Love Thy Enemy

[morrigirl]

I'm afraid Melly Jay is about to be disappointed

starstealingirl - I met Adrienne in the art studio one warm fall evening in 2001. That night my roomate Tina was hit with an overpoweriong urge to do some figure drawing. As her best friend and default nude model, I volunteered to be her subject. But Tina really didn't feel like working in our room. She wanted to draw in the open space of the studio. I told her I was more than willing to pose for her in CFA as long as she didn't make me get naked. Nudity was all fine and good in the confines of our dorm room, but not in the very public rooms of the art department. "You don't have to get naked," she said. "Just wear something tight so I can see your body." I threw on a pair of black capri pants and a red tank top, and off we went.

At the studio Tina put me in a chair on one of the platforms, futzed with the spotlights, and told me to find a position that was comfortable. She moved my arms around a bit until she found a pose she liked, then she retreated to her easel and got to work.

Not long after a very tall, curvy girl with hair down to her ass emerged from the ceramics area. She greeted Tina. The two were apparently in drawing class together. Tina introduced us and Adrienne asked if I'd mind letting her draw me as well. I didn't, so she pulled up a spare easel and started on a series of absolutely horrible drawings that she kept abandoning half way through and turning into weird abstract pieces.

The three of us talked throughout our impromptu modeling session. Pretty soon I realized this was Bean's Adrienne I was talking to. I knew Bean had had a freshman girlfriend for most of the previous year. I'd never known her name, and certainly never saw her face. But now, here she was! And she was totally awesome. I could see why Bean had liked her. Adrienne had a sharp wit that was countered by a very endearing fangirl dorkiness. I'm sure we touched upon the subject of Buffy at least once during that initial conversation, how could we not have? I don't remember the specifics of what we talked about, just that when we all gave up the drawing and went home for the night I thought to myself, "I hope I run into her again sometime."

gwydionsw - I first laid eyes on Adam in Robin Metz's winter 2002 Beginning Ficiton Writing class. I just assumed he was a first year since I'd never seen him before. Later when he and gemma became best friends I'd learn he was a junior who had entered during the 99-00 school year and had simply been hiding out in his room for two years. We were put in the same small group workshop so I saw him with a little more regularity then the other students in the class. I didn't like him right off. In fact, I had a similar reaction to him as I first had to Gemma. I didn't like the stuff he said in class, he struck me as a pretentious show-off, and I wasn't happy about having him in my small group. I didn't really start liking Adam until Gemma started brining him around. I figured if she liked him, there had to be something to the guy. And there was. He was just a funny dork like the rest of us English department cast offs. Very sarcastic, bleak sense of humor, just the sort of person I enjoy talking to. Though we never became close, I'm glad he and Gemma struck up their friendship, else I would have never discovered what a cool guy he is.


irishelf - As much as I love this story I've had doubts about retelling it. In light of recent events I'm afraid it may bring up bad memories for the very person who it is meant to delight. Even so, I've decided to tell it exactly as it occurred because that's the task I set for myself. This may very well turn out to be the single most accurate retelling of "how we met." Why? Because I'd started my first online journal just a few weeks before I met Heather H. so I have a detailed written record of everything that went down before, during, and after our first meeting. I will be drawing heavily from those journal entries for this story.

It all started with Wes and a singing valentine. Sigma Alpha Iota, or SAI, is an all women's music fraternity and there was a chapter at my college. Every year as a fundraising activity the girls sell singing valentine's. You give SAI a couple bucks and they barge into your beloved's classroom on Valentine's Day and sing a lovey dovey song to them. In 2002 I really wanted to buy my friend Lindsey a customized singing Valentine. She and I used to go on and on about how we wanted our own personal Lloyd Dobler's, so for Valentine's day I wanted to get the SAI girls to sing "In Your Eyes" to her in her Constitutional Law class.

