Chapter 13: Getting Ready to go Home

Hanging out with Steph left me feeling refreshed, yet saying goodbye was rough and I quickly missed having her around. Now I had even more to think about and wasn't very sociable when I joined The Girls for lunch. Everyone seemed accustomed to my moods and gave me space while making an effort to keep me in the conversation.

Even though I wasn't paying much attention, I did notice that The Girls became significantly more animated when Jess joined our table about halfway through lunch.

"What's up?" I asked, curious as to the sudden change in mood.

"Sarah's got a date and it's really going to happen this time!" Jess beamed.

"Cool," I replied, trying to sound excited even as my stomach did a flip.

I always felt the urge to hang on to my former clients, and this impulse had been especially strong with Sarah constantly nearby. Intellectually I knew Sarah needed to date other people, and I'd been pushing her to do so ever since our weekend together, but it still hurt to realize she was finally moving on. In a way it was like saying goodbye all over again as I forced myself to let her go.

The Girls were very excited to help plan Sarah's date, and now seemed doubly eager to try out their tips from Steph. Though curious to see just how much their skills had improved, I really wasn't in the mood. Instead I hinted that I would be much more eager for company later that weekend if I had some time to settle my thoughts. The Girls promised to give me the night off while they 'took care of Sarah.'

While most of The Girls were supportive of me needing time alone, Jackie seemed more concerned than the rest, and I was curious about the determined glint in her eye. I assumed it had been her night and wondered what sort of backup plan she might be developing.

Listening to The Girls debate how Sarah could best 'break in' Doug really wasn't helping my mood. I decided to head back early and Amy joined me when I picked up my tray.

"Man, I wish Steph went to CC," I sighed as we started walking towards the dorm.

"Is she the reason you don't want any company?"

"Partly. I've never kept in such close contact with a former client before, and it hurts that Sarah is finally starting to move on. But I also miss Steph."

"So, I was right," Amy snapped, angrily crossing her arms.

Her response caught me off guard. I'd always worried that The Girls would be jealous of my clients, I never thought they'd get jealous if I was intimate with another Docent. Still, I was grateful that Amy had at least waited until Steph had left and we were alone before making a scene.

"Look, Steph and I share a very special bond as we are both Elites and trained together at the Institute," I said soothingly in an effort to ease her concerns. "I doubt we'll ever be more than friends, and she certainly isn't ready for an exclusive relationship."

"But you'd date her," Amy insisted in a soft voice, and I was certain she was close to crying.

I waited until she met my eyes. "I'm not looking to date anyone right now, and I certainly wouldn't date anyone who wasn't living nearby."

"Really?"

I wasn't sure how much I could commit to right then, so I merely nodded my head and wrapped an arm around her shoulders to guide us back to the dorm. Amy slid an arm around my waist and it felt good to have her by my side.

"Want to watch some movies?" I asked, no longer wanting to be alone, but not in the mood to be social.

"Sure. Let me go check my email and I'll join you in, like, 15-minutes?"

"Sounds good." I couldn't prevent my eyes lingering on her well toned legs as she sauntered off down the hall.

Friday evening found Amy and me still huddled on my couch watching movies. We'd long since shut the door, as the hall got extremely noisy when Sarah came over.

Once Sarah left around 5:30 it got eerily quiet, and I found myself nervously wondering why none of the other Girls had stopped by to check up on us. This worry proved well founded when Jackie barged into the room and insisted I print off my transcript.

Glancing at Amy, I realized she too was confused.

"Print my transcript?"

"Yeah, go online and print off a student copy of your transcript," Jackie repeated, gesturing extravagantly towards the computer. "Go on!"

"Why would I want to do that?" I asked, puzzled by her strange, but peppy behavior.

"Well, you've been positively antisocial all afternoon!" she huffed. "You can insist on sleeping alone tonight, but I'm not going to allow you to sulk in your room all evening."

"But I'm not sulking!" I gasped. Hoping for some support, I turned towards Amy, but she was grinning and nodding her head in agreement.

