The suitcase sat open on the bed, nearly empty now as Laura put the last of her wardrobe away. It was a pair of pajamas-- the third pair she owned, and as these were her favorites she almost never wore them. They were emerald green, made of silk, with tiny white stars strewn throughout the fabric. She had received them as a gift from her brother three years ago, and had said that they were beautiful. They were still beautiful, of course, and she liked to keep them looking relatively new. She couldn't even remember the last time she had worn them. With a soft smile, she put them in the drawer and smoothed them down before closing the drawer, and then the suitcase.
She was done! All of her clothes were unpacked and put away, all the dishes neatly stacked in her new cupboards, all her DVDs organized, all the books carefully stacked end-on-end in their new shelves. Her new apartment wasn't quite a home yet, but at least all of her things were where they needed to be. The new apartment was relatively small: one bedroom, a living room, a bathroom, and a small kitchen that was an offshoot of the living room. But compared to the single room she had occupied back home, it was enormous. Even with all of her books there, all the framed pictures from graduation adorning her walls, her new apartment felt almost cold and alien.
Well, that wasn't surprising. She had only been there for a few hours, and she wasn't used to being away from her family. Now that she was at college, though, she'd have to get used to the idea. Home was a long way away-- almost three days' drive-- and most of her friends hadn't followed her to Hiller University when they graduated. Most of them.
Laura grinned and picked up the phone. Good thing her phone line had been connected that morning; she just hoped Janice was home.
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Janice was pretty impressed with Laura's new apartment. "This is a hell of a lot bigger than your old room," Janice said, pausing in mid-stride as she passed some of Laura's graduation pictures. "...Hey, I didn't know I was in this one!"
Laura came over to look. Then she giggled. "Yeah, that's the only reason I kept that one," she said. The photo in question was of Laura and her friends Todd and Stacy, smiling and waving for the camera. Actually, only Laura was smiling; Todd and Stacy were waving but they looked extremely confused in the picture. Laura didn't remember why they looked so strange, or even if she had ever known; she only kept the picture because Janice was visible in the background, soaking wet, chasing after some guy with a Coke cup in his hand. "The look on your face was priceless!"
"Well, I think you should burn it," said Janice, but then she chuckled. "That poor guy. I wonder if all the bruises have healed by now... Listen, Laura--"
Laura looked up from the kitchen counter, where she had been pouring some icea tea for Janice and herself.
Janice smiled. "You don't have anything planned for this afternoon, right?"
Laura laughed. "Trust me, anything's better than sitting around a lonely new apartment. What did you have in mind?" She handed Janice a glass of tea, sitting down on the couch in the center of the room. Janice sat next to her, and took a sip of tea before setting it down on the coffee table in front of the sofa.
"I've been talking with one of the instructors here for a couple months, online," Janice began. "I got to meet her a couple days ago and she's really cool. I've been telling her about you and she'd like to meet you. We're not scheduled to have any classes with her this term, since she teaches Human Biology 301, so..."
Laura blinked. "Well... OK," she said. "How come she wants to meet me?"
Janice blushed. Now Laura understood. She grinned, and chuckled. Janice was bisexual, and one of the reasons that she and Laura were such good friends was that Laura didn't have any problem with this. Although Laura wasn't bisexual herself, the thought of making love with another woman didn't bother her, and so being with Janice didn't make her feel uncomfortable.
A year ago, while they were on a weekend trip as part of the school marching band, Janice and Laura had shared a room. After curfew, Laura had lain awake in her bed, and Janice had climbed in with her. They had talked for awhile, and soon Janice confessed that she was attracted to Laura. This didn't bother her; in fact, she had been flattered, and told Janice as much. That was as far as their friendship had gone, though, since Janice was a good friend and never tried to make Laura feel anything for her other than friendship. Most other girls her age would probably have been pretty confused at their own feelings after something like that, but Laura generally loved people.
She loved her family, and she loved her friends; boys that she had dated throughout school, even in some of her most intimate relationships, were simply people she loved more than others at the time. She didn't distinguish between different types of love; it felt too good, too natural, for her when she cared about and trusted other people, for things like sex to get in the way. Sex was nice, but to her, it was an intimate and affectionate activity shared by two people who loved each other, not a line of demarcation between different areas of love. If Janice had attempted to make love to her that night, Laura would have welcomed it-- not because she desired Janice in particular but because she loved Janice, and to please Janice would have brought Laura joy. But her friend respected her, and never made a move on her. They'd had sleepover parties at each other's houses plenty of times since then, just as before, but Janice had never climbed into Laura's bed again and that didn't bother Laura either way. As long as Janice didn't want to make it an issue, Laura wasn't worried about it.
But Laura was well aware that her friend was still attracted to her. Most likely, the reason this professor wanted to meet her was because she, too, was bisexual, and that she and Janice were probably involved. It was still hard to get used to the idea that anyone would find her attractive, since Laura was always her own worst critic: her long, walnut brown hair was too flat, she was thin but not very curvy, and the conservative dresses of which she was fond were certainly not what she would describe as sexy.
"Well, I told her all about you," Janice repeated, somewhat shyly. "You know how I like to talk up my friends to other people, so... Anyway, she invited us to come over to her place; I thought we could go over and you could meet her, we could talk for awhile, maybe watch a movie or something... "
Laura smiled. "Sounds like fun," she said.
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Diane Dorman lived about a mile away from Laura's new apartment. It wasn't that far of a drive, but Laura was still thankful that Janice was driving. They had both been to Hiller before, but Janice had moved here a week ago and already knew most of the area, whereas Laura only knew where to find the nearest grocery store. Navigating the residential neighborhood where Ms. Dorman lived would have been unthinkable on her own, especially since all the houses were so crowded together, and looked so much alike.
