Matching Hearts by YDB95
“They’re guys, Nan,” Lindsay answered without looking up. “Straight guys, too, as far as we know. If they’re romantics, they shouldn’t be here anyhow. By the way, are you in for the draw or not? I need to know whether or not to put a heart in for you and…” She dropped her voice to a whisper in case any of the first-year sisters overheard. “…and which guy,” she finished.
“Sure, I’m in,” Nancy replied.
“Which guy?” Lindsay whispered in an exasperated tone as she picked up a pair of hearts and dropped one in the women’s basket. She had a penknife at the ready to etch some microscopic notches that would let Barry and the other A-list guys know which was hers.
“Any,” Nancy whispered. “Don’t pre-match me.”
“Are you sure?” Lindsay asked out loud.
Nancy nodded and turned to pin the sign up over the dining room table.
Lindsay shrugged and put Nancy’s heart message-down on the men’s tray. She should have known Nancy wouldn’t choose anyone in advance, for both women recalled their freshman year.
Then as now, the first-year sisters hadn’t known some of the hearts were marked to ensure the seniors got matched with the best-looking guys. They also hadn’t known the men got one heart without a match, so one poor nerd always ended up emptyhanded. The unfortunate third wheel that year had been a potbellied vermin named Keith something, and Lindsay still recalled being utterly petrified she would end up with him. The silly boy she had ended up with was a skinny, gangling guy who at least had a nice smile — Patrick something — who had at least been a good sport when she’d taken him to her room and told him he’d best not even touch her.
She couldn’t recall Patrick’s last name and she’d never known Keith’s. She did remember the full name of the boy Nancy had ended up with. Joseph Ramsey. She remembered because he and Nancy had hit it off so well they’d ended up dating through sophomore year, and were still friends now. To Lindsay, of course, Joseph had looked like just as much of a lousy catch as Keith or Patrick; but Nancy had adored him. So of course she wanted to leave it up to chance tonight.
Lindsay did not. She’d paid her dues, and tonight Barry was to be hers. Barry the captain of the track team, who could’ve been a Speedo model, who could probably have any gal on campus and whom she’d been lusting after for three years — tonight that lust would be satisfied at last. When Lindsay had tapped him to invite the selected guys the others wanted, and to round up the right number of nerds to be the freshman girls’ booby-prizes and the lone man out, the other senior sisters had all been sensible enough not to argue the point with her or to vie for being matched with him. Connie, her freshman year roommate, had said it best: “Hands off, ladies, unless you want Lindsay short sheeting your beds until May.”
Lindsay probably wouldn’t have resorted to that, she mused now. Probably. She was glad the others had been sensible enough not to test her resolve on that one, though.
The front door opened. Probably Barry coming by for the cheat sheet for whose heart was whose. Lindsay grabbed it up and gave the supposedly random hearts on the tray one last look to make sure the clues matched. They did, but when she turned to hand over the sheet to Barry, she was disappointed to see Faith brushing the snow off her duck boots. “Hi, Lindsay!” she said in that too-obsequious tone that had had fooled the others into admitting her during pledge week. “Am I too late to help with the party?”
“Yeah, you are,” Lindsay said. “But it’s all right, Nancy and I have it under control.”
“Don’t listen to her, Faith,” Nancy said. “There really wasn’t anything left to do except sort the hearts.” Faith didn’t need to know — couldn’t know — that the seniors had to be the ones to do that anyway. “Thanks again for your help this morning.” Putting up the pink and red streamers and rearranging the living room furniture had been an all-hands event, crowded but quick.
“It was fun,” Faith said, hanging her coat up on the rack inside the door. She took off her glasses, which were fogged up. “Think I ought to wear contacts for the party?”
“Guys prefer that,” Lindsay said.
“Not all guys,” Nancy said. “But it’s up to you, Faith. I hope you wear your hair down, though. You don’t want to look like you just came from the library.”
“Like I look now?” Faith chuckled. Neither of her friends needed to be told she’d spent the afternoon there, as she usually did on Saturdays. Swathed in a college sweatshirt and jeans, her dark hair tied back with a pencil for a barrette clip, she was the very epitome of a nerdy but plucky coed.
“I’m afraid so,” Lindsay said. “The kind of guys we’re having over won’t want a library rat for the night.”
“Oh, they won’t be getting one,” Faith promised. “I told you I bought a dress just for tonight, didn’t I?”
Nancy said yes and Lindsay said no, in unison.
“Oh, well, I did, whether I told you or not,” Faith said. “Don’t worry, I’ll knock their socks off. Once I finish my calc homework anyway.” And with that she was off up the stairs.
“She bought a dress for tonight?” Lindsay said. “Doesn’t she know the guys the freshmen get matched with aren’t worth dressing up for?”
“You and I didn’t know that freshman year,” Nancy reminded her.
“Maybe you didn’t,” Lindsay said. “I did my homework about what this party is really all about. Guess I should’ve known Faith wouldn’t, though. I almost feel sorry for her, but it’s for her own good.”
“Is it really?” Nancy asked. “She’s such a sweetheart.”
“Exactly,” Lindsay said. “She’s way too nice for her own good. Poor thing’s probably a virgin, even.”
Nancy was about to ask just what was wrong with that, when the doorbell rang.
This time it was Barry. “Hi, Nancy,” he said as she let him in. “Got the list ready?” he asked Lindsay.
“I sure do,” Lindsay said, and she led him to the kitchen, where she could be sure they wouldn’t be overheard upstairs. “Here you are,” she said, handing it over. “All the seniors except Nancy had special requests.”
“Even you?” Barry asked her with a grin.
Lindsay gave a dramatic sigh. “Yes, Barry, at long last I’ve decided to let you have your way with me. I do hope you won’t overdo the joy when we get matched.”
“Looking forward to it,” Barry said, overlooking the list to make sure he could read all the names correctly. “Can’t tell you how jealous I was freshman year when I heard about this party.”
“Couldn’t you tell from the freshman who were invited that it was really a compliment if you weren’t?”
“It was kind of hard to miss. But even so, those nerds all got laid, didn’t they? All but Keith?”