Who Are We Meeting?

We are reaching our destination, a large field over on the east side of campus where they've set up an impromtu screen nestled amongst the trees at the edges of it and we have full reign in the dark.

Getting there means travelling halfway across campus from Rachel's dorm to this spot and all of it with me dressed like she'd dressed me. And I mean while I'm not exactly any stranger to exposure, considering the outfit I'd chosen for myself at the start of the day, this is a whole new level for me.

It is night, or near enough, and college students have ideas.

Our little movie night is only one of the many events happening across campus tonight. It is meant for freshman, at least for the freshman in the group that we'd been assigned to, but there were the happenings of sophomores, juniors, and seniors not to mention all the other freshman off to their hopefully more exciting endeavors.

What I mean here is that everyone on the whole of campus seemed to be heading in different directions, all of them with a driving intensity that brooked very little distraction. It was the first nights of college, after all, and they had places to be.

So the fact that they all seem to find time to notice me? Well that says something.

The whole trip over I was stared at, gawked at, and cat called. Men shouted things out and some of them even tried to get me to stop.

Me, I want to emphasize. Rachel, somehow, was missed along the way. She faded into the darkness which was quite the thing to do because by all objective markers she was undoubtedly more attractive than me.

But whether because she dressed herself down on purpose or because I looked like the easier mark of the two of us, she didn't get nearly the same amount of attention I did.

I had to endure. I had to hear. I had to smile politely and get strung along beside her.

I had to deal with this, which surely meant one thing if nothing else.

"Have I earned it yet?"

Rachel looks over at me, hurrying me along with her arm locked in mine as we walk, "Earned what?"

"An answer," I say, a little exasperated "About what your plan is for tonight."

She just laughs, content to string me along a little more, "We've got a movie to see."

"Oh a movie," I say, "That's why you're dragging me along so fast."

"Of course. Don't want to be late!"

"Tell me, Rachel," I dig my feet in, not willing to go another foot without some satisfaction, "What's the name of the movie?"

She pauses and sighs, her lips parting as she is ready to start coming up with another excuse to get me going. But one look at me makes it clear that I am not going to hear anything other than the answer I am looking for.

"Emily," she tries to appeal to me, "Em."

I shake my head, "Answers."

"I don't know what you want me to say," she laughs, a little more nervously now, "I don't know why you assume that I've got something-"

I raise an eyebrow and she raises her hands in surrender.

"I give in," she tells me, "I concede. I've got a plan. A plan to meet someone."

"Who?" I ask.

"Just remember that I did it for you," she interrupts, still not answering the question.

"Rachel," I say warningly, "Who am I meeting?"

"Me," the deep voice comes from behind me, "But now I'm starting to wonder whether or not I'm welcome here."

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