Chapter 5: Settling In
Wednesday after class I stopped by the health center to pick up my test results. I called Rob on my way home and luckily he was able to talk.
"I'm clean Robbie." I proudly declared.
"Do what now?" Rob laughed at my admission, not sure what I meant.
"My professor suggested we get tested for STDs. Well I did and I'm clean." I explained.
"Congratulations babe, I guess that means I'm clean too." I could hear his grin through the phone.
"Yup." I proclaimed as I headed back to the dorm.
"Glad to hear it Bobby. I'm heading to class, but I'll talk to you tonight. I love you. Bye Babe." Rob ended the call as I sat at my desk and worked on some assignments.
My eyes were drawn to the door when I heard someone walk into the suite. I turned in my chair as Billy entered the room. His face was stoic and I couldn't decipher the emotions hidden there.
"Well..." I prodded with raised eyebrows as I awaited the news.
"Well I'm not going to be kicking field goals." He shrugged but there was a hint of a spark in his eyes.
"Damn, I'm sorry Billy." I answered as a smile started to creep across his face.
"But I am going to be kicking off, Bobby." He tossed his bag on the ground and I stood up and gave him a five.
"Hot damn! Congrats Billy, that's awesome." I praised his accomplishment on making the football team, as a walk-on freshman none-the-less.
"Yeah, the senior they got for field goals barely beat me out, I hit the left upright on the final kick and he split 'em." Billy excitedly told his tale of kicker tryouts.
"Still, freaking awesome." I said as I sat back down in my chair.
"Thanks for helping me practice Bobby."
"No problem man." I answered. "We should celebrate; go out to eat off campus or something." I suggested. I stood up and went to see if any of our suitemates were around, two were and agreed to go grab some food and celebrate Billy being the new kickoff specialist on the football team.
**
There had been so much going on in my mind this first week of school that I had forgotten about the awkwardness I felt around Rob's lookalike, the water polo player. That was until I walked into class Thursday and he flashed a smile at me as I walked in. It looked like everyone wanted to maintain their seats from Tuesday, so I was forced to reclaim a seat beside him.
"Today we're going to take the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Assessment." The professor started passing around papers as she spoke. Once we've finished the assessment I'll give you information on your results and it will help you understand more about yourself. I took my paper and wrote my name at the top, I saw green eyes shift over to my paper before they darted back to their own. The test asked a series of tedious questions on your preferences and how you acted in social situations. Eventually I finished the assessment and the professor collected them.
"Have a good weekend. We'll discuss the results next class." She said as I reached for my backpack. It didn't budge when I tried to lift it and I noticed that one of the straps was under lookalike's foot. I don't think it was by accident either.
"Excuse me." I said as I tugged on my backpack.
"Oh sorry." The guys said smiling at me before he lifted his foot. "Robert right?" He asked, he must have read my name off of the Assessment.
"Bobby." I quipped as I put my backpack on and headed towards the door. He quickly gathered up his stuff and followed me out of the building.
"Hold up Bobby." He called and I slowed down, but didn't stop for him.
"I saw you swimming the other day right?" He questioned and I nodded my head but continued walking.
"You're good." He started. "I was just wondering if you wanted to try out for water polo? We need a guy with your speed."
"Oh." I said as I stopped and looked at him. He just wanted to talk about water polo. I let myself relax as I faced him. "I've never played water polo before, it looks kinda rough."
"Oh it's not too bad." He flashed me a smile before he looked at his watch. "I gotta go Bobby, think about it." He started to walk off but stopped. "I'm Matt by-the-way." With that he turned his head and headed away from me, back towards the quad.
**
Tuesday in Career and Life Planning class, the professor talked about the eight personality types that were present in our results. She told us to break into groups of two to present our personal results for class on Thursday. The class immediately started forming groups and before I had a chance to process what was happening I heard Matt speaking.
"Wanna team up Bobby?" I glanced around the room and surveyed my options, not seeing any other option I accepted my fate.
"Yeah sure Matt." I answered as I started packing up my bag to head to the next class. Matt followed me out of the room making plans to get together to work on the presentation.
"I have water polo practice tomorrow night, would it be okay if we got together tonight?"
"Yeah I guess that's okay, I just have one more class today." I answered as he shadowed me towards my next class.
"Cool, I'm in Logan Hall, on the quad, we can work there." Matt casually recommended.
"Oh, I was thinking we'd just go to the library or something." I responded.
"We can't practice our presentation in the library; my roommate has a three hour class tonight so we can work undisturbed." Matt continued pushing working in his dorm.
