*A/N* Is it me, or are my chapters getting longer and longer? This chapter is weird; there's three phone calls and an email that just seem weak or something, but never fear, the story is going to take off really soon and be more interesting! I think my readers are going to eventually kill me once I finish ;) but we'll see! Anyway you know the drills, I don't own anything from the movie. "Stutter" is by Andy Stochansky. (Thanks to EVERYONE who reviewed! Please keep reviewing, it's keeping me from putting the story down for too long! Thanks to my faithful readers, I love you!)

Until Our Souls Get it Right

By Musashihazmat84

Part 3: How wonderful life is (continued)

Roxanne stared out the window at the few snowflakes beginning to drift through the air. She really didn't feel like trekking to the Dining Hall- or rather Dining Hell- to get whatever abominable food they served for the relatively few risk takers who cared to head up there on Sunday afternoons.

She crossed the room to survey her stash of microwavable food; nothing. She had a lone box of spinach fettuccini, and there was a kitchen downstairs, but everyone knew cooking wasn't any fun by yourself!

She would invite Christian- but she barely knew him and he might take it the wrong way. Kate; not only was she becoming a good friend of Roxanne's, but she was also a good friend of Christian. Could she get him to come?

She picked up the phone, dialing Kate's room. After only a couple rings, Kate answered in her usually cheerful voice. "Hello?"

"Hi Kate! It's Roxanne!"

"Oh hi! How was your weekend?"

"Eh, a lot of work."

"Same here."

"I had this brilliant idea today," Roxanne continued, "Instead of going to the Dining Hell for dinner, how about we make it ourselves? There's a kitchen downstairs and I have pasta!"

"That's a great idea!" Kate said, "Should we invite anyone?"

Roxanne smiled. "Should we invite Christian?"

"We could try- do you want me to do that? I have his number."

"Could you? That would be great!"

"Okay, I'll do that and I'll call you back in a few, okay?"

"K, talk to you in a few, bye."

"Bye."

She hung up the phone, murmuring to herself, "That went better than expected…"

Beginning to pick up random clutter around the room, Roxanne had just stood on a chair to make her lofted bed when the phone rang again. Jumping off the chair, she answered it as quickly as she could. "Hello?"

"Hi, it's Kate again!"

Roxanne smiled. "What's the verdict?"

"Well, he's either deathly afraid of estrogen or he really has to study."

She sighed, and despite the let down, her spirits were still quite high. "We'll just have to cook dinner and have lotsa fun and brag to him about how much fun he missed!"

Kate's bubbly voice quickly responded, "Will do! See you say—around 6:00?"

"Sounds great! See you at 6:00!"

After hanging up the phone, Roxanne shook her head, smirking with the irony. It went exactly as she expected after all.

The next day, a Monday during which Roxanne would not normally see Christian, she paced her room desperately combing her brain for an excuse to call him.

Ask him to dinner? No…too forward.

Just to talk? No…even worse.

She sighed. For some reason, she hadn't been able to get either him out of her head, just like that song by Kylie Minogue. And that song was stuck in her head too.

He'd been on her mind for almost a week; a point she would have to bring up with Stokes when she saw him again this coming Friday morning.

In the meantime, Roxanne resigned to just wait to see Christian in math the next day- but she knew she would be somewhat useless until then. She paced the room idly, knowing she could find a reason to call him somewhere in her pretty little head.

And it hit her like a brick, causing her to laugh. "Bingo!"

She didn't know for sure if they had any math homework.

Before picking up the phone to call him, she sat at her computer, composing what she was going to say. While sitting there, she decided to check her campus email- procrastinating because of her nervousness, and knowing she was procrastinating because of her excitement.

However, when she saw a new message from "Christian Rourke '06", she forgot to breathe.

"Date: Mon, 27 Jan 2003 12:41:35 -0500 (EST)

From: "Christian Rourke '06" (06_crourke .edu)

To: 06_rdelacour .edu

Subject: Math Homework?

Hi Roxanne,

I was in such a hurry to get to the meeting last Thursday that I forgot to write down what the math homework was. Were we supposed to review some chapters or do a problem?

-Christian"

Laughing, Roxanne sat back and sighed. They really were on the same wavelength! Without wasting any time, she quickly called him.

"Hello?"

"Hi Christian, it's Roxanne!"

"Hi Roxanne!" he said cheerfully, "Did you get my email?"

"Yeah- would you believe I was gonna call you to ask YOU what the math homework was?"

He laughed. "You mean we both don't know?"

"Yeah, but I mean if YOU don't know then I'm pretty sure we didn't have any."

He sounded relieved. "You're probably right."

After a little small talk, but less than a minute's worth, Roxanne ended the conversation and hurriedly hung up the phone, her heart racing. Why did she always have to get so nervous around him? She could have kept him on the phone longer or even asked him to dinner if she didn't get so panicky.

She checked her watch- 5:00. She smiled; maybe if she was lucky, she'd catch him at dinner.