So, on Februray 5 I was walking past the cafeteria. The SAI ladies had set up a sales table outside. Ariel and Wes were manning the table that day so I stopped to talk to them, and they of course tried to talk me into purchasing a singing Valentine. I told them I fully intended to buy one, but I was totally broke that day. Said I'd come back when I got some money, to which Wes replied, "I'll give you a dollar if you make out with me."

I totally thought the kid was joking but...Wes WAS one of the most sought after guys on campus. EVERYONE and their sister wanted him on a trisket. So, playing along on the remote chance that he was serious, I said "Sure. So when will this make out session take place?"

"Well, I'm free right now," he said.

"And where will this take place?"

"Well, there's a bathroom down the hall."

So Wes and I went down the hall to the coed bathroom in Seymour. We paused outside the door. I was totally curious to see how far he planned to go with this, so before we went in I asked him "Do I get my money before or after?" He asked me how much I wanted. I told him I needed four dollars to buy the Valentine I really wanted for Lindsey. He handed me a five, and then we went into the bathroom and made out for fifteen minutes. Afterwards we went back to the SAI table and I bought my singing Valentine. Short, sweet, but oh so satisfying. For days afterwards I lorded our make-out session over the heads of every girl who'd ever drooled over Wes. "Yeah, that's right, I got to make out with him and he PAID me for it!" Everyone hated me that week.

Two days later I was in the cafeteria lookng for someone to eat lunch with. I spotted Gemma, Will Culbertson, and Tom Danielson pushing some tables together and headed stright over. They offered me a seat and as I dropped my bookbag next to the table I noticed another girl with the group, a willowy redhead who I'd seen hanging around with Wes a lot. She introduced herself as Heather and launched into a lengthy rant about what a blazing ass Wes was being to her. She went on about how he and Mary Morales had been having a "thing" and how Wes still wasn't over her. She railed about how much she loved Wes and yet he devoted more time to Mary then he did to her. My heart really went out to the girl. I'd been there before. I wanted to shower her with great words of wisdom and comfort...until I remembered I'd made out with the object of her affections not two days prior. The next phrase to float through my head was, "Oh shit."

When Gemma left the table to fetch some Jello I followed at her heels. "Gemma, what's up between Was and Heather? Are they dating?"

"No, he won't commit to her."

"What do I do? Should I tell her that I made out with him?"

Gemma looked at me, then glanced over my shoulder at the still ranting Heather. "No, don't do it. It'll just upset her more."

Now I'm not usually the kind of girl who keeps these sort of things to herself, not when other people's feelings are involved. Heather deserved to know what happened. But, in a moment of weakness, I took Gemma's advice and kept my mouth shut.

A couple nights later Gemma and I were chilling in the Gizmo when Heather decided to join us. We all engaged in lighthearted chit chat. Heather was a very sweet person, someone I definitely wanted to get to know better, and I knew the only way I could do that was if I came clean. So I said "Heather I've got something to tell you. I wanted to tell you the other day at lunch but I didn't know how to say it. I kind of made out with Wes last week."

"Oh, I know. Wes told me about it the day it happened," she replied.

My jaw dropped out of sheer relief. She continued, "You know, I like him and all but it's not like we're dating. Actually when we met at lunch I wondered if you were the Carla Wes had told me about."

I could have kissed her. I could have dragged her down the hall to the coed bathroom for our own celebratory make out session I was so happy. She had known. She had known who I was and what I'd done when she met me, and she didn't care. I was gonna make a new friend despite the fact that I'd snuck a snog with her would-be-boyfriend in the lavatory. I was ecstatic.

And that's how I met Heather H.

Comments

[skoriaan.livejournal.com]

So many memories. So many things missed. I remember so many of these events, from one direction or another. It's interesting to see your view of many of these events. and people. and....mmmm.


::nostolgic feelings here::

M.

[morrigirl.livejournal.com]

I'd be interested in hearing your side of my stories one of these days.

[skoriaan.livejournal.com]

Perhaps I will drudge those memories up myself some time. That's s a lot of stuff I tend not to think about much anymore.