Tempting Fate (2 page)

After Abby got off the phone, she started to unpack and let her mind wander around, thinking about her family. It was not long before the phone was ringing again. Abby sighed this time before she answered, if it was her aunt again… “Hello.”

It was Rachel; she was downstairs and hungry. “Come on Abby please go to dinner with me. I’m buying and besides we have not seen each other in like, over three weeks now.”

Abby decided to finish unpacking after dinner; it was getting late in the day and she needed to eat soon anyway. Plus Rachel was going to buy. Well, really her father was buying it. Rachel had no problem being a trust fund student from California. It would be nice to spend a little time with Rachel for the evening. Better than sitting in her dorm room all night reading the same book she had read over a hundred times by now.

Abby grabbed her purse out of her backpack and locked the door behind her. She didn’t get three steps before she turned around to check Melanie’s door. It wouldn’t be the first time she left in a hurry and didn’t lock up. Abby laughed as she turned the knob on Melanie’s door and it opened. It was a good thing she checked, but it was quite a pain.

Rachel was already outside in her little, bright yellow VW Bug waiting. Rachel was honking and waving to her, like the car would ever be hard to miss. Abby didn’t have time to close the car door before Rachel started talking about her Christmas in the Bahamas. “You should have seen all the tanned buff men there. They were beyond gorgeous!”

Rachel was the biggest flirt Abby had ever known. Abby always wondered why she had come to this small college town in the middle of nowhere. It was not like the selection of men there were that great. Rachel could have gone anywhere in the world for school. She had told Abby over and over about men in France and how she would be going back the next summer for a couple months.

As they drove off, Abby’s eyes seemed to get pulled through the window toward another dorm. There was a tall man outside, leaning against the door like he was waiting for something. Maybe he was waiting for someone instead. Even with just this quick glimpse, she found herself struck by him for some reason. Wondering who he was and where he came from.

He was handsome; not a word that Abby would really use about anyone. Then again she didn’t really look at the guys on campus much; she had no time to date. Not to even mention there were no guys on campus that would be worth dating anyway. They were all jerks it seemed, with the exception of Paul and Jamal of course. But Abby could never date either of them; the thought of kissing one of them was enough to make her shiver a little. It would be like kissing a brother, not a good thought at all.

After that thought Abby decided to start thinking about the semester ahead and her classes instead. Finally, she was taking classes that would go toward her Architecture major. She had been obsessed with it since she was ten. Her father always got aggravated with her when he would take the family to Houston for a long weekend. Even with all there was to do, she would spend her time looking at the buildings and sketching them out on pieces of paper.

“Oh sure that sounds great. Sorry I was thinking about my classes. I’m going to have to work hard to keep my GPA at least where it is now, and I have American History this semester. I hate history. I’m not good at it at all - there are too many dates to remember.”

“Stop whining. You’ll be fine.” Rachel got a devious look on her face as she continued, “Even if I have to use a little of daddy’s money to buy you a B.”

“No you will not, Rach. Are you nuts? You can’t bribe a teacher like that! I just have to work hard this semester. If it comes down to it, I’ll get a tutor.”

“Abby come on, you know I’m kidding with you.” The smile on her face was still there. Abby knew that if she could do it, and get away with it she would. “But I have decided to bring something wild out in you this semester. I love you dear, but you have got to have more than school in your life. You need some excitement in your life. I’m going to make it happen, I promise you that much!”

Abby just rolled her eyes at her and smiled. Rachel was crazy sometimes, but that was what she loved most about her. She was just not guy crazy, and yes she worried a lot about school. She had a scholarship she had to keep or there was no school for her. Rachel was always guaranteed to have a good story or two for her though. Rachel was guy crazy enough for the both of them.

Dinner was so filling that Abby felt like a swollen beach ball the whole drive back. She was extremely tired from the long day, and with dinner so heavy, she really didn’t want to move. When she got to her room, she pulled her half empty bags off her bed and onto the floor with a thud. She could take care of unpacking in the morning; it wouldn’t kill her if her room stayed untidy for one night. She grabbed her comfy pants and a dry erase marker and went into the bathroom.

