"Bye Mom, see ya Dad!" Calvin said as he watched his parents getting into their sedan, soon after helping their son move into his college dorm. He was excited; he was finally going to have the freedom he has craved for so many years, since he was 6 to be exact.
"Bye honey, call us when u need something, or if you get homesick, or if you need help with homework, or if you just want to talk." Calvin's mom began saying after she'd gotten into the car and rolled down her window.
"He gets it dear, don't ya son?" his father said.
"You bet Dad." Calvin responded.
"Good" and with that the two of them drove back to their humble home in suburbia. Calvin ran back into his dorm to unpack his suitcase. When he got back to the room his roommate had already gotten himself moved in.
"Uh, hey man; I'm Chad." The young man said. He wore grey skinny jeans, black converse sneakers and a screen print t-shirt underneath a zip-up hooded sweatshirt; typical skater attire.
"I'm Calvin," Calvin said extending his hand to be shook, chad shook it. ", so what'cha majoring in Chad?" Calvin asked, trying to get to know as much as he could about his roommate, so as to decide whether he wanted to switch rooms or not.
"Philosophy." Chad said with a grin, the kind of grin that says "I'm only at college for the booze and the girls."
"Me too." This was the end of their conversation, Calvin had moved on to opening his suitcase and unpacking. When he opened the biggest zippered section there was a note on top of the clothes; it was from Calvin's mom.
Calvin, I know you're an adult now but I just wouldn't feel right about letting you go to college, the biggest adventure of your life, without an old friend by your side – Mom xoxo
Calvin knew immediately to whom she was referring, he turned around to see if Chad was still in the room, he wasn't, and Calvin turned back to the suitcase. He lifted the first shirt in the pile and that's when he saw it. A stuffed tiger, missing a stitch here and there, orange color was faded in places and it even had part of an ear missing, that didn't matter, it was still Hobbes; Calvin's greatest friend of all time. When Calvin was 12 years old his mother had put Hobbes, and several of Calvin's other childhood possessions, in storage bins that were placed in the attic of their house. Calvin began thinking about all the good times they had; killing evil snowmen, going to mars, spending hours talking and exploring the forest beyond his neighborhood. He was about to start tearing up when Chad burst back into the room.
"Dude! There's a hot brunette in the room down the hall who needs help getting moved in, her parents had to leave before she could get fully settled, come on!" He said. Calvin was taken aback; he had only just met this guy and was already getting roped into things. He followed Chad to the room where the "hot brunette" was staying. "She needs us to carry her stuff up from downstairs."
"Ok," Calvin said as he walked down the long hall of their dorm building. They stopped in front of a room that was about 12 or so rooms from them, after Chad knocked on the door the "hot brunette" answered.
"Calvin?" She asked.
"Yes? Wait, how do you know who I am?" Calvin responded.
"You don't remember do you, it's me! Susie Derkins." Calvin's jaw almost dropped straight through the floor, not only because he hadn't seen Susie Derkins since she had moved away back when they were only 10 years old, but also because Chad hadn't exaggerated, Susie was smoking hot.
"Oh my god!" Calvin exclaimed, the last thing he remembers saying to Susie was "see ya in the fall", she moved away during the summer after the fourth grade. She was all grown up now, her maple brown hair was still cut short, she was thin, looked pretty athletic and the most beautiful eyes Calvin had ever seen. "So, you need your stuff brought up?"
"Yeah, it's right downstairs, follow me" She gestured for the two of them to follow her to the staircase. Chad leaned over and whispered in Calvin's ear
"What'd I tell ya man? Is she hot or is she hot?"
"Yeah, you were right." Calvin responded, Chad then ran up and was walking right next to Susie. This, for some reason, made Calvin upset; he had no idea why though.