My name is Jake, and I was thrilled to finally being able to go to college. After I, my cousin Rachel, her boyfriend Tobias, my best friend Marco and my girlfriend Cassie had registered, we agreed to meet in the girl's dorm. We split ways and I went into my room, downstairs from Marco and Tobias.
When I stepped into my room, I noticed my roommate had already arrived. A guy with long blonde hair who was dumping his clothes into any available space. I nearly groaned. Oh please, please tell me I'm not roomie with a slob! Ok, so I'm not exactly neat and tidy but I do like to be able to walk around in my room without tripping over things!
"Hey roomie!" he exclaimed, noticing me.
Then I recognised him.
"You're Zac Hanson?"
"The only and one," he replied with a grin. "Wait..."
Oh this was going to be a long semester.
"I'm Jake," I said.
"Hey can we bunk the beds? I wanna sleep on the top."
"Uh sure -"
"And do you mind if I bring my drums up?"
I gaped at him.
"You brought drums?"
"No, I just wanted to see the expression on your face. Umm, let me see... I think I'm gonna go hassle Ike and Tay and find places to get kicked out of."
"Good luck," I said. "There's nothing here to get kicked out of."
"Shh!" he commanded. "Don't tell me that and take all the fun out of it! After all, I did say 'find'."
He grinned gleefully at me and bounded out of the room. I shook my head hoping that whirlwind wasn't going to be an example of what it was going to be like rooming with him.
I quickly unpacked and then headed to Marco's room.
"Hey guys, you will not believe who my roommate is. He is absolutely insane!" was what I greeted them with.
Marco and Tobias looked at each other and laughed.
"It wouldn't be Zac Hanson by any chance, would it?"
"Yeah, how on earth did you know?" I asked, gaping.
"I'm with Isaac and Tobias got Taylor."
We laughed at the coincidence.
"Dude, it almost makes me wonder if someone arranged it to happen this way." I said suddenly.
We were silent after that. With people like the Ellimist out there, it was entirely possible. I hoped it was just a coincidence. I've had enough excitement for one lifetime!
From there we headed to the girl's dorm. Tobias went looking for Rachel while Marco and I headed for Cassie room. I gave Cassie a hug and a kiss on the cheek when I found her room.
"Hi," she smiled. "Oh! This is Nory."
Nory looked over at us and gave a small smile before getting back to her unpacking. I will never know why girls have to pack so much.
"Hey, you will never guess who my roomie is," I grinned.
"Who?"
"Guess!"
"But you said I would never guess," she teased.
"Zac Hanson."
She stared.
"You're kidding."
"Nuh-uh."
"Zac Hanson. You said Zac Hanson."
"Yep."
"And my roommate is Isaac Hanson," Marco added. "And Tobias's is Taylor Hanson."
"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!"
And on that she darted out the door and down the hall to Rachel's room:
"Oh my gosh, Rachel, did you hear?" She asked, practically screaming. Rachel nodded, not being able to form words yet.
"Hey Jake, you think our girlfriends are excited by any chance?" Tobias said, a grin on my face.
"Over meeting Hanson? Nah, not our girlfriends," I said, and the three of us started laughing as the two of them freaked out.
"They're getting this freaked out over Hanson?" Rachel's roommate, Sonya, asked, astonished. "I wonder what they'd be like around a good band," she teased, and we all laughed again.
We yakked about nothing for a while after the girls calmed down and then returned to our rooms. When Zac finally returned from, well, wherever it was he and his brothers went, we bunked the beds and Zac triumphantly claimed the top.
Oh yeah. This is definitely going to be a long semester.
**********
The following morning Zac managed to disturb my sleep by jumping off the top bunk. Or at least that's what it sounded like when he landed. I turned over but now that I was partly awake I couldn't get back to sleep so I got up.
After dressing and going to the bathroom and stuff I headed downstairs for breakfast with the rest of them. The Hansons and the girls roommates joined us. After Cassie and Rachel gave the Hanson a... warm welcome, we got down to eating.
"Well, I'm full as a goog -" Isaac began.
"What's a goog?" asked Marco.
"Whatever it is, it gets very full," he answered. "I also have a class this morning, so I'll talk to you guys later."
"See ya Ike," Taylor waved.
"I'm better go too," Zac said. "First calculus class this morning."
"Calculus?" Nory repeated. "I have that too."
"Cool!" Zac grinned. "We can sit next to each other and pass notes during class."
Nory gave him an odd look and then giggled. Slowly we got up and went our separate ways.
**********
Cassie and I decided to take a walk around campus. Mistake number one. There were still puddles from the rain last night and from the couple of showers we had this morning. And of course, I stepped into one three miles deep. Cassie laughed at me.
"You laughing at me?" I asked.
"Yep."
"You realise what I have to do now, don't you?"
"Jake, don't!" she objected as I grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the puddle too.
It was then my turn to laugh at her. And then thunder clapped and it started raining again.
So there we were, three inches apart and standing the in the middle of the world's deepest puddle, which was about to get deeper still from this new shower of rain. Our clothes were getting drenched and our hair was soaked and sticking to our skin as if it thought to protect it from getting wet.
And yet, all I thought about as I gazed into Cassie's eyes was just how beautiful she was. And before any of us really had any idea of what we were doing, we were kissing.
In the rain.
Getting soaking wet.
And neither of us cared.