I was at a summer program for gifted students, staying in the high-rise dorm of a university. My boyfriend Adam was my roommate, even though he's been out of college for over a year now. he was the only guy on the hallway; everyone else looked like high school-age girls.
We didn't have phones in our rooms or even on the hallway. All of our calls came in and out on one phone in the lobby of the dorm. Adam and I were hanging out in our room when a girl came in and said that his ex, Monica, had been calling repeatedly, trying to get in touch with him. Adam and I went downstairs, where Adam called Monica. I thought it was going to be a short call, so I stuck by him as he talked to Monica. I lost patience as the call got longer and longer. I finally decided I was going to head back upstairs. I couldn't get Adam's attention to tell him this, so I silently walked to the elevator.
The elevator was huge, and its walls were covered in cloth. I was the only one using the elevator at that point, so I figured I could be as dorky as I wanted. I kept walking across it, from corner to corner. I was trying to measure it in feet, and for some reason I was wondering if it was as large as my bedroom at home. This was occupying me far too much.
I finally reached my floor and got out. I'd forgotten that a big football game was going on today and that we all had to go. Without Adam, though, I didn't have anyone to go with. A girl from down the hall came to my room to borrow my hair dryer. I didn't know her very well, and I knew I would have felt odd asking her if I could attend the game with her. So I didn't.
I left my room (which looked like a hotel room) and headed outside by myself. The game was already in full swing. I realized I didn't have money for a ticket, so I couldn't go in. I stayed outside the front gates. There were majorettes and cheerleaders on the track, getting the crowd excited. It was noisy in the stadium, and it was a hot day. I attempted to stand in a crowd outside the gates and watch the game, but it got old really fast. I decided I was going to go running.
I started running around the stadium, realizing after a minute that many people were watching me. A girl from the marching band caught up to me and asked me what I was doing. I said I was just trying to get in shape. She ran beside me for a minute, and we talked. I was going to ask her if she could get me into the game, but she returned to her spot in the band before I could ask her. It was just my luck, I decided, that the two people I knew couldn't help me get a seat inside the stadium. Adam, I figured, was still on the phone.
So I kept running. I ran through mud and then through gravel. A couple young kids sitting on the sidelines of the game made comments about the "weird running girl," but I ignored them. After a while, my run took me inside the stadium. I ended up on the field, where the two football teams were. Just as I ran onto the field, the sprinklers came on. I was drenched, and the football players looked really perplexed about what I was doing.
