Dry campus party time (Aerina)

[Marnie Sullivan]

Dated October 30th, 2015

As far as Marnie could tell, whoever was in charge of campus activities had selected the Friday before Halloween to host a costume dance because they knew they couldn't compete with tomorrow's off-campus festivities. A Saturday sounded tempting - no classes, and still another weekend day for homework - but how many people would actually show up? So the fliers posted around campus were clearly dated, with the helpful addition of "COSTUMES ENCOURAGED BUT NOT REQUIRED" in a garishly ~spooky~ font.

Whatever the reason, it suited Marnie just fine; living off campus meant attending an event on Saturday would require an extra trip. Instead, she kept her costume stuffed in her backpack all day, waiting until the dance to change in the student union restrooms. Hopefully her simple black dress, elbow-length gloves, and sunglasses would be recognizable as Audrey Hepburn; Marnie hadn't wanted to screw up a colorful costume by getting the colors wrong.

The auditorium was easy enough to find - just follow the sounds of the bass-heavy Monster Mash remix. Walking in, wobbling a little on her heels, Marnie felt acutely aware of the other students already laughing and dancing in pre-established groups. Instead of craning her neck around like the new kid in the cafeteria, she clip-clopped towards the punch table. It would be nice to have something she could hold in her hands.

[Deleted]

Aerina was planning on going to the Halloween dance at the Hammel campus on Saturday, so she was quite thankful to learn that the college functions would be held on the day before. To be honest, Aerina hadn’t ever gone to a party/dance like this before. Her school back home didn’t have them - at least not like they did in America - so this was just yet another experience that the Indian girl was anxious to add to her list of things to do while in America.

Rina didn’t have a costume, however, though her friends told her that she’d be just fine wearing one of her dance sarees(1, 2, 3) would be more than enough as a costume. Aerina wasn’t sure if she should be happy that she had a ‘costume’, or offended that her traditional dance-wear could be considered a ‘costume’. Either way, she didn’t want to be the only one who showed up without one, so….there she was. Once dressed, Aerina hopped a bus to campus where she searched for the location stated on the flier.

When she got there….Aerina wasn’t sure where to go first. She swiveled her head left and right, trying to find anyone she knew, or maybe someone to dance with. Despite being a student there, Rina actually didn’t have as many friends as she’d hoped she’d get. Being so young, still only 15, seemed to deter a lot of the older students….well, most of them were older than her, so that was most all of them. Aerina held her saree up to keep it from dragging on the floor - not just to keep it clean, but to keep the crowds of people from stepping on it - as she wandered about. When she finally reached the punch table, Aerina stood there, waiting for space to clear up so she could get a cup for herself. It was around then that a girl in sunglasses and gloves walked up to the table as well. Aerina didn’t recognize the girl at first, on account of the sunglasses, but stepped aside to give her more room. “You can go first if you’d like,” she said in a somewhat loud voice, so she could be heard over the music.

[Marnie Sullivan]

The line to the punch table was less of a line and more of a cluster; the dance wasn't exactly packed, but it seemed like half the attendants had had a similar idea. Not feeling bold enough to jostle her way to the front, Marnie tried to inch forward, bit by bit, elbows tucked into her sides.

It was slow going.

Then a voice piped up over the noise, and Marnie's head swiveled to find the source. There - okay, yes, she had been addressing her, Marnie realized - was another student with a more direct path to the table. She was dressed in a lovely dark saree, something Marnie only recognized because of Safia (not that the dragon shifter had ever worn one around her, but she'd done some Googling to avoid embarrassing herself when their conversations turned to home).

"Are you sure? Thank you!" Marnie called over the music. She tiptoed around the girl, careful not to step on her hem, and made it to the table. There were already some cups pre-poured and set out for the dancers, which were a bit closer and easier to reach than the punch bowl itself. Marnie nabbed one for herself and turned back to the other student. "Want me to grab you one?" she asked, pointing at the cups in case she wasn't loud enough.

