Our Love Story: Part 15

Preface: If you’ve missed any of the “chapters” of our love story so far, go back & get caught up before continuing below!
Part 1 — Part 2 — Part 3 — Part 4 — Part 5 — Part 6 — Part 7 — Part 8 — Part 9 — Part 10 — Part 11 — Part 12 — Part 13 — Part 14

Derrick picking me up from the train station felt like a dream. He loaded my suitcase into the trunk of his white 2-door Jeep Cherokee and we were off. It wasn’t a long drive back to Valley Forge Christian College – Derrick asked me about the train ride. I said that I enjoyed it and he asked if I’d ridden with any convicts. Confused, I said, “What?” He laughed and said that about halfway back on his last train ride back to Valley Forge from Latrobe, a whole train-car full of convicts had been loaded onto the train.

We pulled into VFCC and Derrick gave me the “grand tour”. He drove around & explained what every building was named, what its purpose was, where his classes were held, where the cafeteria was, and where he would be performing his senior recital in just 24 hours. That night, I would be crashing on Derrick’s best friend, Caleb & his wife, Steph’s couch. They were newlyweds, married just one week before Derrick & I had met and thus lived in the “married couples” building. They had an actual apartment instead of just a “dorm room”. They were both working though, so I wouldn’t get to meet them until later.

Grand tour over, Derrick took me to a local sub & pizza place and we got dinner. Instead of eating there, Derrick suggested we take our food to go & head back to his dorm room to watch a movie & eat dinner. By this point, Caleb was supposed to be finished working and would be coming over to hang out with us.

Little did I realize (and Derrick wasn’t paying attention at all), but by the time we got back to campus, it was technically past curfew. Having never lived on a Christian college campus (or any college campus for that matter), it never even dawned on (little innocent) me that there would be a cut-off time that girls couldn’t be in the guys’ dorms & vice versa. Technically, Derrick should have realized what time it was, but we were both floating on Cloud 9 and weren’t paying attention at all.

And neither, for that matter, was Caleb (which, if anyone should have realized the curfew time, it was Caleb – he & Steph had had to abide by the curfews just the past year). He was already waiting for us in Derrick’s dorm room & I loved meeting Derrick’s best friend that I had heard so much about! Caleb was just as tall as Derrick, was warm & welcoming, and definitely curious to meet the girl his “Smokey the Bear” was dating.

The boys left the door of the room open & we set up a makeshift table in front of Derrick’s TV. We debated the merits of what movie we’d watch & just as we were beginning to narrow our choices down, a head poked into Derrick’s room. It was the floor RA.

“Hey guys, what’s up?” he asked casually.

“Oh, hey Ryan. How’s it going?”

“Fine, fine.” He poked his head further into the room, “Who’s this?”

Swallowing quickly, Derrick motioned to me: “Oh, sorry! This is Kara! My girlfriend! She’s here for my Senior Recital tomorrow night.”

I waved, my mouth full of food.

Ryan nodded, “That’s great & all, except she can’t be in here.”

Derrick & Caleb looked at each other, sudden realization coming over them.

Ryan continued: “It’s past curfew and no girls can be in the boys’ dorm.”

Derrick & Caleb muttered, “Oh crap,” as Ryan continued: “I’m sorry guys, if it was a co-ed night, she’d be fine to hang out until 10pm, but it’s just a normal night so she can’t be up here.”

Derrick stood up & made his way over to the door, “I’m so sorry, I completely forgot & didn’t realize what time it was.”

Ryan shrugged, “It’s okay. May I suggest heading down to one of the common rooms to hang out?”

Already moving to pick up our dinner & slightly embarrassed, that’s where we ended up. I could tell, it wasn’t what Derrick was expecting or envisioning for our evening at all though.

The common area was filled with other students – some playing games, some playing instruments, some just hanging out. We found a quiet corner and sat down to finish eating. I felt bad and found out later that Derrick could have gotten in actual trouble for having me in his dorm room after curfew. However, since Derrick was a good student & had never been corrected by the RA before for having a girl in his room after curfew (and since we all jumped up & left ASAP) it was overlooked.

Eventually, Caleb suggested we head back to his apartment – which was where I would be spending the night anyways. Steph was working late at Starbucks and since we were all struggling to agree on a movie anyways, we piled into Derrick’s Jeep & rode to the nearest Redbox to rent something. So, the 3 of us settled in in front of Caleb’s (much less impressive) TV & spent the rest of the evening watching a movie.

