I Found Love at a Frat House

Ella was leaning against the wooden bannister, it was carved into spindles and gleaming a cozy, dated orange. Across the empty space above the switchback, carpeted stairs were large windows cut into the paneled wooden walls. It was dark outside, the moon and stars having long since risen, content to sit quietly over the noise of a campus at night.

Around her were walls lined with portraits, generations of boys proud of the community they were a part of. A glass case of scattered trophies had caught her attention when she had come into the house, the shelves each gently lit up. Ella looked around, smiling at nothing, feeling tucked in by the growing commotion of the room.

“Where’s Jackson?” Lana asked. Ella rolled her eyes upwards, and said nothing. She had been invited here tonight by a boy she had known in high school, and she wasn’t quite sure how she felt about it.

They had reconnected after seeing each other while walking to different classes. It was nice to have someone to talk to, and Ella enjoyed the feeling of being chased, she supposed, but it all felt a little bit boring to her, too. Courting via cellphone had always felt like a back and forth game nobody ever won, and it uninterested her. Ella wanted to fall into the type of love that was so genuine that it would set her soul on fire, though she had never said it, in those exact words, to Lana. And anyways, she hadn’t seen him at all tonight.

“I don’t know,” Ella replied simply. Lana, understanding the point, let it drop.

Her best friend, Lana, nudged her left shoulder, pointing to the glass case Ella had noticed. She pointed at it, saying “can you believe they framed a second place frisbee golf award?” Ella laughed, the silly thought pulling her out of her contemplation.

Lana had always been able to do that for her, and she was glad to be out with her tonight. Ella hadn’t wanted to come to this party, originally. The undecided feelings about Jackson had settled heavily in her stomach, making it stomach knot with anxieties.

When Ella had told Lana that she had decided not to leave their apartment, Lana had promptly poured two shots of clear liquid and handed it to her. Ella had rolled her eyes at Lana but accepted the drink, the two girls laughing in unison. Looking back now, after a perfect stretch of hours dancing in a neon glowing basement, Ella couldn’t get herself to feel too upset about it. She fanned at herself and pulled at her long light-red ponytail that was sticking to the back of her neck.

The air upstairs was a lot cooler after spending hours in the basement, but she could feel the flush of heat still red in her cheeks. She took another sip from her can, and closed her eyes, feeling content.

This was how nights out would go, the moments feeling fluid from one to the next. Ella could feel herself get lost in it, savoring this easygoing feeling of being surrounded by strangers that felt like friends by way of one common goal: having a good time.

As the minutes passed, more and more people started to file in around them. The energy had started to rise, and Ella felt more excited by the minute. Her and Lana leaned into each other, taking sips of their drinks and watching as the hosting house prepared stairs. Two boys had hauled a mattress onto the stairs below the upper floor bannister.

“Oh good, they’re using protection,” Lana said, sarcastically. Ella smiled at the joke, her eyes crinkling and shaking her head. Lana laughed.

A boy in a lettered t-shirt and khaki shorts yelled out, “it’s time for a challenge!”

Ella’s stomach dropped at the pomp and circumstance that had begun before her, what challenge? She leaned into Lana, saying, “what do you think the challenge is?”

“I don’t know-” as Lana replied, the same boy continued yelling, “who can jump from the landing, to the bannister!” He emphasized the insane idea with overly emphasized gestures, swinging his arms to the upwards bannister. Ella laughed loudly, shocked at the hilarious and dumb game they had now found themselves witness. Lana was laughing right along with her, and they each tapped their cans together before taking another drink.

The speed at which the game had started led Ella to believe that this was a regular occurrence. In fact, some of the boys jumping succeeded, grabbing at the bannister at the last second and hanging on, their successes met with cheers and digital zoom-ins to be posted instantly, and ready for the next one. Some climbed up the railing to jump over onto the first floor in impressive feats of strength, while others let themselves drop onto the mattress below them.

Ella was enjoying herself immensely, she was laughing and cheering with the rest of them. She felt swept up in the intoxicating ridiculousness of being young and feeling immortal.

Phones had been pulled out all around her, different angles to end up on Snapchat for everyone to watch and rewatch, the modern day spoils of a good night out.

Her head swept to her right, and his eyes caught her.

And time stopped.

(The memory of this first glance is captured with such perfect clarity, even now, that Ella wasn’t sure that time had ever again started.)

A boy stood before her, his left side leaning against the railing. His dark hair was tousled and wavy. The light seemed to brighten over them two directly, the sound in the room vanishing for the moments it took them to speak.

“Hi,” Ella said, her lips parted delicately. A burning feeling of the most familiar comfort heated in her chest.

“Hey, I’m Finn.” He smiled back at her, dimples breaking in his cheeks like craters.

Finn stepped closer, an invisible string seeming to pull taut between them. His seaglass blue eyes reflected what was burning in her skin. Though they were inside, she felt a breeze like an early June wind blow through her heart that promised the warmth of a hundred, golden summers.