Christian walked into the overly crowed Dining Hall, looking for an empty table, only to find none. However, there was one table less crowed than the others, and it's lone occupant appeared to be getting ready to leave.

He grinned; it hadn't even been an hour since he'd gotten off the phone with her, and yet there was Roxanne. A couple moments later, he would have been too late. As he rushed to her table, she smiled when she saw him approaching.

"Well, well!" she said, smiling, "Haven't heard from you in a while!"

"I know!" he said, "It seems like years!"

She laughed. "If I didn't know better I would say you're trying to stalk me, Mr. Rourke!"

His jaw dropped at the accusation; she winked. "I'm only kidding. You know, I forgot to tell you earlier what a WONDERFUL time Kate and I had cooking yesterday!"

"Oh yeah? What did you make?"

"I don't know." She shrugged, continuing, "Kate had like this pasta dish with some chicken and I had some pasta, so we threw it all together and it came out really well! It was so good that we ate it all and didn't have enough to send up a dish for you. You know, we figured that if you couldn't come down…"

He laughed. "I know, I know! Stop making me feel so guilty!"

"Oh," she pouted, "You know I'm only teasing." She checked her watch. "I should be going…"

"So soon? I just got here!"

She smiled again. "I know, but I didn't! Maybe if you told me you were coming here then I wouldn't have made any other plans!"

He could only stare at her with some look that bordered between amused and confused as her eyes danced. "But I'll stay if you want me to…"

"No, no, I don't want to hold you back from anything you have to do…"

She cocked an eyebrow. "Laundry?" She paused, grinning as she met his eye, "Well…"

He tried to stifle his laughter, but when she began to laugh he didn't bother; the memory of their first meeting was still all too fresh.

As Christian walked home through the crisp, late January air, he could only think of her- Roxanne- not the goddess from his dreams, not the girl who died, not the girl who fueled his nightmares. He knew what this was- an infatuation of a sort- and he hadn't felt it in a long time.

He frowned. The first time he'd had an infatuation he avoided her at all costs, mainly out of fear. He'd only been thirteen or so, and since he'd been so afraid to go after that girl, she'd been lost to him. Despite his extremely good looks, he'd never even had a girlfriend, and love was folly. He never really expressed love; didn't know how…

He laughed to himself- he usually only wanted to sing in the shower, back home of course, when no one was there to hear him. He looked around now; the street towards Julie Hall was long and dark, and no one was around; his walk would be another ten minutes, what better way to pass it?

"I dream about stars here

I dream about bringing you a parade

But I can't know

Why I always stutter

Whenever you're around

"And she...

Doesn't care

Breathe the same air

I don't have a hope in hell

Doesn't see

We could agree

This could be so blissful…"

He smiled. This song sounded more like her than it did him; but he never could tell if she just was nervous or wasn't interested- but the more he thought about it, it was true for him as well. They both acted the same around each other; awkward.

"I will do magic

Houdini's rabbit lives here under my sleeve

I'll saw myself in half

They'll be 2 of us

Always ready to please

But I can't know

Why I always stutter

"And she...

Doesn't care

Breathe the same air

I don't have a hope in hell

Doesn't see

We could agree

This could be so blissful…"

He stopped when someone approached, far down the road, but still in earshot, and whispered,

"This could be so blissful..."

Roxanne arranged her math notes the next day as the professor rattled on and on about "Joe Millionaire". Christian, beside her, looked fairly amused.

Without warning, the professor swirled around and said, "So, what was the homework?"

No one spoke; Christian looked like he was about to choke.

"I know I gave you some- and you all had better have done it!"

Roxanne sneaked a small glance at Christian; their eyes locked as every pint of blood rushed to their heads- and then they couldn't help but smile in their embarrassed states.

Another student, apparently in the same boat, piped up. "Professor, what was the homework?"

The professor's face fell. "Did you have fun this weekend?"

The student nodded.

"Then you did the homework! Geez, stop worrying, I'm not out to kill your GPAs!"

Christian sighed with relief, as did Roxanne and half of the class.

"Well now, back to 'Joe Millionaire'!" the professor said, "Lemme tell ya, if he picks that one girl, you know, the one you want to bring home to Mom, that other girl is gonna be pissed!"

Roxanne smirked; this professor was –by far—the most entertaining one she'd had yet.

"What's that saying," he continued, '"Don't scorn a woman or she'll get pissed' or 'Don't piss off a woman or she'll raise hell'- Does anyone know what I'm talking about?"

The rest of the students stared at him blankly. Roxanne shook her head; she KNEW this, and fought to bring it up from her memory- it was on the tip of her tongue-

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?"

"Jesus Christ!" someone said, under their breath, from the back of the room.

"That's it! Thanks!" the professor said, just before cracking another joke about his wife.

Meanwhile, all the other students stared at her like she was from outerspace—well, all but one.

All but Christian.