Free Documentary by A.J. Sand

her signature fun-ending clap after looking at the wall clock. “Back to studying, ladies. No woman left behind.”
    Dylan stood and tuned Winslow’s stereo to something mellower before joining them on the living room floor. With all the excitement she had ahead of her, it was impossible to devote her attention to academics. And, of course, there was the occasional fantasy about Kai that floated into her thoughts, and those were more distracting than anything else. She thought back to the way he had smiled at her in the quad, and her insides seized in a straight line from her heart to her stomach.
    She forced the disrupting thoughts to the back of her mind; she would reward herself with a full-blown, steamy daydream later when the work was done. Now, she had to deal with the incomplete Microsoft Word document on her laptop and being no closer to completing her Gender and Sexuality in Popular Films paper final than she had been when she first got to Winslow’s apartment.
                  She jumped out of her worries when Kate nudged her. When Dylan looked up, her friend was excited and staring at her cell phone. Dylan furrowed her brow in anticipation. Only two things got Kate that excited: a “Free food-Vegetarians welcome” sign and Ryan.
                  “What’s up? And shouldn’t you be studying too?” Dylan asked.
    “No! And you won’t want to either in a sec. You should call that number back. ‘808’ is Hawaii.”
                 
    Background noise broke through the cell phone instead of a voice when the ringing ceased finally. Dylan wondered if it was someone on Kai’s side who wanted to talk to her more about project logistics before she got there. Nina had sent her so much information already, and she was emailing Dylan nearly on the hour, every hour. Dylan stepped out onto Winslow’s balcony with a throw from the linen closet because it was freezing out.
                  “Hey. Dylan?” The surprising sound of Kai’s voice pushed all her words back down in her throat like a flattened accordion. Intense heat singed her on the inside. “Dylan…you there? It’s Kai.”
                  Freaking Kai White called me, and I just called him back. She had held it together during the video chats, but she was grateful that he wasn’t physically present to see the goofy look on her face. She coughed, which loosened up her vocal cords, and she bundled up on one of the chairs, tucking her feet under her so that she was completely covered up. “Yeah, hey. How are you?”
                  “Pretty good right now. I might be better in a few seconds,” he said, laughing. “What are you doing tonight?”
                  Dylan hopped to her feet. “Umm…” A fluttering feeling gathered in her chest. Was he about to ask her out? She would obviously have to turn it down, but she did like to think that he was thinking about it.
                  “Can you fly down to L.A. tonight? Lava Surf is having this party with some of the surfers they sponsor, and some of their media people. They put together my site and my artist page on their website. Be great if y’all could meet,” Kai said. “You didn’t really have a chance at your school.”
                  “Uhh…” Dylan pulled the phone away from her ear to check out the time. It was a little after 1 P.M. She put it back up to her head. “Um, I…” She definitely still had that paper to write, among a few other things, like not taking the irresponsible route at the end of the semester. She’d lose hours if she went, and she needed to put in several more to finesse the paper into something that would get her at least an A- and maintain her GPA. The paper grade was the only grade in the class. She was still studying for her two exams, but at least she was nearly done with Jordan’s take-home.
    And this was technically for