Free Okay by Danielle Pearl Page B

give anyone else. Her confidence, her trust, her touch, even just her smile. It's a dangerous thing though, a bit like a drug,  because even with just this small taste, I already want more.
    "Thea, maybe you know someone else going to NYU rooming in the dorms? You know, that you could introduce Rory to?" I ask. I want to do something for her right now. Anything. It's a visceral need I can't control. And so I find myself seeking her a college roommate.
    Thea thinks a moment, her lips pursed in the way they always are when she's thinking.
    "I don't think so. I mean, I know a couple of other girls who are going, but I don't know that you'd like them. They can be kinda bitchy," Thea explains.
    "Uh—" Rory begins to respond, but I interrupt without even meaning to open my mouth.
    "She doesn't need to room with mean girls, Thea." My voice comes out a bit reproachful, and I know it's ridiculous since she hadn't actually suggested she room with them. The opposite, in fact.
    Thea narrows her eyes at me, but doesn't respond to my tone. Instead, she addresses Rory.
    "Did you join any of the incoming freshman groups on Facebook?" she asks.
    Rory shakes her head. "I don't have Facebook… or any social media accounts," she adds before anyone can ask. I know this, of course. I know she had to delete all of her accounts after she accused that motherfucking bastard of abusing her last year. After all of her friends turned on her, and harassed her to the point where she had to fucking move across the country. "But… I don't need a roommate. I've requested a single."
    Of course she did. Her nightmares. I feel myself getting riled up. It's a familiar feeling. I get angry any time I think about what she went through. But I keep my temper in check and take a long sip of orange juice to calm myself.
    I hate that Rory lost so much of herself because of him . Her family was destroyed, her friendships. She lost her connection to her hometown, to her childhood, and it just seems so fucking unfair that she lost this connection too. I'm not especially active on social networking sites, but I do find some of them useful, and in this day and age, for our generation, it's used for almost everything. Case in point: meeting college classmates.
    "Maybe you should join Facebook," I suggest. "Even if you don't need a roommate, it couldn't hurt to meet some people."
    Rory glares at me, and part of me withers at her ire. But if there's anything I can help fix for her, I have to do it.
    She once accused me of trying to fix her . But that's ridiculous. Rory is fucking perfect. But some aspects of her life, they could use some fixing. And it's not like she's adverse to social media on principle, or because she doesn't like it—she's just afraid.
    She has every right to be, of course. After her past experiences. But I hate it when she lets fear make her decisions. And though I don't know if it's even my place to get involved anymore, I'm not sure I can help myself. I just care about her so damn much.
    "Just to meet people for school, you know? You could keep the account private. No one would see it except for people you wanted to meet," I suggest. "I could help you with it."
    Rory sighs. I think she knows I'm right. Being digitally antisocial has kept her from doing the things the rest of us are all doing in preparation for college, and I can tell this isn't the first time it's been a concern for her.
    "Maybe." It's a concession. For her, anyway. And I'll take it.
    Thea starts asking Rory about majors and courses and I watch her fall into her element. She wants to study courses related to pre-law. She wants to help underprivileged families like her mother used to do before she moved here and had to join a big firm to support them on one income. But Rory wants to focus on helping women, she says shyly, and I just sit back and smile to myself.
    She thinks she's regressed because of what happened in Miami, but I see something different. I see a girl planning her