By
Erin Mahoney
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Dayna Allison has sat on quite a few laps.
By 8 on a Friday night, the 18-year-old undeclared freshman is primed, pumped, ready to go out. She and a roomful of male freshmen - her friends - tease one another as they wait for their female counterparts at the University of Arizona's Corleone Apartments.
She bounds from lap to lap, explains that the flirtatious atmosphere is part of the Friday night mood - and her personality.
"I'm just kind of wild, kind of goofy," says Allison, a New Orleans native.
Her friend, Mike Cutno, a biochemistry freshman whose lap has just been vacated, agrees.
"She likes to play a lot," he adds.
Allison's excited; she's ready to dance, to socialize. She says she knows the stereotypes that exist about freshman girls - that they may use their newfound freedom to indulge in alcohol or sex - but claims they just don't suit her.
"It depends on the person," she says. "I just go with the flow. I crave what the night brings."
Tonight, Allison's clothes are trendy, but not revealing or extraordinarily tight. She wears little makeup, and platform shoes. She says she's not dressed to find a man, but she wants to have fun.
Her friend, Jen Paulson, agrees.
"A lot of them (women) have agendas," says Paulson, a psychology freshman. "I like to look nice, but I don't try to be slutty, like some girls do."
On tap for Allison's group of friends tonight is a trip to their friend's off-campus house, and then a string of fraternity bid-night parties.
By 8:45, the partygoers are puzzling over who should drive, over how many people can fit in a Honda, and about the fastest way to get to Campbell Avenue.
Away from the melee, Allison explains that although she had freedom at home - before college - university life is different than her past experiences.
"It's more liberal than it was at home," she says, grinning. "It's a good feeling."
9:05 p.m.: There are six people in a Jeep Wrangler, including Allison. She and her female friends are waiting for the Jeep's owner - Jake, also a freshman - to take them to the pre-party.
The girls are stuffed in a humid, airtight backseat that now smells like four different perfumes, hairsprays and lotions. They are getting impatient with their driver, who is outside chatting.
"It's hot!" one of them shouts to him.
He turns and smiles. "It's you!" he yells back.
By 9:20, the group has reached their first stop, a house on Campbell Avenue. Inside, the atmosphere is charged with pre-party excitement. The room is a blur, crammed with halter tops, tight skirts, guys in too much cologne. Everything is loud.
But Allison's in her element, sitting in laps and flirting with other partygoers. People she does and doesn't know are smoking, drinking, laughing. She is all over the room, talking, dancing, touching.
She says she agrees that, at parties, people don't always consider consequences to their actions.
"You can't just be some little crack whore running around, you don't want to get some kind of disease," she says.
Allison and her friends leave the party after about 15 minutes of mingling; they're ready for large crowds and loud music. She begs them to stop at her dorm room so she can pick up her purse.
The courtyard at the UA's Palm Shadows Apartments is deserted by 9:35, and Allison runs to her room. She stops in the parking lot on her way out to chat with a few male friends.
The guys are flirting with her; they, too, seem to be in party mood. As she leaves, one of them shouts after her.
"Don't forget about me tonight!" he says.
She laughs. "I won't, baby!"
9:45: Allison is on another lap, doubling up in the front seat as her friend's Honda makes its way to the greek houses. The girls have taken a different car, she's with the guys this time. Allison leans her head out the window, singing.
"Shake your booty!" she urges to no one in particular.
By 10 p.m., the group has parked, and is heading toward its first fraternity destination. From behind the wall of the Sigma Chi house, partygoers beg Allison and other passing women to join them.
Allison doesn't seem to notice; the other half of her group is partying at Kappa Sigma tonight, she says.
She's not flustered by the male attention she's getting, either. She explains that she's not looking to hook up tonight, that she's still getting used to college.
"I definitely love being in people's company," Allison says. "I'm trying to get into the position of not getting myself caught in bad situations."
The only guys Allison really wants to spend time with tonight are her four male companions. They keep in step with her as she heads to Kappa Sigma, but they tell her they're skeptical they will get into the party.
"Why don't you guys grow some T & A, make things a lot easier?" she asks, smiling at them.
The guys mutter about dressing in drag, then quickly abandon the joke.
10:40: Allison's guy friends head home after being turned down by two fraternity houses. The fraternity members working the door are more than happy to let her in, but her male companions - who are not fraternity rushees - are decidedly unwelcome tonight.
Allison is bummed.
"Parties would be more fun if they let (non-fraternity) guys in," she says. "I can't go out with my guy friends now. It just doesn't seem fair."
She resolves to meet people anyway, and enters her destination alone, having left her girlfriends at another house.
In a different fraternity house's courtyard, a band is setting up and a female emcee takes the stage.
"Hey!" The emcee shouts to the crowd of khaki-clad males and women in spaghetti straps. "You guys gettin' some ass tonight?"
The responding cheers are emphatic.
Allison isn't alone for long - she runs into a few women she knows, and the three of them resolve to stick together.
She explains that, although she has no reason to distrust other partygoers, she's learned to play it safe.
"Anything can happen," Allison says. "You can be very vulnerable at any time. You have to be smart about what you do."
For Allison, that means to keep moving. Her group circles the party, from entry to bathroom to dance floor to courtyard, constantly.
Men approach them every few steps, but Allison stays in her group and keeps smiling. She gives each guy a few minutes - a quick introduction, or a dance - before moving on.
In the bathroom, which is overtly coed and not at all modest, Allison explains that the guys who approach her aren't hitting on her.
But Allison's friend, Ned Falkinghan, disagrees.
"She is really cool, and she's hot," says Falkinghan, a business freshman. "He (a man who approaches her) has in mind what he's trying to work towards."
Tali Israeli, a creative writing freshman and one of Allison's companions, says women like Allison are popular at parties.
"She's a crazy girl, so guys would cling to that," Israeli says.
But Allison says she has limits when it comes to having sex - or even making out - with the men she meets.
"Sex isn't an option for me" she says. "It's not what I'm looking for."
By midnight, the party's pace is turning decidedly sluggish. As the attendance wanes, couples are turning up everywhere - making out in hallways, on benches, in corners. Men and women - some of whom appear drunk, some of whom do not - are pressed against one another on dance floors and against walls.
Allison says she's not pressured or intimidated by the scene.
"Whatever people want to do, they can go for it," she says. "I don't do PDA (public displays of affection) myself."
But even as the party winds down, Allison's offers don't seem to.
Uncoupled men saunter up to her still. They want to dance, to introduce themselves, or simply to know "how you ladies doin'?"
Just after midnight, Allison has decided she's had enough of this house, and returns to meet her original group of girlfriends at Kappa Sigma for more dancing.
They head home around 2 a.m. and "pig out" before falling asleep.
Her night, she says, was "average but fun." Still, she's not disappointed that she didn't meet any prospective suitors.
"I just danced my balls off all night," she says. "I just went around to meet people."
Allison admits that it would be nice to have a boyfriend, but adds that she doesn't go to parties looking for one.
"I'd like to experience (dating) different guys," she says. "I'm just trying to have fun."
Allison stresses that she is just a freshman, that she has a lot of life - and a lot of college - to live before she settles down.
And she's not sure if she will feel this way forever.
"Whatever happens, happens," she says. "My life, it's just always in the now."
