3 unrelated tales I feel prompted to tell

ONE.

Somewhere during the course of my freshman year of college, my roommate Abbie met a boy. I can't remember his name currently, but I think it was Ben. They hung out a few times and things seemed to be going well. I talked to him on the phone occasionally when he'd call for her. We were into a lot of the same things, Ben and I. We both liked Dogwood, I remember. Abbie wasn't sure how she felt about him, but Ben seemed to genuinely like her. somewhere in the process of wooing her, Ben beagnt o ask me for dating tips. He'd email me occastionally and ask me for date ideas and things of this nature. I hadn't met the guy, but I liked him.

a month or two into all of this, I was finally to meet the mysterious Ben. He was in a band and his band was playing in Santa Barbara one Friday night. After the show, Ben had planned to drive down to La MIrada and hang out with Abbie and I. We waited for him in our dorm room -- I remember a lot of giggling, there was probably a lot of chocolate eating...and there was a lot of waiting. We called his phone a few times, with no luck.

"He better have a really good excuse" Abbie said. I remember that much.

2:00 am and no word from Ben. Abbie and I fell asleep and hoped to hear from Ben in the morning. After all, you don't stand two girls up for no good reason.

6:00 am. Abbie's phone rings. I can't hear who it is, but I hear Abbie gasp. She says a few things, mostly "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.". My heart sank.

He died. In a car crash on the way down to La Mirada. His band van wrecked.
Abbie had never met his family, but had met his best friend once. The best friend remembered to call Abbie and let her know the news. She didn't go to the funeral, because it would be akward, as no one knew her.

So we sat in our dorm room in the dark all that saturday. We didn't say much. We both cried. The whole thing was really bizarre. I kept the emails from Ben in my inbox. I refused to delete them because I wanted to remember him. I don't know how Abbie dealt with it. We didn't really talk about it. But you don't really get over a thing like that.