Lost Love : Introductions Part 1

Ben came down to the kitchen and tossed his backpack on the table. He grabbed a glass and poured himself some orange juice which he gulped down. He grabbed a snack bar, and quickly exited the house. He was in a rush as he had an 8 am class at the university inside the city. This would be his first class at the University of Washington Seattle.

He threw his backpack into the back seat of his gray primered '71 Camaro. He got in and inserted the key which he promptly turned as he pumped the accelerator. The engine attempted to turn over, but finally refused. "Damn!" He tried five more times. "CRAP," he screamed, "Why today?" He had learned to love this car ever since Dino, and he had bought it two years ago. They had loving brought it back to life, while substantially beefing up its performance with a few thousand dollars, and their endless labor. Ben's brother - Sam - had gotten it cheap for them, and it was meant as a peace offering after the disastrous sex situation with Ms. Young. Sam had helped them restore it over numerous months, and over that time Ben was able to forgive his brother. They both understood what Ms. Young's intentions were, and blaming each other did nothing.

He popped the gray primered hood, went into the garage and returned with a small gas can. Once under the hood he took the air-filter lid off, and sloshed some gas on the carburetor. "That should do it," he quickly put everything back, and slammed the hood shut. He jumped in the driver's seat, threw the stick into neutral, and turned the key. The engine barely turned over, but he pumped the accelerator, and the throaty growl of the engine roared. "Sorry mom, and dad, early wake up call today." He quickly pounced on the clutch and threw the shifter into first. Once out of the driveway he screeched the tires, and took off down the road. He looked at his watch, "Sht; why today?

Traffic wasn't too bad, and it was open enough for him to think while he listened to a CD. He thought about how rough the last few years had been. Dino's parents had divorced a year ago, and Dino ended up living with his mother, and his brother. The house simply had more room, and he eventually forgave his mother for the affair. "Mrs. Whitman what were you thinking," he said to himself as he shifted through the gears. Unfortunately the affair between his mother and his hockey coach had damaged Dino. He totally gave up on hockey, and on school. He graduated high school, but barely. Dino wouldn't be attending the university this fall if it wasn't for Ben convincing him to attend North Seattle community college two years ago. His parent's couldn't afford to send Dino to a four year university as a freshman anyway – especially after he gave up hockey. Dino's major at the university was in marketing simply because it sounded good to him.

Ben graduated from high school, but that was a close one as well. Ms. Young had really screwed him up. After her revenge trip involving Sam, that was pretty much it for their relationship. It wasn't long after that Sue found out about their illicit affair, and her father convinced Ms. Young to quietly disappear. Even though Ms. Young did say good bye to him, and let him know she was going to Denver, surprisingly he could not get Monica out of his mind. Every time he saw a yellow VW bug go by he had to see who was driving. He even tried her cell phone a few times, but the service had been canceled. He had lost his motivation for school ever since then, and did the bare minimum required. Ben and Dino's priorities were girls, and partying. He did get involved with Sue, despite her father's objections, in a on again, off again melodrama. It burned hot at first, but fizzled out by the end of his junior year. Last he heard Sue attended Princeton as a freshman two years ago as planned. As time progressed, he thought less, and less about Sue and Ms. Young. His relationship with his parents had soured as his academic performance had tanked. It wasn't till his mother gave up her music, and was diagnosed with depression that he made some positive changes. Ben planned a career in multimedia development similar to his brother.

Jonathan had excelled in high school, and could have attended many fine universities. Unlike Ben, and Dino's parents, Jonathan's parents had the money to send him just about anywhere. He decided to attend North Seattle not only for his buds, but Debra's mother had little money to send her to college. Jonathan and Debra had grown closer over the past four years. Jon's very liberal parents had allowed her to spend many a night in his bedroom. Jonathan had continued with his photography, and planned a career as a photo journalist. Debra's major was in journalism as well.

