To a bar.

The bar was pretty sparse. Aside from Kelly and Traci, there were only a handful of other patrons there. Of course it was still pretty early in the day.

Traci watched in amazement as her new roommate chugged down some beer. “How’d you even find out about this place?”

Kelly shrugged. “Ran into some guys earlier and they told me this was a good place to hang. He said they were really chill.”

“I guess that’s true enough. They didn’t even ID you.”

“I know!” Kelly’s eyes glittered with mischief. “I was all ready to flash my fake ID too!”

Traci took a sip of her own drink.

Kelly pointed to Traci’s glass of iced tea. “You sure you don’t want something stronger?”

“I’m OK.”

“Suit yourself,” Kelly said with a shrug. She was about to say something else but paused. She took another sip before speaking again. “You know those guys I mentioned earlier? The ones that told me about this place?”

Traci nodded.

“Well, they just walked in!”

Traci looked over at the entrance and saw a trio of guys, a bit older than herself. Maybe even old enough to order their drinks legally. One was especially tall with blond hair and the other two had dark brown hair.

Kelly leaned forward and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Pretty cute huh?”

“Oh yeah...I guess so.”

“I think I’m gonna enjoy the semester,” Kelly said with a grin. “So many hot guys running around campus.”

Traci got up and excused herself for a quick visit to the ladies room. On the way back she noticed that Kelly had moved. She was with the three guys from earlier. The four of them stood, huddled together around another table near the corner of the bar.

“Hey!” Kelly called out to her, “over here.”

Reluctantly, Traci walked over to join them.

When she was close enough, Kelly pulled her close in a sideways embrace. “Guys, this is my roomie Traci.”

Then pointing at each guy in turn, starting with the tall blond one, Kelly introduced them. “This is Brad, and Keith, and Charlie.”

The guys smiled and took their turns saying hello.

Brad lifted his glass. “Nice to meet you Traci. Hope you enjoy your time here at Williamston.”

“I’ll make sure she does,” Kelly said cheerfully before taking a chug of her beer.

A waitress pulled up to the table and placed five shots down. Brad thanked her before sliding one shot glass to each person.

“We ordered for you,” Kelly said with a grin.

Traci tried to refuse but the others weren’t having any of it and in the end it was easier to just go along and get it over with. With a sigh, Traci joined the rest of the table in lifting her shot in a toast, then downing it.

Immediately she found herself coughing and clutching the edge of the table. Kelly gave her a gentle pat on the back.

“Oh my god, was that your first tequila?”

Traci managed a weak nod.

“OK, well you did good! Right guys”

They gave her a quick round of applause and some words of encouragement.

“Don’t need to feel embarrassed,” Brad said. “Tequila can pack quite a punch.”

“Didn’t even phase you,” Kelly said admiringly.

“Well, I am a big, strong, manly-man!”

The table had a good laugh and Traci found herself laughing along as well. Now that the coughing had subsided, she found herself feeling a little giddy as the conversation continued.