"Okay," Sarah smiled.
"I'm glad you're figuring things out. Thanks for telling me," Carly's serious voice was rare.
"Yeah. See you in 4 weeks?"
"Yes, unless I die from one of these workouts!"
Sarah laughed again as she hung up the phone. The little profile picture of Carly was of her dressed as Thor from their Halloween party last year with the worst blonde wig they could find sitting crookedly over her real blonde hair. It made Sarah smile again as she swiped back to her playlists. Her roommate knew and still wanted her. Maybe the other people in her life would take it just as easily. Maybe this wouldn't be such a huge deal. After all, she wasn't seeing anyone, so it didn't really matter either way.
Chapter 2: Moving In
Four weeks later, Sarah and Carly were moving the heavy wooden furniture around their dorm room, trying to configure a set up that would allow them enough room for a couch and the massive TV Carly's brother had handed down to them. Bunk beds made the most sense, but Sarah absolutely refused to sleep on the top, so Carly conceded and took the top bunk. Their desks were set up on the opposite wall, framing the window on either side. Sarah dropped her book bag and some cords on her desk while Carly tossed all manner of boxes, bags, and shoes on hers. Sarah knew that was the most use Carly's desk would see all year. She wasn't much for using it except as a shelving unit. Most of Carly's studying happened while she sat on the floor and pouted about her latest procrastination fiasco.
"Sarah, let's hang up string lights on the ceiling again!"
Sarah groaned, "That always takes forever and half burn out by January anyway."
"I don't care, they make our room so cozy! Besides, I'm the one who climbs up there, you've just got to hand me the hooks and lights. Pleeeease!"
So they spent the next hour and a half stringing lights in a diagonal pattern across their ceiling instead of unpacking duffles or organizing their closet. Despite being the shorter of the two, Carly was the one to climb the chairs and stools to get the lights and hooks attached to the ceiling. Sarah, being afraid of heights, was relegated to untangling and handing off the hooks. But when they were done, she admitted it made the room look more comfortable.
By that evening, most of their team was on campus for the semester, so they all met up at the central dining hall to have dinner together. Rowdy was the best word to describe their group, but the women seemed to be taking that term to new levels as they caught up on news from the summer and shared excitement for the start of the new school year.
"I'm going to throw a welcome back party next weekend, ladies!" One of the seniors, Tara, stood up from the table to get their attention. "At our new house. It'll be the best college party ever and you bitches better come!" Tara threw her curly, brown ponytail over her dark shoulder, bare in her halter top despite the cooling temperatures outside. She kept her voice low and leaned in to describe the party details. Her long limbs and natural height meant she had to lean over a bit to keep her hands on the table. Sarah laughed with the rest as Tara described the copious amounts of alcohol she'd purchased and the yard games she was planning.
"Tara, you can't, we'll get caught and Coach will have a field day with our workouts."
Tara's dark eyes flashed. "Shut up, Becca, no one's going to snitch. Besides, those of us who can legally drink aren't doing anything wrong! Coach will get over it."
Sarah glanced at Carly and shrugged. They were only twenty, but had been to some college parties last year and had no trouble. As long as they were smart, they'd get back to campus fine, plus it was team bonding. They all agreed to keep quiet as Sarah joined Carly and a few other women from their dorm as they stood and stretched, the team dispersing for the night. On the walk back to their building, Sarah noticed the air just beginning to feel like fall.
Carly was the shortest of the group, but bounced along faster than most of them with their casual walks. Her blonde bob was pulled into a tiny ponytail with strands loosely falling around her face and tucked behind her ears. Despite her size, Carly was their fastest runner and one of the better hitters. A fact she was quite proud of. She bounced with her chaotic energy down the sidewalk.
"Sarah, we still have to plug in all those TV cables if we're going to watch a movie tonight!"
"Ugh, right." Sarah hated technology. Well, she hated setting it up, changing it, or troubleshooting it.
The other girls walking with them laughed, "Let us know if you need help, Sarah. You know, since Carly is going to be useless with that."
"Hey! I'm an excellent manager. Plus I already hung our lights today, so I've done my job." Carly stuck her tongue out at them.
As they made it back to their hallway, Sarah heard a chiming ring signaling that Carly's phone was going off in her pocket. She whipped it out.
"It's David."
"Go ahead, I'll set the TV up," Sarah rolled her eyes as Carly gave her a winning smile then danced off down the hall to answer her phone.
Sarah unlocked their room and started sorting through various cords draped over desks and dressers. Carly would probably talk to David for an hour. She couldn't blame her roommate though, the two were inseparable since last year. They began dating around last Thanksgiving, David was in the engineering program and was one of the dorkiest and best people Sarah knew. Carly and David didn't seem to have much in common at first, but the more Sarah saw them together the more she saw just how much fun they had. David had the best board games and always tried to include Sarah, even to the point of bringing his own roommate to set up a double date game night a few times for them. Sarah smiled, she wondered if Carly told David about her summer revelation and if David would feel awkward about those set-up attempts now.
Suddenly, Sarah wondered if David would feel awkward about Carly being her roommate. She hadn't thought about that in all her other coming-out scenarios this summer. What if David didn't want Sarah hanging around anymore? Great, one more thing to worry about now. As if her social anxiety needed more fuel, she began running through scenarios where Carly came back in the room and told her that David was uncomfortable with her living with a gay roommate. Her worries distracted Sarah from the TV cables enough that she didn't make any headway with it.
But when Carly finally came back, she gave no indication that David was anything but excited to start up game nights again. They spent the rest of the night fighting TV settings and cables while munching on slightly burned microwave popcorn. Sarah really needed to chill, if her being gay was this much of a non-issue with her best friend, did it really matter what anyone else thought?
Chapter 3: The Party
Tara's party was epic. At least, that's what they told her when they arrived and saw the coolers, yard games, and swarm of bodies filling her backyard. David had picked up Sarah and Carly at their dorm and drove them out to the off-campus neighborhood where Tara and her roommates lived. As their designated driver, they knew they could trust him to be smart and still have fun at the party. Also, as Carly had stated, he wouldn't even be going to a party without them, so he should really just be happy they invited him at all. David gave her a smirk and a light ass pinch for that comment.
Sarah drank in the afternoon humidity as they grabbed their first beers from the cooler and found a couple open lawn chairs. Summer had decided to make another stand and it was a warm night, making the cool beer much appreciated. She was glad she'd chosen shorts and a couple layered tank tops for the outdoor event. Like most of her clothes, the shorts were a bit longer than most women her age wore, comfortable, and hid most of her massive, muscled thighs. Her razor back tank tops were eye wateringly bright colors, hot pink and that tennis ball yellow-green color over a blue sports bra that didn't really match, except for the fact that they were all equally extreme shades of color. She'd pulled her dirty blonde hair into a high ponytail that fell down to her back with the sides against her head braided tight. Sarah wore her hair long, but always kept it up and out of her face.
Carly sank onto David's lap, her short skirt flipping up a bit. "So, are you going to chat up some ladies tonight, Sarah?"
