chapter 2

The dining hall was like an amusement park: swipe your card to pay admission, then go all out. It was Nate's favorite part.

Emily's eyes lit up when she realized. "Whoah... it's like a buffet." She mused.

Nate laughed. "I know. Isn't it great?"

The two wandered about for a bit, making their plates before sitting down at a small table in the corner.

Emily had a full plate in each hand. She giggled when she saw Nate's reaction. "Went a little overboard. Figured I'd sample all the local offerings. Doubt I'll even get to all of it though."

"Fair enough. There's some good stuff here most days."

They chatted for a bit. First about math and how Nate despised the subject. Emily loved it on the other hand. Nate learned that, as it turned out, Emily knew a couple other people on campus, including her roommate, Jess, but hadn't gotten a chance to see much of anyone yet.

It seemed they had a similar interest in sci-fi but the conversation had to be cut short. Nate had his next class. He offered to take her empty plate to put up and said his goodbye.



In the week following, the two hadn't seen each other outside of class much, except for a short lunch here and there. During class however, she was helping him understand some of the material. He wasn't making much progress but it was nice talking to her.

Today, Nate came back from one of his other classes.

"Naaaaate!"

Nate's roommate, Sam was a huge guy. His voice matched his size. Very loud, but very fun.

"Naaaaaaaaaaate!"

"H ey bud, how are ya?"

Sam held up a bottle of vodka in response. "Grrrrrrreeeaaaat!"

Nate chuckled.

"Do you know what today is?"

"Friday?"

" Dingdingding. And seeing as it is Friday on this day my good man you and I that is to say we should head oveeeeer to scab."

Nate sat on his bed. "What the hell is that?"

"It's a club, man."

Nate mad a face.

"Come on dude, I didn't name it."

Nate thought for a moment. "Not really much of a club man."

Sam let out a long, exasperated tone but was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Nate pushed himself off the bed and opened it.

"Hey Nate!"

"Emily?"

Her hair was different. Curled more today. Come to think of it, Nate hadn't told her where he lived on campus.

"Hey! Jess wanted to go out tonight and I was wondering if you and..."

Nate turned to look at his roommate. Sam was clearly checking her out. "Sam."

"If you and Sam wanted to come with."

"Sure! Yeah!"

"Awesome. Come swing by at nine. Room 613." She flashed him a grin before proceeding down the hallway. Nate closed the door.

Sam was just grinning. "PARTYYYY!"

Nate laughed. "Yeah. Party."




Thank you for reading. I'm very receptive to feedback and suggestions. Feel free to let me know how I'm doing.