Ben pulled into one of the campus parking lots, and quickly found a slot. He grabbed his bag, and armed the car's alarm as he walked away. He pulled out a map of the campus he had downloaded from the college's website. "Gerberding Hall, ok where is that? Ok, south side of the campus." He asked a female student for directions, and realized Gerberding Hall was across campus. Ben pulled out his phone as he continued walking at a quick pace. "C'mon Dino answer your damn phone."

Dino was still in bed under the covers as his cell vibrated all over his night table. He groaned as he stretched out his arm, and searched for the phone by touch. Once he found it he pulled it under the covers, "What?"

"You're alive," Ben asked in a cheery voice.

"I'm asleep."

"Don't you have class?"

"No. I told you, Tuesday's, Thursday's, nothing before noon," he replied in an annoyed tone.

"Oh right; the loser's schedule," Ben laughed.

"I'm hanging up now," Dino threatened.

"What time did you get home last night?"

"I don't know; what do you want dude," he asked getting tired of this conversation.

"The apartment, is it a go?"

Dino rolled out from under the covers in just his boxers. "Oh shit," he placed his hand on his head as he felt the severe pain of his hangover.

"What?" Ben continued walking while looking at the beautiful female student body on campus this warm and glorious day.

"Oh my God that hurts," he calmly wined. "I hooked up with some beautiful babe last night after work. Jesus she could drink."

"Oh yeah? Beer?"

"No. Shots of some kind; I can't remember. What was her name now?"

"I don't know how you do it dude."

Dino suddenly felt severally sick to his stomach. "I'll call later," he quickly hung up and ran to the bathroom to vomit.

Ben wasn't going to get into it now as he was finally coming up on Gerberding Hall, a large gothic looking building. He walked into the large lecture hall with numerous students searching for a seat, chatting to friends or on their cell phones. It was organized chaos he thought to himself. He looked down at the lecture podium way down at the bottom of the hall. The hall actually looked somewhat run down, and dirty, or dusty at least. While other parts looked recently upgraded like the large speakers on each side of the structure, or the huge projection screens at the front. Ben noticed a couple empty spaces three rows down the center aisle. He quickly took the seat next to the aisle, and began scanning the hall for girls.

"Oh this is too good to be true," he whispered as he admired the numerous young ladies.

"Excuse me?" Ben turned to the aisle and saw a most beautiful girl. Blond hair with a pink ball cap on, blue eyed, wearing a white short sleeve blouse, and damn did she look fine in those jeans he thought. He was so stunned by her, he forgot to say something. "Excuse me is that seat next to you taken?

Ben soon came out of his village idiot trance, "Oh. No, it's free." Real cool move going gaga he thought.

"Oh great," she quickly sat down and began shuffling through her backpack. "I thought I might have to stand."

"Oh I would have given you my seat."

"Great," she replied in a meek voice and with a disturbed expression. Ben took that for a sign that she wasn't interested - at all. Ben began shuffling through his backpack pulling out a binder, and an English text book. "Oh you've bought the book already?"

"Uh yeah; you know get the used one's before they're gone."

"Damn I should have done that." She stuck her hand out, "Hi, I'm Katie."

"Ben, nice to meet you," he shook her hand as he stared at her full glossy lips. They both became uncomfortable neither knowing what to say next.

"So what year are you; you don't look like a freshman."

"Junior. This is my first day here though; transfer student," he explained.

"I'm a freshman; my first day too. Um, I don't mean to be rude, but why is a junior taking a lower division English course?"

Ben grimaced at that question. "Yeah, lame huh? Well I didn't take high school seriously, and I just flaked out with English at North Seattle."

"You don't like reading," she inquired.

"No, no, as long as it's a shop manual or a Star Wars Scifi novel." He laughed, but she didn't seem to get it. "Ah, anyway this is my only lower division class, and I intend to get an 'A.'."

"Good. I like people who are motivated."

Ben smiled, "You do? Well maybe we can start up a study group Katie?"

She looked up from flipping through her binder. "Yeah, that sounds good."

Ben was blown away that she agreed. Don't end it here he thought be more like Dino. "So how about I get your number," he asked in a sly voice.

