Chapter 12

Finally, the day arrived for Kat to move to school. I’d been ignoring it, enjoying the month or so we’d had together before she moved away, but I couldn’t keep pretending it wasn’t happening. She had practice starting on Monday with the UNC swim team and wanted a day to be there beforehand, so she could get the lay of the land.

We decided to drive up Saturday morning so I could help her move in and say goodbye and still be back home by the time we had to play that night. I’d already missed two weekends the previous month going to Kat’s swim trials. I couldn’t cause us to lose more gigs, especially not with the added tension the band was under.

So we left early that morning and arrived at the parking lot for her dorm around noon, which theoretically gave me enough time to unload for a few hours before turning around and making the drive back home. Or at least, I thought it did when we left. Now that we’d arrived, I was much less sure. The place was a madhouse. Cars were everywhere, with people going in every direction, carrying boxes and mattresses and everything else under the sun.

Thankfully, Hanna had seen this coming and had pulled her car into a spot right out front the night before, holding it for us until we got there. There weren’t a lot of student passes for that lot, but she’d managed to convince Professor Cross to help by intervening with the administration office and getting her one of the coveted passes. I guess being the head of one of the school’s departments gave him a little weight he could throw around.

“You ready for this?” I said, nodding at the madness outside of the car.

“I think so. It’s not any worse than one of your shows, right?”

“I don’t know,” I said, joking.

That got a brief smile out of her, but I could see she was nervous. My shows might have been packed and full of people, but they were all focused on the entertainment in front of them. Here, it was sheer chaos.

“You’re going to do amazing,” I said, squeezing her hand. “This is the next step in your adventure.”

Before she could say anything, there was a knock on the door. Hanna must have parked close by and hustled back after clearing out of the spot for us because we’d only been sitting there a few minutes.

Hanna opened Kat’s door and said excitedly, “Why are you still in here? We’ve got so much to do!”

I think Hanna was more excited about Kat being here than Kat was. I knew Hanna had made friends, but she and Kat had gotten really close the last couple of years, they were more like sisters now. I think Hanna was already planning all the trouble they could get into.

“You two go ahead and go up, I’ll start carrying boxes,” I said as I got out of the car.

“Good, it’s why we allowed you to come along,” Hanna said, giving me a wink before grabbing Kat’s hand and dragging her into the building.

We’d visited Hanna here a couple of times, and she’d given us the low-down on move-in day, so I figured I’d be fine. I knew the doors, which normally needed a key card to get inside, were unlocked for move-in day.

I grabbed the first box out of my back seat and headed inside. I found Kat and Hanna inside their room, the pair discussing how they could decorate it, where to put what, and basically ignoring the delivery man, even though he was one’s best friend and the other’s boyfriend. I just shook my head and set the box down inside the door before turning and heading back to grab more. I was feeling ambitious, so I stacked two boxes this time, a heavy one with a lighter one on top, to try to shorten the number of trips I would need to make.

It was kind of a pain maneuvering up the steps, but I managed, or thought I had until I ran into two girls at the top of the stairs, blocking the hallway. I tried to maneuver the boxes around the two girls, but there wasn’t quite enough room.

“Excuse me,” I said politely. “Could I just squeeze by here?”

The girls glanced over at me, followed by the blond one looking me up and down, an expression on her face like I was the last meal on a desert island. It was a little unnerving. I suddenly had a new appreciation for what some women go through.

“Well, hello there,” she said, giving me a flirty smile. “We haven’t seen you around before. Do you go here?”

“I’m just helping my girlfriend move in,” I explained, gesturing with my head toward Kat and Hanna’s room down the hall, hitting the word girlfriend hard.

“I’m Tiffany,” the blonde said, breezing right over my response. “This is my friend Amanda. What’s your name?”

“Uhh, Charlie,” I said, trying to edge past them again, but Amanda shifted to block my path.

“Charlie, huh? That’s cute,” Tiffany said, edging closer.

“Thanks,” I muttered, shifting the boxes in my arms. My fingers were starting to cramp up.

“Are those heavy? They look heavy,” Amanda continued, placing a hand casually on my arm. “You’re pretty strong. You know, we’ve got some stuff we need to get moved in that’s just too heavy for us.”

I refrained from rolling my eyes. Did lines like that actually work on guys? I assumed they lived on this floor, and Kat would have to deal with them, so insulting them would probably not be helpful.

“Sorry, I’m just helping my girlfriend move in, then I have to get back home for a thing.”

I almost said a gig, but I somehow felt that might be throwing fuel on the fire and swerved at the last moment. I also hit girlfriend again, hoping this time they’d get the message.”

“Ohh, that’s too bad,” Tiffany said, putting on the most absurd pout I’d ever seen in my life. “There’s a party tonight, and I was really hoping you’d be there.”

Man, they just didn’t get the hint. I was searching for my next attempt to escape and get them to let me by when Kat appeared behind them.

“There you are,” she said. “I was wondering what was taking so long.”

Her appearance startled Tiffany and Amanda. They both stepped aside a little, giving Kat just enough room to slip past, between the boxes and the wall, and put an arm around my waist.

“Kat, this is Tiffany and Amanda,” I said. “They’re on your floor.”

“Hi!” Kat said brightly.

Though her tone was friendly, her grip on me tightened ever so slightly. She added, “Nice to meet you both.”

“You too,” Tiffany replied, her enthusiasm dimmed.

An awkward beat passed before Amanda jumped in, “We were just inviting your boyfriend to a party tonight. You should come too, it’s just down the hall, room three-twelve.”

“Great, I’ll try to stop by,” Kat said.

I knew she had no intention of going. Kat wasn’t much for big parties since she’d started her recovery, especially with people she didn’t know well. But I appreciated her attempt at friendliness. As great as all this was, however, my arms were starting to get tired. I’d picked too heavy of a box for the bottom one to be standing here, holding a long conversation.

“Here, let me help you with that,” Kat said, taking the top box from my aching arms.

“Thanks,” I said with relief. “It was nice to meet you.”

Tiffany and Amanda stepped further aside, no longer obstructing our path down the hall.

As we walked away, I heard Tiffany mutter to Amanda, “Of course, he has a girlfriend.”

I shook my head, exhaling as I stepped into Kat and Hanna’s room. After setting down the boxes, I pulled Kat in for a quick kiss.

“My hero,” I joked.

Kat rolled her eyes but smiled. “Looked like you needed some rescuing.”

“I mean, I totally had the situation under control,” I said in mock offense.

“Oh definitely, I could see that,” Kat laughed before turning serious. “You know, if you wanted to go to the party, you could.”

“Nah, I’m good,” I said, shaking my head. “I’d much rather spend whatever time I have left here with you before I hit the road back home. Besides, I need to be back for the gig tonight. Lyla and Seth need the work, and I can’t leave them hanging.”

Kat smiled, putting a hand on my chest, and said, “That’s a good answer. Though you could have left out the part about having to play tonight and just stuck with only wanting to spend time with me.”

“Noted,” I said, just shaking my head.

A few hours later, after what felt like a hundred trips up and down the stairs and dozens of times moving furniture here and there as the girls made up their minds, Kat and Hanna’s room was finally set up. Her sheets were on the bed, clothes hung in the closet, and books stacked on the desk.