Page 30 of Family Forever
Marissa had learned Ashley was the youngest of three girls. Though her sisters had attended different colleges, they had given her clear direction on what to expect on campus. Marissa, on the other hand, already felt like she was floundering. Yeah, Cole and Dylan had prepared her for some things, but she had been too embarrassed to ask them many of the questions she had. With a quick glance at her roommate, Marissa blew out a sigh of relief. Everything would be okay, Ashley seemed to have a grip and that would certainly help.
Marissa followed Ashley through the club booth staging area where they checked out the many different organizations available to join, each enticing them to their tables with free food, beverages, and some rudimentary swag.
After some time, Ashley took off to meet up with some of her friends from high school. She had invited Marissa to go along. Both physically and emotionally exhausted, Marissa thanked her but declined. Over the past several months, she’d become an early to bed, early to rise person. She supposed that was because the Jacobs boys woke early and usually required some sort of attention from her, whether it was something as simple as breakfast for Luke or running him or his brothers here or there. Her heart grew heavy, she missed them already, all of them.
Marissa had just slid between the crisp cool sheets when the cell phone Dylan gave her started to chime, and lit up the dark room. Cole’s face flashed across the screen.
“Hi, Cole.”Did she need to sound so desperately eager?
“Hey, Marissa. All settled in?”
“Yep.”
“So, what are you doing now?”
He read into her pause.
“You’re going to go out and meet some people, right?”
“Well…”
“Please tell me you haven’t climbed in bed already,” Cole interjected.
“I’m just tired. It’s a lot to take in.”
“Okay, here’s the deal. You are in college now. You are supposed to have mindless fun while studying hard, of course. Other than maintaining good grades, you have zero responsibility—no cooking or cleaning up after my brothers. This is about you. Have fun.”
“I know, it’s just…”
“No excuses and I know I don’t have to tell you this but I’m going to. Dylan wants you to experience full-blown college life. He wants you to get a quality education, and have fun.”
Cole knew her all too well. She’d do whatever Dylan asked her to do.
“Did you do anything today?” he asked.
“Yeah, actually, my roommate and I scoped out some organizations to join.”
“That’s a start. Did you actually join any?”
“Not yet, but I’m thinking about joining the Christian Club and Accounting Club. I picked up their paperwork and I’ll check them out more tomorrow.”
“Good. And what about your roommate? Do you like her?”
“Yeah, she seems real nice. Her parents were here for a bit, they seem nice too.”
“Where is she now?” Cole asked.
“Out,” she responded sheepishly, knowing he wasn’t going to like her answer.
“That’s what I figured. That’s what students are supposed to be doing right now.”
Marissa sighed. “I know. I’ll get into the swing of things.”
“Please promise me you’ll do that.”
“I promise.”
“Okay, I gotta go, things are happening here.”
Sometimes Marissa wished she was more carefree like Cole, but that simply wasn’t her nature.
She flopped over and hugged her pillow, pretending it was Dylan. How on earth was she going to make it all the way to Thanksgiving without seeing him? Yeah, he said he would pick her up anytime she wanted to go home, but she needed to prove to herself she could be strong and do as he asked—experience life. But would her already homesick heart survive?