[Deleted]

Aerina didn’t know anybody at the dance, so it seemed a matter-of-course that her first goal would be to go to the punch line and snag herself a drink before it was all gone. As small as the girl was, she found it difficult to navigate through the crowd and cluster around the table without feeling like she was being constantly overlooked and pushed aside. And Aerina wasn’t rude enough to simply elbow her way into the mass and take what she wanted. So she waited patiently outside the cluster, until that girl strolled up beside her and she offered her the place in front of her. After all, what was one more person?

Rina beamed a smile up at the other girl, glad to see her so grateful for the space. When the girl offered to get Aerina a cup as well, she nodded her head rapidly, assuming she wouldn’t be heard anyway with a simple vocal response. She supposed that since the other girl was getting her drink, Aerina didn’t need to be caged up in the crowd anymore, so she slowly started making her way to a more open area, looking over her shoulder to make eye contact hopefully with the other girl and wave her over in her direction. Aerina didn’t want her to think that she’d just left her behind, after all, though it wasn’t like she’d gone terribly far. Just outside the large crowd surrounding the snack table. When she saw the sunglasses girl, Aerina raised her hand to get her attention. “Over here!” she called out with a smile.

[Marnie Sullivan]

One more drink, got it. Marnie snatched up another cup and began the arduous journey back through the crowd. At first, finding the other girl was a bit tricky - she wasn't where Marnie had left her, and her sunglasses didn't help visibility much. Once she was clear of the clustered punch-seekers, though, Marnie spotted the other girl a short ways away and headed over, trying not to totter in her black heels.

"Here you go!" She held out the second cup of punch for the girl to take. "Thanks for that, I think you saved me half an hour." An exaggeration, but not much of one; Marnie could easily see herself taking twice as long getting to the table as those dancers who were more willing to shoulder past each other and getting stuck in the fray.

[Deleted]

Aerina kept her eyes on the crowd surrounding the punch table, looking out for the girl who’d gone to brave it for their drinks. What a treacherous place! Rina didn’t think she’d ever make it out alive, if she ever made it to the table in the first place! That did make her feel a touch bad, however, about leaving the older girl to the task. “Thank you so much!” she exclaimed with sincerity. “No, no, you’re the one who saved me! I think I might have been trampled before reaching the table.” Aerina giggled, covering her mouth like a demure lady, then put the cup to her lips.

She scanned the large room, enjoying the beat of the music, but feeling uncharacteristically lost. “I don’t think I know anyone here,” she said over the music to the sunglassed girl with a laugh. “Are college parties always this….” How to put it….? “…disorganized?” she asked. She was used to chaotic festivities, of course, but usually not in such close quarters.

[Marnie Sullivan]

The truth was, Marnie had no idea how to answer that question. Her party experience was pretty limited - that illicit corm party in junior year had gotten, well, "disorganized" was a nice way of putting it. And she'd gone clubbing once with college students, but that wasn't really a party and was also a bit of a disaster. This was technically her first college party, but it probably didn't count and she didn't really want to admit it.

"Probably," Marnie replied, raising her voice a little to be heard over the din, "I mean, I've never been to an organized one, so...." Technically true, albeit a teeny lie of omission.

With one gloved hand, Marnie lifted her sunglasses from her face. They made her costume more recognizable, but it was getting tough to see. "I don't think I know anyone here either, for all I know everyone here is in my English lecture, it's huge."

[Deleted]

“An organized one?” she asked, wondering what she mean by that particular emphasis. “Well…what would be dis-organized party, I wonder?” How could someone make a disorganized party anyway. You had to have some manner of organization to even get people to show up, did you?

Rina had little experience in the matters of house parties and drinking and night life, so anything other than this and the festivals from back home were completely foreign to her.

The short girl looked up at her new party companion and smiled. With the sunglasses removed, yes, she did indeed recognize this girl from…well, from her English class. Maybe? “You’re probably right,” she said with a small laugh. “I think I might be one of them, I think I recognize you from…well, one of my classes.” At least one.