“Night Mel,” was all she wrote on the mirror before she changed. She washed her face, brushed her teeth and pulled her long blonde hair out of the ponytail. Abby didn’t even take the time to shut off the lamp in the corner before she fell asleep.

Chapter 2

At eight-thirty the next morning Melanie was knocking at the bathroom door. Abby yelled for her to come in and when she did it was with a bounce in her step.

“Good morning sleeping beauty. How late do you plan to sleep today?”

“Uh, it’s only eight-thirty in the morning; it's not like it's noon already. And why are you so chipper anyway?”

“I have been up since six, and the first pot of coffee went down very easy!” She bounced down hard beside Abby on the bed, causing Abby to grunt.

“Come on get up. Let’s go get our books. I have to be at work in two and a half hours, so come on. Don’t make me jump up and down on you.”

“Ok, Ok… give me five minutes and I’ll be ready.” Abby sat up and started stretching, “If you didn’t drink all the coffee, can I get a cup of it please?”

Melanie jumped off the bed and walked through the bathroom door in an instant. Abby quickly put on a pair of jeans and went into the bathroom to get ready. As she turned the water off in the sink, Melanie was knocking on her door to the bathroom with her coffee. “Black right?”

“What? No, yuck, cream and sugar, lots of sugar! You know that.”

“Wow, no sense of humor this morning, huh? I know how you like your coffee crabby Abby. Now for my sake, please hurry up and drink it!”

Abby nodded and drank the cup quickly; she wanted the caffeine to hit her system fast too. “Ok I’ll get my bag and meet you in the hall.” Abby turned to her room and yelled over her shoulder at Melanie to remember to lock her door this time.

The brisk walk across campus to the bookstore was nice; it helped to wake her up a little more. As she walked by the dorm where yesterday she had seen the handsome mystery man, she could not help but look for him again. But there was no one there. ‘Of course not,’ she thought to herself. He was probably sleeping like any normal person would be at this time. Classes didn’t start until tomorrow and most people were still enjoying one last late morning.

“How many credit hours are you taking this semester Mel?” Abby asked but she knew more than likely Melanie had over loaded herself again.

“I have twenty-one; and I didn’t cut my hours back at work. I really am going to need you to help keep me sane this semester. What about you?”

“I have fifteen, but with history, it might as well be twenty-one for me too. American History, two Architecture classes, and I let Rach talk me into taking Greek Mythology with her. She thinks I need to take a ‘fun class’ that won’t mess with my GPA.”

“Figures, all Rachel ever takes are ‘fun classes.’ It’s a good thing she is going for fashion merchandising. Pre-Law would kick her butt. The only plus for me is that I’ll be done by the end of this summer. Then I’m off to grad school.”

“Don’t remind me; I’m so not looking forward to having a new suite mate next year. Did you apply anywhere yet?”

“Tell me about it. Who is going to lock my door when I forget?” Abby giggled along with her; it was true. “But yes, I just sent out my application for Harvard last week, and I have three others to fill out in my room.”

“That’s great Mel. I hope you get into Harvard; I know it’s what you want. It really is going to suck around here next year with you gone though.”

“Thanks. Stop worrying so much about me being gone, you’ll be fine. Really the only down side about going to grad school is that I've worked to pay for school all these years. Once I’m in grad school, it will be all on loans.”

“Yeah, but it’s better than all the years together on school loans.”

“Very true!” Melanie looked at her watch and smiled. “Good, we should get to the bookstore right when it opens. Should be very easy to get our stuff quickly.” There were never enough hours in the day for Melanie. She wouldn’t know what to do if she ever lost her watch.

“Sounds good to me. I can get back to bed faster.”

“Oh you’re up now, just stay up. Like I keep telling you, you can sleep when you’re dead.”

In the bookstore Melanie just kept grabbing more books off the shelves, even with her arms already full. Abby ended up having to carry some of them back to the dorm for her. The added weight of books made the walk back across campus even longer. At least Melanie’s bag was on wheels. She took her bag almost everywhere with her; it looked like a small piece of luggage. Along with her watch, it was her lifeline.

