The Best Seat In The House
When Friday finally rolls around, Christen couldn’t be any more relieved. Despite her first week at school only being a three day week, it seemed to move by at a snail’s pace. The weekend was a welcome change of events.
Today was a relatively easy day. Her morning communications class was cancelled, much to her excitement and slightly her dismay. She actually got to eat lunch as a result, so it was a bit of a win. And even her Freshmen Seminar wasn’t that bad; the class learned about campus meal plans, which Christen was previously confused about and now thankful to be enlightened.
Presently, Christen strolls down the hallway of the third floor with her backpack on her shoulders and a rejoiced pep in her step. It’s finally the weekend! I can’t wait to just crawl into my bed and lay there for hours. Simply the thought of uninterrupted rest is enough to bring a smile to Christen’s face. There is truly nothing comparable to a good, post-class nap.
As the door to her room comes into view, Christen prematurely pulls her lanyard from her neck and holds her key at the ready. Anything to minimize the time it takes for Christen to walk from the hallway to her bed is a necessary step that must be taken. After a few more strides, she finally stands just outside of room 318 and moves her hand to unlock the door. Finally. Before she can do that, however, she hears footsteps approaching and stopping just behind her.
“Hey there, neighbor.”
That’s definitely Tobin’s voice. Christen does an about face and confirms what she already knew to be true. Tobin leans against the wall in front of her, sporting her usual combination of a soccer T-shirt, sweatpants, and a snapback turned backwards. The look is simple, but it complements Tobin’s defined stature extremely well.
“Oh, hey Tobin” Christen replies as she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, “What’s up?” Not a bad start, Christen. Remember, play it cool and don’t freak out.
“Well, Kling, some of the girls and I are going to watch a movie soon. Wanna join?” Tobin offers as she gestures to her own room. Christen didn’t notice earlier, probably because she was caught up in her pre-nap excitement, but the door to Tobin’s room is open. Inside Christen sees a futon, a few bean bag chairs, and several blankets spread across the floor. It certainly looks like an ideal movie-watching environment.
“I don’t know, I was kind of planning on heading into my room and taking a nap” Christen shyly explains.
“You can nap whenever” Tobin points out, “Come watch the movie with us.” Christen feels conflicted. She wants to say yes and spend some more time with Tobin and the girls, but her eyelids are feeling heavier and heavier by the second. “I’ll let you have the best seat in the house” Tobin bargains as she attempts to persuade Christen.
Unsure of what to do, Christen looks to the ground for a moment before looking back up and locking on to Tobin’s pleading gaze. Tobin wears a look that reminds Christen of the way Morena stares at her when she wants a treat. It’s a look that Christen can never say no to, and now is no exception.
“Alright, fine” Christen finally concedes. Tobin’s eyes light up a little.
“Cool” she warmly states as she pushes herself off of the wall, “How about you change into some comfortable clothes and come over to my room when you’re ready.” Christen nods and proceeds to unlock the door to her room.
When Christen finally emerges from her room, she wears a white, long-sleeved yoga shirt and a pair of black athletic shorts. She closes her door behind her and takes one breath before turning around. Once she does, she takes a few small steps across the hallway and pauses in the doorway, peering into room 317.
There she sees Kling sprawled across one of the beanbag chairs while fiddling with a remote for the TV. The television screen flashes a medley of blue, black, and static screens as Kling attempts to figure out the correct input for the Blu-ray player. Frustration is evident on her face as she is in a losing battle. Then Christen hears a laugh.
Her eyes travel further into the room and towards the source. There, she finds Tobin taking up half of the black futon and laughing at her roommate’s technical difficulties. Laughing Tobin is one of Christen’s favorite versions of the girl. She adores the way Tobin’s eyes twinkle and how her blinding smile lights up her face. Tobin looks genuinely happy when she’s laughing, and Christen thinks that’s the only way she ever wants to see her.
After a couple more moments of casually observing the scene before her, Christen works up the courage two knock on the doorframe. Both Kling and Tobin look in Christen’s direction.
