It's funny how quickly and dramatically life can change sometimes. One day, you're dating a hot girl, fucking her younger sister, seeing a lithe cheerleader (and sometimes the rest of her team) on the side. and the next day there's just...nothing.
It wasn't supposed to turn out like this. I was supposed to be with Danielle forever...or Hailey...or Melanie. I can't remember which. But it was supposed to be better than this.
It's funny, though. When you're all kids in high school, and there's nothing else to think about, drama seems to keep itself to a minimum. Then, it's time for college, and everybody has different ideas. Sometimes, really close people go their separate ways, and almost as often, the best laid plans of sticking together go up in flames, as well.
I'll never forget when I told Danielle that I was going to Tech. She cried and made me feel like a dope for at least an hour, before admitting to me that she was leaving the state for school. Part of me always wondered whether she had already decided that, or whether it was an knee-jerk reaction based on my news. We said that we'd try to make things work despite all the distance, but these things almost never happen. Especially not in college, when there's so much temptation.
That's the really crazy part, though. In high school, I couldn't be stopped. In one school year, I had sex with two sisters, and over half the school's cheerleading team. Good luck settling this guy down in the freedom that college provides, right? But, sometimes, things don't go the way you plan. And, over two years into college, and I had achieved only scant success on campus.
It was another boring night, and I was laying on the couch in my dorm, phone suspended in my hands right above my head.
"Can you imagine if you drop that shit?" Neil said, laughing from his bean bag across from me. That's right, I didn't keep any of the girls, but my best bud came with me to college.
"Dude, don't put that voodoo on me," I chuckled and shook my head. I looked up and stared at the screen, and briefly pictured how much it would hurt if it fell right onto my face. Neil and I had a great dorm room, located on the top floor of the university's main dorm. Our room was overly cluttered, but we loved the decorations. Signs lined the walls, ranging from our old favorite 1990's cartoons, to the street sign we took from our old neighborhood the night before we left for college in our freshman year. The smell of popcorn filled the relatively small space - the snack that had become our staple as we became more and more wrapped around that healthy gym lifestyle. Still, Neil had a handful of our guilty pleasure, skittles, in his hand. He did his trademark move: taking a half dozen or so, swirling it around in his closed palm, raised it over his face, and dropped them into his mouth from above.
"I still say the Smoothie Mix Skittles are mad underrated" he called out, a little muffled as he downed another handful.
"Wildberry all day" I replied casually. "Or Tropical. The regular is good, too. Whichever."
"Still can't make a fucking decision" he shot back, already ducking in case I threw something his way.
"Oh fuck off" I said, though I couldn't help but laugh a bit. "It's been years, man. Give me a break."
"Any good prospects tonight?" he somewhat changed the subject, noticing how intently I was studying my phone.
"Same shit, different night" I responded, followed by a dozen swipes to the left. "Dog mom, dog mom, traveler, traveler, dog mom. How do all these girls have the money to travel so much?"
"I don't know why you waste your time on there" Neil laughed, finally finishing his bag of Smoothie Skittles. The colors left a crazy pattern on his hand, and he went to wash up.
I could feel my anxiety creeping up as I started to approach the end of my 24-hour period of likes. "Twenty two. Twenty Three. Twenty f...no not worth it," I thought in my head as I pulled off a quick almost-right-to-left transfer. It's funny how the standard went up as the likes neared the end. Suddenly, my eyes went wide, followed by a thud, and a yell.
"Fuck!" I called out, phone bouncing off my forehead, then tumbling down the couch. "Shit, shit, shit, don't swipe for me."
"Yo, Chris, chill man" Neil said, coming back in after the exclamation. "I'm sure you'll have more chances tomorrow, even if your phone did swipe for you."
My hand was shaking and I couldn't find the words. I stared at my screen.
"Dude, what's going on?" he asked again.
"It's...Hai" my voice dried up. "It's Hailey." I finally worked the words out.
"Hailey?!" he responded in a shock and darted over towards me. "Holy shit..." he said, as he got close enough to see the screen.
My finger tentatively scrolled down the profile. "Looking for...I don't know," I read aloud. "Travel mode..."
"Travel mode" Neil echoed.
"She's...here?" I questioned. My settings had things limited to 20 miles. It said she was five miles away. I sat there and thought for a while, occasionally scrolling up and down her profile, looking for any details. One of them was her in her cheer outfit.
"Oh for the love of..." I said suddenly. "That's right, we play fucking A&M tomorrow. They must have brought the cheer squad."
One thing I had always regretted in high school was not playing enough sports. I changed that quickly in college, and had made a number of the school's teams. Tomorrow was the last soccer game before the holiday break, and it was against the school Hailey had decided to attend.
...
"Danielle is really going out of state?" Hailey asked me from the seat next to me on the couch. As usual, she was dressed in a mixture of adorable and sexy, covered by the tank top and cheer shorts combination that I had become so accustomed to over the months. She smelled good, starting to experiment with different perfumes and body washes. She was like a sexy peach today.
