Chapter 66: Freshman Year
EMMA’s POV :
I didn’t even know where to start.
I woke up this morning to a lovely surprise of breakfast in bed, courtesy of my gorgeous fiancée.
Fiancée.
Oh boy, I love that word.
I couldn''t call him that in public though.
To the public eye, we just started dating andn was just my boyfriend.
We didn’t tell my parents thatn proposed, we thought that would be too much for them to handle.
Plus, we had no ns on getting married anytime soon anyway.
This was a symbolic thing that only the both of us needed to know.
It was a promise that we would stay together no matter whates our way.
No more breaking up and no more ending things, we were each other’s end game.
After eating my delicious breakfast,n gave me my second birthday surprise of the day.
And let me tell you, it was even more delicious than the first one, if you know what I mean.
After we got back together, I noticed thatn was very careful around me, especially in the bedroom.
It was sweet that he was gentle, but he was treating me like I was fragile.
So when he asked me what I wanted this morning, I shamelessly told him "I want you to make love to
me like the first time we met,"
And he did.I was the luckiest girl in the world.
He was blushing a little when I whispered into his ears, all the dirty things I wanted him to do to me.
That was probably the first and only time I was able to make him blush.
When I pointed out to him that he was blushing, he quickly pulled hisposure and he kissed me,
saying
“I''ll show you who''s blushing,"
It was the best way to start a birthday.
We made love all morning and we would have kept doing it, except we had to go to campus, it was
freshman move in day.
I thought nothing else in the day could ever top my morning.
But man,n was like a gift that just keeps on giving.
He was such a sweetheart.He held my hand as we walked throughout campus.He introduced himself
as my boyfriend to everyone that would listen.
And when we finally had to move into my dorm, he wouldn''t let me lift a single box.
When we got into my room, I noticed that my roommate had moved in already.All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.
Her stuff was in there, but she wasn''t in the room.
I went to the remaining empty bed and we started unpacking my stuff.I knew I was getting a girl
roommate, but it was a co-ed dorm.We could hear noises and yellsing from the hallway.
A bunch of guys was actually ying Frisbee out there.
So, as we unpacked my things, he was giving me all this life advice: "Don''t go to frat parties, never go
to frat parties,"
"People will make you drink, so drink but do it consciously,"
"Never leave your stic cup unattended,"
"No matter how smart they think they are, college guys are dumb.Don’t trust any of them,"
"Don''t take drugs, no matter what they tell you.Even if they just said it’s a vitamin that''ll boost your
brain, that’s a fucking drug and you stay away from that,"
I responded by shaking my head and rolling my eyes at him, saying, "Geez Louise, you''re worse than
my dad.Way to make college sound so appealing,"
"Just promise me you''ll be careful and you''re not gonna go all crazy on me,"he sighed and he pulled
me close into a hug.
"Deal,"I smiled into his chest.I wrapped my arms around him tightly and I refused to let him go.
As much as II was enjoying this day, time was slipping by so fast.
In a couple of days,n would fly back to Georgia and I would be here, alone and starting college.
I didn’t know if I would be ready for that, so I held onto him tighter.
"Baby girl, what’s wrong?"he said softly, tilting my face up to his.
"I’m scared,"I admitted, pausing for a moment before saying, "What am I gonna do without you?"
He smiled and nted a soft kiss on my forehead, saying, "We''ll see each other on Thanksgiving and
Christmas.Before you know it, we''ll be together again,"
"You''re still here and I miss you already,"I whined.
"I''m always with you, baby girl.You can call me anytime you need me.Anytime you want me toe
over, I''ll be there,"
"It''s a twelve hour drive,"I sighed.
"Or a two hour ne ride,"he smiled.
"What if I want you toe over every week?"I asked.
"Then I will,"he said simply.
I stifled augh and said, "I won''t do that to you, don’t worry,"
"It might be hard at first, but you''ll make friends and you''ll be busy with school.You''ll have the time of
your life and you''ll forget all about me in no time,"
"That''s not possible,"I put my hand on the side of his face and pulled him down to me.
"I''m always thinking about you,"I was about to pull him in for a kiss, when we suddenly heard a knock
on the door.
"Hi!"a petite Asian girl stood at the door with a big smile on her face and she said
"You must be my roommate.I''m Sophie, Sophie Park,"
She stepped closer and lent out a hand to me.I took her hand and smiled back,
"Hi, I''m Emma Sinir,"
"So nice to meet you, Emma," she seemed absolutely sweet.
I was d I was getting a good roommate.
"Nice to meet you too.And this is my boyfriend,n,"
I said an"You see what I have to deal with?"Tristan turned to me.
"Oh! I see hot guys on the dance floor, let''s dance!"
Sophie squealed and pulled us both out of our seats before we could even protest.