“Christen!” Kling excitedly welcomes as she abandons her remote and moves to greet Christen at the door. “Bring it in, buddy” Kling directs as she grabs hold of Christen’s right hand and pulls her in to what Christen can only think to describe as a ‘Bro-Hug’. Kling pats Christen’s back a few times before letting her go.
“Hey Kling” Christen returns after the friendly embrace.
“I didn’t know you were coming to this little shindig” Kling happily admits as she beams at Christen.
“I didn’t either” Christen confesses, “But then Tobin invited me. I hope I’m not crashing.” Kling flicks a dismissive wrist at Christen.
“I mean normally I have Tobin run any potential guests by me first, you know, so I can give her my approval or whatever” Kling states with a sly smirk, “But for you, I guess I can make an exception. Just this once.” Tobin lets out a chuckle from behind Kling,
“How very gracious of you, Kling” she comments with an amused look. I have a feeling this is the norm between these two.
“Well I am a gentlewoman, after all” Kling replies, earning another laugh from Tobin and a humored shake of the head from Christen. Kling continues to smirk, satisfied with her prominent display of wit, when her phone chimes from on top of the beanbag chair she was just occupying. Tobin reaches down and tosses the phone to her roommate. After snatching it from the air, Kling unlocks it and reads a text. “Looks like the pizza’s here.” Tobin fist pumps as Kling reaches for her wallet and heads for the door. “I’ll be back in a few” she informs as she sneaks past Christen and exits the room. Tobin’s gaze settles on Christen in the doorway.
“So are you going to stand there the whole time or are you going to have a seat?” she teases with a cheeky smile. Christen blushes slightly but not as obviously as she had in previous encounters with Tobin. Maybe I’m finally gaining some composure… It only took me a week.
“Well I have yet to find out where this infamous ‘best seat in the house’ is” Christen retorts, “As I recall, I was promised that in exchange for my presence at this movie night.” Tobin’s smile grows wider.
“Right over here” Tobin simply replies as she pats the area of the futon directly next to her. Tobin’s eyes beckon Christen to come closer and Christen finds herself willingly complying. She sits beside Tobin on the low-to-the-ground futon and stretches her legs out over the edge.
“So this is it, huh?” Christen asks as she looks up and around, taking in the space.
“Yep,” Tobin confirms with an added nod of her head, “Central to the TV screen and right next to me.” Christen’s heart rate speeds up at the end of that sentence. Stay calm and do your thing.
“Well I suppose it’ll do” Christen jokes with a slight boost of confidence. Tobin cocks an eyebrow like she’s pleasantly surprised by Christen’s sudden burst of playfulness. Christen proudly smiles to herself, she got exactly the reaction she wanted. That’s right, I can be more than just a clumsy fool.
“Alright then, well let me know if I can be any more accommodating” Tobin returns, another smile playing at her lips. Christen looks Tobin directly in the eye.
“I’ll keep that in mind” Christen acknowledges. The two continue with their intimate yet light-hearted stare-down, neither one drawing her eyes from the other. It’s only when Tobin hears a wave of approaching chatter wafting in from the hallway that she breaks her locked gaze with Christen. Ha, I win. Seconds later, three pajama and sweatpants clad women enter through the doorway.
“No way, Christen’s here?!” Sarah bellows as she spots the freshman on the futon, “I didn’t know Christen was gonna be here! You’ve totally gotta sit by me for the movie.” Sarah plops excitedly onto a beanbag chair. Wow, Sarah’s a bit energetic.
“Not a chance” Alex declares as she rolls out her blanket on the floor, “Christen’s going to sit by me. Us Cali girls have to stick together, right Christen?” So Cali pride dictates where I should sit?
“Um, you all seem to be forgetting who Christen’s favorite is” Ali confidently points out while opening a bag of sour cream and onion chips. My favorite? Well that’s obviously –
“Yes, thank you, Ali. I’m her favorite” Sarah announces.
