10/05/2013
Getting in the right frame of mind for this took some doing. I had to ask M's college roommate, C, to retell me her side of the story. I'm inclined to believe C's version of the story because I know M and I know her personality and it seems much more fitting. In fact I would have almost left this out and kept the story to two parts but I felt like this part of the story was important enough, and detailed enough thanks to C's eagerness to flesh it out and include the things M left out in her haste to be free of the chair.
Even with C's help, I feel like the story will be different than my other posts. It's a retelling, and not a first-hand account and so I feel it may come across a bit impersonal. It won't have as many interjections by me, and there is unlikely to be any random tangents as I go off on something else entirely. But in the end I feel like that may be for the better as I can focus on the writing and not my memories. I think the best way to start is with how our two heroines met.
M and C have been best friends and rivals since their first year in college. M was nineteen and had taken a year off after high-school before college, whereas C jumped straight from high-school to college at the age of eighteen. C was younger and not as physically matured as M was, but considering she's still an inch or so shorter than M (still taller than me), and a clothing-size smaller than M in all departments time doesn't seem to have made a huge impact. She told me that she started taking the same time and dedication to keeping herself fit and looking good as M does shortly after becoming her roommate. She has shorter, dark brown hair and eyes, and is seemingly just as naturally attractive as M is. I still don't know how they do it, but I digress.
According to both of them C has always been a bit more boyish, which really doesn't surprise me in the least. She fits in with “the guys” just as well, if not better, than I do which in itself is something to be said as many of my male friends seem to forget I'm a female. She's notably better at most first-person-shooters than any of our guy friends and a much larger ego. While M spent her free time in college doing more social activities, C was at the apartment – or the apartments of their friends – playing games.
They were in different programs in college but they did share a few of the more common courses and electives. They intentionally chose some of the same courses over the summer just to compete with each other. I don't understand the notion probably because I've never had a rival, but I think if I did I still wouldn't understand. When their rivalry began in the fall it was very innocent and healthy, only really there to keep them motivated in their studies. They'd compete over marks on tests and projects, who would make the best presentation for a class, or who would have a higher GPA at the end of each semester. The loser would have to clean the apartment, do the dishes or buy dinner for a week – simple things. It wasn't until the end of the first year that they became more intense about it.
Although M's parents left her the house when they moved away for business reasons, her choice of college was a four-hour commute away and it was unfeasible for her to go back and forth every day. So she decided to stay by the college during the week and returning home for the weekends and holidays. In the second year or so she began renting a room at the house out to a cute Asian girl who was there for almost three years – I really liked her. Unimportant, moving on.
The apartment that M and C shared was a single-bedroom apartment with a single bathroom and a small living room area connected to the simple kitchen. It was small like all of the apartments in the two story complex. The owner rented the rooms almost exclusively to college students who wanted a little bit more privacy and space than the college dorms would have, albeit more expensive. Most of the rooms had two students and the owner didn't live in the complex. It had about twenty rooms roughly ten per floor, and a small grassy courtyard in the center. The upkeep of the building was taken on by the students who lived there, and it was always in good shape.
As their final exam before their shortened month-long summer break drew nearer their final bet of the year came to the forefront of C's thoughts – I would have said 'theirs' but according to C, M barely acknowledged it's existence until later. Though the punishments for losing their competitions were getting progressively more intricate, this last one marked a large escalation. They studied hardest for this exam and C even sacrificed time she could have spent studying for another exam to focus on this one. She still passed with one of the higher marks in the class, but the difference between her marks and M's on that exam was still apparent. M however was more laid back, and although she still had the competitive spirit about the exam it seemed that it hadn't quite sunk in what the prize was.
The exam came and went, and the two of them waited eagerly for the results. When they received the results C was disappointed because despite spending much extra time studying for it she had only beat M by a total of five marks. When M lost she showed the first real signs of understanding the stakes at hand and she went so far as to try to refute the marks with the teacher – to no avail. They'd gotten all the same questions right, and the same questions wrong, and the only reason their marks were different were due to M's absentmindedly disregarding the units for certain questions.
Even though M didn't want to admit defeat she had her pride to defend, and backing out after she'd already lost wasn't something she was going to do, especially not after the year-long rivalry that led up to it. I know that she'd refuse to look like a coward, and I can only imagine how much stronger those feelings of hers would be when it came to someone who was a equally competitive as she was.
The bet was to simply do all of the winner's laundry. It sounded simple enough and at first thought it seemed very innocent. But there were conditions. The loser had to do the winner's laundry one basket at a time, waiting for the laundry to wash and dry before returning. The loser had to fold the laundry at the laundromat, and then put the clothes away when they returned. They would start at quarter to midnight when the area was dead, and they would have until sunrise. The final condition was what set it apart, and made the bet the huge deal that it was. The loser had to complete it wearing whatever the winner chose, and if they didn't complete the challenge by sunrise they would have to start from scratch the next night.
