"Ike! Wait up!"

I stopped and turned around. At the Starbucks yesterday, I waited for Lynda to go on her break so we could make plans to blade today. This was a great idea. Not only was I getting another tour of the city, but I felt my circle of friends was growing from two to three. "What's the matter? Can't keep up?" I joked. Lynda was very relaxed, and as soon as I was in her presence, I felt at ease. Also, blading with her was proving to be less hazardous than jogging with Sara.

"No, they're doing construction over there. Let's go this way," she suggested, pointing in another direction. "Have you seen the Bull and Finch yet? We can get there if we take Boyleston Street." Lynda had been showing me the Boston sights along the way. We had already stopped and had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe.

"The Bull and Finch?" I wasn't aware this was a sight to see.

Lynda rolled her eyes. "Cheers."

"That depends. Are you referring to the tv show or the actual bar?" I've seen the re-runs of the show more times than I care to count. I don't care what Zac says; he's addicted to it.

"The bar, silly." She smiled, her face lighting up.

"In that case, just the outside. We wanted to go in while we here for the tour, but it was too crowded. Crowds make Jason nervous." Throughout the tour we stopped at all different sights along the way. Tay wanted to stop at Hitsville, USA when we were in Detroit, and when we were in Boston, Zac insisted we stop at Cheers. To say he was disappointed when Jason told us it was too crowded for us to go in would be an understatement.

"Well then, yeah, you can get there from Boyleston. But if you don't want to get attacked by locals, you'll stop calling it Cheers. It's actually called the Bull and Finch bar, and don't expect it to look like the set. Come on," she said, gesturing for me to follow her through the crowd that had gathered in the Commons.

"Lynda!" I called out, trying to get her attention. She had taken off, and I was losing sight of her in the crowd. I tried to pick of the pace, weaving in and out between people to catch up with her. "Lynda!"

"Ike!" she shouted back, turning around to see me try and work my way through the clumps of people. She bladed back towards me, grabbed my hand, and pulled me through the crowd. Once we were through she dropped my hand. "I forgot about the late lunch crowd. I'm sorry."

"I made it through intact, so it's all good," I told her, panting slightly from the workout of weaving through the crowd.

"Wanna keep going?" she asked, also slightly panting.

"We've come this far, might as well go all the way," I replied, smiling, my breathing slowly starting to become even.

We continued to look at each other for a few moments catching our breath before heading off towards the Bull and Finch again. When we got there, we didn't even bother to cross the street. It was more than obvious that there was no way we were getting in. I sat down on the curb. "We risked getting mauled by people to sit here and look at the outside of the Bull and Finch. Wonderful."

Lynda nudged my shoulder with hers, smiling wide. "Aww ... come on. You know you got a kick out of elbowing that guy in the dorky brown suit. Just admit it already."

A grin spread across my face, and I remembered the look on the man's face when my elbow connected with his ribs. Then next thing I knew, I was laughing. "Okay, okay. I admit it."

"I knew it! Underneath that polite exterior is someone who loves to elbow random people on the street. See? You're gonna fit in just fine here." She patted my knee. "By the way, how are you fitting in here? Finally starting to feel at home?"

Lynda immediately picked up on my accent, and knew right away I wasn't from the area. Just like Scott and Sara had, she made it her personal duty to ensure I felt at home in my new state of residence. She has an almost ... motherly quality about her. "Yeah, I think I even might start to call this place home before the semester ends." I smiled. "Going to my first frat party tonight with Sara and Scott..." I took a deep breath before meeting her eyes with mine. "Wanna come?"

I was attempting to fix the permanent wrinkles in Taylor's ... borrowed shirt when the evil swamp thing walked in.

"Aww ... isn't that sweet? Billy Bob Hicktown is primping for an outing into the big city!"

I counted to ten and successfully ignored him. I've learned that baiting him into a fight only makes him happy.

