Fallen Girls and Holidays Ch. 02

Authors' note: This is my first attempt at a story. So feedback is certainly appreciated. It gets off to a rather slow start but hopefully will pick up a bit in later chapters. I have the first few chapters mostly done but I can't make any promises as to how quickly I'll be posting new ones after that. I can however promise that I'll finish it at some point if you're patient. Hope you enjoy the experience of reading as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Hats off to little_blonde_jug for her thoughtful editing.

Chapter 2: Bree Again

The rest of the week went by fairly quickly. I kept an eye out for Bree but didn't see her. I heard through the grapevine that Steve ended up with a rather unpleasant hygienically challenged roommate and I even got a vaguely apologetic text from Jen, something about 'it just happened'. I got a bit of ribbing from my friends about getting dumped for the likes of Steve, but it was all in good fun and frankly I was so intrigued by the mystery that was Bree that I didn't really mind.

Not that I think I would have minded all that much anyway. The fact of the matter was that I'd made a science of the 3-4 month relationship over the last few years. Hell let's be honest and just expand that to cover my entire dating history. There were girls I'd liked, a number I hadn't, and a very few I might have been able to love. But nothing that lasted and certainly nothing that would hurt too much on the back end. My goal was to have company in the morning, a few good times in between, and no complications along the way.

Thursday night found me in the cafeteria for a late dinner. I caught a glimpse of Bree sitting back in the corner. She was dressed in jeans and a baggy shirt with her hair back in a pony tail, sitting by herself and picking at a salad. She looked up as I walked over and it seemed like her face couldn't decide between a smile and a frown- She finally landed on something that had a bit of both in it.

"Ty, sorry about the horror movie impression the other morning. Needless to say I'm not a morning person."

I wondered if she'd thought about that line ahead of time, because I'd certainly given my response some thought over the last few days.

"No worries, I'm well aware of how I look in the morning. Most girls run away rather than walk, so you did all right in my book."

That got a smile so I decided to press my luck and asked if I could sit down. She just nodded.

"So how have you been this week?" I asked.

"Well enough," she said "Just trying to get in the swing of things. It's been two months and you'd think I would have it all figured out by now but I guess not."

"I wouldn't sweat that if I were you, I'm on year 3 and I still don't have everything figured out." I said with a grin.

This got a small smile. We talked for a bit longer as she finished her food. I eventually asked her what she was doing this weekend. Studying seemed to be on her agenda, I didn't get the impression that she got out that much.

She asked me what I was doing for the weekend and I think she expected to hear something about a party or some such. She seemed a bit surprised when I told her I'd be spending most of it working. She was even more surprised when I mentioned I had two jobs. I then had to explain that my mom wasn't able to help with school and that I worked a couple of days a week at as small auto repair shop and also picked up hours at a local liquor store as often as I could to make ends meet. This inevitably led me to explain that I'd tried an apartment last year with some friends but had to move back into the dorm to keep expenses down. Ah, the life of a poor college student.

We chatted for a while longer. She'd long since finished eating but she was obviously staying to keep me company as I finished my food. I guess we'd made some progress from screaming and running away.

We ended up chatting for an hour and I never did finish my dinner.

She eventually looked up at the clock with a start.

"What is it with me losing track of time with you? I've gotta run, I'm supposed to be at the library right now!"

"Well I'm done here and need to head to the gym soon, how about I walk you there?"

She frowned for just a second and I was afraid she was going to say no.

"I suppose that wont hurt anything. I'll need to go grab my bag though." she said, still with that frown.

"How about I meet you at your room in 10 minutes and we can go from there?"

She nodded, gave me her room number and we went our separate ways.

Ten minutes later I'd grabbed my gym bag and was knocking on her door. I was greeted by a Bree I'd never seen before- Expressionless and brusque.

She was still dressed in jeans and a baggy sweat shirt though she'd done something with her hair. I had yet to see her wear any makeup short of some lip gloss and tonight was no different.

I was taken back to her face the first night I met her. Clearly something was wrong.

The reason was immediately obvious as she opened the door a bit further. Her roommate was sprawled out on her bed, with her head in the lap of some guy. Both were obviously worked up and the fact that Bree and I were right there didn't seem to do much to deter them from getting more worked up. Oh they were 'polite' enough to stop any overt petting with us right there. But it was obvious that some cloths were coming off as soon as we left.

The guy was standard frat issue, while Bree's roommate looked like she stepped out of central casting. Blonde hair, blue eyes, you know the drill. They looked like Ken and Barbie.

The roommate was obviously surprised to see me at the door. She turned her head to Bree and absently brushed the frat guys hand away from her breast while quipping "Is that a boy Bree? Summer is going to be soooo disappointed!"

Bree didn't say a word as she walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.

We stood there for a second as she visibly tried to pull herself together. I just smiled and said "You should have told me you were living with Steve's equally clueless twin sister. I could have invited Jen along to keep her company."

She giggled, which was new and thoroughly pleasant, took a deep breath, and said "Thanks!" before walking on down the hall.

"So is your roommate always such a bitch?"

She smiled a bit sadly this time. "I'm afraid so, seems to be a lot of crappy roommates floating around this place. Sarah's usually just annoying but I cant stand it when she brings boys back to the room. I'm not comfortable with it and she just doesn't seem to care. She was nice enough until I started to push her on the boy thing, now she's a bitch about almost everything and I swear she brings them by just to make me uncomfortable. I stay in my friend Summer's room whenever I can, but that leads to a whole different set of problems."

"Problems?"

"Problems as in Summer plays for the other team and... and... well I don't spend much time with boys..."

This last was said with a slightly sad look in my direction.

I'd love to say I said something clever and played the whole thing off, but I'm afraid that's not what happened. What happened is that it felt like someone had sucker punched me, both figuratively and literally, though the later may have been because I was so surprised I tripped over my own feet and fell flat on my face!

She stood there for a second in shock before we both burst out laughing. Her eyes lit up and her face just transformed. We sat there and laughed much longer than the situation really deserved, but it felt good and I wasn't about to cut the moment short. She eventually reached down and helped me up. I brushed myself off and just stood there grinning at her for a second or two.

I mean really, what do you say?

I finally settled on, "Well, that wasn't one of my better moments, no offense but I never really got that other team vibe from you..."

She bit her lip and just looked at me. Damn, is there anything this girl does that isn't fucking gorgeous?

She eventually said in a very small voice "I didn't say that I actually played for the other team, but folks talk and frankly its easier if they think I do. I'm not really comfortable around boys anymore. Things are just easier with Summer and her friends, plus they're good people."

I was a bit surprised at how relieved I felt.

"Well stop with the scaring me like that girl!" I said as we got into the elevator.

We chatted all the way to the library and she almost seemed disappointed when I left her at the door.

I was a halfway to the gym before I realized that was the first time she'd actually touched me.