"Seriously, guys," I said, hauling another box out to the car, "you don't have to stick around. I can drive back."

"Oh, but we want to look at the campus!" Mom said.

"Yeah," Dad echoed.

"I mean, go for it, it's just, I have a car, and I'm not a freshman anymore, I can seriously handle myself."

"We're fine," said Dad. "C'mon, he probably just doesn't want us to see all his beer bottles."

"Real mature, Dad," I said, rolling my eyes and pretty much kicking a door open.

"Sure you don't need help?" he said, as I threw the box in.

"Maybe with the doors," I blushed.

"Go on and look around," he nodded to Mom. "We'll be done soon."

And we were done soon. I felt kind of bad for Mom's sake—she'd never really done the college thing. Dad's host had, and apparently the memories of that were enough for him.

As we finished with the last load, the familiar purple Subaru swung by, and Aniss rolled down the passenger window. "Oh hey," I said, trying to sound cool. "Aniss, this is my dad. Dad, this is Aniss, a good friend of mine from Econ." I grimaced to summarize the class.

"Hey, it wasn't that bad," she yelled.

"Aniss?" Dad echoed, shaking her hand warmly. Through the window. Should've known that would happen. Idiot. "Darfen Gonzalez. Very nice to meet you."

"Thanks," she said. "We were gonna offer to move stuff."

"She was," Micus corrected.

"But it looks like you guys are set?"

"Yeah," I yelled before Dad could say anything about how he liked meeting my friends. "Sorry. But I'll come by and visit, right?"

"Call first," said Micus. "I've gotta bunch of business trips and I don't trust Aniss not to forget the combination."

"Sounds good," I said, and they whizzed off.

"Roommates," I curtly explained. "I mean, like, apartmentmates." I'd pretty much accepted that she wasn't into boyfriends, but that didn't mean Dad would believe me. "C'mon, let's go pick up Mom."