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"There you are!" Jenna said, coming down the hall.
I had parked myself right in front of Adam's door about an hour before. It was the last Saturday of April and a week before finals began. I had spent the previous week trying to figure out Adam's schedule so I could ambush him. I realized I would never catch him in the room. He could hide in there all day. My best bet was to catch him coming back to the room, so I got some spies in the dorm. I asked a bunch of people to let me know when he left. When he was gone, I grabbed my books and camp out in front of his door. I brought lunch and dinner, expecting to be here a while. I had left Jenna a note when I left, she was still asleep, but I had been vague because I didn't want her to accidentally tip him off.
“I’m not leaving until he talks to me.”
Jenna sat down next to me, on the ground, and leaned back on the wall.
“I guess desperate times call for desperate measures, but I wanted to show you something that happened.”
“About what?”
“Eric, he misjudged his situation.”
Jenna turned on her phone and opened YouTube. The first thing that loaded up was a shaky video, clearly shot secretly during a meeting. The sound was off, but she had the captions on, and it was clear that someone had taken the time to make sure the captions were accurate. There was a good reason. Eric and Heath were speaking to a club on campus. It was the office of the campus's Phi Alpha Pi sorority; I could see their decorations and bright pink colors all around the room.
“He went to them to campaign?” I asked Jenna.
“Right? What is he even thinking? Watch!”
I saw two faces I recognized, Holly and Kayleigh. The meeting wasn't going well, and he was clearly on the defensive. I saw my name in the captions and knew Eric wasn't going to walk away from this unscathed. The video ended with a black screen, and white letters faded in: Don't re-elect this sexual predator!
I sat there with my mouth agape.
“I know, right!?” Jenna said.
She had a massive grin on her face. It had nearly 100,000 views on YouTube already,
“When did this happen?” I asked.
"At the start of the week. Kayleigh said Eric came back the next day insisting he has been sexually confused and realized he's bi-sexual. One of the sisters asked him if men should be worried he might attack them too?"
I started laughing and couldn’t stop.
“This is totally the best thing that has ever happened,” Jenna said, laughing with me.
“Really?”
“Okay, maybe not ever, but it’s the perfect way to end this stupidity.”
Jenna sat there with me for a few minutes, giggling about the video.
“Why are the two of you sitting at my door?”
We both looked up to see Adam exiting an elevator.
“No reason for me, I’m off!” she said, scrambling to her feet and walking back to our room.
I quickly put my book back in my bag and got to my feet too.
"I'm done with this stupid fight. We're finishing it now."
I moved aside enough to let him open the door and followed him into the room, not even giving him a chance to try to keep me out. I let him sit down on the chair at his desk and dropped my own bags before sitting across from him, on his bed. He opened his mouth to speak, but I interrupted him before he could get a word out.
"You're an idiot, and you're going shut up until I'm done," I said, and he closed his mouth.
"One, I accept that you have the right to criticize me, but in exchange, I have the right to criticize you."
“Constructive criticism then,” Adam said.
"No, straight criticizing. There doesn't have to be anything constructive about it. I've realized when it comes from you, criticism is different. Second, we make decisions together and don't act like children when our needs aren't being met."
Adam looked at me like I was asking him to murder ants.
“I needed time to think,” he eventually said, putting up his hands and closing his eyes.
“Well, you taking four months to think has done more damage than you realize. Third, you will never again walk away from me when we’re having an argument. Communication is important if we’re going to be together.”
"Amelia, I'm in love with you, and I have been for years. Maybe, if I loved you less, I could talk about it more,” he said as he opened his eyes. I could see tears start to fill his eyes. I had underestimated the intensity of his feelings.
“You could have at least told me you love me,” I whispered.
“How do I tell my best friend that I love her when she’s oblivious to me? How do I get you to take me seriously?” He asked, leaning forward in the chair.
"You say 'I love you,'" I continued, mirroring his movement and keeping my voice low.
"And you say 'I know' and laugh it off."
“Then, you tell me again."
I watched as he opened his mouth to argue, but I was already on my feet and leaning over him. I straddled him and lowered myself into a gentle kiss, directly on his lips. It took a few seconds for him to register what I was doing, but I felt his hands rest on my hips and pull me closer to him. He soon got to his feet, with me wrapped around him, and lowered me to the bed.
“I love you,” he whispered when our lips finally parted.
***
I woke up in his arms early the next morning, squished together in his twin bed. We had spent the previous night in bed, both getting to know a new version of each other and catching up for four months of not being comfortable with each other.
“I wish there were places that delivered breakfast,” Adam said with a groan.
“We could eat the leftovers from last night. Cold pizza is something we’ve eaten often.”
I felt Adam tickle under my arm and giggled in response. When the tickle changed to something more intimate, the breakfast conversation was put on hold for a while longer. It was like we had always been together like this. Our bodies fit together perfectly, we knew where to touch each other, and found a rhythm quickly. Within twelve hours, we had switched from friends to lovers without a hiccup. That would all change once we left the room and had to interact with people, but right now, it was perfect.
“Let’s not make a big deal about this,” Adam suggested as we cuddled later that morning.
We were already debating lunch, having missed our chance at breakfast in the cafeteria.
“Just show up at lunch, holding hands, looking happy, and never say why?”
“Exactly.”
"I bet Jenna already knows, which means Bobby and Frank will know shortly. Gwen and Steve have probably intuited this shift in the Force or something like that."
“You’re cute when you’re pretending you don’t understand Star Wars.”
I felt his lips press against my neck, and I couldn't help giggling again before kissing him.
"I would bet the entire floor, if not the dorm, knows," I said between kisses.
“That means we don’t have to say anything. We can go have lunch like we’re normal people in a normal relationship.”
“We are!”
“That’s my point,” he said.
“I need to change clothes then. People saw me yesterday.”
I got dressed and tried to sneak back to my room. I opened the door to see Jenna and Bobby playing a new video game together.
“Hi!” Jenna said.
The two of them stared at me as if they were expecting some kind of explanation or embarrassment from me. I tried to express only nonchalance as I dropped my things on my bed.
“Adam and I are going to get lunch. I wanted to change clothes.”
“Want company?”
I looked at Bobby, who was restraining his laughter.
“Did you tell everyone I didn’t come back last night?”
“No! Okay, only Bobby, obviously! You weren’t here.”
“I slept over,” Bobby said. “She didn’t have to tell me. I’m sure Frank figured something was up since I didn’t come back to the room.”
Jenna didn't get to react before there was a knock at our door, and Adam came in. He got red when he saw the restrained grin on Bobby's face. I quickly showered and got dressed without running into anyone. The campus was surprisingly quiet as the four of us walked to get lunch, but the cafeteria was packed. Study groups were going on, and individuals had taken up whole tables to spread out their stuff to study alone. When we couldn't find a place to sit, we packed up our food and took it back to the dorm. As we ate in the Common Room, people would walk by and wave with smirks on their faces.
“The entire campus probably knows,” Adam said.
“Okay, yes,” Jenna said as another person walked by. “I think they’re happy for you. I mean, we’ve always wondered about the two of you.”
“Really?” I asked.
“I even asked you, like, back when I moved in!”
“I remember that.”
"I should totally learn to trust my own instincts over what you say. That's three things I've literally gotten right, and you haven't!" Jenna said, bouncing on her chair.
I looked at Adam, and he smiled with a shrug