a friend from college-jemily

august slipped away

The walk from the field back to her dorm had already become part of Jennifer Jareau's daily routine. As a freshman, she wasn't sure how much playing time she'd be getting this season, but it didn't matter much for her because being on the soccer team meant she got to move to campus a whole month early. That meant getting out of Pennsylvania as quickly as possible, but still, as she walked down the wooded path after practice each day, she imagined how beautiful the colors would be in a few weeks as Fall hit the leaves. That thought reminded her of home, and for a moment, she missed it a little bit. But, only a little bit.

New Haven was definitely the breathe of fresh air JJ needed. She had already made friends with many of her teammates, so when they weren't on the field practicing together, they were hanging out together, having movie nights, or partying at one of the upperclassmen's apartments. The mornings after one of their ragers, JJ felt dead to the world, but remembering what it felt like to have sisters again filled her with so much joy, she wouldn't change it for the world. Things would certainly be changing though.

It was September tomorrow, so her relatively empty dorm floor would be full of other eager freshmen, and in a few days, classes and the soccer season began. JJ was already a little bit overwhelmed thinking about how busy she would be. When she returned to her dorm room, she immediately tore off her training gear, but before she could get a fresh shirt on, her roommate leaned against the door frame and said "you better be putting on something slutty cuz we are going out tonight". Anna was already done up in a short skirt that went from her belly button to just passed her butt crack with a white bralette on top.

JJ sighed, "I don't know, Anna. I'm not really feeling it. We have early practice tomorrow and I-"

"Oh, come on, JJ!" Anna scoffed in disapproval. "Some friends from home moved in today so we were gonna meet up later. I want to introduce them to my amazing and FUN roommate Jennifer Jareau that I've been raving about for weeks, but I guess not..."

"Okay, okay fine. I'll go, I'll go but ONLY if you call me "your amazing and fun roommate Jennifer Jareau" all night," JJ laughed, pulling out a cute outfit from her closet. Anna gave a little fist pump and went back to her closet to finish getting ready.

Later that night, Anna weaved JJ along with her through the crowds of gleeful students as they made their way to her friends in a dorm a few buildings away. When they arrived, music was already blasting, shaking the ground as they walked through the entryway. The common area was packed with dancers, drinkers, and those who were brave enough to do both at the same time. Anna pulled JJ over to a large group and loudly introduced her. All of Anna's friends took turns yelling their name at JJ over the music. "I'm Caroline!", "Rachel", "Matt", etc. etc. Each told JJ they had heard so much about her and how great it was to meet her, which was really nice, but she did wonder just how much Anna could have possibly told them after only knowing her for a month.

One of Anna's friends, Clare, pulled JJ aside and finished explaining how everybody knew everybody. She said, "Okay, so Rachel is my roommate, Matt is Anna's boyfriend, obviously, I'm dating Charlie, Caroline lives down the hall, Anna and I went to high school with Kiera and Taylor, Ryan's another friend from home, we met Shae and Bria at orientation today and those are their friends, and , oh yeah, that girl over there on the couch with the dark hair is our other roommate. She's really cool, you should go meet her!" Clare placed a drink in JJ's hand and nudged her in the direction of the couch. JJ gathered her footing just before reaching the girl. She was laughing with some other partygoers as she gently sipped from her cup. As she brought the cup down from her face, she turned to JJ, revealing deep brown eyes to match her flowing raven hair. She had a piercing nose that perfectly pulled all her facial features together, and a soft smile highlighted by her dark red lipstick.

"Hey, I'm Anna's roommate," JJ smiled, pulling her blonde hair behind her ears. "I'm Jennifer Jareau."

The girl reached out her hand. "Emily Prentiss."