Chapter 2

"Rich..." Gretchen panted to regain her breath. " ... I got to my room and there's a scrunchie on the doorknob!"

"What does that mean?"

"Don't you know?"

He shook his head. "When I was in the dorms we didn't have scrunchies."

"I'll bet the girls did. It means Debra has a guest and doesn't want to be disturbed."

"Do you mean her Second Life boyfriend, Chad?"

"I presume so," Gretchen replied. "I had no idea he was planning a visit."

"You're allow visitors?"

"Of course we are -- within limits," she replied. "When you were in the dorm, didn't you have visitors?"

"Actually, in my day things were a bit more relaxed. We had open dorms -- visitors were permitted twenty-four by seven. Of course back then we didn't have the guard in the glass booth, or the barbed wire or the machine-gun nests or the searchlights or the electrified fences or the helicopters circling overhead."

"Silly ... Parents are demanding more security for their kids."

"And I suppose that's not a bad thing. It sounds like times have changed."

"What can I do?" she asked.

"For starters, get into the car. No sense discussing this on the street." He reached across and popped open the door. Gretchen sat beside him. "Don't you have any friends who can put you up for the night?"

She shook her head. "No -- I don't have any close friends."

"You're probably too busy working to make any."

"It's not that ... I just don't relate to most of the kids at this school."

"I can take you back to my place. You can crash there for the night."

"Oh, Rich ... I don't know..."

"What's your alternative? Sleep on the floor outside your door? I don't like the notion of you sleeping on a bench in the union."

"Neither do I."

"You can sleep on my couch..."

"I don't know, Rich..."

" ... it opens into a bed."

"You don't mind?"

"Not in the least. I think we can take care of your immediate needs -- I have a fresh toothbrush, towels..."

"I don't have anything to wear," she protested.

"We'll come up with something."

"My pill ... I'll miss taking my pill."

"Do you usually take it at bedtime?"

"Yes."

"Just make sure to take it in the morning -- I'm assuming Debra will let you into your own room by then. Take another one tomorrow night and you'll be back on schedule."

"Do you think that will be okay?"

"Yvonne used to forget them all the time -- it's not a problem."

"Okay, then."

"Buckle up, we'll head back."

Rich pulled into the parking lot behind his building. "Well -- that was a short trip, wasn't it?" He unlocked his apartment door.

"Help me open up this sofa," he said and piled the cushions on the floor. Together they pulled it open. "I'll find some sheets."

He returned with a dress shirt and sheets. "You can wear this as a nightgown," he said as he handed her the shirt. "I'll put on the sheets while you change -- bathroom's over there."

Gretchen returned wearing Rich's shirt. She piled her jeans, blouse, socks and bra onto the stack of cushions and placed her shoes on the floor. Rich regarded her. "That looks like the shirt that ate the girl," he remarked.

"I rolled the cuffs..."

"Will that work for you?"

"It's fine -- a little oversized but it'll do." Rich scanned her from head to toe as she stood, barefoot before him. The shirttails came about halfway down her thighs. He regarded her sleek, shapely calves and her dimpled knees. "Something wrong?" she asked.

"You're a pretty girl, Gretchen," he replied. "You really dress up the dump." Rich placed pillows on the sofa bed and spread a blanket. He turned down the sheets and plumped a pillow.

Gretchen slid between the sheets and pulled them to her chin. "This is comfortable ... and roomy, compared to my bed in the dorm."

"Good night, Gretchen," he said and switched off the lights. He headed into his bedroom and closed the door.

Morning light woke Rich. He slipped into jeans and shirt. In the living room, Gretchen was sound asleep on the sofa bed. He sat in a plush chair and regarded her.

She stirred and woke with a start. "Oh, Rich," she said on seeing him. "Did you ever wake up and for an instant not know where you were or how you got there? That just happened to me. What are you doing?"

"I was watching you sleep," he replied. "You looked so sweet and innocent..."

She stretched. "What time is it?"

"About nine," he replied.

"I should get up and catch a bus back to my dorm ... take my pill."

"Feel free to shower. Will you have time for breakfast?"

"I'll make time for breakfast."

Gretchen emerged from the bathroom in the clothes she had worn the day before. "I don't like wearing the same things two days in a row," she said. "It makes me feel icky."

"You look like the sort of girl who never breaks a sweat," he replied.

"Believe me, I can get pretty gross after a couple of days."

"How do you like your eggs? Fried, poached, scrambled..."

