Rachel narrowed her piercing blue eyes and Brian knew he was in for it now. It wasn’t just her intellect that shut down her opponents, it was her looks and her attitude. She was five foot seven, wore her flowing blonde hair at shoulder length and regularly wore low-cut shirts to show off her sizable assets. Rachel knew what she had and she used it.
“Don’t give me that American classic bullshit!” she snapped, calm but dismissive. “It’s nothing but adolescent whining and vulgarity. Holden Caulfield is a spoiled little brat and that’s exactly why so many teens today identify with him. I mean really Brian, aren’t you a bit old to be reading that stuff? I think we read it back in tenth grade.”
“Whatever,” Brian mumbled, knowing he’d lost before he’d even begun.
Rachel smirked and returned to her chemistry text. She’d hardly settled back to her studies when the crack of a book snapping shut broke her concentration. Megan threw a heavy literature text to the ground in disdain while the other two looked curiously at her, Rachel with an air of annoyance.
“This is hopeless!” Megan sighed, defeated.
“What is?” the other two chimed in at once.
“The whole damned thing! I mean how can I study on such a beautiful day? I know you have no problem with it Rach, but it does my head in. All I can think about is springtime in Paris and Rome, eating in sidewalk cafes and strolling along the Seine!”
“Ugh, do we have to hear this again?” Brian grunted.
Megan looked betrayed. “Can’t you just be happy for me, for a moment?”
“We get it Megan, you’re going to be travelling the world, escaping this awful, boring, pedestrian little backwater while we wallow in it. Have fun, sure, but stop rubbing our noses in it!” Brian told her.
Megan seemed to want to reply, but seeing she would get no help from Rachel she swallowed her words, staring intently at a small bird hopping around the grass nearby. Megan was the least mature of the trio. Only five foot two and with a cute face she looked more like seventeen than the twenty-one years she and the other two actually were. She still dressed like a teenager, not a young woman, still got roaring drunk at weekly parties. Megan had no interest in leaving college at all, certainly not in getting a real job, waking up before 10AM and paying bills. How she’d managed to convince her mom to fund a trip around the world for her nobody knew. She’d probably just put on her perfect little princess act once again. In any case she’d delayed her entrance to the real world for at least another year.
After a couple minutes of awkward silence it was Megan who hopped up and broke the tension. “Look, I’m gonna go play some Frisbee instead of wasting this sunshine sitting in the shade. Either of you wanna join me?”
“I’m good right here,” Brian shrugged lazily.
“Well I have studying to do, and so do you,” Rachel replied pointedly.
“Fine then, do whatever you want. But I expect to see both of you at Brad’s party tonight. Might be our last chance to really party before exams, y’know.”
Brian and Rachel each gave her a tepid nod before she picked up her flip-flops and took of sprinting across the grass.
The whole building seemed to vibrate from the noise of the party. Juniors and seniors mixed with the occasional underclassman, drinking and yelling to each other over the boom of the pulsing music. At a table in the corner of the main room several guys and a couple girls played kings. Already a couple looked like they might actually pass out. On the balcony someone had broken out the heavier stuff and a gaggle of young revellers were gathered around a bong. Rachel and Brian weren’t in the main party themselves though. They’d both slipped back to an adjoining bedroom to escape the deafening din.
Brian sat on a messy couch, wedged between piles of dirty clothing abandoned there. He was still dressed in his typical college casual outfit of tight Abercrombie t-shirt, khakis cargo shorts and flip-flops. Brian was in the process of downing his fifth or perhaps sixth beer of the night, he’d lost count. Rachel was wearing another one of her low-cut halter-tops and some short shorts. She wasn’t degrading herself by drinking beer, but she had polished off a few margaritas and a couple rum and cokes. Still she seemed composed, in control, as she texted friends and checked her watch.