"Sarah shouldn't be the only one going on a date and acting like a kid," Jackie continued, "so you're going to take me to Chuck E. Cheese."

"You want me to take you to a children's arcade where we'll eat cheap pizza and be surrounded by 10-year-olds?"

"It's where a kid can be a kid," she explained, quoting their TV ads.

"But we're in college!"

Jackie placed both hands on her hips with an exasperated sigh. "You're not going to win this argument, go and print your transcript," she growled.

"Why?" I asked, wanting to accept, but still feeling stubborn.

"Because you get free tokens for A's, and even though they mark the transcripts, you can always print a new one."

"Ah ha, you've already been there!"

"Maybe," she hedged. "But I'm hungry so hurry up."

"Amy, did you want to print your transcript as well?" I asked as I headed over to my computer.

"Sorry, I have to perform in Dance Workshop tonight."

"Oh, yeah," I said, remembering. "Good luck!"

"Thanks! I hope you guys have a good time."

Though doubtful at first, I was surprised by how much fun we had. It was like I was hanging out with a whole new Jackie; one who expertly arranged for an awesomely care-free date.

We quickly ran out of game tokens, but the tokens were cheap, the pizza was filling, and we didn't have to worry about looking ridiculous in front of any of our classmates. In fact, I think we were the only 'adults' there who didn't have kids or siblings with them, but after the first few games I really didn't care.

By the end of the evening I was feeling great and had changed my mind about sleeping alone. Strangely, while Jackie admitted that it was her turn and readily joined me in my room, she made no effort to offer sex or make any excuse.

As we lay in bed, I felt myself grow tense as I worried about how Sarah's date went. Then I began mentally planning my trip home. I probably would have worried my way into a sleepless night if Jackie hadn't been there to hold me, gently rubbing my chest until my body grudgingly relaxed and I drifted off to sleep.

On Saturday I tried to study for Wednesday's final, but I was feeling much too nervous about my impending trip home. Instead I spent most of the day with my door open as I hung out with The Girls.

"Man, I'm hungry," Amy announced around five as she flopped down on the couch next to me.

"Well that's easy to fix," I replied. I stared at her, fascinated by her hair which was still dripping wet. "Shouldn't you blow dry your hair first or something?"

"Do you have any idea how frizzy my hair gets if I do that?" At my blank look she rolled her eyes. "Besides, some of The Girls and I want to go to the game and we need to leave soon."

"I've been meaning to check out a hockey game, but I thought you had a Dance Workshop?"

"Nope. Because of tonight's game we just had a matinee performance today."

"Cool. You want to invite The Girls out to dinner and then go to the game?"

"It'll be my treat," I added, remembering that most college students were on a very tight budget.

"What a great idea!" she squealed. "So what type of food should we get?"

"Well, I've got a craving for fajitas, but since the hockey team plays off-campus I'd prefer to get something along the way."

"We could go to La Hacienda; it's right off Nevada."

"Is the World Arena right off Nevada?" I asked, confused about how that was closer to the game.

"Well, most people take I-25, but I called Rachael this afternoon and she explained that we could go the 'back way.' Apparently you can avoid most of the traffic by taking Nevada south to Cheyenne Mountain Blvd."

"Sounds good," I agreed. "But my Cayenne only comfortably holds five."

"Rachael owed me a few favors, so she's letting me borrow her minivan."

"Hey, that's awesome!" I exclaimed. Amy had been a great help calming Sarah down while I was in Grand Cayman, so I wasn't surprised that Rachael had offered the use of her car.

After preening for a moment, Amy grabbed my hand. "Come on; let's go round up everyone else."

Several of The Girls had to study or work on term papers, so there were only seven of us when we entered the lobby and were joined by Cara, Kelly and Angie.

"I hope you don't mind that I invited a few more people?" Amy asked.

"Not at all." I guided the four people getting a ride from me out the back exit. Along the way I couldn't help ginning at Kael's foresight in arranging for a reserved parking space right next to the dorm. Even with Rachael's faculty pass, Amy had to park across the street next to the Library.