Thankfully Jordan showers often -- I've passed a few in the hallway that haven't bathed in weeks -- but unfortunately, Jordan likes to single-handedly keep the cologne industry in business. I swear, I don't ever have to wear it again because it just permeates my clothing.

I was thinking of interesting ways to ruin Jordan's day when I heard the phone ring.

"Yeah, what do you want?" The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Jordan acts like an ass just to annoy me, I know he does. "Yeah, he's here but I don't think he wants to talk to you. He's primping right now."

I vaulted over the bed and tried to grab the phone out of his hand. Thankfully Mom was a quick one with the hairbrush when we were younger, and that gene got through to me. I whacked Jordan over the knuckle with my hairbrush and grabbed the receiver. "The word primping went out of style about thirty years ago, slacker." I brought the phone to my ear. "Hello?"

"Yeah, okay, like you would know. I mean, Oklahoma barely has running water."

"Oh, please. If you're going to insult me, at least keep it current."

Taylor's voice came through the line, and my day was suddenly more appealing. "Hey! What's up? For once the house is quiet, so I thought I'd call and see how you are."

"I'm doing as well as can be expected," I said, eyeing Jordan as he flopped down onto his bed and started flipping through a comic book. "Classes are, well, classes."

"And how's your favorite roomie, Jordania?" Taylor asked, snickering.

"Still breathing, unfortunately," I sighed. "But other than that, I like it up here. I've met some very cool people. Boston is a cool city, lots to do at night. Definitely a different vibe than Tulsa, though. It would remind you of New York, fast-paced."

We had spent so much time in NYC and L.A. that they both started to feel like home. The NYC 'gotta get where I'm going' feel is definitely a Northeast trait.

"Oh, man. I wanna visit then. Tulsa is just so dull now. No one's around," Taylor whined in Zoë-like fashion. I sympathized with him. After New York and London, Tulsa has got to suck big time.

We chatted on about Mom and her quest to find a food that Zoë doesn't fuss about, and Mackenzie's affection of the new word 'asinine.' Ya gotta love Zac's flair for odd words. "Hey, speaking of Zac ... He's got a crush. Man, how weird is that? I thought he was going to be the last of the dying breed of bachelors!"

"Oh?" I did my best to sound cheerful. At the same time, I couldn't stop the pang of jealousy from running through me while listening to Taylor go on about about Zac's new-found romanticism. My room got unbelievably warm, and my head throbbed with a pulsing pain. I always thought I was going to be the one giving advice. Or that Taylor and I would be joking about it with him, together. The isolation of it all was so intense I had to sit down.

"Uh ... Taylor I hate to do this, but I'm going out and I have to go. I'll call you later in the week, though." I just wanted to get off the phone. Not that Taylor did anything wrong, but it hurt to hear about my family through him.

I sat quietly on my bed, and even Jordan had enough sense to not make any asinine comments. I heard the door click shut behind him, but didn't even care.

It hurt so much to have to hear that my family continued, even though I wasn't there. I know it seems silly to expect my parents to have broken down when I left, but I couldn't stop the self-pity.

About twenty minutes later, I was still staring at the ceiling tiles wondering if my parents even missed me. I heard a knock and then the loud laughter of Sara. My head throbbed all the more, damnit the party.

I thought of not answering but I knew Sara would never let me live it down. "Isaac, you are such a baby." I could hear her saying over and over in my mind. Not that she meant anything bad by it. Sara would also talk to me about it and make me understand that my parents didn't really forget me; I just wasn't ready for that lecture yet.

I pulled myself off my bed and trudged over to the door. Not even looking or acknowledging their presence, I flopped back down on the bed.

"Uh ... Isaac, I know that we party a bit different than you do here in Boston, but I thought the idea was not to have a hang-over until after the party." Leave it to Sara to make me laugh even though I didn't want to.

I laughed in spite of myself and rolled over onto my back. "I'm just not feeling too good. How much would you hate me if I said I want to stay home?"