"Fried ... no, poached."

"One or two?"

"One ... Make that two if it's okay."

"I wouldn't have offered if it wasn't okay. I have some English muffins."

"Oh, I love English muffins."

Gretchen ran her fingers through her still-wet hair. "I think I have a hair dryer," Rich remarked.

"I'm fine -- I usually let it drip dry." She sat at the table and he placed a plate before her. "Rich -- what are these long, brown, crispy objects?"

"Bacon," he replied.

"Bacon ... I remember bacon ... from years ago before I went off to college. My mom used to make bacon -- except hers was limp and soggy and fatty and chewy and bits of it used to stick in my teeth."

"I like bacon crispy."

"So do I," she replied, "now that I've tried it that way."

"So, you're headed back to your dorm," he remarked. "What are you going to do if the scrunchie is still affixed to the doorknob?"

"I will knock, loudly. Then I will say, 'Debra -- it's Gretchen.' Next I will unlock the door and, while keeping my gaze directly ahead and not looking right OR left, I will fetch my pill. Then I will take my books and laptop to the library and stay there until I'm sure that Chad has left the country."

"It sounds like you've figured it all out."

"Yep ... Rich -- thanks so much for letting me stay here. I really appreciate it."

He watched as she picked up her backpack and headed for the door. She stopped and gave him a little wave. He stood, looking out his window until he saw her climb aboard a city bus.

Rich wadded his burger wrapper into a ball and stuffed it into his empty soda cup. He tossed them into the trash and headed out of the student union and across the quadrangle. Someone waving caught his eye.

He headed in that direction. "Gretchen?"

"I didn't expect to see you on campus," she replied. "I sent you an email."

"I've been on campus all morning. I am a full-time student here -- I take on-campus courses. Gretchen -- they have these little gadgets. You can speak into them and someone far away can hear you -- and, you can hear them, too. They're called telephones. In days past, they were attached to walls with wires, but nowadays..." He pulled out his cell. " ... you can get them without wires and carry them around with you. This is called a cell phone."

"Silly ... I know what a cell is."

"Then, don't you think it's okay if we exchange telephone numbers so in the event one of us wants to contact the other we won't need to rely on cumbersome email?"

"Yes, Rich. I'll give you my cell number."

"Wonderful. Now, what was in this email that is probably sitting, unopened, on my laptop back at my apartment as we speak?"

"Rich -- I have a big problem."

"What problem?"

"Debra -- and Chad. He's still here."

"Still here? I thought he left Sunday -- yesterday."

"No -- he's leaving NEXT Sunday. I learned this yesterday."

"How did you manage last night?"

"My room was designed as a triple but there are only the two of us in it. Debra's bed is a twin bunk. She sleeps on the bottom and uses the top as a study loft. She draped blankets from the top mattress to make a private enclave for Chad and her. Last night, I stayed at the library until I was sure they were done with their ... you know..."

"Their pipe-laying? Rumpy-pumpy?"

She stifled a giggle. "Yeah -- that. It must've been eleven thirty when I came in. They were quiet."

"That sounds like it worked out. How does Debra plan to keep Chad in her room for a week? That has to be against the rules."

"Oh, it is -- but she knows of a girl who last term kept her boyfriend in her room for a whole month. You know my building is set into a hillside."

"Yes..."

"On the second floor is a door in the back that opens onto the street. It's supposed to be for emergency use only -- but it's common knowledge that the alarm is broken and has been for years. Kids block it open with a rock..."

"That sounds dangerous."

"Oh, it is -- and whenever I find it blocked open I close it again. Debra can smuggle Chad in and out through that door. He can use the shower on one of the men's floors and Debra is stealing food from the cafeteria for him."

"It sounds like an inconvenience for a week," Rich remarked.

"That's putting it mildly."

"Can Debra get away with this?"

"She thinks she can. She's the sort of girl who gets away with stuff."

"I know the type."

"But -- it gets worse. This morning, Debra had an eight-o-clock. My first class wasn't 'til ten so I was in the room -- alone with Chad. He came on to me, Rich."

"He came on to you?"

"Yeah -- I think he might've raped me if I hadn't told him I was a fourth-degree black belt."

"You're a fourth-degree black belt? In what art?"

"I'm not -- but that's what my mom told me to tell guys who pester me. Chad backed off and I got my books together and went to class. Rich -- I don't know what to do -- I just don't feel comfortable around him, whether or not Debra is there -- especially after this morning."