A/N; So this one is a little different. A little slower. Lots of details and clues. There will be 10 chapters in total. The chapters will vary a lot in length. This first one is on the short side. Updates will be frequent.

This story is rated M, but there is less smut and more story in comparison to all the other things I have written. Still some smut, though. Just not on every single page. I'm a little smutted out at the moment.

Let me know if you love it or hate it. Constructive feedback is always welcome and appreciated.

Prologue - Friday & Farewells

Late Friday Afternoon

She lazily observed the departing vehicles from the hallway window upstairs. The traffic had been substantially intensified for the last few hours, the consistent sound of the slamming trunks no longer an annoyance but a background noise that she had quickly grown accustomed to.

Something was in the air, a vibe of expectancy and carelessness that was almost tangible, almost as if a huge sigh of relief had escachains chains after months of confinement, and was now bouncing off of the buildings throughout campus in a joyful celebratory dance.

Spring break.

The majority of the student population were now well on their way to the sunny beaches of Miami, or any of the other nearby party spots just a few hours of a car ride away.

Bikinis. Shots. Making out under the stars.

She hated the beach.

Didn't do bikinis. Didn't do shots. Definitely didn't make out under the stars.

If she, for some unknown reason, would get the, highly unlikely, craving for the beach, there was one outside of her window, well within walking distance.

They were in Florida, after all. It was a beautiful campus, water view included, and, seeing as it was situated in the Sunshine state, they were blessed with more days of splendid weather than anyone could ever ask for.

The parking lot outside was approaching empty, she could spot her own car and only a handful of others, most likely belonging to students who had chosen other methods of departure transportation.

There was a small group still lingering right outside the dorm entrance, the sounds of the low murmur of their voices as well as the occasional laugh traveling to her ears through the cracked open glass. One laugh stood out to her. It seemed carefree, happy, and almost contagious. If she had had the capability to be carefree and happy, she might have caught it.

She observed him from her window view, the owner and originator of the sound that she could reluctantly only label as pleasant, soon realizing that she recognized him.

He was on one of the sports teams.

Baseball? Nope. Soccer? Nah. Basketball? That was it.

She had watched him play once, when she had been unwillingly dragged to the gym to attend one of the games. She didn't know much about sports, but even she, with her two left feet, had been able to tell that he was a talented athlete.

He was hard to miss. Not in a bad way. Actually, in a great way. He had a positive aura around him that would, she could only assume, draw most people in.

She guessed he was dating that skinny girl, the pretty one, the one looking like she belonged in the doll section at the toy store, inducing so by the way his muscular arm was now casually slung around her narrow shoulder.

She couldn't be sure, though. It was more difficult to keep up with the ever-changing love pairings of the rather small student body than all the daytime soap operas combined.

She didn't do dating, nowadays merely a bystander in the game of love that she had once believed she was a strong contender in.

She couldn't tear her eyes away from him, as she found herself wondering what he smelt like.

What the heck? Where did that come from?

He was handsome, no doubt, but with a little roughness around the edges, not necessarily a Ken to the blonde's Barbie, a much more sexual version of a man than the emasculated plastic impersonation of what the male species, according to the toy manufacturer, should aspire to be.

Yes, she could still see it. Even though she was no longer having sex, with anyone, not even herself, she wasn't blind.

He had enough sex appeal to share with his whole starting team, and there would still be plenty left over to pass around among the benchwarmers.

And maybe even the coach.

She turned and walked away as the small group began loading up the soon departing car to the brim.

She entered her room. They had done the best they could with the place, which in all honesty wasn't much. It was a dorm room with limited space, two girls with an unhealthy shoe obsession and enough clothing to dress a small village.

It was a barely contained mess. She didn't mind. It was a fitting metaphor for, well, her.

She enjoyed the relatively small, private college. It was a stark contrast to the huge university she transferred from just a few months ago. Her decision to transfer out halfway through her junior year had been highly questioned. It didn't make sense to most people. She didn't care. It made a lot of sense to her. She had her reasons.

The animal print bed sheets on the opposing twin bed were a sour sight to say the least. She quickly contemplated changing them for the week before her roommate returned.

Trish and her had become fast friends. It had taken her by surprise. In many ways, most ways, they were complete opposites, yet got along splendidly. She loved her. Animal print obsession and all. Loved her like the sister that she did have. Blood wasn't always thicker than water.

Trish had begged her, bribed her, soon resorting to have threatened her, to join her, her boyfriend and a few other of her friends on their beach getaway. She had declined, vehemently, non-budgingly, until the very headstrong Latina had had to, for once, declare defeat.

She had thanked her lucky star that the dorm remained open for the break. Going home was not an option.

She wasn't quite sure what she would be doing for 10 days by herself. She had never been alone for that long before. She kept telling herself that she was going tohave fun, be productive, work on her poetry and her music and her novel...

She enjoyed her own company. Or at least, she had used to. Nowadays, she wasn't quite sure.

She flipped through the channels on the too small, second-hand TV, sighing as none of the various channels managed to catch her interest.

She turned it off, hoping to find some inspiration to write but coming up short-handed.

Bored, she tried to doze off, the quietness of the building ringing louder than a rock concert in her lonely ears. She hated it, more than she had predicted that she would, because in the noiselessness she could hear her own thoughts.

She cringed, futilely trying to push the unpleasant memories away, knowing it was a losing battle as the more she tried to forget, the more she remembered.

Hours later, after obsessive over-analyzing, she finally fell asleep, and as she had been too lazy to wash off her make-up, the tears traveling down her face in anger and sadness created black mascara rivers on her pretty face, ending their journey in a dirty pool on her pillow.

...

After waving goodbye to his friends, he reentered the dorm through the big glass doors in the lobby, a skip innbus step, casually smiling at the security officer on duty whom he knew by name, soon making his way back to the third floor, throwing himself down on the narrow bed in the sparsely decorated room.

He flipped through the channels on the too small, second-hand TV, sighing as none of the various channels managed to catch his interest.

He turned it off, hoping to find some inspiration to write but coming up short-handed.

Bored, he drifted off to sleep, unknowingly becoming the first of eventually only two students to snore away the night in the otherwise close to abandoned brick building.