Climbing up to the third floor in Leopold Hall, I rounded a corner and dragged my slippered feet across the carpet as I made my way down toward Lisa’s room. I had changed out of my baggy school t-shirt and into a more flattering fitted green tank top and wore a small grey hoodie over top of it. With more care than usual, I had put my brunette hair up in a bun and stuck two wooden chopsticks in to help hold in place. I brought a water bottle with me in one hand and a book in the other. As I stepped up to room 326, my heart racing, my stomach twisting, I took a deep breath before I gave a soft knock at the door.

After a moment that seemed like many moments, the door creaked open and Lisa appeared on the other side with a grin on her face. She still looked shower-damp, her blonde hair appearing darker, long and straight and wet, and she held a brush in one hand. Lisa, too, wore a tank top, although her’s was white, and she had on a navy blue stretchy shorts.

“Yo,” she said casually, running the brush through her hair. “Come on in.”

“Thanks,” I said, slipping into her room as she closed the door behind me. Looking around, I was impressed at how much space she had. I mean, it wasn’t a ton or anything, but it was about the same size as the room that Jisoo and I shared. The difference was that on the first floor we had tall ceilings that helped accommodate a loft. Lisa’s room was of normal height. Still, with only one person’s stuff, it looked big.

“Have you ever been in a single before?” she asked casually, still brushing her hair. I’m sure she noticed me looking around.

“No,” I said. “It’s pretty cool.”

“You generally can’t get them until you’re a junior,” she said, moving over to her dresser to set her brush down on top of it. “You know, it’s like a seniority thing.”

“I understand,” I said.

“I tried to get one as a sophomore,” she said. “No dice.” No dice. That almost made me laugh. I had heard the expression before but didn’t quite get it. “What?” she said with an uncertain smile growing on her lips.

“No dice,” I repeated, almost mockingly so.

“No dice!” said Lisa, making a production out of it. I laughed at her audibly now. “You think I’m funny?” she asked teasingly, hands lifted, fingers giving a ‘come at me’ motion.

“Yes,” I admitted bashfully, looking away slightly. I had a tendency to break eye contact when I felt a little embarrassed.

“Good,” said Lisa. “I’ve got a solid five minutes of material on the differences between freshmen and everybody else.”

“What?” I said, trying to hide my smile. “What are you talking about?”

“Stand up comedy,” said Lisa with a laugh. “Like, have you seen the way these freshmen eat in the cafeteria?”

“Stop,” I said, giggling, holding my fingers over my mouth.

“They eat so much food,” continued Lisa. “It’s like they’re bulking up now so when the student loan bills come due, they have the fat reserves to skip a meal.”

“Okay!” I said, laughing louder. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Thank you,” said Lisa, bowing her head slightly and grinning.

“You should take your act on the road,” I said.

“You think?” she said sarcastically. “I’m sure audiences in Peoria are champing at the bit to hear comedy about freshmen college students.” I laughed again.

We laughed a little bit more together, our chuckles each fading into content sighs. And then we gave each other silent smiles. I gazed at Lisa happily as we stood there, looking her up and down. She was athletic and pretty and I couldn’t help but notice that she was braless underneath her tank top, the little bumps of her s poking against the cotton fabric. I closed my eyes and looked off once I realized what I was doing.

“Hey!” she said, interrupting my guilt to change the subject. “I see you’ve brought a book with you.”

“Yeah,” I said, first looking down to the book in my hand and then raising it up to show her. “I thought you might like to read it. It’s a book my mother wrote. She’s a writer and an English teacher.”

“Really?” asked Lisa, furrowing her brow and taking the book from me. She looked down into it. “Wait, your mother is Aislin Kim? I know her.”

“You do?” I asked.

“Yeah,” said Lisa. “She teaches at Western, right? I had looked into their English program when I was applying to schools and I read one of her books then.”

“Weird,” I said, nervously laughing.

“If your mother teaches at Western, why did you come to State?” asked Lisa. “You could have had your mother as a professor!”

“Well, one, that would be kind of strange,” I said. “And two, both my parents went to State, as did my older brother, so it’s kind of a tradition thing now.”