I almost spilled my drink, but I sipped it down quickly and followed Sophie to the dance floor.
The DJ was ying fun 90s disco music and it was impossible not to dance to that.
The next thing I knew, the three of us were shredding the dance floor.
Sophie was moving around everywhere and Tristan wasn''t backing down.
They weren''t afraid to look goofy and have fun, and that made me open up as well.
We were allughing and giggling, enjoying ourselves, when suddenly this drunk guy started grinding
up behind Sophie.
"Yo, what''s your problem?"Sophie snapped at him.
"Get away from her,"Tristan pushed the guy back.
The guy staggered back and slurred, "I''m sorry, I don’t want no trouble, man,"
"Yeah, that’s right.Get outta here,"
Tristan stood tall in front of him.
Sophie and I were maybe 5’3 or 5’4, but Tristan was at least 6’ feet tall.The drunk guy went away
instantly as Sophie stuck her tongue out at him.
"You''re wee,"Tristan turned to Sophie and she winked at him.
"This is why I keep him around, Emma, he’s handy like that,"
Sophie linked one arm around Tristan and pulled me with her other hand.
We went back toughing and dancing in no time.
It was such a fun night.
Sophie could drink like a tank and the more she drank, the funnier she got.
At one point, she was dancing on a table and flirting with a speaker.
Yes, she was flirting with a machine, don’t ask me why.
As Tristan was busy trying to get Sophie to sober up and feeding water down her throat, I decided to go
to the bathroom.
After leaving the bathroom, I spotted Tristan and Sophie at our table and I was about to walk over
there, when a guy stepped in front of my face.
"Hey there,"said this tall guy who was wearing a University of Pennsylvania varsity jacket.
He looked kinda like Devin Booker, and that was cute, but I was just annoyed that someone was
blocking my way.
"Can I help you?"I asked.
"I think I''ve seen you around.You''re a freshman, right?"
"Yeah, and?"
"Well, I''m the student weingmunity.How about I buy you a drink and give you a warm
wee you to our campus,"
"That''s very nice of you, but unfortunately I’m not interested.So, no, thank you,"I replied.
I was about to walk away when he stood in my way again.
"Whoa, whoa, slow down.What''s the rush?"he paused for a moment before continuing,
"It''s the Wee Weekend,"
"Exactly,"I agreed.
"I''ve been to all the events and I''ve had enough to drink, so thank you, but no thank you,"
"Damn, you''re feisty, huh?"He smirked like he was amused by what I was saying.
"Whatever,"
"Hey, slow down,"he said.
This guy was seriously getting on my nerves, and he had the audacity to grab my hand.
"Let me go,"I warned.
"I just wanna talk,"
"She said she’s not interested,"a voice cut in between us, and I whipped my head around to see
Tristan.
Tristan was ring at the varsity jacket guy and he red back at Tristan.
"You gonna let me go or am I gonna have to blow my rape whistle?"
I said before the tension could rise any higher.
The varsity jacket guy released my hand in an instant and Tristan let out augh.
"Whatever," the guy rolled his eyes and left.
"That was a really good line, you need to teach Sophie that,"
Tristan smiled and gave me a high five.
My eyes darted around the room and I saw Sophie stumbling towards the speaker again.
"Oh, Sophie,"I sighed and Tristan noticed ittoo.
"Let’s grab her,"he said as we walked over to her.
"Sophie, honey?"I said as I peeled her off the speaker.
"I love this speaker, Emma.It’s so loud,"she slurred.
"Okay, I think it’s time we go,"Tristan put her arm around his neck, so her weight was on him.
"But I don’t wanna go home,"Sophie whined.
"You''re so thrashed,"he replied.
"I''m not, I''m just hungry,"she paused for a second before I gestured ton.
"He''s helping me move in,"
"Hey,n lent out his hand to her.
"Hi, nice to meet you also,"she smiled politely at him.
Before long, Sophie and I started hitting it off.
We found out she was from New Jersey and she didn’t live that far away fromn’s hometown.
She was studying finance and she moved in early this morning with her mom, dad, and twin brother.
Yes, she had a twin brother and his name was Tristan.I told Sophie some things aboutn and me too.
We told her about how we met, or at least, the PG-13 version of that.
We told everyone the same story: we met at a bar in Emory when I was visiting a friend.
It wasn’t a total lie and it wouldn''t make anything awkward, so win-win.
"So, are you guys going to the freshman orientation party tonight?"Sophie asked.
"Uh..."I looked over atn and he just shrugged.
"I don''t know...should we?"
"You totally should! It''s a great ce to meet everyone and get to know people,"Sophie interjected.
"She’s right.You should go.I can wait at the hotel,n said.
"No, you shoulde with me,"I shook my head quickly.
