The Love Rectangle

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I haven't been on campus more than 45 minutes and already I can tell this semester is going to be different. For starters, I'm here a week before the general population moves in as part of a special pilot program I was selected for. Instead of seeing herds of students milling about the northern housing quad, I can actually notice the rolling hills that surround Haverhill College on three sides. Man, they are truly breathtaking. Instead of bumping bass bellowing from open windows, I can actually hear birds chirping peacefully and melodically. The sound is surprisingly comforting to my tied-in-knots stomach.

I have nagging nausea after my long car ride revelation. It's not just my eyes and ears picking up a difference on campus. My heart has been telling my head that my love life needs a change this year too, and I'm finally ready to face it. I've tried my best all summer to ignore the lingering out-of-love feeling I have in my gut whenever I think about Brian. He's such a good boyfriend. He has everything right. At least on paper. Good looks. Funny jokes. Good grades. Fun friends. He loves me. Like really, really loves me.

I thought a summer spent mostly apart might help me see things clearer after junior spring semester ended with me feeling a tad irritated by his mere presence. It turns out that it did help. It helped me realize that no matter how great Brian is, he just isn't for me. Our hometowns were two hours apart, and we only managed to see each other twice all summer. Brian doesn't have his own car so it was up to me to make the trek to visit him, which I did. Once. It was enough. Seeing him in his element with his really nice family made it apparent. No matter how nice he or his relatives are, Brian and I just don't have enough in common to keep our relationship fresh and exciting.

Brian's idea of a perfect summer weekend includes sleeping in, playing video games during the day and drinking beer in his high school buddies' backyards at night. There are some inherent problems with this schedule like the fact that I've never been physically able to sleep all that late. Even after a night of hardcore partying, I'm always the first one of my roommates awake. I also absolutely loathe video games. I find them mind-numbingly boring to watch, and not all that captivating to play. Then there's the beer in backyards part. I hate the way beer smells, and I can only assume that I also hate the way it tastes. I wouldn't exactly know because I've never tasted one before. Somehow, I've made it to 20 years old without ever drinking a beer, and I'm pretty proud of it.

I like mixed drinks myself, which happen to be hard to come by in most backyards. That's another thing. Backyards are great for barbecues, tanning and the occasional drinking game tournament, but I prefer bars and clubs.

I like the element of surprise that comes with gathering in public places. Never knowing who might walk through the door is half the fun. Besides, high heels sink in grass and they look way out of place on residential patios. I wouldn't say I'm high maintenance. Mid maintenance maybe. Is that even a classification? It should be. I'll coin it now. I'm a mid-maintenance girl dating a low maintenance guy. He's so low that he might qualify as no maintenance.

I want more. I want someone with more energy and more motivation. I like a challenge. I like the thrill of the chase. Brian will check all the boxes for so many other girls at Haverhill even if he doesn't check all of mine. Even though I pretty much knew all this by the time I arrived at his parents' house in June, the timing was exactly right to break up with him. "Hi, Brian. It's awesome to see you after almost five weeks apart except that it's really not. So I'll just turn back around and drive another two hours home. But could I maybe get a bite to eat first, Mr. and Mrs. Essex? I know you've just filled your fridge in preparation for my first visit, and it would be such a shame to let all that food go to waste." See what I mean? I couldn't end things that weekend in June. Instead, I sucked up how bored I was at his home during the day and how bored I was listening about his high school glory days at night.