Since I only had a vague idea of where we were going, I pulled my car next to Amy's and waited for them to finish loading up. Of course The Girls got a thrill at how I was able to smoke Amy at each of the traffic lights. But that's not really saying much considering she was driving a minivan and probably didn't know we were racing.

Once we arrived at La Hacienda, The Girls took over a massive table and began devouring the chips and salsa. Using my Elite privileges I ordered a round of margaritas for everyone. It was amusing how The Girls seemed to get instantly tipsy.

I found myself seated next to Angie and asked for an update on her roommate situation. Like last time, Angie tucked her curly black hair behind her ears before speaking. I was beginning to suspect this was a nervous habit of hers.

"Well," she drawled, "just when I thought my roommate couldn't get any worse, she started talking in her sleep!"

Rising to the bait I asked, "So? I hardly see how that's unusual."

"Yes, but she's yelling at me to shut up!"

Though I thought this was hilarious, The Girls really didn't seem to sympathize until Angie mentioned how her roommate always seemed to lock the door when she took her shower.

"You think that's bad," Amy asserted while glaring at Jackie. "That little witch stole my towel and Brad was hanging out in the hall when I ran naked back to my room!"

Always the practical one, Eliza asked, "Why didn't you just wrap yourself in paper towels?"

"What's the fun in that?" Amy replied before taking a huge sip of her margarita.

"See, I was doing you a favor," Jackie insisted, and quickly ducked when several people threw chips at her.

The rest of the meal was energetic, but rather uneventful. I think The Girls were equally glad to have me back in a festive mood and to not be eating at the dining hall. As I dug into my fajitas I had to admit that even though it's hard to find decent Mexican food outside of Texas or Arizona, the food at La Hacienda was quite good.

We weren't in any hurry to finish our meal as the game didn't start until 7:30, so most of The Girls ordered a second margarita. I once again forgot about the altitude. The alcohol went right to their heads. Amy and I seemed to be the only people who weren't giggling uncontrollably when we exited the restaurant.

As we approached the World Arena, I was rather confused when Amy kept going along Cheyenne Blvd and entered the Tinseltown Theater parking lot.

"Why did we park here?" I asked Amy as I locked my car.

"Well, they charge you to park near the arena and it's an absolute zoo when you try to leave after the game."

"Gotcha," I replied. I felt a bit awkward weaving through the cars waiting to pay for parking as we walked to the main entrance to the World Arena, but we weren't the only students taking advantage of the free parking. Amy assured me that while the theater always threatened, she'd never heard of anyone actually getting ticketed or towed.

Inside was a standard rectangular sports coliseum that surrounded a professional-sized hockey rink. Even though the student section was open seating, we were early enough that we could get a section of ten seats right behind the goalie and only a few rows away from the ice. I was impressed with the number of fans wearing black and gold, the school colors, and was glad I'd worn my Colorado College sweatshirt.

The game was awesome! I'd seen some hockey highlights on TV, but nothing compared to actually hearing the guys get smashed into the boards or the puck ricocheting off the goal posts. It helped that I found myself sandwiched between Jackie and Angie. Apparently Angie was an avid hockey fan as she quickly explained how the game was played and what type of penalty calls to expect.

Once the rules were explained, Angie switched back to detailing some of the pranks she'd been contemplating playing on her roommate.

Jackie really seemed to perk up when Angie mentioned how easy it was to set pornographic pictures as the desktop background and screensaver images. Amy's elbow quickly dissuaded her from any possible shenanigans.

"Oh, come on," Jackie petulantly whined. "You said I had to be good, but can't I pull one little prank?"

"I think you've pulled quite enough pranks on me."

"But we all know you love looking at ... Ow!" she cried as Amy's elbow renewed its attack.

Once things quieted I tried to get Jackie to settle down, but she merely shrugged, pointedly shifted her attention back to the game, and began to heatedly harass the other team. We were playing the University of North Dakota and for some reason, probably the margaritas, The Girls seemed to be very riled up.

