From the Author: Hi lovely readers! I know last week I said I would have a post up right away, but things kind of got in the way. Long story short, I had some stomach issues returning to the States that I wrote of as my body just adjusting back to our food after so much time spent eating all natural food (the stations I stayed at grew/raised all of their own food). After a week of still having those problems, I went to the doctor and found out I picked up two strains of E coli, including E coli O157:H7, trichinella, and dengue fever. I loved my time in the tropics and the rain forest was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, but recovering from what I picked up has been rough, with lots of antibiotics, sleep, and fighting dehydration. I feel terrible that I don't regularly post, but it's hard with finishing up my thesis. I hope to be involved in this blog for a while, so in a few months it should be much better as long as my readers stick around. Now that I'm feeling better, here is a post all cleaned up for your enjoyment! The original post was super long, so I have to break it into two parts. Stay tuned for part 2! As always, I love feedback and suggestions!
_________________________________________________________________________________
"Hey, how was your trip? Get your stuff back?" Garrett asked me as I led him across the landing and into my suite. (I have the largest bedroom that includes a small sitting room and half bath, since I found the house and manage all of our bills) I cringed at his question and turned to him to come clean.
"Look, Garrett, you're a cool guy and I haven't been completely honest. This is actually really messy and I just want everything out there." My old couch creaked as he made himself comfortable and prepared for impact. "I didn't go back just to get my stuff, I went back to end things with Thomas, and instead we're doing a trial week to let me think."
"So you guys were still together? Don't you feel like you're cheating?" That last word hit me hard. I've never considered myself a cheater and am strongly against anything of that sort. Yet, as I thought about it, Garrett had a valid point.
I had been unhappy with Thomas for a while. I thought getting a house together was the first step in our perfect future. Turns out, it just added pressure I couldn't handle. Not only did the monster-in-law make my life excessively difficult, Thomas wasn't always supportive of my dreams and goals. For my first two years of school I lived on campus and Thomas wanted me to come home every weekend. I had a hard time making friends at UW and didn't have much of a social life.
He was also strongly against drinking, keeping me from going to any parties and even not allowing me to celebrate my 21st birthday with my friends in Madison. He didn't want me considering grad schools out of state, or more than two hours away, or hardly at all. Even being on the university dance team earned his disapproval, even knowing dance was my lifelong passion. He had been sneaking in some verbally abusive comments lately and I saw our relationship becoming a lot more toxic.
Garrett came into the mix a few weeks ago, when I had stood up to Thomas and told him I would be staying in Madison for the weekend. The team was doing a weekend of bonding with the new girls before basketball season, and as captain, I certainly wasn't going to miss that. Of course, the bonding included taking the girls to a few frats (this is Madison of course) one night and I was standing watching one of my new babies dance with some guy from AGR, the Ag frat, when Garrett approached me.*********************
"I haven't seen you around here, are you one of the newbies?" He asked nodding at my getup. As part of our family weekend, we had gotten together and bedazzled team jerseys so of course we all matched, hello squad goals. It was actually so we could find each other in case we got separated in the houses. I turned around to see a handsome farm boy standing over me and took in his jet black hair, piercing green eyes, and muscular stature. Hey, don't laugh, this Wisconsin girl likes her farm boys. Despite being good looking, I rolled my eyes at his lame attempt to prey on what he thought was a freshman and flipped my red hair, effectively hitting him in the face.
"Ah, haha, sorry, I'm actually the captain, not a newbie for you to prowl on. But good try, such an original, smooth tactic you have there." I'm not always the most approachable to other men, being in a relationship and all, and I hate lame attempts like this. Before this guy could fire out his next line, I continued, "You don't look to familiar to me, you must be a cute little pledge. I don't have interest in younger men, stay in your lane honey," and flipped my hair again and turned to walk away.
"Hey, hey, hey now. I was just trying to get to know who comes into my house, no need for the attitude," he stepped in my path and stopped me. "Your hair also smells very nice, since I had the pleasure of having it in my face." Oh, he can play the sass game too. Touché.
