Dear Diary,

It has been a long, long, long, long time. It was supposed to be just a semester off school… maybe a year. It’s been TWO YEARS of living off my parents rent-free, working as a receptionist at a day spa (loser job.) I just kind of got stuck at home.

Well, now little Willow is all grown up, graduated from high school, and ready to go to college too. So guess who’s moving in to show her the ropes?

We ditched the dorms this year to rent a place together on the edge of campus. It’s a cute place, and if we get a roommate, it’s pretty affordable.

So we walk in first thing in the morning and scope out the place. There are only two beds, which makes it pretty hard to introduce a roommate into the situation. I suggested to Willow that we sell the big bed and get two smaller beds. Willow flops right down on it and says, “Naw, let’s keep it. We can share.”

So this was the rough part: Explaining to my little sister that I might want to… “have someone over” every once in a while. I had heard that Kaz was still in town, and I was kind of hoping to make something happen with that.

My sister smirked, “I can couch it every now and again if you do the same for me.”

“Are you planning on meeting someone here?”

She shrugged, “Why not?”

Hmm. I don’t know, it’s just different when I do it. She’s just a baby…

—

Dear Diary,

We went to the admin building to request a roommate. Preferably female, college student. And so yesterday, Margaret came knocking on our door with all of her bags.

She might be a little eccentric, but she’s lots of fun to have around. She seems to have an obsession with ghost stories, and holds frequent readings of morbid stories in our common room. She cooks too, which is pretty cool.

I’m not sure quite how worried I should be about her “Alien encounters” though. Today she’s been telling Willow that our house is a hotbed for alien activity, and that she’s staying up late so she can chat with them about human life and give them directions to all of the great hangouts in town.

“You don’t believe her, do you?” I asked her

“Of course not,” Willow laughed, “But that’s what we love about Margaret.”

Can’t argue with that, I guess.

—

Dear Diary,

I am a stress pot lately. Taking on a moderate class load is a lot to deal with when you layer on daily volleyball practice and of course the games. I’m barely home at all.

Willow, on the other hand, has been hanging out with the party crowd. She’s still doing okay in school, since she doesn’t have a lot of classes this semester, but it feels like she’s partying EVERY NIGHT. I know I’m not her mother. She can do whatever she wants. I still worry too much to sleep until I hear her sneak into bed late at night.

—

Dear Diary,

I have SO MUCH to tell you!

So we were all just hanging out in the dining room eating dinner last night. Margaret kind of casually mentions that we should do something as a group outside of the house, like maybe actually going out for pizza instead of just ordering in like we always do. And halfway through bites of pizza, Willow says “There’s a party tonight, if you want to come. Don’t feel bad if you want to stay home, Lynx.”

“Why would I want to stay home?” I snapped back at her.

“I didn’t mean it as an insult, it’s just that you don’t seem to like parties.”

“Of course I like parties, I just don’t get a chance to get out!”

Willow looked at Margaret, who shrugged backed uncomfortably. Willow turned back at me and said, “Well… I guess we’ll all go to the party together then.

So we get to the party, and I start trying to fit in ALL THE PARTY I can to show my sister how very NOT stuck up I am. It becomes a little bit of a blur after the second game of beer pong. But I do remember offering up our place as an afterparty location, so we bundled up to stumble over to my place in the rain.

Of course, who shows up to the after party, but Kaz.

Ummmmm…