Again, John and I are just 'roomies with benefits', or at least that's what we tell ourselves. He's busy with his career, I'm busy with grad school, and we're super compatible in so very many respects.
Plus, did I mention he's a helluva cook?
But I digress, it was late spring, heading into finals, and John had the temerity to go away for two weeks to his firm's home office for some kind of confab, leaving me horny but hugely distracted by... well... school. So I'm in a graduate survey course in Latin, which is boring as hell cuz I speak/read/write in Latin like a native (hell, I could probably do algebra in Roman numerals) and sitting near the front of the room, paying almost no mind to any of the other students. I'm not cruel, or distant (ok, maybe distant...?) but I'm trying to not develop any really close relationships among other first-year students cuz, well, the drop out rate is huge, and I could end up with a study partner who ends up driving off mid-year. Best to be independent till natural attrition shakes out the co-hort, ya know?
Anyway, boredom raises it's ugly head, and out of the corner of my eye I see a girl, maybe my age, maybe a year or two older, in the back corner of the room, looking for all the world like she's on the verge of a breakdown. I mean, red eyes, barely paying attention, doing a huge impression of someone who's going to crank her car and drive away. I try not to get distracted by the drama, but she's a slow motion train wreck.
Class ends, it's my last class of the day (and it's not even lunch yet) and I head to the bus stop. No, I don't ride the bus to class, but there's no parking so I park off-campus and for like fifty cents can get a shuttle right to my building. The bus is running late, and so I pull out a book and try to... mind my own business? Yeah... let's see how that works out.
Again, corner of the eye thing, I see the same girl coming to the bus stop, which is odd because I do this same stop every day and have never seen here, but yeah, here she is. She sits at the opposite end of the bench, and stares off in the distance. Now, my better judgement would have me ignore her, but yeah, I just couldn't.
"I'm Julie. What's your name?"
"Carolyn."
"I've never seen you at this bus stop."
"Yeah, first day riding the bus," and then she started sniffling like she was on the verge of something.
"Huh... well, the shuttle from this stop to the main is running late. Normally, it would be here by now, but I got a text we're gonna wait a few."
"Just my luck. That's how my entire life is going right now. Fucked." Then she started crying. Like for real. Crying.
Now, having to wait for a late bus may or may not be the straw to break this camel's back, but I couldn't just sit there and watch this semi-stranger cry her eyes out, so I said, "Are you gonna miss something? Work?"
"No," she sobbed, "I'm not going to miss anything. I'm just going... home... to pack."
"Pack?"
"My boyfriend kicked me out last night. It's over. Fucking school is busted for me. I was gonna flunk out anyway. Then he decides he doesn't need the burden of a live-in anymore. Just likes to whore-hop, I guess. Maybe my ass isn't tight enough for him anymore. You know what I mean?"
Actually, I didn't know what she meant. I'd been in a couple of relationships, but had always been the one to break them off. If John decided he didn't need a roomie anymore, I'd miss his cock, and yeah I'm sure there would be something emotional there, but no, I had no idea what this chick was going thru, so naturally I said, "Yeah. Tell me about it, sister. I'm right there with you. Men, right?" Fuck 'em."
'Fuck 'em' indeed described my principal use for men, and happily so I might have added, but I was dipping down deep inside to find my sympathy gene. "Where you going?"
"I dunno. I don't even have a car. The bastard just said to be out of his apartment by the time he got home this afternoon. I will be on the fucking street by sundown. I'm probably looking for a shelter or something."
You know that cartoon where... is it Bugs Bunny?... who has a devil on one shoulder telling him to do nothing and an angel on the other shoulder saying he should be a good Samaritan? Yeah... that was happening.
"Look.... Carolyn, right? Ahhh...." Man, I'm going to regret this, I'm thinking, "I've got a car and a free afternoon. How much stuff we talking about?"
"Maybe a few suitcases. School books. It could all fit in a large car."
Actually, I had driven John's jeep that morning, so I had plenty of room. "Here comes the shuttle. Let's go get my car and run a quick errand first, then we'll go get your stuff."
"I have no idea where I'm going after that."
"Stuff first, shelter later."
Ten minutes later, the shuttle was dropping us off at the main parking lot. Carolyn commented that this was a really nice jeep, and I said it was my roommate's. Told her just a bit about John and how he was out of town, but not too much.
We stopped at a grocery store on the way. She followed me in, and I went to the fish counter and said, "Whatcha got that you're about to throw out? I need some chum."
The fish monger looked at me like he was surprised I knew what chum was, and I explained that I was feeding my pet shark. Science project, ya know? Anyway, he bundled me up a pound of soon-to-be-rancid miscellaneous fish and we headed back to the car.