One week later I was completely finished my first year of college. It felt a bit strange to not have to go to class and packing up all of my clothes and things to bring home was even stranger. In August when classes started again, I'd be in a new dorm room with new roommates and probably without Mitch across the hall. The thought of that scared me a bit, but it was only half way through May; we have two full months before classes would start up again and things would be hectic again.

It was Tuesday afternoon, and I was in my dorm room, cleaning up and packing the remainder of my clothes, CDs, and personal belongings. The next morning Mitch and I were "moving" into his parents' basement apartment. We had spent the past week discussing the situation, him and I, then with my mom and finally with his parents. We decided we'd stay in Minneapolis - actually Mitch's parents lived in St. Paul, the next town over - so that I didn't have to bring everything back to Thomasville for just two months. Mitch's parents were thrilled to have us, and I promised my mom I'd fly home in June for a few weeks. Although I could tell my mom felt like she was getting the bad end of the deal, she knew I was happy which was most important to her. I was quite frightened to be actually "living" somewhere that wasn't Thomasville, but I was so excited that my fear was sort of on the back burner.

There was knocking at the door and as I made my way across the room and out into the main room, the telephone began to ring. I picked up the cordless phone and opened the door at the same time.

"Hello?" I asked into the phone, and then smiled up at Mitch who stood in front of me.

"Hi sweetie, I just wanted to make sure you are getting packed up and are ready to move out of the dorm." My mom was so nervous for me, I could tell. She'd been calling every day since the previous Tuesday when I'd arrived back at the dorm.

"Yeah, Mom, I am."

"Well, good. Honey, I can't believe how you're all grown up and you're going to be living with your boyfriend and -"

"Mom, don't get all mushy on me." I laughed, "I'm going to be fine. I'm really happy. And I'll see you in a couple of weeks."

"Right, a couple of weeks." She repeated. "I know, Norah, I know."

"Okay, Mom, well, Mitch just got here so -"

"Okay, sweetie, I'll call you later then. I love you." My mom sounded terribly sad, but there was nothing I could do.

"Love you too, Mom. Bye."

The line went dead and I hung up the phone, and then wrapped my arms around my boyfriend, pulling him into the room. He looked normal, didn't look like anything was wrong. I kissed him and sat down on the sofa, but he stood, staring down at me, silent.

"What?" I asked, still smiling.

"You might be mad." He mumbled, and slowly sat down next to me.

"Mitch, what?" I asked again, not worried but curious.

"I sort of did something I shouldn't have." He told me, and my eyes widened.

"What did you do?"

"Well, you see, what happened was -" he began, but I cut him off.

"What did you do?" I repeated.

"I hit Harley."

"Oh shit, Mitch!" I yelled.

"He followed Jay and all the way from the main building back to our dorm. I knew he was following us, and when we got here, I turned around and asked him what he was doing. He told me he wanted to talk to me and I told him that there was nothing to talk about. So he, like, charged at me and before he could do anything, I hit him, square in his jaw. He fell back and got up right away and I thought to myself that he was going to kill me. But, for some reason, he just nodded at me and said something about how it was over and that he didn't care anymore. And then he walked away." Mitch explained, looking into my eyes.

"When did this happen?" I wanted to know.

"Just now," he told me, "But don't worry, I could just tell, he's not going to go to the Dean or anything, I'm not going to get in trouble. And he won't be bothering us anymore."

"Are you sure, Mitch?"

"Trust me, Norah." He smiled.

And I did. I trusted him.

******

It was later that evening when Mitch and I had to say goodbye to Tina. She was going to live with her boyfriend in the city for the summer and I, honestly, wasn't sure if I'd ever really see her again. She'd been in two of my classes that year, but we were taking totally separate courses the next year and might never see each other. Jay's family lived in St. Paul as well, so he was going home for the summer with us. I knew I was going to miss Tina, as I was already missing Meghan, but I knew that being with Mitch and Jay would be just as fun.

Anyway, Mitch hadn't really gotten to know Tina all that well, as she had spent quite a bit of our year together in the city with her boyfriend. But I had gotten to know her. I knew that she adored children - she was going to be a pediatrician - but didn't want any of her own, that she hated pizza, everything about it, and that she was a neat freak and liked being organized. She thought all of the guys at the college were immature, even though her boyfriend was a year younger than her.

But as I knocked on her bedroom door, with Mitch close behind me, I felt tears in my eyes. He wrapped his arms around me but he couldn't make it better. I was probably going to lose a really good friend. Tina opened the door and I could tell right away that she'd been crying. She knew I was leaving the next morning, along with Mitch and Jay, and Meghan was already gone. Her bedroom was full of boxes and bags; she was ready to leave. Before I even said a word, she told me,

"He's picking me up in half an hour."