At first it was slightly embarrassing when Jackie start calling out chants like, "Goalie! Goalie! You suck dick!" But almost the entire student section joined in by the second 'Goalie' and it was actually rather amusing. Jackie would always start grooving along to the music when play stopped, only to glare up at the press booth when it was abruptly silenced once the puck hit the ice.

Jackie's favorite chant seemed to be waiting until the period was almost over and then loudly calling out, "Hey asshole, how much time is left!" She timed it perfectly so that moments later the announcer would politely reply, "One minute, one minute remaining in the period."

Of course my favorite chant was every time CC scored they'd start playing what sounded like the live remix of Zombie Nation's "Kernkraft 400," a techno song, and calling out "sieve" in time to the beat. Apparently a sieve is a type of screen and the opposing team 'let the goal through' or something. Angie explained it better, but I was too busy chanting along to pay much attention.

Our jovial mood was amplified by the fact that CC was really cleaning up. It seemed I wasn't the only person affected by the altitude, as the Fighting Sioux (the other team) were noticeably slower during the last period. At 4-2 with two minutes left, things were looking really good when the other team pulled their goalie so that they could have another offensive player on the ice. After a particularly close save, CC's goalie launched the puck down the ice and earned his first goal of the season when it lazily slid into the empty net.

We were having a very good night, so I wasn't entirely surprised after the game when Jackie molded herself to my side and, still buzzing from CC's 5-3 victory, sweetly asked, "Alex, can we have another party?"

Suddenly I was the center of The Girls' attention. I'd been meaning to test out my new liquor cabinet and DJ lights, but knew I would be responsible for anyone who got drunk in my room.

"Will you be good?"

"Of course not!" came the instant chorus from The Girls.

Alright, that was a dumb question. Rephrasing it slightly, I asked, "If we drink in my room, who's going to monitor the alcohol and guests so that I don't get in trouble?"

"Since I've already been the designated driver, I'll do it," Amy volunteered. "But next time it's someone else's turn."

There were sheepish looks from the rest of The Girls, but we soon piled into the cars and headed back to the dorm. On impulse I tried taking I-25 home and verified that it was longer as we made it back at least 5 minutes after Amy.

All of The Girls wanted to get changed, so with nothing better to do I queued up some songs and began playing with my new strobes. After nearly blinding myself, I set the strobes to be 'base sensitive, ' moved the couch to the side so we could have a dance floor, and waited for everyone to arrive.

The Girls asked the guys from my wing to join us, and this time it obviously wasn't a 'get to know you' party. Even though we weren't going out, all of them appeared wearing skimpy tops with some incredibly short skirts. To put it mildly, they were looking good!

Once again the guys seemed hesitant to ask The Girls to dance. Perhaps they were hoping for a repeat performance by Amy and Jackie, but Amy seemed to be mesmerized by my new liquor selection and immediately started showing off her drink making abilities.

Remembering some advice from my Docent training, I adjusted the play list and queued up three Madonna songs in a row. While I'd always been skeptical about Madonna's ability to jump start a party, as soon as 'Like a Prayer' started playing The Girls started dancing.

Seeing Cara sensuously dancing by herself, Brad quickly joined her, and it was obvious they'd been practicing. With Cara guiding his movements and wrapping herself around him, they looked really hot.

Soon the rest followed Brad's lead and near instantly the party was in full swing. It wasn't long before one of The Girls dragged me off the couch while the rest seemed to swirl around me. I regretted the fact that I didn't own a fog machine, but the strobes and disco ball already made my room feel like a club, and it sure beat any other on-campus party I'd been to.

I was a bit worried when I felt Kelly press close and begin to teasingly grind against me. Kelly was looking especially hot, but I tried to keep her at a slight distance while fervently glancing around for guidance. My eyes locked onto Amy's and she quickly gave me the thumbs up 'go ahead' signal before returning to her bartender duties.