"Look out!" shouted Cal as he and Tony walked into the dorm carrying a heavy box filled with only half of Emily's clothes.
Zoe and Emily quickly jumped out of the way as they finished arranging the blankets and pillows on the bed, "Be careful guys," Zoe chuckled.
"How much more is out there?" asked Emily.
"One box of clothes and your textbooks," said Tony.
"And of course you had to be assigned a dorm on the third floor didn't you?" chuckled Cal lightly.
"Hey I didn't like the idea either but it's randomly assigned," said Emily.
"Emily where do you want these?" asked Gillian coming in with a few more blankets.
"Um, closet for now, it shouldn't get too cold," answered Emily. Gillian did as instructed. Just then another girl and her parents came into the room.
"Emily?" asked the girl.
"Jennifer!" shouted Emily excitedly running to the other side to hug her. All of the adults looked at the two girls, "Um Mom, Dad, Tony, Gillian, this is my roommate Jennifer. Jennifer, this is my Mom, Zoe, my Dad, Cal, my stepmother, Gillian, and my soon to be stepfather, Tony."
"Nice to meet you all," said Jennifer, "And please call me Jenny."
"You too," said Zoe.
"Emily, this is my Mom, Terry, and my Dad, Joe," said Jenny.
"Pleasure to finally meet you Emily," said Joe shaking her hand.
"You too," said Emily. The two parents went to get some more of Jenny's belongings.
Cal stepped forward towards the two girls, "So Jenny, I'm going to ask you a couple questions here. Where are you from?"
"Los Angeles," she answered a little nervously.
"And are you the party type of girl. You know drinking, drugs, random sexual activity? Anything I don't want my daughter doing."
"You better answer truthfully because both he and Gillian can tell if you're lying," said Emily.
"Really?" asked Jenny a little curiously. Everyone else nodded, "That mustve been hard to live with for eighteen years."
Everyone chuckled and Emily nodded, "It would've been nice if he could've turned it off a few times."
"Oh it was only for your own good," said Cal kissing her on top of her head.
"Jenny!" shouted Terry from the hallway.
"Coming Mom!" shouted Jenny and turned to Emily, "You might want to head to the student center soon. All of the other orientation information is there."
"Okay," Emily nodded and Jenny left the room. Emily turned around to face her parents and step parents.
"So I guess this is it," said Zoe.
"I guess so," said Emily.
Zoe stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her daughter as tightly as she could, "I'm going to miss you sweetheart."
"I'll miss you too Mom," said Emily.
Cal joined the two girls and kissed Emily on the forehead, "Stay safe love. Don't get into any trouble or I'll personally come back here and track down anyone that hurts you."
"I would expect nothing less Dad," laughed Emily.
Tony hugged Emily, "Enjoy college Em. We'll see you at Thanksgiving."
"You too Tony," said Emily.
Zoe sighed and said, "Well we actually have an earlier flight than you two so we should probably be getting to the airport. Tony left the other rental car next to ours so you two can get back to the hotel and leave tomorrow."
Cal and Gillian nodded, "Thank you Zoe," said Gillian.
Zoe smiled and hugged Emily one more time, "I love you."
"Mom, I love you too, but I don't want you to miss your flight," laughed Emily, "Now go! I'm fine."
"Are you sure you don't need any more towels, shampoo, soap, tampons…?"
"Mom!" shouted Emily a little embarrassed while Tony, Cal, and Gillian chuckled at her expense, "I said I'm fine."
"Okay," said Zoe softly as Tony escorted her out of the room. She looked back one more time and waved before disappearing.
Emily turned around and hugged Cal, "I promise I'll party and be stupid," she joked.
Cal chuckled and said, "You're lying. But that's a good lie to tell because it means you'll be careful."
Emily walked over to Gillian and said, "Make sure Dad behaves and doesn't get into any trouble."
"Oh with no kids in the house, we're going to go wild," Gillian smirked sarcastically.
"But that's only going to last eleven more weeks," said Emily rubbing Gillian's abdomen, "Just think little one, by the time Thanksgiving break comes, you might be here."
Gillian gave a slightly panicked look. What Emily said was nerve wracking, but true, "Yeah probably."
"Call me the minute something happens, even if I'm still here," said Emily.
"Will do love," said Cal.
The three of them exited the room and Emily locked the door. She hugged them both once more and said, "I guess I should be getting the other orientation stuff. I love you guys. See you in November."
"See you then," said Gillian sadly.
Emily kissed Cal, Gillian, and the home of her unborn half-sister before disappearing down the hall. Cal and Gillian watched her and then went back to the other rental car before heading back to the hotel. When they got to their room, Cal sighed and leaned against the wall.
"You okay honey?" asked Gillian concerned.
"Yeah, just not over the fact that my little girl's all grown up now," he answered sadly.
Gillian smiled sadly. Though she wasn't here yet, she already loved little Sophie Lightman more than anything in the world and knew she was going to be ten times worse when she went to college, "Oh Gillian Danielle Lightman, she isn't even born yet, don't think about college!"
"You alright love?" asked Cal interrupting Gillian's thoughts.
"Yeah just thinking about things," she answered, "I have to use the bathroom. I'll be right back."
Cal nodded as Gillian disappeared into the bathroom. He began getting dressed for bed when he heard her shout for him really loudly, "CAL! SOMETHING'S WRONG!"
"What why?" asked Cal running into the bathroom only to find his wife surrounded by a pool of red.
"I'm bleeding."