Walk to next class and meet your friend Justin

I sat alone in the lecture hall for a moment following Dre’s departure, the weight of my reality squashing me into my chair. The world I'd thought I understood had upended completely. In this new world, normality was a concept as fluid as water; it could change and shape itself to fit any container - or whim - of mine.

With that thought, I rose from my seat, letting the brief moment of solitude wash over me. Even the grandeur of Roosevelt College's old-world charm couldn't shake me back to reality - because this was the reality now.

Having barely gathered my wits, I stumbled out of the lecture hall and into the hallway bustling with students. The gentle hum of chatter filled the air, punctuated by bursts of laughter or a shout from someone down the hall.

Walking amongst them was like a reminder of what ‘normal’ once looked like for me. When I passed by, there were no whispers, no surprised looks. They moved around me in an **** choreography, affirming my place in their reality, a reality I was still struggling to comprehend. A reality where everyone was fully at peace with my roaming free in women's locker rooms and showering with their girlfriends. Yet no one batted so much as an eye at me over my ability to do such things. In their minds, it was all so completely ‘normal’.

The thought did occur to me that perhaps none of my fellow students actually knew the type of behavior I had engaged in. Maybe Mark had only known because Lisa had told him.

Was there a possibility that with the exception of Lisa, the other girls in the locker room were keeping my dalliances there a secret? What happens in the locker room stays in the locker room?

But the words spoken by both Lisa and Dre kept echoing in my head: “Everyone knows…” Well, everyone but me apparently, because I had no memories of any of this beyond what had transpired since waking up this morning. Prior to that, life had been completely normal and rather mundane. Now … well now … everything was just surreal.

With that said, I had absolutely no idea what the actual rules in this new reality were. Could I just grab one of the girls walking down the hallway next to me and have sex with her in front of everyone, or was such activity limited to the women’s locker room?

Or maybe none of the earlier events had actually happened and I was just losing my mind. Right now as I stood in the hallway, everything and everyone around me just seemed to be so normal. It was as if none of it had ever happened.

I was still deep in thought when a familiar voice broke through the hustle and bustle of the hallway.

"James," The voice belonged to Justin Kramer, my best friend, a guy who shared my original struggles with women and social life.

Justin had a welcoming smile on his face as he approached me, his mousey features fitting perfectly into the unassuming regularity of Roosevelt College. He wore an old faded ‘Metallica’ tee layered over a long sleeved thermal shirt which was mostly hidden by the backpack strung casually over one shoulder. His short crop of messy brown hair stood in stark contrast to his meticulously maintained chinstrap beard.

"Hey, Justin," I greeted him, pushing down the inner chaos festering within me. This was Justin - regular guy, relatable Justin - and if there was anyone who would yank me back to sanity with some normal conversation, it was him. Or so I hoped.

"Missed you at lunch earlier," he said with a slight scowl as we began to make our way through the bustling corridor.

"I know." I replied simply, “Mark and Lisa asked me to join them.”

Justin looked surprised. “Weren’t you uncomfortable?” he asked. “Being the third wheel and all?”

I chuckled lightly before confessing, "It was a bit awkward at first. But turned out all right." Especially the part about showering with Lisa afterwards, I thought to myself.

Justin laughed, shaking his head slightly. He knew about my feelings for Lisa and how I had been silently pining for her since the start of college. But now everything had changed so drastically that I wasn't even sure of my own feelings.

"You always overthink things," Justin said playfully. "You just need to relax and let things happen naturally. It’s a big school James, there are other fish in the sea." He had no idea of the irony his words held in this new reality.

I stopped in my steps, looking at Justin intently. His words were revolving in my head as if they held some deep hidden meaning. Let things happen naturally… I glanced around the busy college hallway again, watching as students moved past us in a syncopated rhythm of academic life - compared to mine, their lives were about as natural as it could get.

Realizing I’d stopped moving, Justin halted too and followed my gaze. “What’s up?”

"Nothing," I responded quickly, forcing a small smile on my face. "Just lost in thought."

He looked skeptical but decided not to press the issue further. If Justin did know that I was able to enter the women’s locker room and shower with Lisa or anyone else I wished, without anyone finding it odd, he made no mention of it. Maybe he just thought it was such a normal thing for me to do that it was not worth bringing up. I was too nervous to ask.

A momentary silence hung between us as we navigated through the crowd towards our next class: History 101. The temperature outside had begun to drop, evidence from the reddened cheeks and frosted breathes of student passing by. A comforting change after the awkward heat that surrounded me all day.

We finally reached the History classroom and took our seats. Waves of confusion washed over me again while Justin busied himself with some notes. Lunch with Mark and Lisa seemed like a distant memory now, yet it had only happened hours ago. It felt impossible that in the span of a few hours my world had twisted around so bizarrely.

One moment I was brooding over an unrequited crush on Lisa and the next … I experienced a series of sensations that would have been unthinkable before today. Memories of Lisa’s naked body flashed through my mind, causing a deep-set blush to creep onto my face again.

“Hey! Earth to James!” Justin snapped his fingers in front of my face, tearing me out of my internal retrospection. “Professor Katz is about to start.”

I blinked, turning my focus back onto the world around me. I mumbled an apology and tried to make myself more present. Justin gave a half-hearted shrug and with an amused grin on his face stated: “I get it man, it’s Lisa, you just can’t get her out of your head. I don’t know why you keep doing this to yourself.”

“How did you know?” I asked. Was Justin reading my mind now?

"Dude, you are literally blushing. That has to be a Lisa moment. All you do is talk about that girl. I mean she’s hot as hell, but she’s got a boyfriend. You’ve got to move on,” he voiced with concern.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I replied. And he was right, my obsession with Lisa was ridiculous. I thought of Dre and her proposition from before.

“Besides man, you get to shower, and I’m sure do other things, with the girl in the locker room any time you want. That should be enough to get her out of your system. I mean, if I could do that, you wouldn’t see me obsessing over any one girl, especially not one in a relationship.”

My jaw dropped. Justin knew. Everyone truly knew.