I punched in the combination for the side entrance. I contemplated taking the elevator up to my third floor room but thought it might be a bit too risky not knowing who might be on the other side of the elevator doors when they opened. So, instead, I walked up the side staircase. I got up the three flights without being seen, but as I opened the fire door to enter the hallway, I noticed that one of my floormates, Ben, was sitting in the dark in the lounge making out with his girlfriend. Perhaps he was too preoccupied and didn't see me. But, I didn't realize that my opening the staircase door had momentarily flooded the lounge with light, thereby drawing their attention to the fact that someone was coming from the stairway.
Tony, who had a room directly across the hall from mine, was sitting on the floor just outside his dorm, chatting on the phone. There was no way I could get to my room without him seeing me, although he seemed to be pretty engrossed in his conversation. He didn't even look up. The only acknowledgment I got from him was, "Nice boots!" I wonder if he had even noticed that I was completely bare from the boots upward.
I then entered the combination to my dorm room. I pushed the door open, expecting it to be dark inside, as Daesun always spent his weekends in the library. To my surprise, and probably even more to Daesun's surprise, I walked into a fully lit room, with about 10 grad students who had all turned to see who was coming in the room.
"What are you doing? Are you okay?" Daesun screamed at me.
He ran towards me and tried to use his body to shield his guests from a view of me. He pushed me into the bathroom that we shared with our quadmates. Vince and David were both back home in Jersey, and thus their door to the bathroom had been left open. Daesun pushed me through the bathroom into Vince and David's room. "What is the matter with you?" he exclaimed again.
"I went tobogganing," I explained calmly.
"Where are your clothes?" he asked.
"I left them at the top of the hill," I responded.
"Why did you come back naked?" "I'm hosting some friends from the Korean grad student association," he stated, without giving me an opportunity to answer his first question. "Stay here until my friends leave." "Please," he continued.
And so I sat there on Vince's bed, contemplating the events that had transpired early in the night. Admittedly, I was still on a bit of an adrenaline high. The thrill of having gone streaking, the risk in having almost been caught by campus security - my heart was still racing.
I don't know how long I had been sitting there. I was startled as Daesun knocked on the door. "You have two friends here to visit you." "Should I let them in?"
"Yes," I said. I didn't even stop to think to ask who it was.
Next thing I know, Libby and Chandra are walking through the door of the bathroom into Vince/David's quad. "Are you okay?" Libby asks me.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied.
"We heard you scream," Chandra says.
"Oh. I landed on some ice. It was just cold. I'm okay," I responded.
"That was hilarious," Libby said.
"How did you get away from the doughnut cop?" asked Chandra.
"I just ran past him," I replied.
"Why are you still naked?" asked Libby.
Honestly, I think I had forgotten that I was still naked. I realized I was sitting on Vince's bed, my arms behind me as I reclined on them for support. My legs were a bit spread, with my feet dangling just above the floor. I was full frontal exposed to Libby and Chandra. But they didn't seem to mind at all.
"I had to abandon them," I told Libby and Chandra as I relayed to them the details of my evading the campus security officer.
"You actually returned the toboggan?" "You are crazy!" Chandra said.
We continued chatting for a while. Neither Libby nor Chandra ever suggested that I cover up. And, considering that they had already seen me completely naked for a good 30 minutes, I didn't see any point to suddenly insist that I should put some clothes on.
"Well, we just wanted to make sure that you were okay," Libby said. It had gotten late. It was probably now at least 3:00am. Chandra and Libby said their goodbyes. I walked back through the bathroom into my dorm room. The lights were all out. Daesun was asleep.
As the next few days went by, word of the 'naked tobogganer' began to spread across the campus. Apparently there were more people that had seen me than I had realized. However, initially most people who told the story did not know the identity of the guy who had streaked the campus naked in the snow.
A few nights later, I met Chandra and Libby for dinner in the cafeteria. Rob and his roommate, Michael, joined us. About halfway through the dinner conversation, Michael said, "Hey did you guys hear about that freshman who went sledding down the commons completely naked last weekend?"
"He wasn't a freshman," I said.
Chandra and Rob giggled a bit. "How do you know that?" asked Michael.
"Because it was me," I responded.
"No way!" shouted Michael.
"Yes, way" I said.
"I wouldn't have believed it either...if I wasn't there," Rob said.
"Wait...you were there?" Michael asked, looking over at Rob.
"Yes. I was there. I saw it. I saw everything." Rob said, as he looked me up and down. Despite the fact that the lower half of my body was under the table, it seemed as if Rob was mentally undressing me.