"It''ll be easier for you to make friends without me hovering over your shoulder, trust me,"he smiled
sadly.
That was true, but I also only had a little time left withn, and I didn’t wanna waste that.
So I took his hand in mine and said, "I don''t care.Hover away,"
College parties were on a whole other levelpared to high school parties.
I thought I was hanging out with the wild crowd back in high school, with Maddie the cheer captain and
one of my best friends being Tiff.
But man, was I wrong.
The party was being held in some frat house, and it was like this huge mansion with a pool in the back.
Sophie was absolutely friendly and kind, it was easy getting along with her.
She was also something of a social butterfly, she knew about half the people there already and it was
only our first freshman night together.
"How do you know all these people?"
I said to her after she greeted a group of people in the kitchen.
We were there to get our drinks.
"I joined the freshman club a couple of weeks ago on Facebook and talked to a bunch of people,"she
replied.
He was with me the entire night and he had this stoic look on his face.
Sometimes I caught him ring at people who were looking my way, towards the guys especially.
He also put his hand on my back the entire night, and though I found it cute at first, it was getting
annoying as the night went on.
n, are you doing okay?"I said to him.
"Yeah, sure,"he said dismissively.
"We can get outta here if you want?"
"No, you should stay.Make friends,"That wouldn''t be possible.
I knew I told him to hoveraway, but I wasn’t expecting that he would take it so literally.
"I''m being too much, aren''t I?"he said when he noticed the irritated look on my face.
"Only a little,"
"I''m sorry, I can’t help it with all these guys gawking at you,"
"What guys?"
"Like this guy for example.And he’s seriouslying over,"
"Hey,"the guy smiled this boyish smile as he stood in front of us.
"There you are, I''ve been looking everywhere for you! “ Sophie said to him and she pulled him closer,
saying, “Emma, this is my brother Tristan.- this is Emma, the girl I was telling you about, she''s my
roommate,"
"Nice to finally meet you,"he smiled politely at me.
"Hi, I’m Emma, and this is my boyfriend,n,"Tristan lent a hand out so I took it.
After we shook hands, he lent out his hand ton butn just stared at him.It was ufortable to
watch.Tristan was only being nice andn was being all territorial.
I couldn''t see that and not do anything, so nudgedn by the elbow, forcing him to shake hands.
"So, how do you guys like the party so far?"
Tristan was all smiles, he was just as friendly as his twin sister.
"I don’t know, we just got here,"
Sophie shrugged.
"You should totally check out the backyard, they have a Jacuzzi and everything.It''s awesome,"
Tristan and Sophie went towards the back.
I pulledn to the side before we followed them out and said, "Hey.Please don''t be like that,"
"Like what?"
"Like you''re an angry, jealous boyfriend.That''s my roommate’s brother and he’s just trying to be nice,"
"I''m not an angry, jealous boyfriend.I’m an angry, jealous fiancée,"
I rolled my eyes and shoved him lightly, saying, "Whatever it is, you don’t have to do that.This is me
you''re talking about.You can trust me, okay?"
He held the side of my face with one hand.
The other hand traveled down my neck and he pulled my ne out from behind my blouse.
He let out a soft sigh as his fingers yed with the heart locket and the ring next to it.
"What?"I asked and searched his face.
"I’m the luckiest guy alive,"he replied, pausing for a moment before saying, "You''re the best thing that’s
ever happened to me.Thank you for finding me, thank you for fighting to be with me, thank you for
choosing me,"
My heart was melting at his words.My knees felt like jelly and I had to hold onto him for support.I
leaned my head into his chest and took in a deep breath.
There were all these people around us but everything faltered inparison to him.
He said he was the luckiest guy alive, but I felt like I was the luckiest girl alive.
Here I was at my birthday, standing in an orientation party for the Ivy League college I was epted to,
and I was standing there with my soul mate.
I remembered it like it was yesterday, the first time I sawn across the bar on my birthday two years
ago.
I didn''t know who he was then and I didn’t know that he was gonna be such a big part of my life, but I
knew I was drawn to him.
There was something unexinable between us, like the universe was conspiring to bring us
together.And I’m so d that it did.
Moving forward, I didn’t know what journey was gonna look like, but it didn’t matter.
Because if it was withn, I knew it was gonna be beautiful.
Pulling away slightly, I bit my lip and tugged onn’s arm, motioning for him to follow me.
I decided not to go the back and we walked out the front door instead.
"Where are we going? I thought we’re going to the back?"he asked.
"No, I have somewhere else in mind,"
"What is it?"
"I wanna relive my sixteenth birthday again,"
I was batting my eyes at him shamelessly.
"What?"he looked at me quizzically.
"Juste with me, will you?"I said and I lent out my hand.
The biggest smile appeared on his face as he said, "With you? Anywhere,"