When C retold the story to me she told me that if she went back and had the same freedom she would have been harsher on M than she was. C chose the most revealing and sexiest set of bra and panties that M owned for her to wear. C mused over the idea of making M do it naked, but then decided that it would be too cruel a thing to do to her friend at the time and caved to her misplaced sense of honor. C showed me pictures of the bet that were taken and it really was a sight – what I saw in those pictures did not fit the version of the story that M had told me where she was running back and forth humiliated almost to the point of tears.
M took the first basket of C's clothes, and began her walk through the illuminated courtyard. It had motion lights that turned on at night giving M a literal spotlight in front of all the other apartments in the complex – many of which still contained students who hadn't yet moved out.
While the parking lot for the complex was closest to M and C's apartment the laundromat was not. At the other side of the complex by the stairs was the walkway to the sidewalk, and then across two lanes of road was the laundromat. This would force M to walk straight through the middle of the courtyard to get to the laundromat unless she wanted to walk the long way around – which would put her at risk of having to repeat the challenge.
The laundromat itself had a parking lot in the rear, but opened up to the sidewalk facing the complex as well. Both sides of the laundromat were all windows, and was neighbored by a cafe on one side and an a convenience store on the other. The laundromat wasn't supervised, and didn't have any security cameras to speak of as it was a good neighborhood with no history of drugs or violence – there just simply wasn't a need for them. As one of the conditions M had to use the washing machines facing the complex and the dryers closest to the window, and would have to remain in clear view while she waited for the clothes to wash and dry.
While M was doing the first of what would be three separate loads, C did the thing any best friend and good roommate would do – call everyone in the complex about what was going on. Stories like these are the reason I opted to go to the college in town and live at home. I can only imagine what kind of evil roommates I would get, and I'm in a four-year program and not a two-year program like C and M. By the time M returned with the first load there were at least fifteen students out in the courtyard or on the upper floor overlooking it, drinks and cameras in hand.
This is really where the stories split, and where I decided that C's version would be the one to tell. In M's version of this story the moment that she saw the other people she ran into her apartment as quickly as she could red-faced and embarrassed. C's version, supported by photographic evidence, however emphasize something I've always known about M. She is not a shy woman in any sense of the word.
Although she may have been a little flush when first presented with the cameras and audience, she didn't run and hide. Instead she casually strolled through the middle of the courtyard, greeting the onlookers closest and smiling at the ones on the upper floor. In my mind the only thing I could picture was M treating it as if she was a model on a runway, surrounded by the press and eager fans.
C said that despite her show in the courtyard when she came into the apartment the first thing M said, in the scariest tone she'd ever heard, was “When your time comes, and it will, you will wish you were dead.” Being on the opposite end of that tone before I knew how intimidating it could be, regardless of the situation.
After M had folded and put away the clothes, and began her second trip she was joined by the two girls from the apartment next door – one of them a high-end digital camera in hand, the other with her own laundry. The one with the camera was taking some form of graphic design or journalism program, and needed the camera for school. Some of the guys, also from the first floor joined them while they went over to the laundromat.
While the second load was in the washing machine M flirted with the boys, and posed for the camera – seemingly laughing and enjoying the entire experience. By the time M was on her way back with the second load there were almost a dozen people walking with her and chatting and drinking. C described the night as a year-end party, with M being the host. Some people had even brought out lawn chairs and coolers. The third load went by quickly, and by the time M was done the challenge she still had an hour or two before the sun would begin to rise. By the end of her challenge there were close to thirty people out in the courtyard drinking and having a generally good time – and C said thankfully people drank responsibly because she wasn't the only one who lived there that weren't above the drinking age.
That was where M's story ended. After she was done being humiliated in front of everyone who lived there – and friends of those who didn't even live there – she simply went inside and locked herself inside till morning. But being the wonderfully cute and lovable person I am C was willing to share all the pictures that she'd gotten of the night with me and that wasn't where it ended.
I know that even though M would have a good time with the challenge, or at least pretend to, I didn't think at first she'd stay out and have a couple drinks without first putting on more clothes. C said she didn't even dare, or challenge M to do so. But when C brought up M's pride I realized exactly why she wouldn't just lock herself away in her room or at least put on more clothes. She'd played it off like it was nothing, and like she was having a good time. Her pride was more important than her shame, and she wouldn't show weakness or insecurity after such a show to C or to anyone – be it thirty people with cameras or otherwise.
M enjoys attention, but she does value having control of a situation. Being exposed in front of so many people would be humiliating for her on some levels, but being ashamed of her body was never one of them. If anything she would be driven mental by the fact that she couldn't exactly be taken seriously when she was the only person exposed in such a large group of people. But I think the moment that she showed embarrassment at the situation she would have given C a victory that M would not want to give up.
After that event, C and M made more bets and the punishments became less trivial and more humiliating. M eventually got C back at the end of their second and final year, and C has been trying to get revenge for that part of the story ever since. While M was telling me what lead to the situation I found her in she felt that this was an important enough event to include, and I felt the same way.
I'd would love to get feedback from anyone who enjoyed this, and even on the off chance someone didn't enjoy it I'd like to hear why. I'm always trying to get better at writing for my audience, and this is no exception. I'll be posting part three sometime next week~