And so the dinner conversation became a rehashing of the tale from my perspective, and then from Rob's perspective, as well as Chandra's and Libby's perspective.
"...and he was still naked when we went to his dorm room to check on him," Libby concluded.
"Wait. What? You went to his dorm room after," asked Rob. "And he was still naked?"
"Yes," said Chandra.
"Yes, I was," I said nearly in unison.
"Why didn't you put any clothes on?" Rob asked.
"Well, I guess I didn't think to. Plus, you all had already seen me naked, what would be the point?" I replied.
"Well, I haven't seen you naked," said Michael, as his voice cracked a bit.
A few days later, I was walking back to the dorm from my biophysical chemistry class, and Libby saw me as she was getting out from one of her classes. We walked up the hill together. "Boy, Rob's roommate is really beside himself that he missed out on 'your show' last weekend!" she exclaimed.
"Really?" I asked.
"Yeah, Rob tells me that it's practically all Michael talks about," Libby said.
"Hmm," I replied.
"What?" she asked.
"I don't know," I said, "I guess it's kinda flattering."
"You don't know how jealous he is that I saw you naked and he didn't," Libby responded.
"Gosh," I replied.
There was a bit of silence as I found myself lost in my own thoughts as we continued up the hill. "You and Michael are in the same Communications class on Thursday nights, right?" I asked Libby.
"Yes, Dr. Hewitt's communications class. Tuesdays and Thursday nights. Why?" Libby asked me.
"No reason. No reason. Just make a point to walk home from class with him tomorrow night," I said.
"What? Why?" Libby asked.
"Just do it. A be sure to look up towards my room when you get up the hill," I said.
"Why?" Libby looked at me with a puzzled look.
"Just do it," I repeated.
I knew that Libby's class went from 7:30pm to 8:45pm. That meant by around 8:55pm she would be walking back up the hill towards her apartment. Her route would take her, and Michael, right past Gavigan Hall, in which my dorm room was located.
Daesun spent his weeknights, much like his weekends, in the library, and thus I knew he would not be home. Around 8:30pm, I walked outside the dorm and out to the sidewalk. I looked up towards my room. All the lights were on. I could see my desk and the upper part of my chair through the window. "This should work," I told myself.
I went back inside and took the elevator up to my third floor room. I looked out the window and could see students starting to stream out of classrooms down the hill. However, when I backed away from the window, all I could see was a reflection of myself, because of the light in the room. "This is going to be a bit more tricky than I thought," I muttered to myself.
I almost lost the nerve, but I decided to implement my 'plan'. With the lights all on, I stripped off my clothes. I then grabbed a towel, and I climbed up onto the chair next to my desk. From having scoped out the view from outside, I was afraid that from outside, if I was standing on the floor, Libby and Michael would only see able to see that I was shirtless. But, I knew that since I could see the top drawer in my desk, that if I stood on the chair, they would be able to see me from approximately the knees up. However, I really didn't want them to think that I was doing it deliberately. It had to seem accidental. I looked out towards the window, but all I saw was my reflection. I knew that I couldn't be caught standing looking out the window; it would seem too blatant. I took the towel and threw it over my head. I pretended that I had just come from the shower. I was drying my hair. I 'dried' my hair for what seemed like forever. I was facing the window, naked, but the towel was covering my head and hair.
"Oh my god, do you see that?" said Libby.
"What?" asked Michael.
"Up there," she said, as she pointed to the third floor of Gavigan.
"Oh shit. That dude is naked!" said Michael.
"That dude...is James," responded Libby.
"For real?" asked Michael.
"Yeah, that's definitely his room. Second one from the elevator shaft," she responded.
"Do you think he knows people can see him?" asked Michael.
"I don't think he cares," replied Libby.
By the time I had finished 'drying' my hair, I turned out the lights so I could discretely peek out the window. There weren't any students on the commons or on the hill. I wondered if Libby had executed her half of my plan. I wouldn't find out until the next day.
On Friday I ate lunch with Chandra, Libby, and Rob. At some point during the conversation, Libby turned to Rob and said, "So, you and Michael are even now. Michael has seen James naked too."
"Wait? What?" said Rob.
"Well, we were walking home from Comms class, I look up, and what do I see?" Libby says, and then turns to me and says, "You completely naked. Looked like you must have just gotten out of the shower."
"What? What time was this?" I said, pretending to play dumb.
"I don't know; a little before 9:00pm," Libby responded.
"So, you saw him in a towel?" asked Rob.
"No, I saw...we saw...e v e r y t h i n g," she said, deliberately drawing out the last word.
"Wow, I didn't realize people could see into my room," I said, playing dumb again.