The next day was the beginning of Derrick’s “concert tour” weekend and he would be kicking everything off with his Senior Recital that evening. I woke up to find Steph (who I had sleepily met the night before) already bustling out the door to class and Caleb getting ready to head to the pool to swim. He assured me that “Smokey” would be by soon, told me to make myself at home, and then he was out the door.

Sure enough, shortly after I was finished getting ready, Derrick showed up at the door. We walked down to the cafeteria where we grabbed a quick breakfast & then headed to chapel. Being a Christian College, Valley Forge had “chapel” every day & students were required to attend. It was basically a full-fledged church service, with a shortened sermon.

Derrick needed to check in on a few things for his Senior Recital that night, so I followed him around campus. He showed me the music wing, introduced me to his professors, and I even got to hear him practice a little bit.

By early afternoon, Derrick’s parents and Paul & Naomi arrived. Derrick gave everyone another mini-tour of the campus and then dropped me back off at Caleb & Steph’s apartment to get changed for his recital.

It was all so exciting. I was excited to hear Derrick sing again and Derrick was excited (and nervous) to finally be completing a major component to graduating. As we walked into the theater he would be performing in, it all seemed overly grand. Never mind that the group of us were pretty much the only people there (there were a few students sitting in the back – Derrick explained to us afterward that each student was required to attend a certain number of their fellow student’s recitals). But for the most part, Derrick’s parents, Paul & Naomi & I were the main audience (Caleb & Steph both were off working).

It was the most thrilling concert I have ever attended, mostly because I knew the person performing. Never mind that I didn’t understand a single word of 90% of the songs Derrick sang (most of his pieces were classical and in different languages). He was accompanied by a grand piano & a violinist & it all just seemed so grand.

After the concert was over, we all headed to an Italian restaurant for pizza. It was late and I was sleepy, but our whirlwind of a weekend was just getting started.

That night, I once again crashed on Caleb & Steph’s couch, while the Abbey’s spent the night in a hotel. And their night turned out to be much more “exciting” than they’d planned.

As Derrick arrived at Caleb & Steph’s apartment to pick us up the next morning, we got the whole story:

Derrick’s parents had checked into a local hotel & his Dad had prepaid for the room with cash. The four Abbey’s had turned in for the night and exhausted, fell right asleep. Unknown to them, the clerk at the front desk of the hotel was calling the police.

A few hours later, they awoke to pounding on their door. Groggy, Derrick’s Dad got up to see who was trying to get into their room: it was a police officer. Instantly awake, he stepped out of the room to see what was going on.

Apparently, some of the cash he had paid with the night before had turned out to be counterfeit. The police officer wanted to know where Derrick’s Dad had gotten the money he had paid with. He ran back into the room to grab his wallet and they went through the rest of his money (which was all legit). He was unsure exactly where the bills he had paid with the previous night had come from – he had gotten gas on the way down to the college, he had paid for dinner & gotten change the night before – and it could have been in his wallet from even further back. There was simply no telling.

It made for quite the story & was primarily the topic of conversation as the four of us (Derrick, Caleb, Steph, and I) drove the 3 ½ hours from VFCC up to Derrick’s parent’s house.

We knew it was going to be a whirlwind weekend and sure enough, the rest of it flew by. Friday afternoon was spent setting up and that evening was the concert that Derrick performed at his parent’s church (the first time I officially accompanied for him). We came back to the Abbey’s that night & started a game of Risk – little did we know that Derrick & Caleb would soon pick the rest of us (weaker links) off, and they would battle each other until the wee-hours of the morning (way past the time that the rest of us went to bed).

Saturday was spent sleeping in (especially since the boys had been awake until nearly sunrise), cleaning up from the previous night’s concert, and more games (although both Caleb & Derrick swore to never play Risk together again). That evening, the four of us went to see the newest James Bond movie: Quantum of Solace.

After church & lunch Sunday morning, we packed up to head down to Derrick’s Aunt & Uncle’s church, where he would be performing his 3rd concert for the weekend. I was just excited to finally accompany him on a real piano (instead of a shaky, small keyboard). As that concert wrapped up, the four of us drove the rest of the way back down to VFCC.

The following day was Monday – the college kids had classes and I had a train ticket to head home.

..Part 16 coming soon!