“Yeah right! Why would you be her favorite when you were throwing grapes at her the other night?” Alex argues from her spot on the floor.
“I wasn’t throwing them at Christen, I was throwing them at Kling! We’ve been over this!” Sarah defends, throwing her arms in the air.
“But you could’ve hit the poor girl” Ali states with a fist full of chips.
“But I didn’t.”
“But you could’ve.”
“But I didn’t.”
Christen shakes her head in disbelief. Are they seriously still arguing about this?
“Alright, that’s enough” Tobin finally interrupts. Oh, thank goodness. “You’re all bickering over nothing because obviously Christen will sit next to me. I met her first so I have ultimate dibs over where she sits. End of discussion.” And here I thought she was going to put an end to this silly quarrel. I should’ve known. The others open their mouths to protest, but before they can get a word out, Kling bounds back into the room.
“I have pizza!” She sings as she sets several pizza boxes on top of her desk. Sarah, Alex, and Ali jump to their feet and nearly tackle Kling on their way to the pizza boxes.
“At least let me get out of the way first, you animals” Kling says as she squirms her way past her taller friends. Christen watches the three girls tare into the boxes with great amusement before she hears a chuckle escape from the person beside her. Christen glances in Tobin’s direction. ‘I won’ Tobin mouths before she gets up to join her friends at the desk. Christen lets out a giggle. ‘Everything’s a competition.’
Even though she knows that whole argument was exaggerated to make Christen feel like she was more of a part of the group, she appreciates the girls taking the time to consider her feelings. She knows the words were meaningless but the sentiment was real. And as trivial as it may seem, Christen is happy that Tobin was the one to get the last word.
Soon Tobin returns to the futon with two plates of pizza in hand. When she sits, she hands one to Christen.
“Thanks” Christen says as she accepts the plate.
“You’re welcome” Tobin responds warmly responds as she settles back into her seat, “I hope cheese is alright. I know you mentioned that you do yoga so I wasn’t sure if you ate meat or not.”
“Cheese is perfect” Christen confirms with an appreciative smile. That was really thoughtful of her.
“Good” Tobin declares as she returns a smile of her own.
“So what movie are we watching?” Christen asks once everyone seems to settle down.
“She’s The Man” Kling proudly replies as she places the disk into the Blu-ray player. The girls surrounding Christen let out whoops and cheers. I take it it’s a good movie then?
“What’s it about?” Christen questions, her curiosity getting the best of her. Kling gives her an incredulous look.
“You’ve never seen it?” she asks in utter disbelief. Christen shakes her head. Was I supposed to?
“It’s a comedy about soccer and romance” Ali eventually explains, “You’ll like it, Amanda Bynes absolutely kills.” Soccer players watching a movie about soccer… That’s not cliché or anything.
“Yeah, even Alex thinks it’s funny” Sarah chimes in, earning a death glare from Alex. Christen just nods as Kling finally finds the correct input and turns down the lights in the room. As Christen shifts in her seat to prepare for the movie, she feels some type of fabric tickling her leg. She looks down to see Tobin’s hand holding a blanket out to Christen.
“Wanna share?” she asks, looking at Christen expectantly. After a moment of hesitation, Christen grabs the end of the blanket and pulls it over her lap. In doing so, she feels Tobin’s leg briefly brush up against her own. This sends electricity through her core. When Christen looks back over to Tobin, she sees that the girl has already focused her eyes on the screen. After taking a deep breath, Christen does the same.
When the opening credits start to play, Christen feels Tobin lean closer to her side. Christen is suddenly hyperaware of their close proximity. Then Tobin speaks.
“If you still feel like taking a nap” Tobin whispers with her warm breath tickling Christen’s ear, causing the girl’s breathing to hitch, “Feel free to fall asleep. I’ve been told I have a very comfortable shoulder.” Christen just sits as still as a statue as Tobin slowly leans away and resumes her previous position on the futon. Christen’s senses kick into over drive. There’s no way I’ll be able to fall asleep now.