Lock Step - Love Under Lockdown

Chapter Two - TracianneI was sitting in my room, trying to study for Midterms, when I received an email alert from my college. They were shutting down the school for the rest of the semester.

Diamond immediately opened my door. She was in sweatpants and a Grover College sweatshirt.

“Did you see the email; did you read what it said?” she demanded.

“I just got it,” I responded. “Did you read the whole thing?”

“They’re closing down. No more classes as of today,” she said in amazement. “I told you, the virus is serious!”

“Yep. It sure is.”

“This is messed up!” Diamond declared. “I had a date on Friday!”

“You told me you were thinking of canceling that,” I pointed out.

“Yes, but I hadn’t landed totally on no, yet,” she replied. “I mean, if he offered to take me to a nice restaurant, I would’ve been like, okay.”

“Seems like a weird way to pick a date,” I said. “I mean, was he cute?”

“They’re all cute on this campus,” Diamond sighed. “But sadly, there is not enough time for me to date them all.”

“But you would if you could?”

“Hell, yeah? Why not?”

“Would you have sex with all of them?”

“No!” she exclaimed. “Of course not. Sixty, seventy-five percent. Tops.”

I shook my head. I didn’t know how Diamond was going to keep her scholarship. She barely went to class and spent almost every conversation talking about the clothes she bought when she went shopping downtown, the dates she was going on, or the parties she was throwing and attending.

Still, she was the first friend I had made here, and, as an overwhelmed freshman, I appreciated her company.

“Did I show you that new sweater?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said, stopping the conversation before it started. “Your parents gave you that money for books, Di.”

“I don’t need books when I can pirate them online, but now I’m going to have to take classes online. Traci! I can’t date from my parents’ house. It’ll be like high school!”

Diamond flopped down on my bed and buried her face in my pillow.

“You could always date some guys from high school,” I suggested.

“Eh,” she shrugged. “I guess you’re right and they’ll be home, too. So weird.”

“Yeah, well, I have it worse. My dad moved in with his new wife,” I told her.

“He did? When?”

“A few weeks ago. I still can’t believe they’re married. I’m so mad at him.”

“He’s such a homewrecker,” Diamond said.

“Yeah, that’s for sure,” I said, unable to defend him from that charge.

I didn’t know what had gotten into him.

Some kind of midlife crisis, I supposed.

I couldn’t believe I had to start college after such a drastic change in my life, but I was glad to have somewhere else to go. I had told Diamond all about it during freshman orientation week and she had been very sympathetic.

Now she had to listen to me rehash it every time it was on my mind. I tried to push it out of the way and not think about it too much, but now it was impossible, since I had to head home and be back with them.

“It’s all weird,” I declared. “But yeah, I mean, she participated, but it’s mostly his fault. Like, who dates a married woman? Who does that, right?”

“Your dad.”

I frowned.

“Just sayin’,” Diamond shot back.

She was right. My mom had passed away from cancer when I was young, and I knew my dad was lonely. I had wanted to be happy that he had found someone. But not her! Not a married woman. With all the fish in the sea, she was the one he had finally chosen, after years of being alone?

He had told me he hadn’t wanted to date until I was old enough to be independent. That it wasn’t fair to bring a revolving door of women into and out of my life before I was able to understand. But that didn’t mean he had to dive right in to the first opportunity that presented itself when I was a senior in high school, and then hurry up and marry her right away!

Just then, Gillian walked into the room. Diamond and I had met her one day at lunch when she had plopped down next to us in the campus cafeteria and said, “Okay, I need friends and you two look like perfect candidates.”

The three of us had been inseparable since.

“Did you guys hear?” she asked.

“Yes,” we both replied.

“Oh, okay, I guess it’s old news already,” she said dejectedly, as if she had wanted to be the one to tell us.

“I mean, I’d been expecting some kind of drastic action to be taken, but I didn’t know it would involve having to go back home!” I told her.

“So, is that what you guys talking about?” asked Gillian, sitting down on the floor. “Or what?”

“Yeah, basically. Traci’s dad moved in with his new wife,” Diamond explained. “And she left her husband for him. Now Traci has to go live with them.”