She laughed at that knowing exactly what he was doing. "Oh you're real smooth Ben," she responded mockingly. "How about my email?"

"Awesome," he quickly stressed.

Suddenly there was a loud male voice emanating from the speakers. "All right people. Let's cut the noise. Please find a seat if you haven't, and turn your cell phones off, or anything else that makes noise."

Ben looked down at the lecture podium to find a large man in his 60's with glasses, and suspenders on, while holding a microphone. He leaned towards Katie, "Do you know anything about this guy?"

She continued to write down her email while she answered, "Peacemaker? Yeah I looked him up on ReviewUm; he's supposed to be easy. The midterms are take home, and he doesn't collect home work."

"You're serious? Take home midterm? That's like a joke."

"I know I couldn't believe it either. Here write yours down," she handed him a torn piece of paper. "I guess you'll get that 'A' after all." Ben smiled at her comment as he wrote.

"All right everyone, I can't stress this enough," the professor pointed to a piece of paper. "You must sign your signature as well as your NetID, student ID, whatever they are calling it now. If you are not on the roll sheet the first day of class, you're immediately dropped, and those on wait-list get bumped in. Got it? Ok I'm passing out the syllabus, and a few info packets to you. Be patient I think there's 250 students in here."

Ben handed Katie his email address as a student hand him a stack of papers. He took one and passed the stack to Katie which she handed to the next student. He quickly flipped through the syllabus, "You're totally right Katie; take home midterms, unbelievable," he continued to smile as he read the rest.

The professor began to speak again. "Oh yes, some how with all these budget cuts I still wound up with an assistant. She hopes to teach here very soon I believe. Here…," he handed his assistant a stack of papers. "You can pass these out, thanks. Her name is Ms. Young, and please treat her like you would treat me."

Ben hadn't really been listening to Peacemaker, but the Ms. Young statement hit him like a lighting bolt. "No way," he whispered, impossible he thought. He wanted to look up, but he couldn't. He was physically unable to move for several seconds out of pure fear. Ben was surprised at his reaction to the possibility, and sensed his pulse racing. "Ok, pull it together," he closed his eyes and looked up from his paper. He opened his eyes and desperately looked for her. There were several students passing out papers so it was difficult to see through everyone. "Oh shit," he quietly said as he spotted her down by the first row at the bottom.

"Is there something wrong," Katie asked.

"No, no," Ben didn't even look at her. He couldn't take his eyes off Ms. Young. Never in a million years did he think he would see her again. It had only been 30 seconds, but all the old feelings came back like a massive flood washing over him. The good feelings as well as the bad, and he thought he had buried all this away forever. He was overwhelmed with an unbelievable sense of fear, and an equal sense of uncertainty, as he watched her walk up the center aisle with a stack of papers. What was he going to say he contemplated? Did she still have feeling for him? Did he still have feelings for her; he didn't know. Panic stricken he shoved his book and binder in his backpack. "I've got to go Katie."

"What," she asked wondering what the emergency was.

"I'll send you a message, later." He looked back down to see if Ms. Young had spotted him yet. She hadn't as she passed out papers while talking and laughing with students. Ben quickly ran up the stairs jumping two to three at a time. Once outside he paced around trying desperately to make some sense out of this situation. He finally gave up and left as he knew he wasn't going to figure out anything now.

He had to tell some one, but he had two more classes today. He decided to call Dino while he sat in the food court area looking for something to eat. He dialed Dino's number.

Dino was back under the covers after vomiting in the bathroom. He felt much better and was just dosing off when his cell began dancing around on the night stand. "C'mon," he yelled as he stuck his hand out and blindly searched for the vibrating phone. Once he found it he quickly pulled his hand back under the covers and answered, "What?"

"Dino?"

"I'm sleeping," he stated in an annoyed tone.

"I'm sorry, but this is huge dude, I mean massive."

He sighed, "Ah…am I really going to give a shit, I mean really?"

"Yes, I promise. Guess who I ran in to? Forget it you'd never guess," Ben said excitedly. He took a second to calm down. "I saw Ms. Young in English today."

