folded clothes away. He rushed over to Victoria, "Tori!" he whispered.
"What?" She quietly responded.
"I think I just met Tyler's brother, and holy shit is he cute! He's just standing in the common room." Michael tried to keep his voice as quiet as possible, but was looking directly at Tyler.
"Michael! Don't you think it's silly to be going so crazy over someone you've only just met?"
"Yeah, I'm just stating that he's cute!"
Bustopher barged into the room, "Michael! Is there anything else I could do for you?" Michael pushed away from Victoria and jumped up, "Not that I can think of, if you just want to sit in the common room while I finish unloading, that would be fine." Bustopher, sighed and walked into the common room. As he went to sit down, Jacks father entered the room, Bustopher immediately jumped up. "Pastor David?" He asked the man.
"Yes?" He replied. Bustoper marched over and immediately shook his hand, "Bustopher Jones. You may not remember me, but you certainly helped me in my time of need."
David chuckled, "oh I certainly remember you, Mr.Jones." He smiled, "Come, let's sit and catch up." The two sat on the couch and began talking with each other.
Michael came out to retrieve another box. He spotted his father talking to Mr. O'Ronamy, he looked at them for a second but then scurried off to the room with his box.
***
After roughly two hours both sides of the room were set up, and both boys were settled in.
"Hey, I'm going to go help Tyler move in, so I'll be back soon." Jack said leaving the bed room. Michael shrugged, "Okay."
Soon the room was empty, except for the Jones family. "You and Jacks dad seem be getting along great." Michael said with a smirk to Bustopher.
"Oh, he's just an old friend. You know I'm sure you and your roommate have a lot more in common than you'd think."
Michael smirked, "Well, we'll see about that."
Bustopher checked his watch, "Well son, I think we've reached that wonderful time where the two of us must go. The next train home leaves in an hour, so we really must be moving." Bustopher gave his son an enormous hug, "I love you. Don't do anything I wouldn't do while I'm gone." He gave Michael a quick peck on the cheek, "I'm sure you and Victoria would like a moment or two, so I'll just set into the hallway."
Michael was stunned, his father was not the most affectionate man, but Michael couldn't deny that his father just melted his heart. "I love you too dad!" Michael said tearfully. Bustopher smiled and stepped out. It was just Victoria and Michael, Victoria was already crying, Michael wiped her tears away. "Hey, I'm not going to be gone forever. I will find a way to get back to see you as often as I can."
Victoria just cried more, "I know, I'm just going to miss you." She buried her head into his chest.
"Tori," Michael let out a soft cry, "I'll miss too. But I promise you, I won't stop keeping in touch with you. I'll- I'll write you letters every week, and text you every day! I promise!" He held her tightly, the two just cried into each other. "I love you Tori." Michael said, beginning to calm down. "I love you too." Victoria responded. Michael gave her one last tight squeeze and said goodbye, he opened the door and gave his father and sister one more farewell hug. "I love you two so much!" Michael said as his family walked away, "we love you too!" They both shouted back. Michael went back into the room and closed the door. He took a deep breath, grabbed the t-shirt Victoria made him and soaked in the feeling of a new beginning. He pounced on to his bed and pulled out his phone, as he checked his phone he noticed a text from his sister, it read: "Good Luck, Dorkus💜"