Chapter 2: The Fraternity Formal

On the evening of the formal, I walked the four blocks to Ginny B’s room to pick her up. I had contacted her a few nights prior just to let her know what time she should expect me. She was excited and eager to go to the dance. As a freshman, being invited to a social event by an upperclassman was extremely thrilling for her. She said she spoke with her mom the night I asked her to go to the formal and had her party dress sent to her. Ginny mentioned her mother was as excited as she was.

I retained that information for future reference in case I ever had to meet her parents. You never know; some parents live vicariously through their children’s lives.

I entered the dorm foyer, and I suspect roughly half the girls who lived in the dorm were there. They scrutinized me like a bug under a microscope. I can say it was a pretty disturbing encounter. Even the dorm’s resident advisor was in attendance and she was giving me the stink eye.

I didn’t want to appear weak, so I wandered over to the phone, dialed the number to her room, and then informed Ginny that I had arrived. She said she’d be down as soon as she finished applying her makeup.

I looked around while waiting, and all of the girls I noticed were all staring at me. They were giggling and making comments to one another. To be truthful; I was trembling like a leaf. I’ve never been under such severe scrutiny before.

Five minutes had passed, yet there was still no date. The stares I was getting began getting to me. I wanted to flee and cancel the whole date. I presumed Janet Collins, the resident advisor, took pity on me and approached me to talk.

She grabbed me, and her first comments towards me were, “You hurt Ginny, and I will go looking for you.”

My cerebral reply was, “Huh? Jeez, lady, this is only a dance. After tonight, I doubt she is going to remember who I am next week.”

I considered running for it. At that moment, there was a disturbance at the stairwell doorway; it was a grand procession. Ginny and her ladies in attendance made an elaborate entrance.

My jaw lay upon my chest. The vision which approached me overwhelmed me. Who was this person? This was a movie-style princess. I swear she was the most magnificent creature. She glided across the room, instead of walking towards me. The closer she got, the more I comprehended the amount of time she had probably spent getting dressed. She literally did it all for me. Ginny was more than stunning; I struggled to think of any adjectives to describe her. Dressed in a floor-length gown and clutching a white crocheted shawl, she was beyond words in my mind’s eye. I was awestruck by her beauty.

Of course, everyone had to take photographs. It was worse than I remember attending my high school proms. I was hoping we might make it there before the band finished for the night.

The air was cool as we traversed the four blocks. I mentally kicked myself; we could have driven over. It was late fall, which meant we were about to experience snow. That night, there were hardly any clouds and the moon was beginning to rise in the east.

I couldn’t get over Ginny’s change. She transformed into a different woman from the one I’d asked. I continued to gaze across at Ginny and grinning like a drooling idiot.

“Ginny, I cannot believe how stunning you are. Not that you weren’t gorgeous before.”

“Nice recovery, you idiot,” I thought to myself.

“But I am in awe of how beautiful you are. Everyone else is going to be envious of me because I am with the most desirable woman on campus.”

The more I spoke, the closer she got and the tighter she held my arm. I adored every minute of the trek to the fraternity. We walked for what felt like hours, yet it only took 10 minutes.

We made our entrance in the fraternity, and many of my fellow brothers stared, uncertain what to say. The women who knew me weren’t expecting that I would be escorting such a lovely girl. As I was helping her with her wrap, a total of four of the fraternity’s biggest horn dogs appeared. I immediately went on alert. They had a track record of stealing other brothers’ girls.

“Dang dude, where did you discover this beauty? She’s too good for you.”

“This was going to turn ugly quickly,” I thought. Well, at least I enjoyed being with her for a good fifteen minutes.

“Sorry, guys, but I’m with James tonight and for the foreseeable future. “So go back under the rocks where you slimy toads live,” she said, dismissing them.

If the words were not enough, the way she looked could have melted steel. This chick was exceptionally intense. I wouldn’t like to be on her bad side.

“We belong together. Nobody is going to mess that up!” she exclaimed.

Right then, she had me; I was under her enchantment. I realized then that we had become a couple. Damn, it sure felt right. At last, I had a significant other.

The remainder of the night did not matter much to me. We danced nearly every one of the dances together. We sat for a few moments to catch our breath and cool down. I went to get us drinks on multiple occasions. We joined the brothers of my pledge class and their dates having fun talking.