Last year Melanie needed a purse for a dinner that she had been invited to. She borrowed a black purse from Abby that was fairly large, but it still was not big enough for Melanie. When Abby went shopping with Rachel the following week, she found a purse that looked like a small version of luggage. She got it for Melanie as a joke and left it on her bed with a note. Melanie howled with laughter when she got home and found it. When Abby heard her she rolled on the floor with laughter.

“I’m glad I didn’t major in pre-law; you’re crazy Mel. I don’t know how you take so many classes, have an internship at a law firm, and have a job that pays for school and everything else. To top it all off, you are never run down.”

“Coffee, lots and lots of coffee!” Melanie held the door open to the dorm and smiled.

They were still laughing together as the elevator doors opened. When they looked up, Jamal was coming out. He looked up from his papers and his face went from Melanie to Abby. Then his eyes went back to Melanie and he spoke with a big smile, “Well this morning just keeps getting better for me!”

“Hey Jamal, how was your vacation?” Abby hoped he didn’t see her rolling her eyes at the way he was looking at Melanie.

“Great thanks. I have to admit though I did miss the gym here; the one at home is terrible in comparison!” He was still looking at Melanie smiling. “I have been spoiled by what we have here I guess.”

The girls both laughed and stepped into the elevator together. Abby watched as Melanie batted her eyelashes at him when she spoke, “Bye Jamal, see you later.”

“Yeah? Um, at Rachel’s party?”

Melanie looked over at Abby confused. Abby rolled her eyes at her. “Maybe,” was all she said as she let the doors close between them. While they were on their way up she told Melanie about Rachel having a back to school party tonight. “She said she invited about thirty people over to her place. I understand if you have to work late. I’m not going for very long, but she will kill me if I’m not there at all.”

“I’ll be off by eight tonight, and I should be back by eight-thirty. If you want to wait for me to go, I’ll just run in and get changed then we can drive over together.”

As the elevator doors opened onto the fourth floor, Abby started to giggle.

“What? Why are you laughing? I said it sounded good.”

“Sorry, it sounds good to me too. I was thinking that I don’t want to have to deal with Jamal tonight if you’re not there. When are you going to see the way he looks at you? It’s so obvious he is into you.”

“I know, I know. The truth is, when the hell do I have time for a boyfriend. Between classes, working to pay for school and studying, I’m lucky to get the amount of sleep I do get. But he is cute!” Melanie leaned against the doorframe and closed her eyes with a smile. “Oh his muscular arms and that broad, firm chest.” Her eyes fluttered and then rolled back in her head. “Umm, okay enough of that. I have to change for work and get out of here. I’ll see you at eight-thirty sharp.”

“Alright, I’ll be ready to go. Have a good day at work.”

As Melanie walked into her room, Abby shouted, “Don’t forget to lock your door, please.” She grabbed a pack of Pop-Tarts, dropped her bag on the bed and plopped down in front of her computer. Turning it on she hoped to find that a couple class syllabuses were online by now. It took longer for her computer to boot up than to find they that weren’t. She pulled up her school email deciding since she was online she should write a short letter to her family.

Abby put her books and other supplies away and organized them on her shelf when she was done. She then finished unpacking the things she had skipped last night, placing Melanie’s three books on the bathroom counter. Thoughts went round and round in her head about her classes and the semester ahead. Awful American History, she could see the D on her report card now. She would be lucky if her grade was that high. “I guess it would be a good idea to get a head start,” she mumbled and groaned as she stared at the book on her shelf for a long moment, waiting like it was going to answer her with a, “No you don't.”

Abby pulled down her book and moved her computer keyboard to the top of the monitor. She was not reading for long when she decided the lamplight would not be enough to keep her awake and stood up to open the curtains. As she pulled them back she looked into the courtyard below. To her own surprise, she saw him right away sitting alone under a tree bare of leaves. As soon as her eyes saw him there, she knew it was the same man she got a glimpse of yesterday.