On Twitter I posted a note explaining my absence and an apology. Long story short, a lot of things, including my college graduation (!), have kept me away from the story longer than I would have liked. But I have returned and am so happy about it! Hope you are too. Here is chapter five!
Jimmy's POV
Man, I love college.
It's no cakewalk, of course. And it's absolutely nothing like high school. It's not even like any other college really. I do go to MIT after all.
But it got better.
By the end of the summer Honors program, I felt that I had mastered the art of time management. And then, the rest of campus moved in and the school year officially commenced. While a college lifestyle is one thing I have never experienced (that one time back when I was 11 doesn't really count), I like to think I got the hang of it.
However, one thing that added to the difficulty of being out here was my separation from Cindy. Even though we do communicate as much as we possibly can, it just isn't the same as being able to see each other. At first, our attempts at contacting one another completely failed and we would constantly get each other's voicemail. It took a few days, but we had finally figured out a schedule. And as much as my roommates may tease me about it, that's not something I'll be taking as a joke.
Besides that easily-ignored flaw, my roommates are pretty cool. The two of them come from just as far away as I do, meaning that we've been going through the adjustment together. Even though we were all randomly selected to be roommates for the upcoming ten months, so far it turned out to be a good match. At times, they, in a unique way, even remind me of Sheen and Carl.
While they, and I suppose, everyone else, were off having adventures of their own, it further brought into light just how distant we all are from each other. Having spent some of the most thrilling years of my childhood with Sheen, Carl, Cindy, and Libby, facing a world in which they are no longer a constant part of is, I'll admit, much harder than I originally thought. There was one part of all this however, that did have that sense of homeliness.
Despite the fact that New York is only about a three-and-a-half-hour drive away, it turned out to be harder than I expected to go see Cindy. A weekend would clearly make the most sense, but with how involved each of us have gotten at school along with our academic workloads, it's difficult to come to an agreement on when would be the best time for a visit. Ultimately, all this does is add to how difficult this division is on us both.
Going on over two months now, including the time we were separated during the summer, it would appear that distance has definitely made the heart grow fonder. It's essentially the longest time we have ever been apart since the day we met all those years ago, a fact that I can never seem to forget. And every day, I miss her more and more like crazy.
As Cindy subtly brings up, our timing for becoming a couple is horribly inconvenient. Since we only had weeks together, I think we would both agree on how little we were able to indulge in a real relationship. Not counting all the physical aspects, that is. Besides graduation, there are a whole lot of milestones and 'firsts' that we're missing out on due to the bad timing of us making our relationship official. That usually doesn't seem like something I would be too invested in (although Cindy has no doubt noticed) but when faced with it, it's impossible to avoid.
Today, for example, is Halloween. It is, in a way, the unofficial start to the holiday season and a huge event for us as college students. To not be spending it together, as it is somewhat of a significant landmark, does put a slight damper on the day. I have a feeling that's likely the same reason why we have yet to mention what the other one's plans are for tonight.
I suppose she'll be doing something with her roommate, whom I've learned she has gotten very close with. In terms of her other friends, she's of course mentioned them but not to an extent that I would be able to be familiar with. I don't interpret that to mean that she's being secretive or hiding something about her friendships and connections she's made but the fact that she hasn't spoken about any plans for this date must mean something.
I can't get entirely upset with her about it though. Seeing as I haven't shared any of my plans either.
Besides that, we've been very open to one another about our experiences at our respective colleges. Or at least, for the most part.
I've known Cindy long enough to realize that, even though she would never admit it, she's very much the jealous type. She's not the best at hiding it either. While it hasn't really been an issue in the past few years, not nearly as much as when we were kids, now that we're in a relationship, it is something to be wary about. Having a separation like this does nothing to alleviate the problem either.
That's basically the reason I didn't tell her about Nina, the TA for my molecular biology class.
She's a junior and, given her position in the classroom, should have known a lot better. Nina never did anything more than flirt, which always ended up being a one-sided exchange anyway. Telling her I had a girlfriend ended up putting a complete stop to that.
I wish I could say the same for all other advances.
There are times when I am, I'll confess, oblivious when it comes to the opposite sex. But as I got older, female attention was something I noticed was directed my way quite often. In high school, it never turned into anything. Although I do have a feeling that may have had something to do with a constantly close and certain intimidating blonde. The problem is, Cindy is no longer around and until I tell them, other girls don't know that she even exists. And some are, unfortunately, less understanding than others.
All that is an issue I would just rather not bring up to Cindy, for what should now be seen as obvious reasons.
Having to leave this part out every time I speak to her is a challenge and one that I do feel bad about. My relief comes in knowing that she, hopefully, is not doing the same.
Cindy's POV
I don't think it's fair to say that I knew what I was getting into when I made the life-changing decision to go to school and live, in New York City. I say that mostly because I never could have imagined that it would be going this incredibly well.
It's the change that I both anticipated and feared but was thankfully able to manage. The adjustment wasn't really even as hard as I imagined. The only thing missing, what was constantly at the forefront of my mind, was Jimmy. Saying I miss him so incredibly much isn't nearly a strong enough way to describe his absence. Talking on the phone every other day and the frequent texts messages throughout is not enough to fill that void.
Even though we make every effort to keep to our schedule, there's been a few times where we've had to cancel due to other, and, as much as it hurts to say, important commitments. This leads in us missing or overall forgetting to catch each other up on certain things.
