fun, but I needed to get to bed. Classes started up again in the morning, and I’d have to face Kassi eventually. I’d become so involved in my sudden ability to dominate in Star Evolution that I’d spaced everything else off. While it was good that I hadn’t had to put up with the extended family much, it made me feel guilty that I’d become a recluse in my room, avoiding even my own parents. Worse, I’d made excuses all weekend to Kass about why I wasn’t hanging out with her.
“Computer, hibernate.”
The screen pulled in its projection, then dimmed until there was only the plastic backing attached to the thin metal rod. The blue glow inside the case slowly dimmed until it too was dark. I patted the side of the case as if it were a good dog. My head was a mix of adrenaline-charged triumph at my amazing kill rate over the weekend, and stomach-gnawing fear that Kassandra was going to tell me to get lost after standing her up for four straight days.
*****
December 1, 2014
I had every right to be scared. Kassandra already scared the hell out of me when things were going just fine. I truly thought she was going to take a swing at me when we met up after my Ethics class. She didn’t say a word until we were almost off campus, then spun in fury and laid into me. By the time she was spent, she was shaking, crying, and cursing. Each enunciated word from her mouth made me shrink another inch, until there was only a single molecule of me left to stare at her as she bawled.
I spent the two hours I had before my Western Civ II class trying to apologize. I spent the hour after my Western Civ II class but before my Cultural Geography class apologizing more. I tried to explain to her that I’d been so amped up over my new computer that I’d lost time, but that seemed to only make things worse, so I abandoned that tactic, even though it was the truth. I promised her at least twenty times that I’d pick her up after her evening class and take her to dinner, anywhere she wanted to go that didn’t serve leftover turkey. That finally got a faint shadow of a smile out of her, and I finally stopped feeling like the biggest asshole in the world.
I watched her walk away, heading to her next class, and wondered exactly how stupid I was. The swing of her hips mesmerized me, and I felt shame all over again that I’d spent a weekend playing video games instead of endearing myself to her to the point she couldn’t imagine life without me. I knew that it wouldn’t happen after a single weekend, but I could have spent the time furthering the cause. Now I’d have to start in the negative and climb out of the hole before she’d even forgive me.
Doctor Campbell rambled on about the Middle East, and the geopolitical ramifications of the Arab Spring. I wasn’t one of those inbreds that thought every Muslim was a terrorist, but today I was about as interested in the subject as I was about putting my feet in a vat of boiling tar. I kept playing over and over in my head two things. How I dominated in Star Evolution, immediately followed by how I’d given up a weekend of sex, maybe earned a very long, extended vacation from it if I couldn’t make it up to Kass. Just as class ended, Dr. Campbell reminded us to look up the Arab Spring uprising and write a six paragraph essay detailing how it began to affect the political stability in the region.
*
I pulled up to the curb and waited for Kass to exit the building. My parents were a little upset that I’d elected to skip dinner with them, until I informed them that no, I was not going to spend it in my room again, but was going to take Kassandra Perkins out to dinner to make up for staying in my room all weekend. My dad gave me a sly wink and a smile, and my mom gave him a frown and an elbow in the ribs. I’d apologized to my parents for being a reclusive anti-social jerk, and they apologized for not poisoning Uncle Marion’s turkey so his beautiful wife and five
“Computer, hibernate.”
The screen pulled in its projection, then dimmed until there was only the plastic backing attached to the thin metal rod. The blue glow inside the case slowly dimmed until it too was dark. I patted the side of the case as if it were a good dog. My head was a mix of adrenaline-charged triumph at my amazing kill rate over the weekend, and stomach-gnawing fear that Kassandra was going to tell me to get lost after standing her up for four straight days.
*****
December 1, 2014
I had every right to be scared. Kassandra already scared the hell out of me when things were going just fine. I truly thought she was going to take a swing at me when we met up after my Ethics class. She didn’t say a word until we were almost off campus, then spun in fury and laid into me. By the time she was spent, she was shaking, crying, and cursing. Each enunciated word from her mouth made me shrink another inch, until there was only a single molecule of me left to stare at her as she bawled.
I spent the two hours I had before my Western Civ II class trying to apologize. I spent the hour after my Western Civ II class but before my Cultural Geography class apologizing more. I tried to explain to her that I’d been so amped up over my new computer that I’d lost time, but that seemed to only make things worse, so I abandoned that tactic, even though it was the truth. I promised her at least twenty times that I’d pick her up after her evening class and take her to dinner, anywhere she wanted to go that didn’t serve leftover turkey. That finally got a faint shadow of a smile out of her, and I finally stopped feeling like the biggest asshole in the world.
I watched her walk away, heading to her next class, and wondered exactly how stupid I was. The swing of her hips mesmerized me, and I felt shame all over again that I’d spent a weekend playing video games instead of endearing myself to her to the point she couldn’t imagine life without me. I knew that it wouldn’t happen after a single weekend, but I could have spent the time furthering the cause. Now I’d have to start in the negative and climb out of the hole before she’d even forgive me.
Doctor Campbell rambled on about the Middle East, and the geopolitical ramifications of the Arab Spring. I wasn’t one of those inbreds that thought every Muslim was a terrorist, but today I was about as interested in the subject as I was about putting my feet in a vat of boiling tar. I kept playing over and over in my head two things. How I dominated in Star Evolution, immediately followed by how I’d given up a weekend of sex, maybe earned a very long, extended vacation from it if I couldn’t make it up to Kass. Just as class ended, Dr. Campbell reminded us to look up the Arab Spring uprising and write a six paragraph essay detailing how it began to affect the political stability in the region.
*
I pulled up to the curb and waited for Kass to exit the building. My parents were a little upset that I’d elected to skip dinner with them, until I informed them that no, I was not going to spend it in my room again, but was going to take Kassandra Perkins out to dinner to make up for staying in my room all weekend. My dad gave me a sly wink and a smile, and my mom gave him a frown and an elbow in the ribs. I’d apologized to my parents for being a reclusive anti-social jerk, and they apologized for not poisoning Uncle Marion’s turkey so his beautiful wife and five
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