The Hall Speaks #fallsemester

Lights Out

#Alana

Later that night, Alana and Carly were on duty, sitting at the front desk watching students pass in and out of the building. The show had started. Sounds of college night-life, parties and soon-to-be hook-ups, filled the air. The hall sounded as it should: loud.

A thuggish-looking guy walked up to the desk. "What's up, Carly?" he asked, his dirty blond hair looking freshly gelled. "Would it be cool if I keep my keys at the front desk? I don't want to lose them," he smirked. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a folded envelope. "Can you put this in Ethan's box? I owe him a little cash."

Carly grabbed the white envelope and tossed it in a slot behind the desk "And why would you lose them? It's your first Saturday night on campus, what are you doing?" interrogated Carly as she matched his expression, like she knew exactly what Kyle and half the residents would be doing that night.

"Ah... it'll cost you If I tell you, you have to let me take you out," suggested Kyle jokingly, but something in his eyes said he was serious.

"Cute, Kyle." She was embarrassed that Kyle was boldly flirting with her in front of Alana.

"I know, I am cute... I'm glad you noticed," teased Kyle with a quick wink.

Carly's held an expression like she had just smelled something awful. Alana tilted her head down and tried to conceal her smile.

"Anyway, it's not hard to figure out where you're going. I'd hold your keys if you like, but you might want to keep them. By the time you get back I won't be here, and I doubt you'll want to explain to the FDW why you smell like alcohol when you ask for your keys," Carly told him bluntly.

"Dang! Why you assuming I'm gonna be drinking? I could be going to the library or something." He sounded defensive, and coldness was plastered on his face.

"The McAllen is not even open at this hour. Plus, I have Facebook too; be careful what you post on your status," said Carly, winking.

"You probably shouldn't hold my keys anyway. You might come into my room and try to seduce me, we'll hook up and then I'll have to drop you." Kyle had obviously heard about Carly's situation with Jake before the move-in.

Carly's lips tightened as she struggled to keep in some choice words that were aching to jump off her tongue.

Kyle didn't even flinch. "See ya," he stated, walking out of the lobby doors.

"What was that about?" asked Alana curiously.

"Nothing," she muttered, shaking her head and changing the subject with a wave of her hand. "How did your hall meeting go?"

Alana thought about her hall meeting. The only thing that came to her mind was Landon. She wondered what he was doing tonight.

"That bad, huh?" asked Carly, trying to interpret Alana's silence and blank face. Carly started to ramble. "Yeah, my meeting was going okay until my residents heard the cheers and tears coming from Owen's hall. It was ridiculous... he's like this super RA, I'm going to look like a joke," said Carly, rolling her eyes.

"You'll do great," Alana assured. Wanting to comfort Carly, she reached out her hand, but couldn't bring herself to touch Carly's freckled arm. She knew they were there although she couldn't see them: germs. Dead skin. It totally grossed her out. She glanced at her hands, wanting to scrub them again. "By the way, my hall meeting was fine. Initially I was nervous about having an all-girls hall. I have two sisters and know the kind of problems that girls can create. But so far my girls are really sweet."

"Oh," Carly mumbled begrudgingly. "When do you want to do our rounds?" Alana opened her mouth, but Carly answered first. "Well, how about midnight? I didn't get much sleep last night so I want to get in bed as early as possible. Plus, after midnight we might run into some problems. That's when all the party goers return, and they'll be wasted." Carly took a second to sign in a guest in the log. "By the way, where is Landon? I haven't seen him since my meeting. I thought he'd be around, especially tonight."