Admittedly however, there are a couple of things I would rather him not find out about, not just yet anyway.
It may not have seemed this way in high school, given my reputation, but nowadays, I've become a lot more… social. That's not to say I'm out partying every night, because that's not what I came here to do. But I definitely feel like I've loosened up more and am not against having a, sometimes carefree, good time. I have both my new east coast environment and Sonya to thank for that. Sonya herself credits her inner Latina, although our adventures together have told me that New York clearly is not her first time at the rodeo.
My reason for not telling Jimmy this isn't because this is something I'm ashamed of. Instead, I feel that the change may be something that he's not going to be entirely open to.
There's also the subject of Sam, the guy who, along with his own roommate, lives two doors down from Sonya and I. He too is a freshman and one of the first people I met when I got here. In fact, our first encounter was a comical and memorable one.
I told myself not to be surprised at the amount of hungover underage students I would see in my early days here. But I can't say I was prepared to see it first thing the morning after my arrival in the co-ed communal bathroom while I was brushing my teeth.
He wasn't lewd or in any way offensive, which considering the circumstances, I was grateful for. Our official meeting, when we realized we were essentially neighbors, came later that day. And it's nearly every time we've seen each other since then that makes up the reason I won't tell Jimmy about him.
Sam flirts. Or at least he used to enough that even I noticed. Telling him I had a boyfriend made a big difference but there are still times when he acknowledges me as a little more than just floormates.
It really should be obvious why he won't be mentioned in my conversations with Jimmy. Knowing the range of his temper and thinking back to how he reacted with the last college boy involved in my life gave me plenty of reasons to keep this from him. As guilty as I feel, there's no reason why this should deter us from going on about our lives and seeing how it's going for the other.
I realized very early on in our relationship that the timing for it to begin was horrible. We wouldn't be able to be together for some major events like other couples normally would. As I told him the day he left for MIT, had we started dating this time last year, that would have been entirely different and maybe we could be better prepared for our eventual separation.
Halloween is tonight and while it should typically be a happy occasion during the college years, being away from Jimmy makes that difficult. It has nothing to do with us not being able to coordinate and actually pull off a couples costume, although the thought did briefly cross my mind.
We haven't spoken, apart from checking in on one another, in a few days, so I don't even know what he has planned, if anything. Just as I was thinking about my own impending plans, my phone rang from my desk and a smiled formed on my face.
"What are you dressing up as?" I asked him later on, hoping he wasn't being such a square about the festivities.
"Superman. Well, technically, Clark Kent."
"Really?" I wasn't fully expecting that he would answer, let alone with that.
"What's wrong with him?"
"Nothing, I just always saw you as more as a Spider-Man type of superhero." He chuckled. I'm not sure if he understood why I said that, but I assumed he did.
"What are you going as?"
"Britney."
"Britney?"
"Britney Spears."
"Oh." He laughed again once I clarified. "I bet you'll look really good." He all but whispered into the phone.
"You'd win that bet." I replied as I glanced at the plaid skirt hanging from my desk chair that I was borrowing from Sonya and gently tugged on my hair that would shortly be styled into braided pigtails.
"What are your plans tonight?" he asked, and I could hear the careful and concerned tone in his voice, which may not have been there if I didn't tell him what my costume was.
"We're not entirely sure," I began. "There's always something going on in The Village and today won't be any different. But we'll probably just going to stay around here or maybe go to-." I stopped, deciding not to finish that sentence.
"What? Go where?" He asked, noticing my abrupt ending.
"Nothing. It's just- these guys… from a few doors down. They have this friend who has an apartment. They invited us over. Not just us but like, others too."
"Oh."
"But I don't think we'll go though. We don't really know them so…."
"You can go if you want to." I could hear the slight irritation in his voice.
"I-I wasn't asking for your permission."
"And I wasn't giving it. I'm just saying," he fought back. Not wanting to start an argument, I took a breath and didn't push the issue on my part any more.
"So what about you? What do you have planned?"
"I'm going to a party at Harvard with Annie."
The only reason I spoke was to keep the pause short so he wouldn't suspect anything out of it.
"Oh, Annie. Right."
"Yeah, it's supposed to be awesome. One of her friends said she could bring whomever she wanted so I'm tagging along."
"Yeah, it-it's good you have her there. A sense of home and all." While it was actually the first time I've said that to him, I've lost count of how many times I've said it to myself as a way of keeping calm.
It was difficult enough for me to hear the news that Annie ended up going to Harvard, a mere handful of minutes away from the MIT campus and therefore Jimmy. But when he told me that, due to their proximity, they were hanging out regularly, much more frequently than back home, mind you, I wasn't entirely sure how to feel about that.
Yes, I trust Jimmy one thousand percent.
Her, not so much.
He hummed back as a response, not agreeing nor disagreeing. It was probably the smartest thing he's said this entire conversation.
"Hey," he said after a few seconds of tense silence. "Be careful, okay? Call me if you need anything."
I smiled even though he wouldn't be able to see it.
"Of course. And um-." I knew even as I was forming the words in my head that this would not be easy for me to say. "Have fun. Tell Annie I said hello."
"Will do," was his reply. "I love you."
"I love you too. Call me tomorrow?"
"Definitely."
I wanted to quickly point out how funny it is that this chapter speaks about their early days of college, meanwhile I just finished up my own experience. Anyway…..
Thank you all so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. Again, so SO sorry for the wait. Warning you now to brace yourselves for the drama that's about to ensue.
Please review!
