That first morning the two new friends were off early to the Salvation Army and Goodwill stores, looking for lamps, chairs, a sofa-bed, a tiny fridge. They found some good things, having arrived before the crowds of other students. Anne´s car got stuffed again and again, and they huffed and puffed getting it all upstairs. There were always guys around who were willing to help with the heavy things, and the two of them handed out a few beers to reward their helpers.
The next days were full of the business of starting college. Counseling sessions, registration, sorting out class sections, buying books. They decided not to share any books, simply because they each had their own way of marking them up and making marginal notes. They began reading some of the material; some courses listed reading assignments in the syllabus.
.oOo.
They began a tour of the other rooms on the third floor, getting acquainted with their neighbors. Most of them were not very interesting. One pair of women were very hostile. Mary thought they were very strange, might have something to hide. There was a pair of guys they visited who were a little scary. They stayed near the door and left quickly.
.oOo.
They agreed on a code. When coming to the room with a third person, they would tap the door with the key before unlocking it.
.oOo.
Anne got out their screwdriver and fastened a coat hook on the outside of the bedroom door.
“What´s that for?”
“When you´ve got a guy in the bedroom, just hang your panties on this. There´s no lock on the door, or didn´t you notice?”
“Nope. Maybe I´ll put an extra pair where I can get it if I´m not wearing any. What´s the penalty if I forget?”
“No penalty, you just might get company.”
“That hook may not get a lot of use after all. But if you bring a guy in when I´ve got one in there, don´t get bent out of shape if I jump him, too.”
“Not unless you won´t share.”
.oOo.
Anne fixed the outlet for the hair dryer in the bathroom.
“Miss Fix-it, aren´t you? When you need a fence mended, call me.”
.oOo.
Eventually, classes started. The first week was hectic, getting to know the routine, finding seats, meeting classmates. The weather was blistering. Mary walked into the room on a Thursday afternoon. Anne was leaning back in her desk chair reading a book with her feet on the window sill. The sun was pouring in on her naked body. She was wearing sunglasses.
Mary laughed her big laugh. “Well, that looks comfortable, at least.”
“One of these days we´re going to have winter, and I figure I might as well make the most of this.”
Mary sat on the window sill and looked at Anne´s spread legs. She took off her shoes, then her shorts. “Isn´t it a pain to shave all the time?”
“Oh, I don´t. I´m bald there.”
“Really? Let me see.”
Anne pulled one foot up onto the chair seat and Mary knelt down and put her face close to Anne´s thigh. Her cheek touched the sun-warm skin.
“Boy, that looks great! I´ve never seen one so pretty. Smells delicious,” she said, pulling her shirt over her head.
Anne got up and took Mary´s hand, drawing her into the bedroom.
“Aren´t you supposed to put your panties on the hook?” Mary asked.
“Shut up.”
Later, Anne moaned and Mary laughed her big laugh. That night, they pushed the beds together.
.oOo.
“The other day you said something about a study group.” They were in the study room, reading or working on a paper.
“Yeah, six of us. Each of us kind of specialized. We had a math person, a history person. I did English. We each helped out when someone else had a problem.”
“No problem with plagiarism?”
“No. We´re all too uppity. No one would think of using someone else´s stuff. Always thought our own was better. And a lot of the time, we´d give each other ideas, new ways of doing things, stuff like that.”
“You plan to start another group here?”
“Well, it would be good if we could. Getting good marks is hard work, and it helps when you have company.”
“What kind of company? Who was in your group at school?”
“Me, Marianne, and Sally, George, Martin and Seth.”
“Sounds like normal distribution to me. Which one did you screw?”
“We all screwed all of them. Well, the guys didn´t do each other, but we girls did. And we had other friends, too.”
“You screw them, too?”
“Some. We just didn´t have an exclusive thing within the group. They were the best, always, but – well, you know, a little variety is a good thing.”
“That´s what you meant when you said you had nobody you´d really miss?”
“Well, I really miss those guys, we had a lot of fun. But none of them is the guy I want to live with the rest of my life. And I miss getting laid regular, too. It´s nice with you, but there´s a lot more than just that.”
“Don´t I know,” Mary said. “I´m one of those, if I really like a guy, I want to try him out in bed. Most of them get to keep right on trying. So, how do we go about getting a group together?”
“Let´s make a list of our classes, and what each of us is good at. We can agree on where we´re going to need help. Then we can start looking for guys who can do the job. You know, smart, good-looking if possible, not too macho, and willing to put in a lot of time on the books.”
“And in bed.”
“Right.”
.oOo.
Anne heard Mary´s key tapping on the door, then in the lock. She came in with a good-looking guy named Tom. They sat and talked for half an hour. Tom was in Mary´s Economics section and seemed to know what that was all about. They talked about books. Tom seemed delighted when he realized they both actually read books for fun. Mary pulled two beers from the fridge and took Tom into the bedroom. Anne went back to work. She could hear them talking.
After a while, Tom closed the door. When the door opened again a few minutes later, Anne looked up. Mary stood there, naked, hanging her panties on the hook. She smiled at Anne and waved. The door closed again, and after a while, Anne heard Mary´s big, happy laugh.