Ship lost at sea

Round 35: March 2042 (Autumn)

last update/Justin's next update/Declan and Xavier's next update/Brendan's next update

Declan Romilly and Xavier and Justin Moretti are 21 and Brendan Lachance is 19. 
(Jessica and Louisa are 22 and Caitlin is 19)

Narrated by Justin Moretti

We’ve just started classes again this week. Xavier, Declan and I are now in our senior year, which is pretty amazing and unbelievable.

Brendan’s still got three years to go. He gets a little bit jealous when we all start talking about our plans for after graduation. 

Sophomore year doesn’t feel like that long ago for me, so I keep telling him the next few years will fly by anyway.

I have to wonder what proportion of those years Brendan is going to spend on the phone. He gets more phone calls than anyone else in the dorm!

It’s not just his mum and dad either. It’s his siblings, his siblings’ spouses, his aunt and uncle, his cousins. He’s the baby of his family, so I suppose they’re all used to looking out for him.

He’s doing pretty well for himself here on campus and is dating a girl who lives here in our dorm. He split up with his high school girlfriend a little while after he started here and then hooked up with Amanda. 

His ex, Georgina, is a freshman this year, so I can foresee some awkwardness if they run into each other. Especially if he’s with Amanda. 

Brendan thinks it’ll be fine, once they get past that initial awkwardness. He’s still close with Caitlin, who is good friends with Georgina, so they’re going to see each other eventually.

It’s been several months since he and Georgina broke up, so hopefully it won’t be too awful for either of them. 

Louisa and I have been out with Brendan and Amanda a couple of times, when we’ve all been able to take a break from our studies. 

We’re all mostly homebodies, apart from Louisa, but it’s just nice to get away from the dorm sometimes. 

It’s good for Louisa too, seeing she gets along so well with Amanda. She still has Lauren on campus with her but she was a little depressed starting back this year when she should have graduated last year, with Emma and Jessica. 

Louisa is a psych major and one of her favourite hobbies is analysing everyone we know, which she did a little of after our last double date with Brendan and Amanda. Louisa doesn’t see Brendan and Amanda’s relationship lasting in the long run, because she thinks Brendan isn’t as into Amanda as Amanda is into Brendan.

She’s basing this on her “observations” about Brendan but also on things Amanda has said to her. 

Apparently, Amanda is pretty sure she sees a future with Brendan and is talking things like engagement with Louisa.

Louisa doesn’t think she’s actually discussed any of it with Brendan or that Brendan feels quite the same way.I suppose I’d have to agree with that. But I can’t say I’m an expert on psychology or relationships. I’ve only ever been with Louisa.

Louisa and I talk about our future a lot and I can say that we’re almost on the same page, at least. I’d get engaged right out of uni if Louisa would but she wants to wait a couple of years first, so we’ll probably do that.

We were both planning to do the roomie thing for a while but it’s not looking appealing to either of us any more. We might skip it and just set up house together instead.

We both feel like if we moved in with roomies, it would be like going from one dorm to another. We’re both from big families too and we’re keen to live somewhere where it’ll be just the two of us. We’ve never lived anywhere quiet before!

Louisa only has one more semester, so she’ll probably move in with Jessica and Emma next semester, let Lauren take her room when she graduates and then we’ll find our own place together. 

Declan was at Jessica’s place almost every night during our summer break but now that classes have started again, he's got to try a little harder to make the time to see her.

Talking to her makes Declan even keener for graduation - mostly so he can start seeing her more regularly again but also because life after uni sounds pretty damn good!

He says Jessica actually misses some things about dorm life. Being independent is pretty cool but living in a dorm where pretty much everything is taken care of for you is nothing to sneeze at.

She’s currently decorating venues for the catering company she works for but she’s looking to move into food whenever she can, which is her big passion.

Jessica is a very diligent type, so Declan is confident she’ll get to where she wants to be in no time. 

Xavier started dating Ashlee in sophomore year but lately, he’s been saying it doesn’t really feel right any more. 

He’s been thinking a lot about what he wants out of life lately and doesn’t see a future with Ashlee any more.

He’d been avoiding saying anything to her, even though he’s been feeling this way for the past few weeks. He didn’t want to hurt her or make things awkward here in the dorm for the rest of the year. 

Xavier did finally bite the bullet and talk to Ashlee about the way he was feeling. 

Ashlee was upset and a bit taken aback. It obviously wasn’t something she was expecting.

Xavier has been pretty down since the break-up too and doesn’t really leave his dorm much, except for classes. We’ve tried to drag him out with us, even just to watch some TV or play pool in the rec room but he’s not interested.

He says he just wants some time to himself right now. He’s going to focus on his writing and is promising he’ll rejoin the world when he’s ready.

I can respect that but I’m not going to let him wallow for too long. 

Notes:

• Title is from Ship Lost At Sea by Phantom Planet.
• Thought it was time we heard from Justin before he finally graduates, as the other boys have all narrated once before!
• Brendan gets so many phone calls. I don't think there was a family member he didn't receive a phone call from over this play session. The other boys don't get nearly as many...probably because Brendan is always hogging the line!
• Brendan and Amanda - yikes! Amanda has an engagement want; Brendan barely rolls any wants at all towards her. :\ They are autonomously romantic a lot though, so I'll give them until next year. Then we'll see if Louisa was right, lol!
• I don't know if I've said what my plans for these guys and for Louisa and her friends after graduation, so I'll summarise again, in case I haven't! My original plan was for both Louisa and Lauren to move into the place Jessica and Emma are living in and for Xavier, Justin, Declan and Austin to find a place together as well. I've never done four roomies before and it sounded kind of fun. Logistically, it was going to be a bit of a nightmare though. I was either going to have to find a building with four bedroom apartments or rejig one I already had, neither of which I was looking forward to. So I've scrapped that plan and will have three roomies in each apartment and Justin and Louisa out on their own.
• I chose Justin and Louisa over say Declan and Jessica just with my gut, really. I think finishing his education is really important to Declan (he still has a Master's to do) and that he and Jessica would want to be established in their careers before setting up house. 
• Xavier and Justin will both graduate with 4.0s. Declan will have a 3.9, which I'm sure he's still annoyed about. Brendan is still doing well with his 4.0. :)