by Gregory P. Mac

Created on: April 19, 2010

     The campus library was approximately one mile from my apartment.  I knew this because I frequently passed it on my way to other things, such as football games, the student union, tennis courts and even the occasional classroom.  College was nothing like I had expected.  It was much, much better.  Parties.  Great friends.  Nonstop sports and music and horseplay.  And girls.  Especially girls.  The student population on our campus dwarfed the numbers in my hometown by at least twelve to one.  This was my introduction to the big, wide open world, and I wasn't going to waste it inside a musty old building filled with arcane books, which is why it was such a rarity that I was standing at the phone bank inside the library when she strolled in.

      Blonde, green eyes or blue, depending on how they caught the light, a megawatt smile, slender in all the right places but not where she shouldn't be - she had it all.  She was my mystery girl, literally.  I had no idea how I knew her.  Or maybe I didn't know her at all, which was altogether even more exciting.  She said hello to me each time I passed her on campus.  Not just a bored "I see you so I guess I have to acknowledge you" greeting, but a genuine "if I was a dog my tail would be a fan" kind of hello.  We never stopped to talk, but the way she lit up ignited something inside of me for the rest of the day.

     I was at a library phone, about to leave my phone number with my lab partner's roommate, when she marched past me and whispered, "I'll be studying on the second floor with some friends if you want to join me."  Yes!  I returned my attention to the phone and muttered,  "Just have him call me at four, um four, uh... I'll call him back."  The excitement had shut down my brain, but I didn't care.

    I gathered myself enough to even help her a little with her math homework and to make her friends laugh with a joke or two.  There was nothing said that gave me any clue as to how I knew her.  I determined that she must have just seen me on campus and decided she wanted to know me.  Finally she said, "I'm about done studying.  When you're done, will you walk me home?"  Perfect!  I had been done for an hour, but I didn't mention that.  I tried to mask my euphoria as I asked, "Sure.  Where do you live?"

    Moments passed before anyone spoke.  Her friends put down their books and pencils and alternated their stares, first at me, and then at her.  She looked like a puppy that had just been kicked.  My face felt flush.  I knew I had said something wrong, but what?  Finally she said slowly, deliberately as if  to a slow child, "I'm your next-door neighbor."  Everything after that is a blur in my memory.  One thing I do remember clearly, though.  I walked home alone that night.

    

Learn more about this author, Gregory P. Mac.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.