Our Beutel-ful Love

Travis Cantey had just about given up on love. Sitting in Beutel for the third time this semester, he stared at the form in front of him, absentmindedly checking the boxes that would let him get his free STI test and get on his way. “Sure,” he thought, “I’m engaged to a nice girl, my dad has a job lined up for me with his accounting firm, and I’m the president of my frat, but isn’t there more to life?” He slumped a little lower in that cold, hard chair and let his head drop, resigned to his fate as a successful businessman with a loving wife. Little did he know, his life was about to change forever. 

Brooke Simmons was beyond stressed out. Her freshman year was not living up to the dream she had been promised by her Fish Camp counselors. She wasn’t used to the hustle and bustle of Bryan-College Station; everything was so much bigger here than in her hometown, the quaint Cayuga, Texas. She longed for the glow of the town’s stoplight on her vintage truck’s windshield, for the familiar comfort of the four walls of her family’s general store, for the feeling of a paintbrush in her hand as she dotted works of pointillism like Georges Seurat. Why had she come to college when all she wanted to do was take over the family business and continue her hobby (not that anyone would ever recognize her talent)? Back at home, everyone knew who she was. Her neighbors loved her, her parents adored her, and every guy in town thought she was the most beautiful woman on two legs. Here, she was just a number. These thoughts raced in her head as she shied up to the front door of Beutel, embarrassed that she even had to be seen there. As she stepped inside, she was transported back to one fateful night at the Beta Tau Beta house. 

It was Friday of Howdy Week, and the night was still young. As her roommate, Sierra, busied herself with preparations for a night out, Brooke couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to experience a college party. Sure, she had been to her fair share of pasture parties back in Cayuga, but there was a mysterious air surrounding the idea of going to a party with more than the same 15 people. She stood up, walking over to her roommate’s desk and clearing her throat. “Do you think I could maybe come with you tonight?” she said, flashing her roommate with a sweet smile. Her roommate’s ears perked up. Brooke was beautiful, and not just in that small town, I’m-the-only-person-in-my-town-with-all-of-my-teeth kind of way. Taking her to this party would solidify Sierra’s identity as “girl with the hot friends” in the eyes of Beta Tau Beta. “Of course!” Sierra chirped, much to Brooke’s delight. The night was a consensual blur after that, and now here she was, walking up to the front desk of Beutel to get a free STI test. 

It was her beautiful voice that roused Travis from his stupor. Who was this angel? Was it possible that his life was about to change in the health center waiting room? She sat down next to him, taking care to leave a buffer seat, and began hurriedly filling out the forms, determined to spend as little time in this rank hell-hole as possible. He pulled a cigarette from his back pocket, hoping his fraternity’s “cig’s inside” affinity would finally do him some good and get this girl to notice him. Suddenly aware of Travis’s gaze on her, Brooke snuck a glance sideways, taking in the frat-boy beauty seated next to her. Who was this cig-ripping Adonis? Was it possible that her life was about to change in the health center waiting room? 

So they sat, minutes passing, each leaving in turn for the promised STI test. As results came back and cigarettes burned short, Brooke stood to leave. As she reached down for her backpack, a hand suddenly gripped her wrist. She looked up and was met with the eyes of the man she suddenly knew she loved. She opened her mouth to speak but couldn’t seem to find any words; his magnetic charm had all but taken the air from her lungs in a single look. He smiled, mustering up the courage to profess his feelings to this Beutel-ful girl. 

“I know I don’t know you, but I can tell in my heart that you are the woman I was meant to be with. I’ve been lost recently, wondering if anything I’ve done has steered me in the right direction, but now I know that all I’ve done has led me here, to this moment, to the arms of my soulmate. What’s your name?” 

Brooke spoke softly, her voice dripping with the sweetness of new love. “I’m Brooke. Brooke Simmons. I’m from a small town and quite frankly, I’m surprised you even noticed me, even though I’m beautiful. I have unrecognized talent, and I’ve accepted the fact that I won’t amount to more than my name on the ownership papers of my family’s store. I am one-dimensional.” She stuttered, incredulous at the fact that she had just divulged the entirety of her personality to this man she had just met. Her cheeks flamed and she turned, flying out the front door of Beutel with no goal but to escape her own embarrassment. 

Travis rose quickly, grabbing the STI result papers that she had left behind and following his love. As he walked, he pulled out his phone, searching desperately for his fiancee’s number. Finding it, he opened a new text message as he walked. “Hey,” he began, “it’s me. I have found true love. Please don’t text or call. Mail me the ring, I need it.” With the message sent, he broke into a run as the whooshing sound of a sent text rang in his ears. Travis caught Brooke’s arm as she raced across Academic Plaza. Without so much as a word, Travis interlaced their fingers and hurried her to the Century Tree, knowing in his heart what he had to do. He pushed Brooke onto the bench under the tree and got down on one knee. 

“Brooke Simmons, I don’t care how small your dreams are. I don’t care what I have to give up. Hell, I don’t even care about the moral compass that I’ve used to guide all of my actions and thoughts for the majority of my life. All I know is that I love you, and I’m willing to do anything to stay with you. I left my fiancée. I’ll give up my guaranteed $120,000 starting salary. I’ll tell my family that their opinion means nothing to me because nothing matters except for the love between us. Let’s drop out of college and move to your small town. I’ve always wanted to own a small general store. We’ve been through thick and thin, and, especially because both of our STI tests were negative, I’m confident that we can get through anything together. Brooke Simmons, will you marry me? Also, my name is Travis.”

Brooke smiled, tears forming in her eyes as she faced the future that she had secretly longed for all her life. “Well,” she said, her voice breaking as she laughed, “I never knew I’d have such a Beutel-ful love story.”

 

—Flash it Back, Ags