Scott was quick to oblige. "Fine with me. We can go over French vocabulary." I caught myself before I rolled my eyes. Scott is a great person, but his ability to be so anal is astounding. He already had his coat off before Sara put the breaks on our Bon Jour Vocab. party. "I don't think so. Come on, Isaac, you've been looking forward to this all week. You're finally going to be able to drink yourself into oblivion!" Actually, it was Sara's idea to go to the party; she thinks I need a social life. She hasn't given me much of a glimpse into her childhood, but I wouldn't be surprised if alcohol was feeding her family tree. Both Scott and Sara clam up when it comes to college drinking and the bar scene/keg fests.

Before I had much time to think about Sara's comments, I noticed her outfit. "You're actually going out in public in that?"

Sara looked down at her skin tight black shirt and leopard print micro mini skirt. A blank look was pasted on her face when she looked at me. "What?" She modeled her knee-high go-go boots for me and twirled. "Is it too much?"

"I am not going to be seen in public with you like that." I shook my head like the overprotective father.

Scott leaned over and whispered, "Wait until you see what's in the car."

Sara shot him a death look and seethed, "Don't ruin the surprise, Scott." She tromped over to the bed and flopped down beside me. "Honestly, if you want me to change, I will."

I narrowed my eyes. "You know, you're going to get in trouble one day and I'm not going to be there to help you ... especially if you're in that outfit."

She leaned in to bat those baby blues, and I noticed the glitter eyeshadow ... this was only getting worse. "The same can be said to you, Isaac."

Scott cut us out of our chit chat. "All right. Are we going or not?"

Sara turned to face her twin. "We're going. Grab your jacket, Isaac. Let's go!"

Scott was down the hall as I checked to make sure the door was locked. Sara turned and grabbed my hand, squeezing it a bit and whispering, "We can talk later. You know you can tell me anything."

I was touched by her friendship as we walked down the hallway. It dawned on me, "Oh! I almost forgot. We have to pick someone up on the way!"

"Okay, sounds good. Which dorm is he in?"

"Uh ... 'she' isn't in a dorm here. She goes to Emerson with you!" I was smiling at the prospects of Sara and Lyn getting to know each other. I could see the two of them becoming good friends.

Sara was pretty quiet until we got to the car, and as she was unlocking the doors I noticed a black feather boa laying across the backseat. I laughed. "Oh, no! Not in this lifetime!"

She just sort of smiled and grabbed it out of the car. I slid into the backseat as I heard the trunk being slammed shut. Scott just kind of smiled sadly into the rearview mirror. He shrugged his shoulders and dismissed as if to say "it's just Sara."

I nodded my head, and Sara slipped into the driver's seat without saying a word. I had already told Scott about Lyn, and he was psyched for me. Sara, on the other hand, was not as pleased. The ride to Emerson was unusually quiet, and I was trying to figure out what I did to upset Sara. She couldn't be upset about Lyn; she didn't even know her yet.

I picked up the phone outside Lyn's house and pushed the numbers for her room. I cleared my throat as it rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Isaac. We're out front."

"Oh, okay. I'll be down in a minute." I paced the front entryway until she emerged through the heavy oak doors. She smiled as shrugged to put her jacket on. Simple jeans and a sweater; she was the opposite of Sara.

We walked down to where Sara's car was triple-parked. "These are the two friends I was telling you about, Scott and Sara."

Lynda ducked her head as she got into the car and slid across the seat. Something had gone down while I was waiting for her, and I questioned Scott with my eyes but he wasn't telling me. I did the introductions and we were off. Sara's usual suicidal driving skills were toned down for the evening, and I could tell that something was amiss. "Sara, aren't you going to be cold with no jacket?" I tried to start a conversation to lighten the mood.

My attempts were dashed when a clipped, icy, "No" came from the driver. Lyn just smiled again and looked out the window toward the sky. Scott was gazing out the window as well, and Sara was hunched over the steering wheel, driving calmly. Something was definitely wrong with her.