Lunch Date

*Author's Note:  Thank you everyone for the support and kind comments on my previous (personal) entry.  My apologies in advance for the shorter entry this evening.  It was a crazy weekend, as I had explained before, and I didn't have an opportunity to really work on my blog until about a half hour ago.  I'm tired and am heading to bed, but I'll put another one up tomorrow night.  So be expecting it!*


Lunch on Wednesday, I ate with my roommates in the dining commons.  It was a rarity that we all got to sit down and have a meal together, but especially during the day.  While sitting around chatting about Elena's wedding planning, I see Nellie approaching us.  I whisper, "Here she comes, guys."

Everyone stops talking as Nellie walks up wearing a two piece "swishy" jogging suit in aqua that has some bizarre square pattern on the shoulders of pink and black.  This clearly was made sometime in the 1980's.  I raise my eyebrows, quickly looking her up and down, wishing that What Not to Wear was still airing, because I would have the perfect nominee for them.  She smiles broadly at our table and loudly says, "Hi!  Did Madison asking everyone about my living situation conundrum?  Have you all discussed the probability of me being able to move in with you?"

My mouth might have dropped open slightly.  My interactions with Nellie have all been minimal, in the past.  However, I started trying to imagine living with someone who spoke like that all the time and I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes.  The silence became awkward, as no one responded right away, so I broke the ice, "Yes."  I tried my best.

I cleared my throat and began as I saw Maddie giving me a Look.  "Yeah, we talked about it, and we don't have any..."

Sarah quickly cut me off, giving me a side glance, "We would love for you to live with us."  Nellie clapped her hands excitedly.  Maddie informed Nellie that she would be sharing a room with her, and Sarah leaned over to me and hissed in my ear, "Not okay, Aleah."

I quickly mean-whispered back, "What?  All I was going to say is we didn't have any other options."

"That's so mean!"

I thought about how it sounded, whispering it out loud, and realized she was right.  But I didn't want to admit it, so I shrugged my shoulders in defeat and went back to eating.  I looked over at Elena to see she was listening to Maddie and Nellie talk, and was clearly trying not to laugh.  I looked over at the doors to the sitting area and saw Joe walking in.  "I'll be right back," I said hopping up, to go greet Joe.

I ran up behind him and tapped him on his shoulder.  He turned around and gave me a strong hug.  "Have fun last night?"

"I did.  What are you doing here?  You rarely eat in here."  Joe doesn't live on campus, and so he rarely eats in the dining commons.  The times he does are usually at night with people from the tennis team.

"You didn't hear?  We're getting a new tennis conditioning and technical adviser, for the teams.  I'm showing him around, and so we're stopping in for lunch.  I can introduce you when he gets out here.  He's from Mexico."

"When did this happen?"

"I don't know.  You know coach.  I guess they played together when they were in college, and he was looking to move back around this area, so he approached athletic director about a position for him.  Anyway, he's bringing in a top male recruit for the team, too.  I mean, which is fine, as long as he doesn't knock me down any positions."  He smiled teasingly at me.  Joe is the number one player for the men's team, and I really don't think he'd care.  But he knows that I have pride problems and love being number one.  "Oh, there he is."

I turned to see a dark haired, beautifully tanned male walking towards me.  His eyes were brown and friendly.  He was a few inches taller than me and smiled sweetly at us as he approached.  "Joe, is this your girlfriend?"  (Though, it really sounded like "Hoe, ees thees your geerlfriend?"  *Swoon*  I love accents.

Joe quickly said, "Oh, no, this is the one singles and doubles player for the women's team."

"Ah, Alayah!"  He stuck out his hand.

I grabbed it and shook firmly, and didn't bother correctly his pronunciation, because the way he said it may or may not have made my heart skip a beat.  I smiled goofily, "Hi."

Joe slightly shook his head and said, "Aleah, this is Pablo."

Although I wanted to stay and chat more, I knew that my roommates were waiting for me.  I excused myself from Joe and Pablo and went back to the table with the girls.  Nellie had left, and when I sat down, we resumed our conversation about Elena's wedding plans.  We all had a clear night that evening, so since Maddie and I had to head to class, we decided to have a roommate night after our respective practices were over.

As Maddie and I were heading to class, I sent Luke a quick text telling him I had plans that evening, but asked if he wanted to see each other the next night before I had to leave for Illinois the next day.

He responded almost immediately saying, "Of course."