The quick wit earned this guy precisely 30 seconds of my precious time. The queen bee had to make her rounds; it's a social obligation. Also I had to make sure the newbies weren't doing any keg stands or getting into other shenanigans. I know I said it was difficult to make friends the first few years, but I managed to figure it out. Being on the team for so long helped and managed to give me quite the social circle. Including the Greek houses, and I always had to give my greetings. Call me the socialite of UW.
"Ok, you have 30 seconds, who are you and what's your story? And YOUR house?" I countered.
He smirked at me and held out his hand, "I'm Garrett Kidds, AGR President, agricultural business management major, communications minor, ninth semester senior. Yes, my house. Your time must be pretty precious, Miss Captain." Oh, how witty.
I shook his hand and responded, "Brogan Elliott Elroy, Wildlife Ecology major and dance minor, NOT a super senior. Yes my time is precious, I need to say hi to some people and check on our newbies, but this was a nice little chat."
Garrett responded, nodding at my last statement, "I would have pinned you as more of a business-type, but that's an interesting combination to say the least; two last names, that's cool. For your knowledge, I need minimal chemistry for my degree and since it's my worst subject, I've put it off, earning me an extra semester, but it also gave me the chance to take some extra classes outside of my major related to what I want to do."
I let out a short laugh and informed Garrett that my parents didn't hyphenate my name, I was named for my grandfather, who had the same blond patch above his temple that I was born with. Garrett actually got rid of the smug grin he was sporting and leaned in to talk over the frat shenanigans in the background, "so this blond chunk," he grabbed the two inch white-blond section of hair just above my right temple, "is completely natural?" I nodded and tipped my drink back as a way to cut the contact between us, uneasy with how it made me feel.
"Never been dyed. It sticks out but I like the way it looks. The red? Definitely not natural in case you were wondering. By the way? The chemistry class you're taking? Way too easy. I can't believe you struggle with it. And that's coming from someone who only passed high school chemistry because a distant relative was the teacher," I chuckled and walked over to the keg behind the bar to refill my cup. "I still don't see how I've never seen you, considering this is probably my favorite house," I gave Garrett the cup I was filling and filled one for myself as he looked at me, intrigued.
"Sorry, hostess tendencies. Some things from those etiquette classes just can't be shaken," I explained, clearly allowing the hops and barley to fuel my chattiness, "My grandmother on my dad's side essentially refused to come to my confirmation unless my parents put me through etiquette class and told them I can't possibly be a polished dancer without lessons in etiquette. This coming from a vulgar Irish woman," I laughed.
Garrett leaned against the bar as I hopped up and made myself comfortable sitting on the bar top, "this house reminds me of the get-togethers back in the homeland. Considering the best place to throw a shindig was somebody's parents' old barn in a town up north of less than 1000 people, this is just like the old days. Just call me the small-town socialite," I joked.
Garrett laughed into his cup and looked up, "Well make yourself right at home Captain Elroy. Can't let us forget your title and make the mistake of calling you a newbie again can we? I think the blond and dark red looks pretty cool, by the way." I smiled and re-crossed my legs. It was nice to talk to someone at a party without them blatantly trying to seduce me or being a drunk mess.
"I stay pretty behind-the-scenes at these things, usually. I never understood chemistry, and I just don't give it the time I should," he paused and looked at me, "maybe you could help me out in your free time?"
Ah. There it is. "I'm kind of with someone. Hey, it was nice meeting you, but I should get checking on some of the girls," I said as I turned away, uncomfortable with where this was going.
Garrett gave me an unreadable look before answering with a forced laugh, "Yeah, some of the newer guys here can get a little out of hand around females. It was nice meeting you too. If I see you around my house again, I'll make sure to remember your... authority."
With that, I gathered up the girls and ushered them home for the night before anybody did anything highly illegal or embarrassing.
Are you gonna post?
ReplyDelete