Chapter 25: New Focus, New Friends, New Love

September 10, 1982

And the fall semester got underway. I was living in a different dorm from the one I'd moved out of in the spring, although it was just a short walk away. But again, I'd gotten exactly the same housing assignment I'd received for my sophomore year in the other timeline. Everything was the same; same roommate, same dorm neighbors, identical in every respect.

My roommate's name was Dale Miller; he was an engineering major who studied a lot. He was friendly enough, but he didn't care to socialize too much, and he also had a part-time job on Friday and Saturday evenings. As a result, he generally made himself scarce, although he was nowhere near as invisible as Benny, last year's roommate.

But it was my near neighbors in the dorm, a group that would quickly coalesce into a close-knit clan, that offered me something I so desperately needed: friendship with people like me. They were normal college students with backgrounds and issues just like mine.

This particular dorm was mixed gender, with guys and girls in alternating rooms. As a result, my neighbors on each side were girls. The room on one side was inhabited by Holly Strauss, a chunky, short-haired, plain-looking but thoroughly likable freshman girl. Her roommate, also a freshman, was Annie Nakamura, a chatty, effervescent, petite girl of Japanese ancestry.

A few doors down the hall, in one of the male rooms, resided Dennis Hutchins and Barry Smithers, both sophomores like me. Dennis was, to put it bluntly, one huge guy. He stood about six-seven, with broad shoulders; you wouldn't necessarily call him fat, but he was more chunky than muscular. In spite of his size, he had a real gentle giant personality; he was one of the nicest guys you'd ever want to meet. But he was also funny as hell, with a biting wit. Barry was a skinny dude with fairly long hair, and he gave off a stoner vibe. But rarely did he indulge in mind-altering substances, save for the occasional beer.

In yet another nearby room dwelt two more freshman girls who I would often refer to collectively as "J-squared", because of the first letter of their first names. Jeannette Ramsey was a tall, willowy, slender brunette who, within a few short days after arriving on campus, had managed to get romantically involved with a guy named Kevin Crabtree, a second-year student who also lived in this section of the dorm. The other half of the "J" duo was a cute-as-a-button type named Julia Osmanski. In the other life, I remembered learning several years post-graduation that Julia had gotten married to some guy she'd met while living in this dorm.

The truth was, I'd known all of these people in the other life. But I'd been involved with other things, most notably, the band I'd been a part of. The breakup of the band and its aftermath had occurred during the early part of sophomore year. And even though I'd known these people the first time around, and was in fact quite friendly with a few of them, the friendships had never really taken off because of those little distractions.

This time, however, was different. It was the first Friday evening of the semester. With the exception of Dale, my roommate, all of the aforementioned people were gathered together in the room of Holly and Annie, with the lights turned down low. We were indulging in that time-honored, late adolescent ritual of getting to know one another: Truth or Dare. And there was alcohol in the room, which tended to loosen people's lips. No one got trashed, but everyone had a beer or two. It was a good mix of people. Four male sophomores, and four wide-eyed freshman girls.

The questions were very tame at first. At one point, Dennis asked Julia, "Which person in this room do you find most attractive?"

She took just a second to think it over, and then pointed at me.

"It's you, Pat," she said, giggling furiously.

I wasn't shocked by that revelation. In the other life, I'd often suspected that Julia had a crush on me. But then she threw me a curve ball.

"Same question to you, Pat," she said with a wicked laugh.

Well, I considered all of the alternatives. I just didn't find Holly attractive, no matter how nice she was. Annie, on the other hand, was definitely cute, although physically, she really wasn't my type. Same went for Jeannette, and I couldn't very well choose her, anyhow. Not with her boyfriend in the room. Which left Julia, the asker of the question. Who'd just stated for all to hear that she found me attractive.

And it was funny how that very fact made Julia prettier in my eyes. She was beautiful in an understated sort of way. Medium-length brown hair, a smooth, glowing, complexion, and big brown eyes. And though she preferred to wear loose, baggy clothing, I suspected that there was a nice body hiding under all of that.

For just a second, I considered copping out and taking the Dare option. But then I relented.

"Okay, you got me," I fessed up. "You, Julia."

Everyone broke out in a chorus of ooh's.

"You gonna invite us all to the wedding?" Barry chortled, as the catcalls turned to laughter.

Thankfully, the game continued, and that exchange was soon forgotten as the questions became more lurid, and the occasional dare was taken. Most of the dares, at least at first, centered around fake marriage proposals. Dennis was asked to knock on the door of every female room on the entire floor, and propose to the girl who answered. He took out his revenge upon Holly, who had to do the exact same thing for all of the men on the floor. Eventually, a little more beer was consumed by all, and things escalated. The truths focused on sexual exploits, and the dares flirted with public indecent exposure.

