Her roommate showed up after another couple of hours. With a fleeting smile that didn’t reach her eyes, the girl sat on her own bed, pulled out an MP3 player, and slipped a pair of headphones over her ears. Rett bit back her disappointment. She hadn’t expected an instant friendship, but some sort of politeness wasn’t too unreasonable to ask for. Back home, it would have been an insult to not say at least ‘Hey’.
But you ain’t back home.
Right. She was, without stops, an eight-hour drive away from Oak Creek. The manners she grew up with weren’t hard and fast rules in Columbus. She would just have to get used to the differences. After all, it was going to be the norm for the next four years.
Her cellphone vibrated nearly an hour later, and Rett scooped it up before her brain could register what she was doing. The Stones’ number flashed on the screen. She answered the call and pressed her phone to her ear.
“Cal?”
“Hey, Rett.” His voice held a smile, and Rett closed her eyes as her heart ached. “You make it okay?”
“Yeah, I did, a little while ago.”
“Good. Have you called your parents yet?”
“Yep.” She frowned and twirled a lock of hair around her finger. “Cal? You okay?”
His breath staticked up the line for a second, then she heard the telltale sounds of a stifled yawn. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired.”
“Well… Go to sleep, then. We can talk more tomorrow.”
It hurt when he didn’t argue. When all he said was an ‘I love you’ before he hung up. She expected more of an argument. Maybe that would come the next time they talk. She wanted more than a two-minute phone call, and she swore to herself that she would get it.
She chewed on her lower lip before rising to her feet. Tucking her suitcase under the bed, she made sure she had the key that had been sent to her. She hadn’t brought much with her, not having had the room for the bus ride, and she needed bedsheets. There was no way she’d sleep on the provided mattress without them.
Sleep didn’t come easily that night. Rett lay awake and stared through the dark at the ceiling. The bed was all wrong, and the room smelled nothing like the lavender and clean linen she’d always known. Her eyes burned, and she squeezed them closed. She couldn’t cry. If she let one tear slip, the rest would surely come, and who knew when she would be able to stop or if she even could.
Sniffling, she rolled over onto her side and pulled the blanket up to her chin.
“You still awake?” a voice cut through the silence after what felt like ages.
Rett frowned and scrubbed at her eyes as she said, “Yeah, I’m still awake.”
The other bedframe squeaked, and Rett stared through the dark at the silhouette sitting upright. Her roommate stretchedout an arm, a click sounded, then dull light emanated from the lamp on her bedside table. Rett blinked in the sudden glow and sat up, too. Her roommate gave an awkward smile.
“Can’t sleep, either,” she said quietly. “I miss home.”
“Where’s home for you?” Rett asked just as softly.
“Maryland. You?”
“Tennessee.”
“I’m Manny.”
“Loretta. Rett.”
Manny grinned and cocked her head. “What do you say we go get some ice cream? There’s a twenty-four-hour place just off campus.”
Ice cream sounded great. Making a new friend sounded even better. Rett readily agreed and grabbed her cellphone from where it was charging on the table. Manny didn’t bother changing out of her pajamas; she only slipped her feet into a pair of sandals and led the way out of the room.
Morning brought a phone call from Calum, who apologized profusely for not talking the night before. Rett bit the inside of her cheek to stifle her smile. There wasn’t much to talk about—she’d only been gone for less than forty-eight hours, after all, and Oak Creek moved slow—but she didn’t want to hang up. She wanted to hear his voice. She wanted to hear everything he had to say.
So she gripped her phone tightly and held it to her ear as he told her of his plans for the day, for the trailer. Something sharp and cold twisted in her chest. She had hoped that Calum would change his mind about the trailer after she left. There was no way it could become a home, not without her there. And maybe Cal would find something different, somethingbetterto surprise her with when she went home.
She knew it was a foolish hope made in vain as he talked about paint colors. He’d been so proud when he told her MalachiTurner gave him the mobile home. When he’d told her he’d found a place for them to live, that he’d provided it. Rett knew there was no way, short of catastrophic damage, that he would change his mind about the trailer. She swallowed down the bitter disappointment and listened as Calum planned out a trip into the next city over to pick out new window frames.
Classes started, and Rett quickly realized how out of her depth she truly was. It wasn’t like high school, where she’d known where everything and who everyone was. The campus was a large maze, labyrinthine compared to what she was used to, and she had to rush to each lecture. Her mind quickly filled with syllabi and requirements for classes and the layout of the various halls and buildings. By the time Friday evening rolled around, Rett felt like her brain might actually melt.