“Thanks,” said Lisa, softly smiling, waving the book at me. “I’ll read this. I remember liking that other book I read of hers. I can’t remember the title, though.”

“It’s okay,” I said, shrugging.

“Jennie Kim,” mused Lisa. “Your mother is Aislin Kim.”

“Yep,” I said, shrugging, probably looking dopey.

“Is your mother cool?” asked Lisa, setting the book down on her desk, and then walking toward her bed. She didn’t have a couch or anything in her room, so she sat cross-legged on her bed and motioned for me to follow which I did dutifully.

“I guess,” I said, crawling up onto her bed and sitting next to her, legs stretched out, feet hanging off the side, as my back rested on some pillows against the wall. “My parents are all right, a little conservative sometimes even though my mother’s a writer. Korean Catholics,” I said.

“Ah,” said Lisa knowingly. “Yes, that’s another thing we have in common. Have you gotten over the whole guilt thing yet?”

“No,” I said timidly.

“College will help with that,” she said. “Hey,” Lisa said, interrupting our conversation. She picked up her laptop from the bed and held it up. “I was gonna watch something on here but we could just talk. What do you think?” Lisa leaned over and put the laptop on her nightstand to get it out of the way.

“Yeah, talking’s fine,” I said, unscrewing the cap from my water bottle and taking a sip, a little bit of it spilling down my chin.

“Watch yourself,” she said with a laugh. Lisa reached over and wiped the bead of water from my chin. I couldn’t help but freeze as she did this and look into her brown orbs. I suddenly felt cornered and concerned, not sure what to think or feel. All I knew is that I felt anxious and stimulated, like I’d had a little too much coffee.

“Thanks,” I said slowly, recapping my water and dropping it down onto her bed.

“Sorry,” said Lisa. “I mean, I didn’t mean to do that. Just, kinda, habit… or something.”

“It’s okay,” I said quietly, averting my eyes, trying not to be nervous.

“What’s your story, Kim?” said Lisa with a coy glance. “How did you get me to agree to let you hang out with me? I usually don’t hang with the freshmen ALOHAers outside of my job.”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Should I go?”

“No,” said Lisa, almost interrupting me. “It’s just… I normally keep to myself,” she said. “And somehow, I don’t know, you caught me at a particularly friendly time or something. Or maybe…” she said, trailing off in thought.

I looked over at her and tried to figure out what she was thinking. She just looked back at me with a slant in her eye, like she was suspicious of me, like I had some sort of secret I was hiding from her. Which, you know, I did have a secret I was hiding from her. The truth was, I was totally infatuated with Lisa and I wanted so badly to know more about her, to befriend her, to see what it was that made her so alluring. And since you’re along with me for this ride, well, I can admit to you that I felt for Lisa what I imagined Jisoo was feeling for Jinyoung. There was some sort of hysteria building up inside of me.

“Maybe?” I said, trying to follow her train of thought but not look too guilty.

“Maybe you’re a hypnotist,” she said seriously. We looked at her each in silence for a moment. Lisa serious, me confused. And then she brightened up her face and leaned toward me, gleefully pinching my side.

“Hey!” I exclaimed, folding over and smacking at her hand. “Hey, cut it out! I’m ticklish!”

“I know what’s going on,” she said happily, pulling her hand back from me and crossing her arms. “I’m flattered,” said Lisa, scooting off her bed and standing back up.

“What?” I asked with a hint of confusion.

Lisa just let a knowing smile move across her face, standing there looking at me sitting on her bed.

“Let’s get to know each other a little better,” she said finally. “What do you think?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Okay.”

Lisa began to slink around her small dorm room in a circle, sliding a foot and then stopping, sliding the opposite foot and stopping, her skirt waving with her legs as they moved. Her hair had started to dry out more, though it inspired a damp spot on the back of her tank top. I could see the thoughtfulness in her face as she moved. Something in her demeanor had changed since she proclaimed that she “knew what was going on.” But I didn’t know what she meant. I just figured I’d go along for the ride.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” Lisa asked with a bit of tact. She looked at me from the corner of her eye, a bit critical, a bit skeptical.

“No,” I said quietly, feeling a little ashamed. I started to wonder if my relationship with Lisa would turn out just like my relationship with Jisoo. Mi