"Yeah, what time do you get off?"

I'm hot, she's hot. Well, I mean she's literally hot from the direct sunlight, but she's pretty, too. "Yeah," I say with confidence. "What time do you get off?"

Her expression runs the gambit from surprised, to confused, before finally landing on flattered. "Eh, fuck it, why not?" she says. "My boyfriend and I were planning on playing some video games after this, if you'd like to join. We've been looking for a third." To be honest, I'm not sure if she means 'a third' for video games, or 'a third' for something else. I go with the safe response.

"Sounds like fun. What time?"

"How about 5 o'clock? Madison 314?"

"Sounds like a date," I say, fully intending the double meaning.

"See you then. Oh, and welcome to ISU!" Kate says with a wave. I roll up my window and pull into the parking garage.

Video games with her and her boyfriend? I was expecting something more along the lines of "fuck her brains out", but video games are fun, too.

Back to moving in. Admittedly, I was a little bit more excited about getting in the building and meeting the other people on the floor than I was about lugging all my stuff up an elevator and a few flights of stairs.

It takes a while and I miss a few elevators because Kate didn't really tell me how to get in, but eventually I fill up one of the red move-in carts with some of my stuff and head for the elevators. The entire place is filled with tons of freshmen and their parents moving in to college for the first time, saying their goodbyes, et cetera. I imagine that if I hadn't commuted from home last year, I would've gone through the same exact situation.

Finally, I make it out of the elevator and onto the floor. After checking out the fire escape map to orient myself to the building, I find 524. The floor isn't a traditional dorm hallway setup, but there are communal bathrooms and showers, so a lot of what I'd heard about living in a dorm still applies.

I pull my cart up next to the door, trying to tell if my roommate's moved in yet. I can't really hear from the noise of other people moving in. Just as I'm about to unlock the door, it swings open, revealing a six-foot guy with close-cut brown hair and a swimmer's body. He's only wearing a towel, and has some body wash under his left arm.

"Oh, hi. You must be Mark, right?" He says. "I was just about to test out the showers."

I dig around in my brain for his name, somehow having forgotten it since ISU sent me his information. Well, maybe it wasn't so mysterious, because I was still admiring his six-pack and his well-tanned skin. "Finn, right? It's nice to meet you."

We shake hands. "Nice to meet you too, Mark. Now if you don't mind..." With that, he calmly walks to the communal showers. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was strutting a little bit.