Writing Challenge #1

Thanks to Nikk - I had to find a way to use the following words in a post:
marshmallow fluff, platypus, quantum physics.

You tell me - fiction or non-fiction?

When I was in college, our mascot was the platypus. We were the Prancing Platypus. Yeah, we didn't so much take our sports seriously. It was a small liberal arts school where harvesting 'shrooms was a perfectly acceptable reason for bailing on class. What can I say?

Anyway, it was in my third-year, I was still unenlightened about my sexuality. In other words, I was dating men....or rather, boys, really. (When is it that they turn into men - 30? 40? 50?) I was in an off-period with my on-again/off-again relationship with my high school sweetheart when I got involved with Mark. We were in the same program - which is what my school had rather than classes. 40-80 people, a few faculty, all coming together for interdisciplinary studies - math, science, politial science, anthropology - all around a central them. This semester it was The Paradox of Progress, and Mark and I were in the same seminar group, which was a sub-group of the larger class that came together to discuss the assigned reading.

Mark was really smart, but in a laid back kind of way. He'd talk some in seminar; just enough so you knew he had a lot going on in his head, but not enough that he came across as arrogant. His humor was dry, and so subtle many people didn't catch it. He totally cracked me up. The way to a woman's heart is to make her laugh, at least, this woman's heart. Mark had the cute, scruffy guy thing going on for him. It was a hippy school and there just weren't many clean-cut preppy boys to be found. They were all at UW, best I could tell. Mark rarely disagreed with anyone, but when he did, it always made the discussion way more interesting.

The day he and I started becoming close, the topic was quantum physics, as I recall, and some other guy was expressing an opinion about our book and proclaiming that Mark had just said the same thing, only Mark had not. The two had quite a heated discussion, and after class, Mark and I started talking about what had happened. Well, the discussion led to beer back at the dorm, followed by Dominoes Pizza, and one thing led to another, as it often does. Ah, young lust! Two-and-a-half weeks later, we're packing our duffel bags with books, clothes and marshmallow fluff for a romantic weekend escape to the relatively near-by San Juan Islands where his folks owned a cabin.

The weekend was perfect and one of the best memories of my life. The weather was unseasonably warm with blue skies and sunshine. The cabin had an amazing view of the water. Mark and I were in that "life is beautiful and we are the most lucky people in the world" phase of our relationship. We enjoyed the kind of carefree, fun-filled escape that maybe only people without any true responsibilities can have. We'd have intellectual discussions until dawn, share our youthful dreams of what our lives would become, and well, do the things 20-year-olds do when they can get away from their roommates. I'll keep this G-rated, but say it was a very memorable experience, and the jar of marshmallow fluff? It came back empty.