"That's what she told me" I replied. It was the summer before I was leaving for college, and my relations with my favorite girls had slowly ground to a halt as big decisions were being pondered.
"What an idiot!" she said, though there was some joy in her voice. "Dump her ass, and then we can date, and I'll meet you at Tech in two years." She was already putting her arms around me and nuzzling into my chest.
"Hailey, it's not that simple" I started after a brief pause. "We promised we'd give it a shot. Plus, I'm about to be in college, and you're just a junior."
"Oh..." she said, recoiling in some pain. "Well, yeah, that's...that's all fair. I'll, uh, see you later, Chris."
She got up and headed up the stairs. I watched that perky ass in her little cheer shorts as it bounced away. I didn't know it would be the last time that I'd see her for a long time.
It's funny. Each of us hangs out with someone, and in that moment, it may be the last time that we ever see that person. But, we don't usually know. It's kind of haunting, but it's how life works.
...
"Chris...Chris" Neil said, shaking me. "Snap out of it dude."
"What?" I said, coming out of my daydream. "Oh. Dude, I can't believe she's here."
"What are you thinking, man?" he asked. "I know you and her always had something extra special.
Neil was right. Danielle and I had the all around connection. Melanie was my sentimental favorite in some ways. But, if I was honest, Hailey was always the one where the most animalistic lust originated. She had those piercing blue vampire eyes, that were easily the sexiest feature I had ever seen on another human. She studied my sexual preferences more than her textbooks, and she always knew how to get me going. Our flame burned bright. I had always wondered why she gave up on me so quickly that afternoon at her house.
"I need to talk to her" I said. Triumphantly, I got up, looked at Neil confidently, raised my hand high in the air and....swiped right?
What the fuck was I doing? She might barely use the app, or not at all. She might not have any premium features, and probably got hundreds of likes each day. This stupid app was warping my reality.
"I really hope she didn't change her number" I finally said, and started to scroll through my phone.
"Wait a second" Neil interrupted. "Why bother?"
"Why bother?!" I said, my voice raising to a comedic pitch. "Yeah, why fucking bother with anything? Why don't we drop out of school and join the circus? Why don't we jump off the roof and into the fucking koi pond?! Why don't I take this bag of skittles and shove it up your fucking..."
"Dude..." he said, unable to help himself from laughing at my rant. "I just meant, if she's here, and she's cheering tomorrow, why not use the element of surprise to YOUR advantage? You're expecting her. She's not expecting you. Be prepared, and use that to win her favor."
It wasn't a bad thought. The prepared party always has an advantage over the unprepared.
"Done deal" I said, and we exchanged our patented high five. He made his way over to his bed and put his back against the wall.
"I'm not letting you come anywhere near me with that bag of skittles" he said, and we both laughed.
The next morning, I prepared differently. I always had a game day routine, but there was something different today. My focus was more on making sure I looked and smelled as good as possible. Maybe I would see her before the game. Regardless, I was expecting her, she wasn't expecting me, and that was my advantage. A couple of hours before the game, I made my way to the elevator, and rode down to the first floor.
I was Mr. Cool, today. My confidence had dropped from my reign in high school, but today, nothing was stopping me. I stared straight off, not even acknowledging anybody to either side of me. My sunglasses kept the blistering sun from my eyes, and I could even feel more bounce in my step. I set off for the field, and knew there was nothing that was going to distract me from today's mission - find Hailey, catch her off guard, and make some kind of move.
WHAM
"What the" I said, dazed and looking around as I suddenly found myself in the grass. I had been hit by a truck, or a linebacker. Someone was sabotaging our team! It must have been a plant from the other team, trying to injure me before the big game.
I was half right.
"Aye fucking jellyfish?" I heard a familiar voice crawling over my crumpled body.
"Hailey?!" I asked in bewilderment, and the two of us embraced in the longest hug I could remember.
"Is that a tear? Oh you're such a wimp" she said with playful laughter. "All this time and you've gone soft on me."
"HEY!" I shot back. "I absolutely have never gone *soft* on you."
"That's actually completely true" she giggled. "Did I catch you off guard?"
"Yes!" I couldn't help but laugh. "This is such bullshit. I saw you on Bumble last night, and I was about to message you, but Neil convinced me to try to surprise you instead. How did you find me?"
"Oh you're so silly sometimes, Chris" Hailey said playfully. "Did you really think I forgot where you went to school? Did you really think I wouldn't figure out which dorm you were in, wait for the first moment you let your guard down, and find a way to put my body on yours?"
I guess the more things changed, the more they stayed the same.
"Hailey...I..." I struggled. There was so much I wanted to say. I looked into her eyes, and felt a rush of emotion. I hadn't seen her, Danielle, or Melanie in years. It was overwhelming. My eyes felt heavy, and I actually had to stop myself, and fight off what had nearly become tears.
"Chris..." she said, for a second appearing like she was about to tease me, before softening, herself. Our faces rushed closer and we kissed, a couple of open lip kisses, which quickly descended into a makeout led by tongues. We were rolling around in the grass for all to see.