"He", of course, was her boyfriend, Dean. He'd pick her up and take all her things and she'd be out of my life. Just like that.

I took four steps and wrapped my arms around her, letting the tears roll down my cheeks. She cried, too, and it was agreed, silently, that we were both going to miss each other. After we cried and hugged and then pulled apart, Mitch spoke, trying to raise the mood in the room a little,

"C'mon girls, you'll still see each other next year. And there's always the telephone."

Tina smiled and wiped her eyes, nodding at him and then at me. "He's right, Norah."

"Yeah, I know." I agreed.

"Thanks, Mitch," Tina smiled at him again, "you've been a good friend this year, and I know you've been good to Norah. Take care of her, okay?"

Mitch grinned, wrapping his arms around me again. "Of course I will."

"I'll miss you, Tina." I told her, as I watched her take a piece of paper out of her bag, along with a pen. She wrote something on it and then handed it to me.

"I'll miss you, too. Here's the number at Dean's apartment, where I'll be. I'll be working and stuff, but call me and we'll chat, catch up." She sniffed.

"Of course I will. I'm going to Thomasville for a couple of weeks, but after that maybe we can get together for a day." I suggested.

"That would be great." She finished.

I hugged her again, and then she hugged Mitch. It was time for us to leave. Mitch and I went back to my room, got all of my bags, boxes, and suitcases and brought them across the hall to his room. His dad was picking us up with a moving truck in the morning, so we wanted to have all of our stuff together. Jay, of course, was coming with us and all of his stuff as well.

Back in the boys' room, Jay was sprawled out on the sofa, flipping channels like he always seemed to be doing. He nodded at us as we entered and then asked if we were all packed and ready to go home. It wasn't exactly my "home" yet and it felt weird to hear him say that, but I just nodded as I dropped a couple of my bags by the door. But that time it was after ten and I was yawning already. I'd spent the whole day doing nothing except packing and moving my stuff from my apartment across the hall to the boys'. But Mitch noticed that I could barely keep my eyes open and suggested that we head to bed early since we had a long day ahead of us.

"Yeah, I guess we should." I agreed.

"Okay, let's go, cutie." He smiled, reaching out to grab my hand.

Just before I took a hold of his hand, though, Jay sat up and started talking to us, "Mitchy, did you tell Norah about... you know what?"

"Yes, I told her about Harley," He began, smiling at me, "of course I told her."

"Awe, Nor, you shoulda been there. It was awesome; Mitch hit him so good before Harley even knew what was going on. I just burst out laughing, the guy looked so embarrassed." Jay continued, laughing once again.

"Well, I'm glad I wasn't there." I smiled again.

"We're going head to sleep, Jay, see ya in the morning." Mitch grinned at his best friend, who nodded.

"Bright and early." He replied, and watched as Mitch and I walked out of the room and down the hall to his bedroom.

Once inside, Jay took off his shirt and jeans, leaving him in his boxer shorts, and stretched out across the bed. I smiled at him and layed down next to him, feeling all warm and tingly when he wrapped his arms around me. He kissed my cheek and then reached over and grabbed the remote control off the bedside table. After turning the television on, he began flipping through the channels.

"What do you want to watch?" he asked me, his voice barely above a whisper.

"It doesn't matter; I'll be asleep soon anyway." I told him, kissing his neck for a few seconds, and smiled as he closed his eyes, enjoying it.
"Don't go to sleep yet." he whispered, turning over to face me, leaving the channel on some cartoon.

"Why not, mister?" I asked him back, now grinning.

"Because I want to kiss you," he replied, "This is our last night together, on our own, you know? Starting tomorrow we'll be at my parents' house."

"Won't we be in the basement?" I asked him.

"Yeah, but they'll still be there. My parents are cool and all, but I still wouldn't feel right having sex, knowing they are just upstairs." He laughed.

"I know..." I agreed, nodding, and then began kissing his neck again.

"I love you." He whispered, closing his eyes again.

"I love you, baby." I replied, now moving down his body, kissing his chest and his stomach.

He let out a moan as I kissed around his belly button and then I stopped, not knowing what he wanted me to do. His eyes opened and he sat up a bit, looking at me.

"What's wrong?" he wanted to know.

"Nothing," I told him, "I'm just tired and I didn't know what you wanted - "

"You don't have to say that, if you're tired then you're tired. Come here." He smiled warmly and opened his arms to me.

A second later I was lying with my head resting on his bare chest and I fell asleep to the sound and movement of his breathing.