What Comes Next

 "Aw, Jesus," Carson said under his breath, wondering what Elaine was expecting. Sure, he'd had some fun with Elaine back in August when the semester started. They'd played around at a mixer. Of course, she got a little sloshed on watermelon Schnapps. And of course, she spilled everything about her freaking fantasy with Jake. Seems Jake was the first guy she saw on campus and she'd been crushing ever since.

It was a lot to compete with. Jake was a tall dude and pretty much oblivious to those fawning over him, but Carson didn't think Gretta was that type. Maybe Jake was the one fawning over her. Jake had his eye on her the moment she walked in and so did Carson.

Still, he knew Elaine wanted Gretta out of the way.

"Like what?" Carson wanted to know what he was supposed to do three days ago before he even knew about this party. "Gag her and throw her in the trunk of my car?"

"No, nothing like that. just I don't know, get her drunk or something." Elaine shrugged about the matter then. Now Gretta was slowly walking behind him.

"Look, I don't like this any more than you do," Carson looked at her as if he must be just wearing a mask and was frog-skinned underneath. Definitely, no Prince Charming.

Gretta nodded as if she got what he was saying. Finally, they made it to his black Kia Soul and he unlocked it. She pulled the passenger side door open and got in. 

"Maybe, we shouldn't go back," He said as he started the car.

"Maybe we shouldn't," Gretta agreed with a nod. 

"So you know the Elaine and Jake story?" Carson was straight-lipped. 

"I know she's had a crush on him for a while now," Gretta told Carson that Jake never brought her up when they talked.

"So I guess you want him too?" Carson's frown was full circle. He was sick of Elaine.

"Oh, I wouldn't want to come between them. I'm not really dating," she told him how boring her life was. She was a shelver at the library. "I've tried to get on as a clerk so many times, but I've been told I'm too good of a shelver to let go."

"Huh, that's not so funny, I guess, but you must be a hard worker." Carson nodded as he swung a left as they past the Stop & Go.

"What about you?" She wanted to know if he was just a student or if he worked, too.

"Oh, I'm on the Work Study program," he told her, explaining that he helped other foreign students find jobs and places to live. 

"Wow, it's like you're already a social worker," Gretta smiled.

"That's the first time anybody's ever said that," he couldn't help but smile.

"Is that what you wanted to do?" She looked at him as if she did like talking to him.

"I dunno." He said he was a business major. "I guess I'll have to go back to Seoul someday." He confided that he didn't even know his own family that well. 

"You're English is so good," she told him.

"Oh, I've been here since middle school. I stayed with a family my parents knew when they were in the military. They never had time for me. My parents are always working." Carson guessed he'd just now thought about dating, but he knew the life his parents expected of him.

He drove up to the Dairy Queen. He told her he'd never had a Blizzard before.