Dino didn't answer, but rolled out of bed, and sat at the edge still in just his boxers. "My head is still pretty polluted man. Did you say Ms. Young," he questioned while he rubbed his left eye.

"Exactly."

"Holy shit. Are you kidding?"

"You know I don't talk about Monica," Ben clarified.

"Well how? Does she teach the class?"

"No, no. It's a professor Peacemaker, but she's some kind of assistant, and she wants to teach here he said.

"What did she say to you," Dino asked excitedly.

"Nothing," Ben cringed as he answered.

"I don't get. The two of you see each other, after what…four years, and neither of you say shit? I mean you two have see each other nude for Christ sake; how could not say something?"

Ben knew he had to tell him what happened. Maybe Dino would understand how tough this was, how shocking the whole situation was. "I panicked, and took off."

"I don't understand. How could she not see you?"

"There's like 250 students in the class."

"So you hid from her?"

Frustrated Ben spilled, "I went into chicken-shit mode a left before the class even started – basically."

"Oh man. Well you have to talk to her. You have to," Dino demanded.

Quietly Ben said, "I don't know what to do right now."

"What about English," Dino questioned. "You basically dropped it."

"Yeah I know."

"Well, take it with me on Tuesday's, Thursday's…starts at noon dude."

"Oh…yeah, ok."

Dino jumped on his computer, and logged on to the university's website. "Give me your student ID." Ben complied, and Dino began registering him. "It's full, but there's only seven wait-listed. They always take ten extra."

"Go for it," Ben commanded. "I've got to get to my next class. I'll see you later today."

Ben finished his classes, arrived at his parent's home at 4:30, and began backing his car into the driveway. Just as he shut the engine down, Dino pulled in revving his older model Kawasaki sports bike, and parked it in the driveway as he shut it down. Dino picked it up cheap with his dad's help, despite his mother's doubts about it, but he needed the very basic transportation since Ben generally kept the Camaro. Not only did Ben have the parking space available, he had put more money into the car.

Ben jumped out of the driver's seat, "Perfect timing dude."

Dino took his helmet off and placed it on the bike's seat. He grinned, "I've got the plugs and points for the car. Get the tools."

Ben opened the garage, and rolled out the tool chest on wheels. "Good, I had trouble starting it this morning. Oh, and the gas gauge, where's the new one? I actually ran out of gas three days ago. Luckily a station was close by"

Dino had already opened the hood and was inspecting the engine. "Oh yeah? It should be here any day now; just keep the tank filled. Why didn't you say something?"

"I've had a few things on my mind," he shook his head as he said it, and looked in on what Dino was doing.

Dino let out an evil laugh, "You mean one thing on your mind dude. And you know it."

With a look of pain on Ben's face he answered, "I know, I know. I still can't believe Monica works at the college. It's like a dream," or a nightmare he thought.

"Please tell me you'll talk to her. Hell I want to know what happened too. Think about me for Christ sake," he grinned as he said it. Ben laughed knowing Dino was somewhat kidding. A car pulled up and slowed in front of the driveway. Ben and Dino both looked back to see that it was Jonathan. He carefully pulled up in his mother's beautiful brand new metallic navy blue S type Jaguar.

Ben's eyes widen, "Crap his mom got new rims on it." They both stood and admired the beautiful machine as they leaned on they're gray primered beast.

Dino explained, "Oh I called him about Ms. Young."

"Already," Ben asked surprised.

Dino continued further, "Well I didn't mention Monica, but I said you had big news."

Ben walked down the short driveway while Dino went back to changing the sparkplugs. "Looking bitch'en man," Ben yelled as he admired the Jaguar. Ben and Jonathan did they're ritualistic hand shake which was short, and understated. "So mommy let you borrow the Jag huh?"

"Yeah. I just picked it up from the shop, cool wheels, huh?"

"Rims dude, rims," Ben said pretending not to be embarrassed by how square Jon was.