It was Annie who posed a tough question for me.

"Pat, you seem to be the man of the world among us. Tell us about the strangest place where you've ever, umm, done something with a girl."

Well, well. I certainly could have gone a few different ways with that one, right?

I decided that anything involving Lily was out of bounds. I mean, there's something to be said for licking a girl's ass in a dorm shower, but I didn't know how that would go over in this gathering of folks. So, I settled on a tale that lent itself much better to mixed-company storytelling. Namely, the treading water encounter I'd had with Diana in the ocean. As I related the story, in greater detail than I'd ever imagined sharing with anyone, let alone a group, I couldn't help but notice that Julia was fighting back a serious case of giggle fits. Hmm. What was that about?

"Wow," Dennis exclaimed as I finished. "That must have been hot. I doubt any of us could top that one."

"I might have been able to top it myself," I grinned smugly, "if the near miss on the Ferris wheel later that same day had actually happened."

"The Ferris wheel?" Barry practically shouted. "You dog!"

"Do tell, Pat," Jeannette practically pleaded. "I'm dying to hear this one."

"It was the big Ferris wheel on the boardwalk down in Wildwood," I began, and then related how Diana had extracted my penis from my pants while we were parked at the very top, before we both got concerned about prying eyes and legal trouble.

"I think you have us all beat, Pat," Annie said bemusedly.

"Since you're the one who came up with that question, Annie," I retorted, "same question, right back at you. What's your strangest place?"

Annie steadfastly refused to answer. Interesting! So, for the dare, I came up with something creative. After some quick preparation, she spent ten minutes down in the dorm lobby, greeting everyone who entered and exited the building. The catch? She was wearing nothing but a towel, wrapped around her torso, just large enough to conceal the private parts. The most shocking part? The seemingly demure Annie appeared to love it!

"Okay," Dennis declared, laughing, "I think we need to put an end to this game. If it goes any further, we'll all run the risk of being thrown out of the university."

September 15, 1982

My memories of university dining hall cuisine are spotty. At times, the food could actually be described as decent. But when it was bad, it was horrible. On this particular day, it fell into the latter category.

I was having dinner with Dennis, Julia and Jeannette. We were suffering through a meal consisting of limp, soggy salad, roast beef that was nearly too tough for even the sharpest knife, and watery, runny macaroni and cheese. But while the food was awful, the company was most decidedly not.

Somehow, the conversation came around to music. My three companions had no musical background of any kind. I didn't really care to talk about my status as a musician, but when Julia asked me if I played any instruments, I answered in the affirmative.

"I've been playing the piano ever since early grade school, and I started to take up the guitar during senior year in high school."

"I envy you," remarked Dennis. "I always wanted to learn an instrument, and play in front of an audience. It must be a rush to have a group of people hanging on your every action."

"You just described very accurately what it's like," I told him.

"Will you play for us sometime?" asked Julia.

"I wish I could," I replied sincerely. "But my guitar is at home, and so is my keyboard."

"How come you didn't bring them with you?" queried Jeannette.

"Well," I began, realizing that I wanted to tell this tale in spite of myself, "it's kind of a long story. I tried to start a band last year, it didn't work out, and I've kind of sworn off music for a while."

Everyone remained quiet for a moment, not sure how to react to that. It was Julia who broke the silence.

"It sounds like this is something that sticks in your craw, Pat. Long story or not, we're your friends. So please do share. We've got all night, or at least till this place closes. Right?" Dennis and Jeannette both nodded in agreement.

And so, I spilled my guts. I told them how my dream had started back in high school, when I used to jam with a couple of friends. I explained that I'd brought the idea along with me to college, and that those two friends had also come to Rutgers. I even, as a side note, told them about my brief romantic involvement with Evie. Then, I mentioned how we'd recruited Paul, and continued with a description of that terrible night when everything had blown up. I finished up with the fact that the band was now stable and successful without me, that I was still estranged from my former friends, and it didn't appear as though the situation would improve any time soon. I didn't pull any punches, and at the end, all three of them were slack-jawed.

Dennis spoke first, and his remark summed it up succinctly.

"That really sucks."

"But you see, Pat," Jeannette opined, "you're being way too hard on yourself here. You flipped out. Okay, maybe it was a rotten thing to do. But anyone can have a bad day. Why hold it against you for a year? If they were really your friends..."