Dinner with Leah

Leah had been as good as her word this time, and was ready to go when Joey called for her. She even led him to a private, rather than communal, table once they had reached the dinner hall and collected their food, so they could talk one on one. It had taken a while, but things were finally looking vaguely promising with her.

It was impossible to overstate how big this simple meal was to Andy. As with most of his peers from back home, Leah was the first girl he had crushed on once he was old enough to start developing those urges. His first ever masturbation fantasy had been about her. The problem was that every guy in his year at school, not to mention the years above, had competed for her attention back then. It took a certain level of social standing to even be able to converse with Leah, so taking her to dinner - albeit just for a sandwich and chips in a noisy student lounge - would have been unthinkable for Andy. The rules had changed though. They were adults now, and something like this could happen quite naturally, as surreal as it still felt.

Leah sat opposite Andy and smiled calmly, silently inviting him to begin the conversation. She exuded the kind of effortless confidence that came from having always been at the very top of a social hierarchy Andy was at the exact opposite end of. She had never struck him as a bitch, it just seemed like they had come here from the same place but via different worlds.

"It's nice to see a familiar face here" Andy eventually broke the silence "We should probably stick together while we get our bearings"

"Yeah, although I feel like we've never really spoken before"

"We haven't much. I guess I was never one of the cool kids like you" Andy replied, a hint of resentment revealing itself.

"I never saw myself as one of those" Leah answered calmly "I just talked to the people who talked to me"

That was a fair response, up to a point. It was true that Joey had never even attempted to initiate a conversation with Leah until they had arrived here, but she hadn't exactly been responsive the first few times he tried.

Andy decided he should alter the direction of a conversation that otherwise risked becoming rather frosty by using his time travel accumulated knowledge to impress Leah. That had been a lot easier with other girls, who had given him much more to work with. Either he could dazzle her with facts about her underwear drawer, or..

"We should guess what we each came here to study"

"Okay"

"Why don't you go first?"

"Um, I dunno..." Leah studied Andy for a few moments, making him feel very self-conscious "Maybe accounting?"

That somehow felt like a dig, even if it wasn't intended as one.

"Politics and Philosophy"

"Wow, clever stuff. I don't really know much about either" Leah admitted "Okay, what about me then?"

Joey pretended to study Leah in the same way she had him, though all he could think about when he did so was how stunning she was to look at. She wore the same poker faced expression that she did ninety per cent of the time anyway.

"Geography" he answered confidently.

"Wow, well done!" Leah perked up noticeably "How did you guess?"

"You just seem like someone who would really want to learn all about the world. I expect travel is a big thing for you?"

"I'm genuinely impressed, Andy. That's extremely perceptive of you!"

It really wasn't - pretty much everyone liked to travel, but Andy was happy to take the win regardless. The mood seemed to have shifted now - Leah looked like she was enjoying herself, and was way more engaged in the conversation.

"Okay, this is an important one for me. What star sign do you think I am?"

Andy didn't have a clue. It was a total one in twelve shot.

"Scorpio"

"Ooh, no. Not at all" Leah was reacting much as Andy had when she'd thought he was an accountant "I'm a Taurus"

Okay, that was definitely worth remembering for next time.

"Let me guess yours"

"Sure go for it"

"You feel like a Pisces"

"Nope. Aquarius"

"Oh, that's not good" Leah told him, like it was a proven fact "You and I have serious compatibility issues"

What? Did she seriously believe in that crap? Of all the reasons for Andy to be dismissed by Leah as a potential partner, the month he was born in seemed by far the dumbest.

"So what's a good match for Taurus then?"

"Virgo" Leah answered, like any of this made sense "I've always been pretty convinced my future husband will be one"

If she wasn't so hot, Andy would be tempted to eliminate Leah from this process for such stupidity. But she was, so instead he would just have to pretend to be a Virgo in future runs.

"Okay, this has been a nice getting to know you conversation, but I think I'm going to head back to my room for the rest of the evening. I have to unpack and stuff" Leah told Andy as she finished her meal.

"Yeah, same" he nodded "This has been good though. Are you open to us hanging out again sometime?"

"I am" Leah told him "This week may be a little crazy for me, but we have three years to form the friendship we never had at school. I'm up for that if you are"

Andy very much would have been, if he wasn't currently trapped in that specific week. Still, he felt the meal had gone about as well as it realistically could have, and this relationship was one that was worth persisting with. Leah was a tough nut to crack for sure, but perhaps not an impossible one after all.

Andy headed back to his dormitory with the sense of a job well done, even if there was clearly still a long way to go before he could even hope to get Leah into that little black thong he couldn't stop picturing her in.

Tomorrow would be another day though, and another girl.