"So what's this big news," Jon lightly slapped Ben on his shoulder.

"Oh, yeah," they both turned around and walked towards the light gray Camaro.

"Oh you had classes today," Jonathan questioned. Dino got of the engine to shake Jon's hand. "Dude."

"Dude," Dino responded.

As both Ben and Jonathan watched Dino return to work, Jonathan asked, "So what's this huge news," jokingly he made quotation mark gestures with his hands.

Dino sensed Jon's sarcasm and responded, "I can kick your ass now if you want me to?"

Ben laughed, "Hang on guys. Ok, you'll never believe who I ran into in English today?"

Jonathan thought about it for a second or two, and asked, "Of course Dino already knows? Ben nodded yes. Jon then blurted out, "Ms. Young." Ben and Dino were stunned by his answer. Jon was joking, but quickly noticed their reaction which seemed strange.

Ben looked at Dino, "You told him."

"No…I didn't," Dino answered.

"I'm right? No way," Jonathan asked in disbelief. "Seriously?"

"It's true," Ben acknowledged.

Jonathan leaned against the car to figure out what was just revealed. "This is unbelievable; impossible. What did you say to her? I mean that must have been insane. If I had seen Ms. Young I have no idea what I would say. And we didn't even; well you know."

Dino quietly laughed when he heard that and dropped the socket wrench through the engine compartment to the ground, "Shit!"

Ben felt like such an idiot. "I bailed on the class to avoid her," he answered in a disappointed tone.

Jonathan thought about that, "Really?" He continued to contemplate what had been said. "Well you have to talk to her," Jonathan stated.

Dino got off the engine compartment, "Seven down on more plug to go. Oh, yeah, Jonathan is totally right." He got back to work after Ben handed him the part.

Ben paced in a circle, "I don't know, I just don't…"

Jonathan interrupted, "…it's fate. You have to. Can you imagine the odds of this happening?" Ben just leaned against the fender thinking to himself for a few minutes. Jonathan could see his friend was struggling with this, and gave him some breathing room.

"Oh yeah, the plugs are done, I'll do the points later." Dino got off the car, and slammed the hood down after his friends moved away. "Ah, time to celebrate ladies."

Ben and Jonathan laughed. "Ok so what are we celebrating on a Monday," Ben inquired.

Dino jumped into the driver's seat and inserted the key into the ignition. "Drinks on me at A & J's."

"Where Jonathan," asked.

Ben explained, "It's a pub, or bar and grill close to UW. It's a campus hang out; we've been there once, and they don't check the ID's that closely."

"It doesn't matter with the ID's Sam got us," Dino countered. "Were guaranteed though. Besides I have to go through the classifieds since I quit my job last night."

"What the fuck…," Ben tried to ask him, but Dino fired up the car's engine. He revved the engine.

Ben threw his arms up in disgust as Dino gunned the engine. "What dude I can't hear you." It was only a minute or two when Dino turned the car off.

Ben was waiting, and asked, "What about the apartment dude?"

"I'm still in."

"Yeah I get that, but how are you going to pay?"

Dino jumped up to explain, "Pizza delivery sucks guys. Yeah I know it looks glamorous and all…" Dino couldn't finish as he started laughing at his own lame joke. "I'll get another job…all right." Ben nodded ok. Dino looked at Jon wondering if was he going with them.

"Guys I'd love to go, but I promised Debra I was backing off the alcohol."

"Oh God, my grandmother is less of a wuss than you dude," Dino responded.

"C'mon Jonathan, we'll make it an early night," Ben consoled.

Jon thought about it and remembered it had been a long time since the three of them had partied. Reluctantly he agreed, "Ok, but 9:00 at the latest." Ben and Dino began playfully pounding on Jonathan while cheering.

Dino then raised his hand to show the car keys, "Yeah! I'm driving now because I probably won't be able to later. Ben just shook his head as he put the tools back, and shut the garage door. After Jonathan moved his mother's car, and jumped in the Camaro, Dino lit up the tires and they screeched down the street on their way to A & J's.